{"id":34807,"date":"2025-08-02T09:20:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T13:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=34807"},"modified":"2025-08-02T09:20:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T13:20:20","slug":"100-years-young-how-model-ts-keep-on-t-icking-in-northern-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/100-years-young-how-model-ts-keep-on-t-icking-in-northern-michigan","title":{"rendered":"100 years young: How Model Ts keep on T-icking in northern Michigan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charlevoix<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 In the 1920s, the Ford Model T transformed America.<\/p>\n

Bringing affordable, personal transportation to the masses, \u201cTin Lizzies\u201d \u2014 as Model Ts were fondly nicknamed \u2014 established Detroit as a manufacturing colossus, made farming more efficient, replaced the train as the primary means of long-distance transport, and opened rural areas like northern Michigan to tourist travel.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/figure>\n
\n
The 1925 Ford Model T of John Dean (driver) and Mary Leatherman has two gears and a top speed of 40 mph.<\/em><\/div>\n

Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n

A century later, Ford Motor Co.’s Model Ts are still plying the roads \u2014 and turning heads \u2014 here thanks to its durable design, dedicated repair infrastructure and passionate owners.<\/p>\n

Mary Carr Leatherman is celebrating the 100th<\/sup> birthday of her family\u2019s 1925 T this year by going on long country drives with her sister, Irene, and husband, John Dean. With its two-speed transmission and 40-mph top speed, the four-cylinder Ford can be seen chugging along Charlevoix County\u2019s two-lane roads in daily traffic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a special feeling, because I like antique things,\u201d said Dean, 78, decked out in 1920s-style goggles, flat cap and elbow-length leather gloves. Mary and Irene sit behind him, resplendent in full period white skirts. \u201cI keep thinking about what (the Model T) was like then, what the people were like, and what they experienced when they were driving it. It’s a bit of a reverse time machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Made from 1908 to 1927, Model T production revved up after 1910 when it moved to Ford\u2019s Highland Park facility, reaching more than 2 million units a year by 1925. Prices dropped from $850 in 1909 (about $30,000 in today\u2019s dollars) to $260 in 1925 (about $5,000 today), making it widely affordable with 10,000 cars a day rolling off the line. Henry Ford and his son drove the last Model T \u2014 the 15 millionth \u2014 off the line in May 1927.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

John Dean (right), wife Mary Leatherman (with sign) and her sister, Irene, celebrate the 100th birthday of their 1925 Ford Model T.<\/em><\/div>\n

Henry Payne<\/em><\/p>\n

Leatherman\u2019s grandfather Richard Sr. purchased the T in 1925 in Commerce, Mississippi, where he used it as a daily driver on his cotton farm. Two generations later, his grandson, Richard Jr., moved the car to Memphis, Tennessee, where it made cameo appearances \u2014 like transporting Mary and Irene to their weddings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember as a child my brother and first cousin, Ted, playing around with it \u2014 and my grandfather teaching them how to drive it,\u201d said Leatherman, 71. \u201cThey loved cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

One hundred years on, the Model T\u2019s revolutionary design is still remarkably relevant. Its left-side drive makes it easy for passengers to exit curbside (legend has it Henry Ford designed it that way so his wife, Clara, could safely exit to the curb). Its Model T nomenclature has been copied by Tesla Inc., which fancies its popular electric vehicles (Model X, Model 3, etc.) as Ford’s 21st-century successor. And its high-riding, good-visibility seating position dovetails with the current craze for high-riding SUVs.<\/p>\n

In the 1920s, that tall wheelbase was essential to navigating rutted, muddy, horse-and-buggy roads that were suddenly busy with thousands of Fords. It is hard to understate how the T changed life here.<\/p>\n

Reliable, durable and powerful, Model T proliferated on farms.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/figure>\n
\n
In Charlevoix, John Dean gets up to speed in his 1925 Ford Model T.<\/em><\/div>\n

Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n

\u201cIt was called \u2018the farmer\u2019s friend,\u2019\u201d Ford Heritage and Brand Manager Ted Ryan said in an interview. \u201cIts tall wheelbase was essential to navigating rutted roads, and its versatility made it a tremendous farm tool. Like an F-series platform toy, you could put different top hats on it, from a four-door to a pickup bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farmers used the T for a variety of farm chores, including hooking up wheat thrashers, running grist mills and transporting goods to market. \u201cThe only thing that limited the Model T was the imagination of the owner,\u201d Ryan said.<\/p>\n

