Archives
Local
Monroe Township

Happy birthday, Model T: It’s smoother, yet trickier to drive than you might have thought
Kelly Wilson Reporter email
Print
Share
  • Email to a friend
  • Add This
Feeds
Article Rating
Current Rating: (
0
/5)

Low High

(Rated
0
times)

Carlisle has ties to car’s national fame



The Ford Model T may have been a national sensation, but Carlisle can claim some special ties to the car that other communities can’t.



In the first part of the 20th century, at the height of Model T production, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle was a major contributor of workers to the Ford plant in Dearborn, Mich.



“There was a group of Carlisle boys who went to the Ford factory in the 1910s,” said Barbara Landis, Carlisle Indian School biographer with the Cumberland County Historical Society. “It was part of what they called the ‘outing system.’”



The practice, pioneered by the Indian school, was a method of bringing Native Americans into the “dominant” culture while eliminating connections to their past lives.

“What’s interesting about the Ford system was a lot of those guys stayed in the area, which was unusual,” Landis said.



Other students were sent to work for the Bethlehem Steel Company and for the Hershey Company, Landis said.

“That was all part of that ‘outing’ program that Carlisle was pretty famous for,” she said.



The goal was to teach students a trade they could use to assimilate into the mainstream culture rather than returning to a reservation, as many would otherwise.

Jim Thorpe was among the students sent to the Ford factory but he worked as security rather than filling a manufacturing role.



The last of the students, Andrew Cueller, lived to be over 100 and died early in the 21st century, Landis said. He also worked for Ford during the Model T years.



— Kelly Wilson

By Kelly Wilson, Sentinel Reporter, October 22, 2008

Last updated: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 11:45 AM EDT

I was a little excited about going out to see Mike Flynn’s Model T at first, just because I like old things in general.

I don’t know the first thing about cars, but like the people I talked to in the story, I’m fascinated by stories family members tell about “the old days.”

So when I talked to Mr. Flynn about coming to see his car and he offered me a ride in it, I jumped at the chance.

And it wasn’t only for my own personal, selfish reasons of wanting to ride in a car that’s literally right out of my grandparents’ childhoods. It was for you, the readers.

After all, it’s one thing to read a description of a car, but it’s quite another to read about being in the car. If I got a free ride out of it, I wasn’t going to complain.

We drove a little way up the street and turned down a few quiet roads and I was surprised at how smooth the drive was. The little car didn’t go very fast and it was clearly louder than a modern car, but with our speed keeping road noise to a minimum, we pretty much broke even.

But when we came back to Flynn’s house from our trip out on the open road and he asked if I wanted to drive it myself, I’ll admit I almost said no.

The last thing I’d want to do is hurt a car like that. I’d never forgive myself. Just that morning I’d left the headlights on in my own car and killed the battery, so I was feeling none too confident in my car-handling abilities.

But he assured me the car would be OK, that it was built to drive in rough areas like the grass, and I agreed to give it a shot.

From the driver’s side I could definitely agree with him. With just a couple of disorganized floor pedals and some kind of hand brake I didn’t know what to do with, I figured the car had outsmarted me. I couldn’t start it. We were all safe.

There wasn’t even any kind of shifting mechanism, unless that’s what was going on with the little sliding bar on the steering wheel, which I’d already been told worked on “arm strong” power steering.

Turns out that wasn’t what the little bar was for, and most of my other guesses were wrong as well, but after a quick lesson, we were ready to go on through the yard at break-neck walking speeds.

With the hand brake half-engaged and the car set to low gear, I was free to stomp on the far-left gas pedal all I wanted. My dubious effectiveness in maneuvering that steering wheel, however, kept me in check.

The other two pedals were brake and reverse pedals, Flynn said, so the car had no need for shifting at all. The little slide that threw me off at first sent gas to the engine, I learned, but unsure of what the varying measures on its track meant, I decided to let it well alone.

When we finally came to a stop at the end of the course around the pine trees and between the house and garage, I was half relieved and half disappointed.

Sure I’d miss my automatic windshield wipers and the pedals I’m used to, but I can see why people take to the Model T the way some do. It won me over just ambling around the yard.

Ford’s first Model T rolled out in the fall of 1908 and some editions are still out today



The older some things get, the more obvious it becomes that they just don’t make them like they used to.

It’s been 100 years since the first Ford Model T came out with the goal of making cars affordable and available to everyone, forever revolutionizing the way we think about cars.



For Monroe Township’s Mike Flynn, buying a Model T turned out to be a fun do-it-yourself project, and a great way to make new friends.



“I get to talk to a lot of people who usually I wouldn’t get a chance to talk to,” Flynn said.



But more than that, it’s a dream come true.



Flynn has always been interested in older cars, he said, and he used to own a 1947 John Deere tractor and a 1952 Dodge truck.



But he’s also always wanted an old Model T, the car he remembers his father driving when Flynn was growing up in Mississippi.



When he found one for sale, he gave up the Dodge and the tractor without hesitation.



Almost everything the car needed came with it, but the Model T took some time to put together. So much so, in fact, that Flynn’s wife nicknamed it “Jezebel” as a joke about the time her husband spends with “the other woman.”

But besides the old parts like the 1926 model’s authentic wooden spokes in the wheels, it also has a few upgrades for the law’s sake.



A brake light and taillight, for instance, are now secured to the back of the car.



Like Flynn’s connection to the Model T, South Middleton resident Tom Benjey said his brother Dan’s fascination with the car began when they and another brother took their father on an antique car tour.



Not long after, Dan Benjey bought a 1915 model of his own and the three brothers fixed it up.



But the older cars are not without their day-to-day challenges.



One of the dangers of that older model is the crank starter, Tom Benjey said. Should the car backfire while someone is trying to start it, the person behind the crank could face serious hand or wrist injuries.



Another concern was the gravity-operated fueling system, which caused trouble for drivers between fill-ups.



“If you were trying to go up a hill with the tank not full, the engine gets starved for gas,” he said. It was not uncommon to see people drive up hills backwards to avoid the situation.



By the time the Model T reached the end of the road in 1927, about 15 million had been built and sent rolling across the country.



Time has revealed the cars to have a sturdy build making them a serviceable mode of transportation a century later. With a top speed of 35 miles per hour, the Model T might not be the quickest thing on the road, but it’s sturdy.



Flynn said the cars were built for rough travel like the dirt roads they would have faced in their early days, and that he would hate to paint it.



“If you get it too nice you can’t play with it,” Flynn said.



What made the cars so unique in their day was the assembly line process, replacing the slower process of having each car built to completion before moving on to the next.



During his career, Henry Ford became famous for other innovations as well, including modern work hours and weeks, and wages high enough to let workers afford the cars they built.



Over time, many of those ideas caught on and are still around today.



Maybe they do make them like they used to.



— Kelly Wilson