A wonderful Model T Day in Southern California

[Chris Bamford]

So there I was, at loose ends for a few days last week in Anaheim, CA whilst Lady Michelle and our youngest son, his wife and the grandboy were enjoying some All-Disney-All-Three-Days time.

Forum member and Long Beach Chapter member Gene Carrouthers offered to swing by the hotel and pick me up for a day of Model T tire kicking and related fun. Count me in!

Gene drives a lovely ’12 Torpedo roadster, hopped up a bit with an E-timer, Warford under/over, 4-wheel mechanical brakes and doubtless a few more enhancements. I’ve ridden with Gene in the past, and was hoping for an exhilarating ride on some of LA’s finest freeways. He did not disappoint.

Here is a link to a brief video of us mixing it up with the moderns on CA 57: https://youtu.be/Z60KKpbKi60

Our first stop was at Dave Seiler’s place in Brea, CA. Beyond the usual tall tales and tire-kicking, our mission was a close look at Dave’s cleverly modified ’26 TT pickup. Dave restored his truck as a practical driver (i.e. Las Vegas to LA in 12 hours) with some subtle but highly effective modifications…

The factory cab was tastefully extended by three inches — while not immediately obvious, the increased length paid off in much greater comfort inside. Rather that mess around adding the inches behind the doors as one might expect, the doors themselves were moved back 3” by shifting the hinges from the very front corners to the rear of the front pillars. A corresponding 3” panel was added to the floorboards just ahead of the seat base. Nice.

A TT worm drive is not the answer for highway travel, so Dave swapped in a passenger car Ruckstell rear axle. He turned beefier spokes to mate the passenger hubs to the TT felloes and rims, and the result is a high-speed TT that looks little different than original.

Here is an underside view of the Warford transmission and the 13” drive shaft extension with steady bearing that made everything work together nicely.

Continued next post…

[Chris Bamford]

Continued from previous post...

Next stop, Garrett Green’s place. Garrett is a veteran of numerous Montana 500s with multiple first-place finishes. Very interesting guy and very knowledgable.

Garrett’s ’26 Touring, the “Green Machine”, ran a remarkable 17 straight Montana 500 races. The car belies its looks (that Mother’s Wax decal is definitely on the wrong car) and is in fact highly tuned to be competitive against consistently strong fields. The cars are so well developed and well matched, Garrett’s winning margin against the second place finisher in one race was something like 46 seconds. Over 500 miles!

Performance aside, one of the coolest things on this rig is the coil box lid, personally signed by none other than Mister Henry Ford the Third his very self.

Off to lunch at a local sandwich shop: I rode shotgun with Garrett in his other Montana 500 car, this red ’26 Roadster. Gene followed in the ’12 Torpedo.

Our last stop on this marvellous day was at Tom Leroux’s nearby shop. Tom is in the lift service business but also more than dabbles in all things Model T mechanical. His shop is a regular hang-out for members of MFTCA’s Long Beach and Orange County chapters (safety inspections, tools and equipment, etc) and is equipped for engine building, babbitting, machining, and all manner of general repairs and restoration.

Tom is overhauling a ’26-27 steering column while Jeff Skinner monitors the action. I thought for a moment that we had stumbled into some kind of government operation: one guy working and three more supervising.

Group photo at Tom’s shop, left to right: Tim O’Gorman, Gene Carruthers, Tom Leroux, John Craig, and Jeff Skinner. Tim is the Long Beach chapter president, and is contemplating an epic drive from LA to New York and return in his T Touring. Go Tim!!

Thank you Gene, Dave, Garrett, Tom and all for a fabulous Model T Day. Very memorable and very much appreciated.

[FreighTer Jim]

What a great post !

Gene is very helpful indeed …
He has helped me pick up Model T’s
in the past - I could not have gotten
them out of right spots otherwise.

You had a Living Legends Tour …


FJ

[Chris Bamford]

Here are a few more photos that may be of interest:

Side view into Dave's TT illustrates the relatively spacious driving position that resulted from extending the cab by three inches. The 3" filler strip is just visible ahead of the seat base. Apologies to Gene for the remarkably unflattering photo (like mine was the first camera-phone he'd ever seen!).

Mission Control in Garrett's multiple-Montana-500 touring: when mere seconds can make the difference between winner and first loser, the operator can never have too much information. The Ruckstell lever is locked in direct range during competition.

And likewise for Garrett's red Montana 500 roadster. What looks like an antenna secured under the upper ammeter-cover screw is in fact a thin steel wire "vibrometer", giving a visual confirmation (or otherwise) of seat-of-the-pants impressions.

The "popsicle sticks" spanning across the upper and lower windshield halves on each side are secured by a thin wire and lead seal. This is standard procedure to ensure contestants cannot open their windshields to gain aerodynamic advantage.

Speaking of which, Garrett confided that high-speed testing indicates that a touring with the top up and full side curtains is about 1 mph faster than any other configuration... top down, top missing, top open at the back etc. That one little mile per hour, over 500 miles, works out to nearly 10 minutes — an eternity when the race can be one or lost by less than a minute. Fascinating stuff.

[SurfCityGene]

Chris, We really enjoyed the day with you and glad you had a great time. You know, sometimes it's nice to have a reason to get the T's out for some joy riding around stopping in at a friends house to bother them. Seems like we can always learn something new.

My experience has been that our T community is unique because wherever you go you can always find someone willing to take the time to stop and chat or even lend you a car! Always nice to see old friends again! Thanks for posting till next time....