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Show Model T Was a Memorable Car Anyone who once owned and drove a Model T Ford notes the advent of the new Edsel with lots of memories. Owned and drove one not as a hobby but as a piece of valuable transportation. transpor-tation. And a Model T not of its twilight but before the dawn of the Model A, but a Model T in the starkness of its own Eocene age. It came to be sure with four wheels, left side steering, a powerful little motor, art alleged "one-man" top,, and electric lights. But all of these items demand de-mand description. The wheels were shod with high-pressure tires about the size of those on a modem motorcycle. mo-torcycle. They had be be changed (and frequently) on the wheel and pn the car by prying them off the "clincsher" rim. The favorite fa-vorite tool was a broken spring leaf. The motor was hand cranked and water cooled without a water pump. It boiled merrily on any summer day on any long grade. Experienced drivers were known to fix leaks in the cooling system by pouring corn meal or breaking an egg into the filler pipe. The fuel tank snuggled under the seat, and if the gas ran low on a steep hill the experienced ex-perienced driver knew how to back up the incline so the fuel would run down into the carburetor. car-buretor. The steering gear, the size of an alarm clock, was just beneath be-neath ihe steering wheel. The driver, felt every rut and rock in his hands. Two pedals worked the transmission. Press down on one for low, let back for high, and down on another for backing. back-ing. (One purchaser is said to have pressed down for 800 miles before he learned he could "let 'er back.") A skillful dance stepj on these two pedals could spin a Model T around "on a dime." The headlights ran on the magneto mag-neto (the tail light on kerosene) . The faster the road let one go, the brighter the lights, the rougher the road the dimmer the lights unless one threw into neutral and raced the motor. One road in a Model T bolt upright as at a i lunch counter and with smoothness smooth-ness somewhat superior to a "spring wagon." A primitive contraption, you say? Yes, but not to bad, even by 1926 with self starter added, at $310 f.o.b. |