"I thought you had the agency for the Ford automobile?" "I did, but they took it away from me." "Who took it away?" "The five and ten cent store." (Funabout Fords, by J.J. White, The Howell Co., 1915)

We had 28 folks at our meeting on April 2nd. Our Secretary Marquise gave us each a copy of our club roster which lists everyone’s address, phone number(s) and the T’s that own each of us – our "T"thanks to Marquise! Joe Kaiser (ejayk@yahoo.com) has been busy developing our very own website courtesy of Hemmings Motor News – you can visit the club’s new website and see the pictures of our members and their cars at http://clubs.hemmings.com/frameset.cfm?club=mtfccf if you have one of those new fangled computers. Joe has also started to list our members by name, what kind of T they own and email address – if you don’t want your information to be displayed please contact Joe via email or phone him or Nancy at 407-671-2812.

Every now and again we have a little auction of some vital Model T part, but you know, sometimes good things come in brown paper bags that just might not be for the T, and we had a donation of one of those bags. Gale Smith won the bid for $15 and then sold a peek at the goodies inside for just $1. I think he made just about $15 more dollars for the club with those peeks. I just wonder what was inside that bag – don’t you? I heard tell that it was vitally important and what’s more it was auctioned off again at the meeting of the Model A’s of Greater Orlando for about the same amount and they also sold peeks for a dollar. It just goes to show you that we have a lot of good sports in both clubs that love their Fords – and they may be old but they still get hot!

The Vintage Ford Gleanings for April was given by Richard Fortner. Richard had seen my cotter pin installation when he, Joe and Nancy Kaiser, Lon Miller and his Fiancée, Mike Bartlett, my wife Judie, and my next door neighbor John Canada and his son helped to put our 16’ T Touring back together (MUCH THANKS FOLKS) – sooo … Richard says … (1) the right way to install cotter pins will be shown by an example that will be passed around (I tried to pocket the bolt, nut and cotter pin – I needed a permanent example – but Richard was too quick for me!); (2) If you soak those thin paper gaskets in hot water a few seconds, they will swell to the proper size and lay flat; and (3) Gas lines should be at least 3/16’ in diameter, and 5/16" is even better. Ups and downs should be at a minimum. Use low 87 octane gas, and he recommends that if you still have vapor lock to add 3 or 4 ounces of outboard type oil to a tank of gas. Much of the rest of the meeting was taken up with talk about the little 105 mile tour that Richard and Carol had planned for us that started in St. Cloud.

On April the 5th we all met at the Tractor Store in St. Cloud around 9 am. There were 29 people on the tour in 12 Model T’s. We also had 3 cars from the Fun T’s. Those that attended were Bob and Pam Most of Tampa with their 1914 Touring, Milt Roorda of Odessa in his 1922 Touring, Edwin Sargent, Fran Newsome, Paul and Wanda Herrmann of Dade City in Ed’s 1925 Touring (Fran, does Ed know you said it was for sale ... CHEAP?); Terry and Marcie McKittrick from the Horseless Carriage Club of America from Melbourne FL in their T, Gayle and Barbara Smith and their 1927 Touring from Leesburg, Mike Bartlett and Don Larson in Mike’s 1914 Depot Hack from Oviedo, Walt and Angie Schneider in their 1922 Touring from DeLand, Vince Leffler in his 1923 Roadster Pickup of Sanford, Lester and Carol Grooms in their 1926 Coupe from New Smyrna Beach, Richard and Carol from St. Cloud in their 1923 Roadster, and Mike & Judie Story in their 1916 Touring from Winter Park. Great turnout. We drove those 105 miles with Judie and Nanny driving the vulture wagon and bringing up the rear (she was always right behind me – just in case, but she never did get a pick up!). Some of us did have a couple of problems – a stuck in gear Ruxtell – a good thwack with a hammer fixed that – a fan belt that kept coming off – stop using rubber bands Richard! And one that was running a little rough – never did figure that one out – must have been a Model T! During the tour the highlight was our visit to Forever Florida which is a pristine conservation of several thousand acres of Florida – lunch was superb in the gift shop/restaurant that had a beautiful large fireplace. The whole building had a sweeping porch that was very reminiscent of an old Florida farmhouse from the 1800’s. There was even a petting zoo, and they had swamp buggy tours for anyone that wanted to join in the fun. It was a great day that was "T"hourghly enjoyed by everyone that attended – our thanks to Richard and Carol Fortner! You too can plan a nice little tour that would be enjoyed by everyone .. just think about it …. And MAKE a great day!

MAKE a grea"T" day!

Mike Story, President, 407-678-5477, email: mjstory@quixnet.net