MTFCA Forum

A thread about a new owner’s “maiden voyage” and subsequent comments got me wondering - how many of us can say our first car was a Model T ?

It's l in how you look at it. The first vehicle I ever drove was my grandfather's 1918 TT, which is mine now. So, in a way the ol' truck was my first car even though I didn't own it until years later.

Mine was. My dad gave me a 1918 chassis when I was 15. Got it running, made a seat, and I was off.

Me too ! I received my ‘23 T touring in ‘65 when I was 15. Sold it in 2015 after 50 years and a 1976 drive up and down Pikes Peak at a VMCCA Glidden

Mine was a Model A in 1968 ! Then, I got into T's.

Well, my T is the first car/truck that I ever owned. That being said, I got a Ranger and a Celica as my drivers before I ever got the inclination to work on the T and even then, took me over a year to be able to drive it.

Great fun to have these responses. Thanks, fellows !
Part of my intent, which I didn’t make clear at first, is to learn how many had a T as their first personal driver. So, whether you owned it or not, if a T (or TT) was your first, that counts. Model A ? Close, but no cee-gar. Owning one first, but not driving it, nope. Partly, my question is motivated by the number of comments on the forum regarding how difficult or foreign the T seems to drivers who have first become accustomed to other, newer cars. If you drive a T first, all else just follows !

My first car wasn't a T but it was a 1924 Dodge Brothers Screen Side.

Probably the first car I drove was a 30 Chev. I probably started driving a tractor when I was 8 or 9 having a “harrowing experience “ in the field!!
Lots of room to gain some experience!!

It depends on how you look at it, whether a Model T was my first car. My dad purchased my '26 Fordor in 1952 when he was 15 and it's by far the car we have owned the longest. It was the first car I ever drove (in about 1980) and it has always been understood that one day it would be mine. Technically though, I did not legally acquire the car until dad's passing though I have had custody of it since about 1997.

Well, I’m only 65, a relative youngster, but the first vehicle that I actually bought with my own money was a model TT farm truck with a heavy oak open stake back. I was 15 at the time. It had no hood or fenders and was being used to hold a large sign for a church along the side of the road. It said JESUS SAVES or something like that. The owner was the father of a school friend of mine (now a fundamentalist minister) and I bought it from his father for $100.

My friend and I pulled it home to our farm with an old F12 tractor and a long rope. Once home I took it all apart, cleaned and reassembled the engine just to see what was what. I found a hood and fenders but I never got that running and ended up selling all I could at a car show flea market in New Hope Pennsylvania. The frame was eventually hauled out to the far corner of the back pasture where all the farm junk eventually ended up going back to the soil. The irony is that now I could probably get that same TT running and moving in about ten days. I guess I just wasn’t ready at that point. My older brothers had a 29 model A sedan which was passed down to me when I turned 16 and I drove it for several years. It wasn’t until around 15 years later when I bought my second model T, one that I ended up driving for 35 years. I sold it to buy the one I now own. Living in a city I envy all of you who have the space to own more Ts and extra parts.

I am building a model T now and I still have never driven one. Nor have I ridden in one yet. Sorry, opposite of your question

Mine was a 20 chassis bought with paper route money back when I was 12 or 13... It was all there, and was going to be a speedster...

Those who've been here a while know the story, so I won't go into it.

I'm still looking for a good chassis, BTW.

when I was very young I used to stand on the front seat and pretend I was driving my Dad's or grandpa's 1917 or the 1927 (both touring cars) I also can remember when my Dad sold them to a "junker" for $9.00 each for the war effort. My Dad often said how foolish he was at the time but he felt it was necessary at the time. the first vehicle I drove (not counting the Farm-All F-20) was our 1937 Chevy dump truck we had on the farm

The first three cars I ever drove were model T's, a 1917, 1915 and a 1914 in that order. This was before I had a driver's license! The first car I ever owned was a restored 1914 T touring mentioned above. In 1971 at the age of 16 years I took the 1914 to the DMV to take the driving test for my drivers license. This created quite a sensation, the DMV office called the local paper, they came out took photos of me in the 1914 and a day or so later I was on the front page of our local paper!

By the time I graduated high school I had added a mostly restored 1926 touring which was for a time my daily driver. A restored 1913 Indian Motocycle and a unrestored 1923 T touring that had been converted into a pickup. The 1914, 1926 and the 1913 Indian were all used extensively on car tours throughout the S.F. bay area. The 1914 was even driven to the old Harrah swap meet in Reno one year and back just for fun! That was a good 450 mile or more round trip.

