Model T against horse

[dale clawson]

My grandfather told of going after a herd of horses when he was a teenager, he was born in 1898. He rode with his uncle from Rotan, Texas up into New Mexico in a model T. There were not many roads as such, just wagon trails, and the trip up the caprock onto the high plains was made several times as the carburetor would run out of gas on the steep incline as the fuel tank was in front of the windshield and gravity fed. The steep angle prevented the gas reaching the carburetor until someone advisied them to back up the hill. They had as many as a dozen flats a day, which they repaired on the spot, and muddy roads were a problem that was solved occasionally by picking the stuck car up and setting it out of the ruts. Once the engine got to knocking really bad, so they drained the oil in a bucket then turned the car on it's side, removed the pan, filed the rod caps (he called this "tightening the boxings"), then set it upright and poured the oil back in. They generally slept wherever night caught them, but sometimes were invited to spend the night in a barn. Hospitality dictated that they be invited for meals everywhere they stopped and was rarely turned down, wouldn't have been polite to refuse. The trip up took more than two weeks, the trip home took less as the horses would follow an old mare with a bell on wherever she was led and they didn't have to follow roads or wagon trails going home.

[Baldy]

We were a Great Country back then.

[J Miller]

I don't know much about Model Ts, but I had an opertunity to work over a 1927 Chevy and I can tell you that any person with even one IQ can keep them going.
Basic transportation is all they were, or are. Wooden framed bodies with metal skins, clevis pins, mechanical everything.

Oh for the simple times.

Joe

[Robertbank]

Closest thing to the Model T or A now is the French Citroen 2CZ and it is out of production now though awhile back there was a company restoring them and selling them into N.A. as new.


Take Care

Bob

[Chargar]

My Grandmother was born in 1891 on the Chocktaw Nation in Indian Territory in 1891. Her family came to Texas (Coleman Count) in 1899. She told me of a trip in the dead of winter from the ranch near Trickham to Canyon Texas in an early Model T. It was bitter cold and all the car had was canvas side curtains. They followed wagon roads where they could, but often just followed the fence lines.

[versifier]

Welcome to the forum, Chargar. Glad to see you've found your way over from next door.

[C1PNR]

just followed the fence lines.

In the late 60's I was working in rural Eastern Idaho. On MORE than one occasion during the winter, there was absolutely no indication in the snow where the road was. I, too, "followed the fence lines."

The more things change, the more they stay the same!:cool:

[dale clawson]

Grandad was born in Oklahoma Territory in 1899. His parents settled there in the land run of 1889 after immigrating from Germany. They moved to Rotan, Tx. in 1903 traveling in a wagon (Of course). He said he remembered the wagon and traveling, but that was about it. I wish that I had recorded his story, as much of it is gone now. Dale