Early Road Trip Books

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Flivver
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Early Road Trip Books

Post by Flivver » Wed May 17, 2023 3:19 pm

Can you guys recommend books or stories of early automobile road trips? Prefer those originally published in Model T era or earlier.

Thanks!


Scott_Conger
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Re: Early Road Trip Books

Post by Scott_Conger » Wed May 17, 2023 4:18 pm

Alice's Drive: Republishing Veil, Duster, and Tire Iron

I am not a "story" reader, and even for me, this was a "must read"
Scott Conger

Tyranny under the guise of law is still Tyranny

NH Full Flow Float Valves
Obsolete carburetor parts manufactured


zdillinger
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Re: Early Road Trip Books

Post by zdillinger » Wed May 17, 2023 5:27 pm

From Sea to Sea in 1903 in a Curved Dash Oldsmobile by John Hammond is a great one.


ModelT46
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Re: Early Road Trip Books

Post by ModelT46 » Wed May 17, 2023 5:55 pm

Travels with Zerobia by Rose Wilder Lane is a wonderful story of two young women traveling Europe in a Model T Sedan in the 1920s. Rose Wilder Lane was a well known author who was the daughter of Wilder who wrote the Little House on The Prairie series. Original copies of this book are rare. I have one. It has been reprinted by the University of Missouri. Check on line.

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Re: Early Road Trip Books

Post by Chris Instness » Thu May 18, 2023 12:16 am

This is one of my dad’s favorites. He has read it multiple times. It’s just the story of a couple guys on a road trip in a Model T.
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945AF722-1B79-45EC-B5BF-BDAB87F6ECD3.jpeg

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John E. Guitar
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Re: Early Road Trip Books

Post by John E. Guitar » Thu May 18, 2023 1:10 am

Motor flight through France by Edith Wharton (1908).

Travelling in a Panhard et Levassor, the brand that inspired Henry to use Vanadium steel.

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Re: Early Road Trip Books

Post by Flivver » Thu May 18, 2023 7:18 am

Great suggestions! Keep them coming.


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Re: Early Road Trip Books

Post by JeremyMc » Mon May 29, 2023 8:05 am

I think I found some good recommendations as well. Learning more about automobile road trips of those times will be interesting. In general, I like books that describe life in the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century. There was something really interesting in those days for me. Recently, I found on one website a summary of the book 12 years a slave which was written in the middle of the 19 century. You can check here and get to know more info. I think it is worth reading. But I guess it will be after I read the books you recommended here. I was particularly interested in 'From sea to sea' and 'Travels with Zenobia'. Thanks
Last edited by JeremyMc on Fri Jun 02, 2023 5:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.


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Re: Early Road Trip Books

Post by J1MGOLDEN » Mon May 29, 2023 8:17 am

Darlene's Silver Streak and The Bradford Model T Girls, by John G. Butte was on sale at the MRFCA Museum a few years ago and the Model T was on display.

Several girls made trips every summer in the car for several years and met a lot of important people.

There was a lot of history of what was happening in the USA at that time. They went to Canada too.

The car.
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Re: Early Road Trip Books

Post by J1MGOLDEN » Mon May 29, 2023 8:20 am

Typo: MRFCA is MTFCA.

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Re: Early Road Trip Books

Post by Steve Jelf » Mon May 29, 2023 9:26 am

Jim, click on the pencil at the top of your post and you can edit to make corrections.
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Re: Early Road Trip Books

Post by Chris Barker » Mon May 29, 2023 11:31 am

Four on a tour in England by Robert and Elizabeth Shackleton.

Two American couples just a few weeks before WW1 began in summer 1914.
They sailed to Liverpool and took delivery of a new Model T from Manchester.
Drove 2927 miles all round the UK.

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Re: Early Road Trip Books

Post by Hap_Tucker » Mon May 29, 2023 11:48 am

I apologize if it was already mentioned, but the Ford Pamphlet on the New York to Seattle Race (Ocean to Ocean) back in 1909 is a fun read. I looked but I didn't see it listed for sale in Lang's -- maybe it never was? But most of it (maybe all) is included on pages 62- 75 of Philip van Doren Stern's "Tin Lizzie" copyright 1955 - Simon and Schuster, Inc. It is available at some libraries and you could request an inter-library loan if they don't have a copy near you. I think it was reprinted (quality of reprint is not known). That book is also a great read on Model Ts in general -- although later discoveries reveal some errors.

Not a book -- but a documentary of the first automobile crossing of the USA back in 1903 by PBS. Again I looked but it said not available? I think we watched on streaming? Anyway -- I enjoyed it a lot. One place to start tracking it down if you want to watch it: https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/horatios-drive/ again -- when I went there today -- that was a dead end, but it has details to help in a search.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off


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Re: Early Road Trip Books

Post by J1MGOLDEN » Mon May 29, 2023 12:38 pm

Thanks Steve!

I did not know that and my major was computer science!


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Re: Early Road Trip Books

Post by J1MGOLDEN » Mon May 29, 2023 12:49 pm

About five years ago, a guy from England came over here and bought a Model T to drive from Virginia to California.

He had never driven one before this trip.

Then he took a detour to Texas for car repairs and still had the engine fail near his destination. His book never sold well in America, but it is available on Amazon and a fun to read story.

The title is Another Fine Mess, Across the USA in a Ford Model T, and the author is Tim Moore.

He did take the T back to England after his drive was complete.

He flew back!


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Re: Early Road Trip Books

Post by JohnM » Mon May 29, 2023 1:21 pm

Shaking The Nickel Bush, By Ralph Moody is an autobiographical story of two men traveling west in 1919 in a second hand ford. They find they can make big money doing stunts and "falls" on horses in the movies, as long as their bodies hold out. Published in 1962.

https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/bison ... 803282186/

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Re: Early Road Trip Books

Post by Kaiser » Tue May 30, 2023 3:47 pm

'Across the world in a Napier' by Andrew M Jepson
'From Peking to Paris' by count Luigi Barzini
'Light car patrols' by Claud Williams and Russel McGuirck

I have more but they are in a big stack of books that i am afraid will bury me if i try to take it apart looking for one :)
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