by Douglas Samuelson

Created on: May 06, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

My love affair with automobiles began in the spring of 1952 at the age of 14, and has played a very important part in my life since that time.

I lived on a farm in the Mid-West and rode a school-bus to and from school every day. One of the regular stops for the bus was at a rural Catholic church approximately 5 miles from the farm where I lived. There was the church and 2 houses on the property and in a grove of trees surrounding the property, was an old vehicle. I had no idea of the make and model, but my curiosity was aroused. After questioning several students on the bus, I found that the mystery vehicle was a 1927 Model T Ford Pickup that was owned a bachelor uncle of one of the students.

My best friend lived only 2 miles from the church, and after a few days of negotiation with the nephew of the owner, my friend and I purchased the Model T for $15. My next hurdle was to inform my dad of our purchase, but I decided to put that on hold until we had the Model T in our possession. I knew that he would not be enthused.

We made arrangements pick up the Model T one evening after school. I rode my bike to my friend's farm and the two of us rode our bikes to our new "treasure", one of us carrying a 6 volt electric fence battery, and the other a 2 gallon can of gas. We were so excited that the 2 mile ride took only a few minutes, and we arrived, out of breath and ready to embark on our new adventure.

The Model T was one of the most beautiful things that I had ever seen! Two of the 30X3 1/2 tires were flat. The top bows were in place but there was no fabric, and the seat consisted of only the springs. The body had been repainted in red but most of the red paint had peeled, revealing the original black color.

Neither my friend nor I had any knowledge of a Model T. We had been informed that the magneto was not working (that was the reason for the 6 volt dry cell battery). We had no way to inflate the 2 flat tires, so we installed the 2 good tires and wheels on the rear and dismounted the other 2 tires and installed the 2 wheels and rims on the front. The radiator had been drained but we managed to persuade one of the residents to give us a pail of water and we poured the 2 gallons of gas in the tank.

The Model T had a metal box attached to the firewall. Inside the box were 4 wooden coils. When we hooked up the battery to the coil box, the coils began to make a buzzing noise. There were 2 levers on the steering column. One was a manual throttle and the other was the spark

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