It wasn't until later that I bought my first "modern car" a 20 year old Plymouth station wagon. And even the Plymouth served a purpose, I hauled load after load of model T parts in the back of that old wagon in the years I owned it.

And I saw that newspaper, and knew a couple people that had met Phil around that time. He was the talk of the hobby in the San Francisco Bay Area for some time! I met Phil soon after he had his license to drive and have considered him a good friend ever since.

I wasn't going to tell my tales, but wanted to add comments on Phil's long hobby experience, so I will add it. I was driving my grandfather's Ford 9N tractors solo since I was six, sitting on grandpa's or dad's lap even a couple years earlier. My first running car was a '29 Reo, although the T speedster followed soon after. The 9N tractor did have a hand throttle though.

Yes, my first car was a 1926 Touring, bought in 1957 and I still have it.

Mine was 1922 flatbed pickup that was used to haul crab nets out to the waterline at a local beach, so it was pretty rugged. I built a rough turtle deck and fitted a top, with fringe, and, at 16 years old, it was the first car I ever registered for road use. That was back in 1962. I sold it to purchase a really nice original 22 tourer.

Allan from down under.

Rich-
My first car was my 1919 Model T. It was a basket case when I drug it home when I was 15. That was 43 years ago. I had it on the road by the time I was 17 and I still have it. I like to tell people the first car I ever owned was a Model T, and I'm still saving up to buy a new car.

: ^ )

Keith

My T speedster was my first car. Started building it in the 7th grade and was driving it by the end of High School.

Yup! First car I ever owned was a 1924 Model T Fordor. Came home on my 16th birthday (1962) in pieces on a trailer. Cost $100. After restoration (with a lot of help from my dad) It was my "ride" for a couple years, then I sold it to move up to a 1915, been a brass man ever since.

My first car was a 19 Star in pieces when I was 16 but after getting it home and spread out in the garage, my mom got so angry at the pile of rust that she made me sell it immediately. Luckily I didn’t lose any money on it but the person that bought it put it together and I did get to ride in it. I owned several antique cars since then but only bought my 18 T centerdoor 20 years ago. Frank

My first car was a 1923 low radiator T touring with a 1925 engine. I was a month shy of my 17th birthday. Owned it for 34 years. Finished restoring it in 1987.

Neighbor gave me a Model T when I was about six years old. My old man was not too pleased. It sat there, and disappeared over a long period, mom's uncle got the coils, finally a junk man took the heavy iron, and the body stayed around untill I was through high school.

Dave in Bellingham, WA

The first car I drove was a 17 touring I helped my father restore.

I have to say my first car was the 1924 T Coupe my Grandfather gave me in 1959. I was 11 years old but really didn’t drive it until I was around 14. The engine smoked but it ran and drove. It had Model A wheels on it that were acetylene welded to the hubs. Also had a trailer hitch that my Father wondered how my Grandfather pulled a trailer with it. Restored it 15-16 years ago and it’s registered and I still occasionally drive it. But I did remove the trailer hitch and the Model A wheels!

I bought my 1923 roadster when I was 14 and wiped out my life savings. (I regret nothing.) The paint in it is older than me, and hopefully I’ll get to it’s next restoration before I’m 60.

My '26 coupe, purchased in 1967 was the first car with my name on the title. The coupe is still undergoing restoration.

The first car I bought was my 1918 Model TT Hucksters truck. My Dad saw an ad for it in the local paper. I went to look at it on a farm about 30 miles away from home. this was in 1974 when I was 18 years old. My friend Donny Pieper and I went to look at it. It was sitting out in the woods and neglected. I had to have it. It was cool. I borrowed a trailer from the neighbor, which required making a hitch on Dads pickup. Dad went along and helped get it home but kept saying "What did you buy that for? You can't make silk purse out of a sow's ear"
Somehow we got it home on Thanksgiving Day and then the fun began. I didn't know what I was doing but did it anyway. I learned a new word shortly after that "Swapmeet" I also got to learn about wood working.
I eventually got it going with the help of my uncle Tate Bethmann.
I entered it in the local town parade and my Dad wanted to ride in the front seat with me for years after that.
I still have it. I don't know if I would ever get rid of it. Who would want that old thing anyway?