I had started rebuilding my 1923 Model T Colonial Roadster (a locally bodied Model T) about 4 years ago after collecting parts for the last 10 years. It does not pay to rush these things……. But with the work remaining there was no way it would be ready for the rally. Or so I thought.
Friends decided otherwise and we spent several hectic weeks in a ‘rush job’ to get the roadster to a stage where it could be road registered for legal use on the highways and byways of New Zealand. That process is a tale in itself, but I will shorten the story to say that WE MADE IT!
The car was duly certified and number plates issued the day before the rally started. I drove to the registration event and basked in the oohhs and ahhhs (it is an unusual body style). However, I was not brave enough to take it on the runs. These averaged over 100 miles a day up hills and down dales. Without the opportunity for shake down drives I considered it a ‘pedal’ too far
.- Registered 21-02-09 (1).jpg (63.85 KiB) Viewed 1980 times
As Albert (my '26 TT) is still a little ill (Ruckstell problems I think), I had pre-entered 'Aunty', my 1924 Morris Cowley, just in case. And so Aunty became the innocent lamb before the hungry wolves (Ford Ts). So this tale is a told from 'the other side' as a non-T driver among 'Ters'
At 96 years old Aunty was ‘average’ for the rally entrants’ age – it was to be an event of peers over 3 days giving a fair comparison and so off we set on a mix of fairly steep hills, wending roads and long flat straights (into the wind both ways
). Comparing the T's 2,900 cc of 20 ripping great horsepower with poor Aunty at 1,550 cc and 11.9 HP led to comments about how ‘narrow’ she looked next to the ‘big’ Fords and that I should not worry - they would wait for me to catch up, and assured me there would be water at the top of the hill to refill the boiling vessel at the front…..
The start: about town on the flats. Aunty kept up with the Ts and handled the stop start traffic with no worries at all. Without any strain we tootled along and could even pull away from the Ts when the lights went green. There was little to tell us apart (at least to the public waving along the way).
It must be the hills then... Aunty took the hills in her stride. Evans Pass is a fairly long and rather stiff climb that had most Ts down to low gear. Other than a ‘raceabout’ that flew past I can say no ‘standard’ T gained on Aunty and no others came close to passing her. In fact I was pulling away from the Ts by plodding along in 2nd gear (I have 3 speeds). I did have to drop to 1st gear for the last couple of hundred meters, but the Ts were crawling by then as well.
“How hard was she boiling?” you ask, well, despite the belief system in place (that Morris cars ALWAYS boil only by seeing a hill ahead) Aunty was steaming away at the top, but not overly so, and certainly she was emitting much less steam than most of the Ts and the calorometer never left the green.
Down hill – I bet that would be scary. We kept in 2nd all the way down and judicious use of service brake and hand brake brought us down comfortably and in company with the Ts without holding anyone up. You forget how useful a hand brake can be when driving a T - I am sure no one wants to pull that on when going down hill in a standard T!
The open road was also no big deal to Aunty. We sat between 35 and 40 mph gaining on the Ts a little over rising roads and keeping pace happily on the flats. It was most a pleasant drive.
An area where Aunty outshone the Ts was at the fuel stops. Aunty drinks very modestly compared to those big thirsty fours, and I have to admit, it is much less stressful to see the fuel level remaining in the sight glass (mounted on the dash) instead of guessing what is happening under your seat.
A very memorable time with great companions and, despite the good natured ribbing received, I can say Aunty ‘showed the flag’ well
