I have always aspired to drive a vintage vehicle, ideally one from the era before standardized controls were implemented. However, I was not prepared to commit to owning such a vehicle. Borrowing one would be the ideal solution, but options are limited if one does not have a family member or friend with access to such a vehicle. Fortunately, there is a viable alternative available through the Ford Model T driving experience at a museum.
The Reynolds-Alberta museum offers a Ford Model T driving experience as an add-on to their regular museum admission. I have wanted to partake in this since about 2019 or so but it was postponed for COVID and then life got in the way. On the last weekend it was offered this summer my friend Rod and I decided to put aside our other obligations and just made it happen … finally.
We had a 450km (280 miles) drive each way and there was an ominous sign on the way up. This driver had crossed the median of the highway into oncoming traffic before flipping and hitting a minivan. Hopefully our drive would be more successful.
After touring the excellent museum it was finally time to drive. Our instructor pulled up in this Model T Depot Hack.
Our instructor gave us an overview of the controls. While she was an excellent teacher it was a little intimidating since the controls are so different than what we are used to. The ability to only brake from low gear or neutral is probably one of the reasons we were limited to the gravel track behind the museum building well away from any pedestrians or other traffic.
The engine on “our” Model T ran amazingly well for something so old. There appeared to be a few modern parts on it like the distributor and coil but it was very docile and forgiving.
After Rod’s successful turn it was my time to step up to the controls. And they are simple but very different to modern eyes.
The throttle is operated by a lever on the column. Perhaps due to my experience with motorbikes, I found it relatively easy to adjust to this mechanism.
Next up is the hand lever. In the all the way back position, closest to the seat, it puts the transmission in neutral and sets the parking brake. Towards half-way it is in neutral with hand brake off until you press the left pedal to go into low gear or the middle pedal for reverse. Fully toward the firewall is high gear. It helps to adjust the throttle a bit to smooth out these shifts between low and high gears.
The left pedal takes the car from neutral to engaging first gear once the hand lever is in the correct position. You do not ease it on rather like a modern clutch but firmly press it in one movement. It will move all the way to the floor once high gear is selected with the hand lever.
The middle pedal is for reverse and operates much like the left pedal without a high gear.
The right pedal serves as the brake, but its operation requires some consideration. We were instructed not to use the brakes while in high gear; instead, one must use the hand lever to select low gear/neutral first, and then apply the brakes. This process certainly requires time and forethought. Additionally, the brakes operate solely on the rear wheels.
On the left side of the steering wheel was the spark advance which we were not allowed to adjust unfortunately.
And I was off! Driving a more or less century old vehicle (the exact age seemed to be unknown) is certainly a bucket list item checked off.
After a prolonged wait, I am pleased to report that driving a Model T was entirely worthwhile. If you find yourself near Wetaskiwin, Alberta, I highly recommend this experience (and museum in general), as it was surprisingly affordable. To conclude the day, we participated in a warehouse tour showcasing the museum’s typically hidden gems. A detailed report on this tour will be coming soon.
Looks like a lot of fun .
Those Delco distributor and generator kits were very popular on ‘T’ models .
The ‘T’s I have ridden in the left pedal worked a bit differently .
-Nate
Fascinating. Did you get an explanation as to WHY the brakes can only be used in low gear or neutral? Is it something to do with the (apparent? possible?) fact that the parking brake and the regular brake seem to share the same linkage/mechanism?
I find the plan ahead and think before you apply brakes thing to be a kind of “it makes sense mechanically” and “if you do it the way the machine wants you to, it’ll work” approach that obviously had to eventually change as driving became more and more common…and then the need to develop a solution that prioritized the randomness of humans (I need to stop NOW!) over what the designers thought logical became necessary. Fascinating.
The brakes likely aren’t strong enough to overpower high gear. With the brakes being only on the 2 rear wheels, which happen to also be the driven wheels, it would just smoke the brakes and not provide any appreciable stopping.
The parking brake acts on the driveline / transmission only. It’s more like a parking pawl in an automatic transmission.
He didn’t say the brakes couldn’t be used in high gear; he said they were instructed not to use them in high gear. The rear wheel brakes are not naturally in sync, and stepping on them at higher speed often/likely will cause one of them to bite, throwing the car immediately into a spin.
There are some variations as to how to “brake” or slow down in a T. The common and preferred procedure is primarily to anticipate way in advance, close the throttle and then also retard the spark. The resultant engine braking is the way to reduce speed in high gear, and then low can be engaged along with either the wheel brakes or hand/transmission brake.
It’s not easy throwing out a lifetime’s worth of deep-seated learning on how to drive, but the T rather demands that.
That looks like a great experience. I’ve seen a Model T locally driving in modern traffic, which must be quite a feat.
This brings to mind the Cold War Motors guys near Edmonton, they did a one word review of their Model T. The word turned out to be CONFUNDIFYING, which was a combination of confounding, fun, and terrifying. Each word was weighted equally, ie it wasn’t so terrifying that it wasn’t still fun and vice versa.
Wetaskiwin is an underrated very friendly small town that we always enjoy.
Reynolds auto museum is always worthwhile.
Edmonton Raceway is also in town and is an excellent, family friendly, 3/8 mile paved oval for plenty of exciting stock car racing.
Wetaskiwin has an excellent golf course and several nice golf courses in the area.
Castrol Raceway is just up the highway by the Edmonton airport!
NHRA drag strip!
I remember being very confused the first time I read a description of the T’s controls. I didn’t really understand most of it, as I was about 8 years old but I knew it was very different from what I saw my Mom doing behind the wheel. In the subsequent 60 years I’ve driven 3 and 4 on the tree, 3/4/5/6 speed floor shifts from both sides of the car, left and right shift and one-up and one-down motorcycles, and one Class 8 truck with lots of shifters, but the T seems even more daunting now for my aging brain and general lack of coordination. Is there anywhere one can drive a Model A?