Model T gathering

Ford is marking the 100th anniversary of the Model T, the first low-priced car that introduced motoring to the masses, at a time when motorists are cringing at the cost of fuel. But a week-long celebration of the Model T in its birthplace offered some nostalgic balm for fans.

About 750 of the iconic vehicles were on display in the US this week in what is being called the largest gathering of Model Ts since they left the factory. Edsel Ford II, great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, addressed the crowd at Richmond, Indiana, at an opening banquet.

The gathering transformed the Wayne County Fairgrounds into what looked like a movie set for a motion picture depicting life in the early 1900s.

Drivers created Model T traffic jams as they picked their way among the barns. Jay Klehfoth, the CEO of the Model T Ford Club of America, which is based in nearby Centerville, says owners of the Model T are like a big extended family.

“Sometimes we refer to ourselves as the similarly afflicted,” Klehfoth says.

“We recognise we are only temporary custodians of these rolling pieces of history.”

Roger Peterson, 71, of Greeneville, Tennessee, has owned 11 of the Model Ts over the years.

“You don't own just one Model T,” Peterson says. “You buy another one ... and another one ... and another one.”

John Heitmann, a history professor at the University of Dayton who has taught classes on motor vehicle history and its impact on American life, says the Model T is one of the most historically significant cars of the 20th century — and possibly the single most important American car. Henry Ford realised there was a big market for cars, and not just for the wealthy.

He knew people would keep buying them, Heitmann says, adding: “It was kind of the common car for the common person.”

The first production Model T Ford was assembled in Detroit on October 1, 1908. With the development of the sturdy, low-priced car, Henry Ford made his company the biggest in the industry, according to the Henry Ford Museum.

In a span of 19 years, Ford would build 15 million cars with the Model T engine.

The Model T, nicknamed the “Tin Lizzie”, was probably the most important vehicle in leading to social change in America, Heitmann says. It helped transform the nation's cities, enabling residents to move away from the city and create the first ring of suburbs.

Australian celebrations will include a charity drive across Australia in September.

Six of the delicate old vehicles will make the drive across the Nullarbor Plain from Perth to Adelaide, and then possibly on to Melbourne.

But the organiser, Perth businessman Alan Rose, says it won't be a quick trip.

“The 1913 four-seat Tourer has the most powerful engine and a two-speed differential,” he says. “It'll go as fast as 70km/h ... [but] the others will do 50km/h.”

Original plans were to leave on September 7, reaching Adelaide on Sunday, September 14.

However, Ford Australia says it is interested in the convoy continuing on to Melbourne. But this plan is yet to be cemented.

Rose's car was upgraded by its previous, Sydney-based owner. It sports features unavailable for the age of the chassis, including an overhead-valve engine with a proper ignition distributor and a “Buffalo” brake system that combines the braking efficiency of the rear wheels with the transmission.

The rear axle is a two-speed Ruckstell that effectively doubles the number of forward gears to four. It also has wire wheels in place of the standard model's wooden spokes.

It has electric lights, not the factory-issue acetylene lamps. Clearly, the Ferrari of the fleet.