It may almost be December - and Wisconsin - but I did my very first parade tonight. Lots of people for a nice local holiday parade. The cool weather helped the engine stay cool at slow speed. Lots of fun. I got to lead the parade too.
Our first parade will be one week from tomorrow. I will be doing some things to our '21 Touring to get it ready. We have 4 fresh coils and a NewDay timer that I installed yesterday. Its running great.
Congratulations Eido. You sure got lucky today with temperatures above 60 today in Milwaukee.
My car is not parade ready at the moment with the engine sitting on a stand in Mike Zahorik's garage. Our first winter project for the club. Looking forward to tearing into it next Saturday.
I never entertained the thought of leading a parade until asked to do so in the centennial celebration of my local town. Now, all they have to do is ask and I'd be happy to do it again any time.
Seems like there's hardly any parades around here. Guess I live amongst a bunch of duds!
John, I look at Mike’s Garage like Santa’s workshop. Junk and raw materials go in, magic happens, and sparking, finely tuned cars come out.
Parades can be fun, but also hard on a Model T if it is slow and there are a bunch of starts and stops.
I put a block in the handbrake slot so it cannot accidentally go into high gear and just use low.
I don’t slip the band therefore sometimes I have hang back a bit and then catch up.
I also find that my arm hurts after a parade.
It is from too much waving.
Fred - That's the one "situation" (parades) where it can be nice if your Model T tends to "creep" a little bit. You can actually use the "creep" to advantage to be easier on your bands if you sort of plan your parade speed slow driving and if it's a fairly level street as is usually the case.
Here is the picture:
I found it pretty easy to drive the parade. I kept the car in low gear, dialed back the timing and throttle, and let the car creep the whole route. I kept an eye on the motometer, but hardly saw the temp go up at all. I even honked my horn every 10-15 feet. I had a lot of fun. Thanks for posting my photo, Dave.