Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Call of Cthulhu – Driving 1920s style

So you think that driving was no big deal in the early 1920s?  Think again.  The technology was new and the roads were terrible at the best of times. Yet millions of Ford Model Ts were made over the years.  If you get lucky, you have one with electric start and don’t have to fool with hand cranking unless the battery is dead, which happened often.  If you really want to have fun, get a puncture with one of those natural rubber tires and you will find out why they carried so many extra tires and tube with them on a trip.


Check out YouTube for more tips on how to drive vintage cars.  I salute those who rescue, restore and drive antique and vintage cars.  Living in the 1920s is quite different than people imagine.  It may have been the Jazz Age, but not for people outside of large cities.  Every fourth car on the road was a Ford product, whether it was a T or an A or a truck.  They made millions of cars in the US and there were manufactured under license in other countries as well.


Model Ts and the later Model As are tough.  Ralph Alger Bagnold used modified A model Ford and trucks to explore the foreboding North African Desert in the early 30s, traveling into areas even caravans feared to penetrate.  I suggest his book Libyan Sands:  Travels in a Dead World (1935) as an excellent insight into exploring North Africa even in the “modern era”.  Happy exploring.
                                                                                                 CoastConFan


As ground breaking as the T Model was, when the Model A was introduced, people rejoiced.


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