Anyone else interested in starting the South Carolina Model T Ford Club chapter backup?

[Hap_Tucker]

Problem: The South Carolina Model T Ford Club Chapter ran out of folks who wanted to keep it going.

Possible Solution: Are there 4 other folks that would be interested in either reactivating the South Carolina Model T Ford Club Chapter or if it is wiser, helping to start a new Chapter of the MTFCA in the South Carolina area? Or we could even decide to go with an affiliated club status (that does not provide the additional free MTFCA Liability coverage for r tours etc. but I think you can do that with only 3 or 4 interested folks rather than 5 members?)

If you are interested or want additional information, please post a note here, send me a private message via the forum. (How do you do that? Just click on my name to the right of this posting. It brings up my profile. The second area down says: "Contact Hap_Tucker" and it has two choices. The second choice is "Send Private Message".) Or you can send me an e-mail via the forum. Just above that "Send Private Message" we just mentioned, is the option to "Send E-mail to Hap_Tucker" and that works also. Or you can send an e-mail -- for some reason I am not able to add an image right now, so I'll try to do that again after I make the posting.

The GOOD:

A new Model T owner who lives in South Carolina recently made their first post on the MTFCA Forum. They asked for help with learning to drive their new T. It will be delivered soon. So there are still folks that could use some mentoring & help with the basics. And that is a lot easier for most of us to help out with rather than how do you pour and machine babbit main bearings etc.. And encouraging them would be a good way to help our hobby. (Ref posting at: https://mtfca.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18009 )

You don't have to own a Model T to join -- just be interested in them. (The Model T can sense when you care about them and they will show up in your life at unexpected times and places. For example -- in the want adds of this forum...).

There will initially be no dues. (As a person once said, "I'm the bucks behind this Buck Rogers adventure." Long term we will probably need to have some -- but short term we can get started and figure out what costs need to be covered etc.

I like the quote by Arthur Ashe that says: "Start where you are; Use what you have; and Do what you can." I've seen it help people move a worthwhile effort forward -- and I think this is a worthwhile effort.

I'm getting closer to having some room in the garage to work on my speedster. And getting it going again for Spring would hopefully help encourage other folks to get their Ford going also.

Spring is coming -- and that is normally great weather to have some fun driving around in a T. We should be able to social distance if we are driving.

I've already been talking with some of the MTFCA leadership. They are supportive and they have given us some extra time to sort this out. Normally a Chapter needs to send a list of who the members and officers are to the MTFCA office by Mar 1st of each year. And at least 50% of the chapter members need to be members of the MTFCA. (To be an Affiliate Club there is not a percentage of Affiliate Club members that also need to be a member of the MTFCA -- but we would not have the additional free MTFCA liability insurance over club meetings, tours, etc.) I believe the national MTFCA offers a lot of benefits to our hobby and to us as individuals.

I plan to send and e-mail and/or call folks that were previously in the South Carolina Model T Ford Club chapter. Some of them may not visit the forums but might be interested in supporting the effort. The MTFCA has already provided me with a list of folks that are living in SC and I also have some contacts that are just across the border in GA & FL.

We have Smith & Jones Antique Car Parts (Ford T & A) located near the Columbia SC airport. If you live close enough you can drive over, look at the parts you are going buy, purchase them and deliver them yourself to save postage.

What if you don't live in SC. No problem. One of the things I thought the SC chapter did well at was being willing to move the meeting or tour location around. They actually met as far west as Georgia and far south as northern Florida (I may have the southern point too far south. But they met far enough south that some folks in Northern Florida could attend). So sometimes it was really close and driving the T made sense. Other times it was further away and you could take the modern iron, modern iron with trailer and T, or take a rain check.

While I hate Covid, it has opened up my world and many others to virtual meetings (such as Zoom or Facebook etc.). OK I'm still a dinosaur when it comes to smart phones -- but other folks can stream a technical question etc.

If you join the group - I'll let you drive my speedster (OK -- first I need to get it drivable again, and you need to have a valid license or we need to be on private property).

The BAD (Restraints/challenges):

Covid is making in-person meetings and short tours less inviting and we don't want to spread Covid.

It is winter and that is not the best time to drive a Model T (except maybe you lucky closed car people who might have a heater?)

Few folks are sitting around wishing they had something they could find to do. Most of us (me included) -- are already pretty max'd out.

I still don't have a great workshop area. Too much storage stuff piled up (future projects) and not much room to work on things. But it sure beats working outside in the snow which I did way back in the last century. I was working on modern cars then (in Iceland - 1930 Model A pickup truck named Faithful Fred and in then West Germany - 1931 Model A Town Sedan named Bessie).

You may think this is a scam or something -- but I'm a real person who has been posting on the forum for a while. And I was already involved in Ts before there was an internet. Please see the old 2006 posting at: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/10844.html "Do your Coils Sing? Mine do" for some supporting information.

I'm really bad at making short, concise postings.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off

[Hap_Tucker]

Below is my e-mail address that for some reason I could not get to post in the posting above.

Hap-s e-mail - 1.jpg (5.96 KiB) Viewed 1028 times

Because it is an image, you will need to type it into your e-mail. And yes, remove the extra spaces between the letters etc.

Respectfully added,

Hap l9l5 cut off