OT-What to do with old Model T Fords.

[rangerider7]

My dad and his brother decided to go to "The Chicago Worlds Fair" in 1933. They didn't have hardly any money but were able to buy an old Model T Ford that they got to running for 20 dollars. They pooled their money and started off. Believe it or not they made it to the Ozarks in Arkansas before they had two flats at the same time. They pushed it to a service station, the only one for miles, and ask if they had some tools to fix flats. The owner said sure. They asked if they could borrow them. He said no but they could rent them, for 8 dollars, the same amount that he would charge to fix the flats himself. They didn't have that kind of money to spend and still make it to Chicago. They asked him if wanted to buy the Ford. He said sure, for 8 dollars. They pushed it out to the highway and over a cliff. They smiled at the service station owner and started hitchhiking. My dad and his brother had never been to a large city so when they had to split up to get a ride they just told each other "I will meet you at the edge of town". They never did see each other again until they made it home to Texas a year later.

[Ysabel Kid]

Great story! Thanks for sharing!!!

[Tycer]

Awesome.

[20cows]

I can see the smile on their faces!

[Griff]

RR7,

That was great. Thanks for the belly laugh!

[DBW]

Classic Americana. Thanks for sharing the story.

[bogus bill]

My mom also went to that same fair. She told me that grandpa made her take a couple crates of eggs to sell to defray her exspences. Grandpa ran a large country general store in wisconsin.

[Barcelona Rick]

RR7...my grandaddy was a small spread rancher and farmer for many years. In 1920 or 1922 he rode his horse to town and saw a T Model or two sitting at the Ford House. He rode over to look 'em over and one was new and one was used. There wasn't much difference in price so he told 'em he'd take the new one. He paid alittle down and with a handshake to pay some when he had some money. Well the owner drove him to his place with his horse tied to the back and a shop hand followed on a motorcycle. They got to his place and he had a few minutes of driving instructions and back to town the owner and shop hand went. Papaw fired it up with my grandma with him and managed to drive around the pasture awhile.....but he couldn't figure out how to stop...so he just ran it into a pecan tree and they left it.......for about two months.....he finally learned to drive and did so until he passed away at age 90....Texas in the old days....

jumbeaux

[Griff]

RR7...my grandaddy was a small spread rancher and farmer for many years. In 1920 or 1922 he rode his horse to town and saw a T Model or two sitting at the Ford House. He rode over to look 'em over and one was new and one was used. There wasn't much difference in price so he told 'em he'd take the new one. He paid alittle down and with a handshake to pay some when he had some money. Well the owner drove him to his place with his horse tied to the back and a shop hand followed on a motorcycle. They got to his place and he had a few minutes of driving instructions and back to town the owner and shop hand went. Papaw fired it up with my grandma with him and managed to drive around the pasture awhile.....but he couldn't figure out how to stop...so he just ran it into a pecan tree and they left it.......for about two months.....he finally learned to drive and did so until he passed away at age 90....Texas in the old days....

jumbeaux

Tennesse warn't much different... was visiting my uncle once and he was complainin' about the Sheriff arresting him for driving without a license. My uncle'd rear-ended a car comin' home from the store in his '46 Ford p/u, (about 1990), had never been worked on. Uncle Roy's logic was that he didn't have to have a license when he started driving in about 1930, so why get one now? I think his real problem was that the Sheriff was his cousin.

[adirondakjack]

Too funny. My grandfather never drove. Born in 1885 or so, his kids were in WWII, and three of em came home with money enough to buy cars once they found em.... My one uncle bought a '25 Chevy and was adamant he was gonna teach his dad to drive. Nobody ever told him a 60 yr old isn't likely to learn real easy. Gramps got behind the wheel and made it about 150 ft before crashing into a telephone pole, bending the front bumper of the car right in the middle, a mean feat with those old spring steel bumpers. Without a word he got out and walked back to the house. That was the sum total of his driving career.

My uncle was a frugal sort, and drove the 25 chevy until '49, when he'd saved enough for a brand new Studebaker that he drove until his death in the early 1970s. He still had the '25 in the garage (the studebaker lived outside), as he was not gonna let it go for what little he'd been offered for it. Last I knew (1990s) it was still around, restored somewhat and driven now and again by an old man who knew both my uncle and grandpa. The front bumper was still caved in right in the middle, and the frame rails bent a tad, but not too bad.

[TX Gun Runner]

This was a every day driver [weather permitting] . I owned it from 1985 to 1995 when I lived in Ca .

[Borregos]

Great stories to start my day with a smile, thanks for posting

[winchester1886]

Great old stories those kind of fun things don't seem to happen anymore, goin to fast to have fun anymore, I think we have lost the plot to a big degree. Sad but true I think.

[geobru]

My Grandfather was a blacksmith and spent his life handling horses. When he got his first car, he pulled it into the carriage shed and pulled back on the steering wheel and said whoa!! as he drove through the back of the shed!

New technology is hard to handle! The car to him is the computer to many of us!!