As I was saying . . . .
I enjoyed talking to Tom MacGregor about his 1922 Ford Touring Car. Its special feature is that it is “close to factory”–just the way it rolled off Henry Ford’s assembly line in 1922. These, says Tom, were designed to work on yourself, the way you worked on your tractor. These cars made it possible for people to “run into town,” jouncing along on rutted two-tracks from the farm.
I admired the hood ornament, and Tom said it was actually the radiator cap, and incorporated a temperature gauge the driver could read without getting out of the car. It was optional equipment back in 1922, something of a luxury, and there was none on his Ford when he bought it. It’s one of the few things he’s added. Now that reminded me of a story my mother-outlaw told about buying their first new car. After extensive marital debate, they decided not to pay extra for the fancy optional turn signal. For heaven’s sake, she told her husband, it’s not a big chore to roll down the window and use hand signals! They work fine!
When I was a little girl a hundred years ago, a ride to town in Grampa’s Cruck was the very height of a good time. Gram and Grampa and I would go to the A&P, with its wooden floors and the wonderful aromas of coffee. All the way there and all the way back the complicated business of changing gears and steering fascinated me. I loved that truck. On its best day it looked absolutely nothing like this one, but this one was reminiscent of Grampa’s Cruck, if you know what I mean, and I am grateful to it for the trip down memory lane.
Tractors always remind me of Grampa, too.
Fast forward a few decades. I promised you fuzzy dice.
And looky here, all this one needs is a pair of legs sticking out from under the engine compartment, jeans smeared with oil, to be the iconic image of the Shadetree Mechanic.
Michigan is full of guys who spent their entire adolescence under various old cars. What they were doing under there remains a complete mystery to me, but I salute them. What with one thing and another, I have been rescued from predicaments by more Shadetree Mechanics than I can count. Guys and cars.
The tradition continues.
I see that I have omitted to mention that the 1st Annual Wheels and Keels Classic Machine Show was a project of Uncle Rod’s. Rod Hammond’s Elk Rapids garage repairs all this stuff and does fabrication and light welding, too. Rod thought it would be great to have a party, and extended this invitation:
If you have a cool machine such as a car, truck, boat, golf cart, snowmobile, farm tractor, motorcycle, gyrocopter, velocipede, etc, bring it along and show it off. This is a free event meant to be a social gathering which will get you together with others sharing the machines that they have fun with. It’s a non-judged event meaning that while we love show-machines, various states of progress or disrepair are also encouraged to appear. It’s all about the fun of showing it off.
I went looking for an Uncle Rod’s website and found a Facebook page instead. I tellya, I can hardly keep up with the kids these days.
Definitely related post:
Torch Lake Views 
flandrumhill
June 15, 2010
Tractors remind me of my Grandpa too. I was ten when I drove his up a pine tree. I don’t think I’ve had the nerve to drive one since.
Gerry
June 15, 2010
If I had driven Grampa’s cruck up a pine tree I’d still be in that tree.
Don
June 15, 2010
Uncle Rod has been my favorite mechanic since I moved to Elk Rapids. I tend to keep my cars until they die (I got almost 400,000 miles on one of them), and he has been great with keeping them on life support.
He also has done a few legendary, specialized things for me like safe-cracking (it was my safe) and adding a third seat in an SUV.
Unfortunately for him, I have newer vehicles now, which only require the usual brake and muffler-type maintenance, but he is still the go-to guy.
Gerry
June 15, 2010
I have had many cars on extended life support, too. Until I read your comment, I was proud of myself for getting 205,000 miles out of my beloved Dodge Caravan. I miss that car.
Fee
June 16, 2010
They certainly don’t make cars like that anymore. Modern ones just don’t have the stamina!
My friend’s first car was an ancient Mini, which her father and brother nursed along. Two mechanics in the family – how lucky is that? She wanted to keep it until it went “around the clock” but was tail-ended by a double decker bus. She was fine, the car had to be scrapped. “Daisy” she was called – the car, not my friend!
Gerry
June 16, 2010
Any car that has a name like “Daisy” has to be pretty special. Any car that protects its owner from dire consequences when it’s tail-ended by a bus deserves burial with honors.
P.j. grath
June 16, 2010
Not a chore to crank (roll) down the window and stick your hand out to signal? Over half of today’s drivers seem to think it too much of a chore to click the little turn signal lever inside the car! Do I sound cranky? When it comes to drivers not signaling turns, I’m cranky. Can’t seem to get over it. Glad not to have to crank an engine to start it, though. Guys and cars and trucks and tractors are wonderful. I’d take a tractor myself.
Gerry
June 16, 2010
Joe and Trudy did eventually buy a car with a fancy turn signal. I think it took longer for them to stop using hand signals. Now, of course, if a person uses hand signals everyone else on the road assumes they’re sending a rude gesture.
I’d take a Ranger myself. One with a truck would be nice.
Cindy Lou
June 17, 2010
More fun for my Johnny! He was just telling me the other day about all the cars/engines he worked on as a youngster with only a wrench and a screwdriver – now he wonders how he did it! He’d just be in old car heaven if he were there!
Gerry
June 17, 2010
He did it because the cars were made for that, and because he had been raised to believe that he could do it. For a couple of generations at least kids were allowed to save up their paper route money to buy an old junker that they could practice on. The day they got the thing running was a proud day indeed, and rightly so. Practical education is a good thing. It’s about a lot more than keeping a car running. Character, self-reliance, frugality, a sense of humor . . .