Ford and Friends Celebrate Model T Centennial in Indiana: Part 7

Continued from yesterday... Driving 2,500 miles from his home in Madras, Oregon, Dennis Prince was one of dozens of T owners who went off-roading with

their cars and camped along the way.

“The roads are technologically much better than they were in the early 1900s,” Prince said. “But for me, this trip was a personal triumph because I've always wanted to do it since high school.”

For off-roading, he carried an ax, shovel, and chains. For camping, he had a stash of modern equipment along with period items including a potato peeler and meet turner. On top of Model T's engine was a cooking box for food.

“The engine compartment doesn't get hot enough to actually cook stuff, but it's good for reheating and keeping things warming,” Prince said. “I had a pot roast and potatoes out of it and even a burrito.”

Although he owns four other Model Ts, a Ford Model A and cars from the 1950s and 1960s, Prince used the worn-looking 1924 T that was equipped with bigger tires and brakes –

aftermarket accessories available from that era – but under the hood it was equipped with a nonstandard high compression head.

“It probably has about 27 to 28 horsepower and I've clocked it at 52 mph, but once you get above 46 mph, the wind buffets around the windshield and that's not good for driving,” Prince noted.

Dean Yoder's home in Iowa City, Iowa, is about 440 miles from Richmond, Indiana, but his journey from home to the centennial party took seven weeks and 10,160 miles – thanks to a camping trip to Dawson City in the Yukon and neighboring Alaska while pulling a vintage trailer.

“I want to drive a gravel road and the longest one I could find was in Alaska,” Yoder said. “And, you see more out of a Model T going 35 to 40 miles per hour than you see out of a car going 70.”

On his journey,

Yoder only suffered one flat tire, though he replaced the tires three times (the modern reproduction Model T tires apparently aren't made as well as the original Firestones). Yoder acquired his 1924 Model T in from an estate sale of a Missouri man in 1997 and since then he replaced the crankshaft and put in a rebuilt motor. But, after 55,000 miles (including the Alaska trip) he reported that the T is still “going strong.”

“I'm running a vintage high compression head, but other than that it is pretty much stock,” Yoder said. “It has Rocky Mountain brakes and a Ruckstell rear end. When pulling a trailer, the Ruckstell is almost a necessity so you don't have to hold your foot to the floor and wear the low-speed band down.”

The Rocky Mountain drum-like brakes and Ruckstell axle were among the thousands of aftermarket parts available to Model T owners who wanted more accessories than were available from Ford's barebones factory models.

Yoder's trailer, which he equipped with a Conestoga-like canopy, also was noteworthy.

“It's made with rivet construction and is probably from the ‘20s or the ‘30s,” Yoder said. “Interestingly, it has a wiring harness that is the same as they used for the Model T headlights. So, I figured it could have been pulled behind a Model T in its day.”

Note: Come back tomorrow for part eight: World's First RV

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