May 2005

Dear Model T’ers Everywhere,

“An Irishman came out of an office building and found his Ford locked in between two large cars. He got into the car and honked a few times, but the chauffeur of the large car ahead paid no attention to him. Finally the Irishman shouted, “I say, me frind, will you pull up a bit, or shall I go under you?” (Funabout Fords by J.J. White, The Howell Company, Chicago, 1915).

Our first meeting at our new location of Piccadilly Restaurant at 1801 East Colonial Drive in Orlando was held on May 25, 2005. Just about everyone arrived around 6 p.m. to enjoy dinner at the restaurant before the meeting began at 7 p.m. During the meeting we had about 26 folks in attendance and we welcomed a new perspective member Jim Phillips who has a “new” 1926 T Touring – Jim is new to our hobby and we all made him feel welcome. Like most of us sometimes the T can seem to be a mysterious machine that requires a little tinkering to bring her up to par, so a little advice, good humor, and help from various members in the club was offered and hopefully we will have Jim on the road soon to enjoy his T with us all. And in honor of his ’26 T we had about 26 folks present too.

Marquise distributed our new membership directory to everyone present and if there are any changes to be made to the directory please let her know via email, phone or in writing to her. Thank you Marquise for your efforts to keep us all in touch with each other.

Marquise and Jack Mahaffey have invited everyone to join them for the 4th of July, to come and drive in the short parade they participate in every year at Geneva, not far from their home. We will be meeting at 8:30 a.m. at Jack & Marquise’s, you can unload and leave your trailer there, and we will leave about 9 a.m. for the parade, and return for a barbeque. Jack and Marquise will furnish the meat and cold drinks. Everyone is asked to bring a covered dish.

Thanks was given by all of us to Angie and Walt Schneider for the “Follow Me” tour that we went on Saturday May 21st from their home. We had really great weather throughout the day, the rural roads made for a fun filled and great “T” day. We also had a really super pancake breakfast at the old Sugar Mill at the Ponce Deleon Springs State Park – nice cool clear and refreshing 69 degree water flows from the spring in enormous quantities into the famed St Johns River daily. Swimmers were everywhere and a few brave souls were diving down deep into the mouth of the cave some eighty feet into the spring. We were also joined on the tour by Greg Clarke and his lovely wife “Hey You” – Greg is the president of the Crankin “A” Region Model A Restorer’s Club of Daytona Beach – and we were all happy to have a ”A” younger sister with our “T’s” and her proud parents. During the tour I discovered that our ’16 Touring seemed to be stalling as we were driving along enjoying the sights; we would drive for miles and “Dolly” would run great and then all of the sudden it was like she would run out of gas and stall out. When we were at Deleon Springs and before the tour actually began I noticed a little gas leak where the fuel line runs into the carburetor so I tightened up the line at the carb and all seemed to be fine. My sweet bride said to me after a couple of stalls – you need gas, I pulled over when “Dolly” died and Judie hoped out and I checked the gas – 8 gallons on the stick, wind Dolly up and she starts on the first quarter turn – off we go again for another 20 miles or so, Dolly stalls, I drain the carb, check her gas again – still plenty of gas. This goes on for most of the tour – we are last in the “Follow Me” tour and Jack and Susie Whitt are always in front of us keeping an eye on us to make sure we are OK in their ’16 touring. When we get back to Angie and Walt’s I’m afraid to turn Dolly off – we are about 60 miles from the barn. Everyone said goodbye, many were off to a late lunch and some more fellowship, but we decided to call it a day. We drove about another 15 miles and Dolly stalled again – same routine, and off again to Chuluota – Judie is digging around in the car looking for a “For Sale” sign! A few words of wisdom keep coming back to me from “Smiling” Jack Mahaffey “it’s always something simple!” We have a nice lunch in Sanford at our favorite Greek restaurant and then off for home. We get about 5 miles from home and Dolly does her trick again stalling in the middle of the intersection – “Judie, you steer and I’ll push!” and as we start Jack and Marquise drive up and Jack helps us to get Dolly into the gas station. Jack said he would run home and bring back some starting fluid – she wouldn’t start at all. I decided to check the gas again – we were at a gas station, why not fill her up with some “good” gas! This time as I opened up her tank I hear a “whoosh” come from the tank as air is sucked inside – A VAPOR LOCK! “Dolly” cranks on the first quarter turn and off we go to Jack and Marquise’s, as we drive up they are backing out their truck (they have unloaded their car and were coming to get us with their trailer). I explain it to Jack and we inspect the gas cap air vent which seems to be plugged -- Jack removes the debris , cleans off the cap and air inlet and off we go – no problem “its always something simple.” I need to mention that I had replaced the gas tank a couple of years ago when we restored “Dolly” and because I didn’t want the new tank to degrade I coated the inside with gas tank sealer, I thought I had cleaned out the air vent having wedged a tooth pick in the hole to keep the airway clear but apparently didn’t get all of it! That’s my tinkering tip!

