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Let's remember
Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 1:47 pm
by Thorlick
Memorial Day is a time we pause to remember and honor those who have lost their life in service to our country. I hope we can include all our military veterans and current members as well as those who are helping us cope with present conditions.
On this vein I thought I would post a link to a story by a past member, the late Ralph Ricks (RD), whom I believe was a veteran.
Back in the late 1990's I used to assist Gus Stangeland in maintaining the MTFCA site. I mostly ran the photos and helped with the forum and home page. In addition I collected stories and posted them. Some of these stories are still tucked away on the MTFCA site so I thought I would post a link to this one for you to enjoy today. The loss of these stories and their associated photos was needed to streamline the bandwidth and make this site more affordable so I do not have the photos associated with this story. but will supply these:
Click Here for "Californial Great Race 1997"https://www.mtfca.com/members/ricks.htm
Re: Let's remember
Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 2:40 pm
by Steve Jelf
Ralph coined one of the best words ever posted on the forum: disturbutor. 
Re: Let's remember
Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 5:29 pm
by Greg Griffin
I believe he also first said "Everywhere I drive is a parade and everywhere I park is a car show."
Re: Let's remember
Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 9:07 pm
by Thorlick
For further reading here is another of the old stories, this time by Charlie Cotterman about his visit with RD.
https://www.mtfca.com/members/cotterman/charlie.htm
Re: Let's remember
Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 2:22 am
by George N Lake Ozark
Yeah I miss him too. Happy to have been aquatinted with him and also got to meet Terry at RDRs last Bakersfield Meet. Have to have visited his house when he had a TParts garage sale. Loved how he stood up for Reid also . I still have picks from his memorial. Got to meet all kinds of T legends.
Re: Let's remember
Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 8:19 pm
by Jeff Hood
Many may not know that the '13 roadster pickup that Ralph often posted pictures of, was that same Great Race car with a different body but the same Frontenac engine and all. It was his daily driver and it wasn't babied at all. It was a 70MPH freeway flyer.
Shortly after joining the Long Beach Model T Club, we toured the old Ridge Route in the Calif. mountains. The T's were trailered to the starting point in Castaic, but Ralph drove to the starting point. I didn't have a running car at the time, so I was riding along with someone else. Not too long into the tour, the car I was riding in broke down, (not unusual for this car or driver I later learned,) and I hitched a ride with Ralph for the rest of the day. At Gorman, the top of the mountain, the T's turned around and headed back the way they had come and back to the trailers. Ralph looked at me and said "you can hitch a ride back with someone else, or stay with me, but I'm getting on the freeway and heading home. I stayed with Ralph, and spent the next few hours with one hand or the other holding onto my hat! We even used the HOV lane on the 110 freeway on the way home He posted pictures of the T in the HOV lanes several times.
Re: Let's remember
Posted: Tue May 26, 2020 10:59 pm
by 2nighthawks
I never had the pleasure and/or good fortune to meet Ralph Ricks, but I almost feel like I knew him because of my many years of regular participation (or at least reading) of this forum. Too add to what Jeff just said above, Ralph Ricks absolutely hated trailers! He said that trailers were "evil"!
Also, to add one more to the "Ralph Ricks quotes" that were posted by several others above, he also had one more that I especially like, and am finding out how true it is:
"Everything you own, owns you!"
(.....I own a Model A, four Model T's, and too much stuff,....and Ralph was absolutely right!