Leatherman and Dean brought their Model T to Charlevoix because their extended family reunions are here each summer. And because it felt like home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my father died, he sent (the T) back to the farm in Mississippi … and no one was caring for it,\u201d Leatherman said. \u201cMy sister and I decided we would put this project in (John\u2019s) hands, because he loves a challenge. And Michigan, of course, is the car state.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jeff<\/figure>\n
\n
Jeff Humble is president of the North Michigan Ts (Model T club), tinkers with Ts, and helped John Dean restore his 1925 Ford Model T.<\/em><\/div>\n

Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n

They follow in the tire tracks of scores of Model T owners who headed north a century ago with their new contraptions. Before the T, northern Michigan had mostly been accessible only to upper-income families who would load their families on trains for long hotel stays.<\/p>\n

Charlevoix, for example, had some 1,000 hotel rooms in 1920 \u2014 and just 350 today. The move away from trains toward automobiles was signified by the closure of Charlevoix\u2019s massive, 250-room hotel, The Inn, in 1937.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe effect of reduced train ridership due to the continued rise of the automobile sealed its fate after 43 seasons,\u201d records a Charlevoix Historical Society documentary. \u201cIt has no room for parking for the large number of cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ed<\/figure>\n
\n
Ed Baudoux of Grayling helped restore John Dean and Mary Carr Leatherman’s 1925 Ford Model T. Baudoux owns this 1927 Model T himself.<\/em><\/div>\n

Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n

Dean took the Model T to Ed Baudoux, one of Northern Michigan\u2019s \u201cModel T whisperers,\u201d who restored the car to its original mechanical condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople look at these cars and think they are worth a million dollars,\u201d said Baudoux, who works from a barn behind his Grayling home. \u201cBut Ford made 15 million of them. The Model T is the poor man\u2019s collector car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Model Ts today can fetch anywhere from $5,000-$20,000 with good restorations somewhere in between, said Baudoux. Rare models like a two-door Runabout might push $50K. Along with help from Jeff Humble, president of the Northern Michigan Ts (the local Model T club), Dean trained himself to drive the Model T using an original owner\u2019s manual as thick as Manhattan\u2019s phone book. A Ford poster on his wall prescribes regular maintenance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve driven a modern stick car for a good part of my life, and you have to unlearn that, because the Model T methodology (of) levers, pedals and the tools of the car are not common sense. They’re not what you’re used to,\u201d Dean said. \u201cMy new best friends Ed and Jeff were very patient with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Back<\/figure>\n
\n
Back in the day, the Leatherman kids and their driver enjoy the 1925 Ford Model T in Mississippi in the early 20th century.<\/em><\/div>\n

Courtesy Of The Leatherman Family<\/em><\/div>\n

Dean juggles the controls as he drives \u2014 an art that he has passed on to Richard Leatherman Sr.\u2019s 16-year-old great-great grandson, Richard.<\/p>\n

For all its accessibility to average drivers, the Model T required owners to pay attention to mechanical detail. A six-volt battery under the rear seat powers the flywheel magneto ignition system. The nine-gallon gas tank is under the driver\u2019s seat, requiring a careful fill lest fuel drip on the hot exhaust running beneath the car. A single carburetor delivers fuel to four pistons, and Dean closes the fuel line valve when the car is not in operation.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/figure>\n
\n
The Leatherman sisters, Irene (left) and Mary, brought their family’s 1925 Ford Model T to northern Michigan for restoration.<\/em><\/div>\n

Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n

\u201cAllow the fuel to run low, and the Model T might stall on an incline due to its gravity-fed fuel line from tank to carburetor,\u201d Humble, who owns three Ts, said in an interview. Should that happen, he explained, drivers would turn the car around, put the T in reverse gear (thus allowing fuel to flow downhill into the carburetor) and drive it backwards up the hill.<\/p>\n

