Model T ~ the original off-road utility vehicle ~
Text by Karl H. Kazaks Photos by Christy Wallace One recent autumn morning Jim Newman was washing his 1922 Model T Roadster pickup in front of his Radford home. “Looks pretty good for almost 100 years old, doesn’t it?” he asked. The car has been in Newman’s family for more than 50 years and was fully restored three years ago. “You’re never finished, though,” says Newman, a professor at Radford University and chair of its Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism. “I’ve got a battery drain issue to track down.” Newman’s father Jimmy bought the car in the mid-1960s in Arkansas where Newman was raised and Jimmy spent his lifelong career as a barber. When Jimmy brought the car home, he took it apart, sandblasted it, and completely disassembled it down to the frame. From there, he worked on it intermittently over the years. “When I was a kid, the wheels
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were on the walls of our shop,” Newman recalls. “The attic was full of body panels.” The Model T Jimmy bought was a Touring model with four seats – two in the front and two in the rear. Partway through the restoration, Jimmy decided to convert it to a 2-seater Roadster. Some Roadsters have a trunk in the rear, but this one is now a pickup with a wooden bed. “Back when these cars were new, people would put homemade beds on them to make them pickup trucks; some folks made beds out of shipping crates.” Newman’s father did most of the restoration work himself. To convert it to a Roadster, he built the rear upright behind the front seat; to accommodate the pickup bed, he put in supports. The one thing Jimmy did not do was the engine restoration. The engine is a rebuilt 1926. “It probably doesn’t have 100 miles on it,” Newman reflects. Because cars back then didn’t
have Vehicle Identification Numbers or VINs, they are identified by their engine block number. Thus, the car is titled as a 1926, even though aside from the engine, it’s a 1922. The car has original wood spoke artillery wheels, which means the spokes can be individually removed and replaced. Under the seat is the 10-gallon gas tank. Along the running board of the passenger side is a toolbox for repairs which might be needed while out with the Model T. When you get a flat tire, the whole rim comes off. If you get stuck, there’s a shovel strapped to the side. “A Model T wasn’t just a car,” explains the owner. “It was the first offroad utility vehicle, designed to go just about anywhere. Back then the only paved roads were in towns. The vehicle is designed with high clearance, and the leaf springs run transverse across the
Novemb er/Decemb er 2020
