Tin Lizzies tour town

Model T Ford of America members traveled to Saratoga Sunday. The “Leaf Peeper Tour” came from as far as Missouri to enjoy the fall colors over Snowy Range Sunday.

“It is one of the most beautiful drives there is,” Dave Huson, of Longmont, Colo., said.

Huson has been in the Ford Model T business for years, Alan Krusnik, of Littleton, Colo., said.

Huson said he was a kid when his family got their first Model T. A farmer who owned a good running Model T was looking to upgrade to Studebaker and wanted to trade in his Model T. The owner of the Studebaker garage did not want an old Model T in his used car lot, so he asked Huson’s mother, who was the bookkeeper at the garage, if she wanted the Model T. She did.

Huson, who is now 82, has been working on them since then.

In 1949, Huson took auto mechanics in high school and helped his neighbor rebuild a motor on a Model T.

Huson has made a career of supplying and building parts for the Model T.

Huson started organizing the Leaf Peeper Tours 30 years ago when he was chairman of the Model T Ford of America.

“First, it was just my family,” Huson said, “Three Model Ts, my kids, my wife and me.”

At one time, they had 85 Model T’s on the tour.

The oldest of the Model Ts in Saratoga Sunday, was a 1912 model. Russ Clark, of Fort Collins, Colo., the owner, took several people for a ride around Saratoga.

The first Model T was built in 1908 and only 309 were built that year. By 1912, there were 183,563 Ford Model Ts.

The engine series starts with 1 and ends with 15,076,231 in 1927. It is estimated there are around 150,000 to 250,000 Model Ts today, with 20,000 of them on the road worldwide. Huson said that many of them remain in barns.

The only vehicle to have more models made than the Model T Ford was the Volkswagen Beetle, Clark said.

Before 1916, the Model T Fords had brass radiators, head lamps and hood trim, said Clark. After 1916, the cars were black-painted steel. Clark said it was more practical to make the cars all steel and paint it all the same color.

Krusnik said that Henry Ford did everything he could to cut costs when manufacturing the Model T Ford.

After 1913, Ford was quoted as saying, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black,” Before 1913, Ford had brilliant colors on the Model T.

Krusnik said that many parts were delivered on pallets and Ford would reuse the wood from the pallets everywhere in the car he could.

The gas tank is gravity fed, Krusnik said, so it is important to make sure the tank is full before driving a steep hill, either that, or drive up the hill backwards.

“Henry Ford was so cheap, he didn’t paint the engines,” Krusnik said. “He left them bare metal.” When restoring Model T Fords, a clear coat finish is used to preserve the bare metal look.

Ford would order the lamps for the Model Ts from different companies and then he would play them against each other to get a lower bid on the lamps.

Shock absorbers were considered extras by Ford, so if the owner wanted the spring suspension, he paid extra, Clark said.

The spokes of the wheels were made of wood, but the rim was of steel, Krusnik said.

The drivers spent the night at the The Riviera Lodge and shared information with anyone who came and asked about the cars.

Early Monday morning, they went back over the Snowy Range pass to load their cars on trailers and return home.

 

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