Sideboards make for easy access to the driver\u2019s seat (via the right passenger door only), where operators encountered a blizzard of controls, including a parking brake, three floor pedals (left clutch\/first gear, center clutch\/reverse gear, right engine brake), floor-mounted starter button, dash key and choke, steering wheel-mounted accelerator stalk and spark plug advance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a unique system that Ford designed for the Model T,\u201d said Baudoux, 59, who learned to work on Ts at Saginaw\u2019s Douglas MacArthur High School at the foot of shop teacher \u2014 and renowned Model T whisperer \u2014 Robert Scherzer. Scherzer\u2019s class built a 1923 Model T pickup that is one of two Ts Baudoux owns today.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time the Model T went into mass production, it was obsolete,\u201d said the Grayling mechanic, citing the relentless pace of automotive development in the early 20th<\/sup>\u00a0century. \u201cBut Henry Ford was a manufacturing genius and kept making the T more affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/figure>\n
\n
The cockpit of the 1925 Ford Model T is a tight fit for 6′ 5″ Detroit News columnist Henry Payne with its big steering wheel and multiple levers\/pedals.<\/em><\/div>\n

Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n

The T\u2019s successor, the Model A (one of which Baudoux also owns), in 1927, adopted the three-pedal clutch system familiar to stick-shift cars today. But the T was simply designed and repeatable to make \u2014 a feature demonstrated by the Model T Club of Greater St. Louis, which publicly assembles a T in 10 minutes every year. With so many Ts still alive today, a global supply chain has grown to support it: tires made in Vietnam, axle shafts from Taiwan, radiators by Brassworks in California.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Model T was brilliantly designed,\u201d Humble said. \u201cIt could be put together quickly and reliably. For a public that had never driven a car before, it was a clever, easy introduction into automobiles.\u201d<\/p>\n

In northern Michigan, the T phenomenon brought a flood of visitors onto an antiquated road system. Among them was Henry Ford himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loved walking the walk,\u201d said archivist Ryan. \u201cHe loved his Ts and making people\u2019s lives easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"As<\/figure>\n
\n
As the Model T swept rural America, farmers outfitted it as a pickup for multiple uses like this 1923 model owned by Ed Baudoux.<\/em><\/div>\n

Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n

Paved roads were largely exclusive to Metro Detroit in the early 20th<\/sup>\u00a0century (the first concrete road was built in Motown in 1909) with out-state roads mostly dirt or gravel, co-traveled by horse-and-buggy. The American Automobile Association was formed in 1902 as 23,000 cars joined 17 million horses on the roads.<\/p>\n

By 1916, Model Ts were transforming travel, and AAA instituted roadside assistance for stranded travelers. Fuel? Travelers carried their own cans, buying petrol at general stores where kerosene was also sold (for lighting and cooking). AAA spearheaded a campaign for better roads, including federal funding for highways. Gas stations began to pop up on heavily-trafficked routes and, by 1919, gas had surpassed kerosene as the best-selling U.S. petroleum product.<\/p>\n

Each year, Humble said, the northern Michigan Ts get together to make a trip around the region’s roads, including through the Tunnel of Trees and over the mighty Mackinac Bridge.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/figure>\n
\n
John Dean and wife Mary Leatherman take their 1925 Ford Model T across northern Michigan roads – both asphalt and dirt. Just like the old days.<\/em><\/div>\n

Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n

It\u2019s a trip that Dean and Leatherman want to do someday with their new friends Jeff, Ed … and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you start talking about (old) cars in this part of Michigan … it\u2019s very different,\u201d Dean smiled.\u201c There\u2019s a gentleman in Petoskey that specializes in replacement carburetors. There’s this network that just goes all over the place, and every time you turn around, you end up with yet another new friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Henry Ford\u2019s favorite destinations was Lovells Township, just 23 miles northeast of Baudoux\u2019s Grayling shop, where the Ford founder enjoyed fishing on the Au Sable River beginning in 1916. The Lovells Township Historical Society recounted to\u00a0promotemichigan.com<\/a>\u00a0how Ford once met a local, frustrated Model T owner who had stalled his Model T on an incline.<\/p>\n

Ford turned the car around, put it in reverse, then backed it up the hill.<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlevoix\u00a0\u2014 In the 1920s, the Ford Model T transformed America. Bringing affordable, personal transportation to the masses, \u201cTin Lizzies\u201d \u2014 as Model Ts were fondly nicknamed \u2014 established Detroit as a manufacturing colossus, made farming more efficient, replaced the train as the primary means of long-distance transport, and opened rural areas like northern Michigan to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34807"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34807"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34808,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34807\/revisions\/34808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}