During our “Follow Me” tour Tom and Wanda Johnson brought out the new ’24 Depot Hack and she is a real beauty. Tom hand crafted the body himself and Jack and Marquise rode with them. It is reported that some sort of strange noise was coming from the delightful machine and after a few minutes of hearing this irritating and worrisome noise, Jack was overheard to say “you want me to fix that?” Tommy said sure! Jack reached up and touched the glass windshield and the noise stopped! “It’s always something simple with a T.”

Richard Fortner gave us a Tinkering Tip and recommended that if we needed a new pinion gear to make sure that we buy from Lang’s because the quality of the one he received was far superior to any other that he had found. Richard also recommended our own “Musty Mustang” John Dwyer for the new tinkering tip person, and I requested that everyone send in their questions, suggestions and recommendations to John for everyone’s benefit at the meetings.

“Musty Mustang” John Dwyer informed everyone that is going on the cruise to Cozumel with the Model T Ford Club International ‘s 52nd Annual Meeting and Banquet Cruise January 26-30, 2006, must have a current passport to go. And as I found out to renew your passport will take 6 to 8 weeks.

About 5 families from our club will be attending the Model T Ford Club International’s 49th Annual Tour July 17-22 in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and if you haven’t made your reservations you need to do so as soon as possible. Jack Mahaffey also said there is a possibility there may be another short tour for 3 or 4 days in Savannah, Georgia in February or March of 2006 – so keep your fingers crossed for that one too.

We have been invited by the Model A’s of Greater Orlando to their Meeting and Model A Olympics on September 18th – more details to follow, but we have done this one before a couple of years ago and it was a lot of fun eat and to play with the younger sisters and their parents.

We are already planning our Christmas Party at Ft. Christmas, Florida, on December 10th. Judie and Mike Story made the reservations and Marquise said she would set up and be in charge of he Model T games.

Angie and Wally Schneider told us all about some scam someone from England had tried to pull on them since they were trying to sell one of their T’s , and tried to get access to their account number – they had set up a separate account just for this transaction, and when they wouldn’t send a bank draft to their new account, they told them to send it to their attorney – and they have not heard from them again – be careful, there are a lot of scams out there. Thanks Wally and Angie.

Jack and Susie Whitt have offered to set up a tour for us in the near future to Homosassa Springs which was enthusiastically received – lets plan it!

Tom Johnson also showed us all a new set of juice brakes he has designed and made to put on his T – for some reason he likes to be able to stop – sincerely, they were a nice piece of engineering –- great job Tommy! So how many can you manufacture in a week?

MAKE a grea”T” day! Mike Story, President

EVENTS

June 28th – Next Meeting – Piccadilly Cafeteria, 1801 E Colonial Dr (SR 50), Orlando 7-9 p.m.

July 4th – Parade and Barbeque at Marquise and Jack Mahaffey’s

July 17-22 – 49th Annual Tour Model T Ford Club International in Shenandoah Valley, VA

September 18th – Model A Olympics

October 22 – Tour to Homosassa Springs sponsored by the Whitts

December 10th – Christmas Party