TRAVELERS’ CHECK : Today’s cars owe origin to Model T
Posted on Monday, June 2, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/227529/
Fayetteville resident Bill Younkin headed out one morning for Huntsville in his Model T.
A man in Goshen asked Younkin just one question as he looked over Younkin’s 1923 Ford during a pit stop.
“He said, ‘Did you buy that new ?’” said Younkin, 84. “I’m old, but I’m not that old.”
Indeed, the Model T is older than Younkin and a whole lot of things.
The first one hit U. S. roads on Oct. 1, 1908, and Model T owners across the nation are showing off their rugged, working people cars to promote the vehicle’s 100 th anniversary.
The Guru doesn’t know his motor oil from his windshield wiper fluid, but he knows the Model T was so simple that even he might be able to fix it. That was the beauty of it, and it’s among many reasons Fayetteville residents Mike Walker, Earl Urfer and Younkin latched on to the ones they own.
“It’s pretty important,” Younkin said. “This is the car that put the world on wheels.”
Photographs of their vehicles may be found at www. nwanews. com.
Henry Ford’s company built 15. 7 million Model Ts, ending production in 1927. Assessors’ records show there are still 28 Model Ts in Benton County and 17 in Washington County.
Just four of those vehicles were manufactured prior to 1920, including Walker’s spiffy 1915 Touring car. He’s owned it for six years.
“Model Ts were regular cars for regular folks instead of being a rich guy’s play toy,” Walker said.
Walker’s car and the 1927 delivery truck he owns are far fancier than the old cars Younkin and Urfer use to tool around town.
One of Urfer’s Model Ts is a mutt or whatever it’s called when a car is built from parts made in different years. It’s mostly a 1926 Ford with metal from a chicken house serving as the roof.
There’s lots to like about Urfer’s creativity. A mimosa tree limb is part of the front seat. A box turtle’s shell serves as a hood ornament and a rubber chicken hangs from the back for no reason other than it looks goofy.
“This right here isn’t modified, it’s cannibalized,” said Urfer, who also owns a more pristine 1926 Ford. “You get a nice car like Mike’s, and you’re afraid to hurt it. Not these. It’s not that way.”
So, there the three men sat last week on a perfect spring afternoon in Walker’s shop, telling story after story about everything from the 11-centper-gallon gasoline that used to go into new Model Ts to how the scenery just looks better in a slow-moving Model T. Drivers flying down the road at 70 mph miss so much.
“It’s taking life slower, and we find that attractive,” Walker said. “We’re all in too big of a hurry, and it just keeps going faster, and I’m cruising along in a Model T. It’s just peaceful.”
Every car owes its existence to the Model T in the same way office workers owe the hours of company time wasted on the Internet to Al Gore.
“It’s like all these punkrock guitar players,” Walker said. “They wouldn’t be doing what they are doing if Jimi Hendrix hadn’t done what he did first.
“ After the Model T, the rest was just improvements.” Robert J. Smith’s column about people on the move in Northwest Arkansas appears each Monday. He can be reached at rsmith@arkansasonline. com.