Model Ts gear up for Ford's birthday

Four Australian couples are about to take the trip of a lifetime, driving their Ford Model Ts across America and back to where the cars originally came from - Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario.

The group, representing Australia for Ford's 100th anniversary celebrations, have shipped their cars to California where they will start their 5000km journey.

They will join a California party of 40 Model Ts in Los Angeles on May 25 and travel through eight American states before arriving in Detroit on June 12.

"We've been told to expect every type of weather from heat waves to below zero temperatures, driving rain, sleet and even snow," said team leader Gavin Pocock, the president of the Brisbane Vintage Car Club.

"We will go across deserts and the Rocky Mountains as well as the flat farming lands of the mid-west. Some days we will be doing runs of more than 320km."

Pocock and his wife Karen will drive a 1915 Runabout that was restored by Pocock's parents in 1975.

They are quite sure all the cars will make it. "But car heaters weren't an option in the Model T so we hope the people can make it," Pocock said.

The other three Australian cars include 1924 and 1925 Roadsters, both owned by Brisbane club members, and a 1926 Doctor's coupe owned by a Gold Coast couple.

Pocock said the group began preparing for the trip in 2001. "It's a lot to ask of cars that are well over 75 years old, but we are pretty sure they will do the job.

The only modification fitted to each car is a Ruckstell 2-speed rear axle, an aftermarket option when the cars were new.

The world's largest automotive homecoming rally is expected to attract more than 10,000 Ford vehicles to Detroit for the centennial celebrations.

The Australian and Californian group will meet up with several other tours coming from all over America on the way to Detroit.

Following the four-day celebrations in Detroit, the Pocock group will visit Ford's Greenfield Village before driving across the Canadian border to Windsor and the Oakville plant, where the Australian Model Ts were made.

Then, as if driving more than 4000 km across America wasn't enough, the Australians will drive a further 1000km south to Baltimore, where the cars will be shipped back home.

Henry Ford released his Model T in 1908. It became an immediate success because it offered reliable, simple motoring for a fraction of the cost of other cars at the time.

The car increased in popularity, especially after 1913 when the Ford moving assembly line was introduced.

This innovation had a dramatic effect on production numbers and costs and Henry Ford capitalised on the fact that he could build and sell Model Ts way below his competitors.

The Model T was simplicity itself. It was designed so that farmers and blacksmiths could repair it with basic tools. It was often said that all you needed was a pair of pliers, a hammer and a coil of wire to keep a Model T on the road.

With its narrow wheels, high ground clearance and three-point suspension it could literally go anywhere and was the favourite car for early settlers in Australia and New Zealand.

In Australia, the Model T was initially imported by separate distributors in each state and assembled with local bodies that varied in style from one distributor to another.

In 1925, the Ford Motor Company of Australia was formed and production of the Model T began in a disused wool store in Geelong, near Melbourne, while a new factory was being built.

The first cars were fitted with bodies built by the company that was to become Ford's greatest rival, Holden of Adelaide.

The Australian model was unique in that, unlike the later American Model T (available in any colour as long as it was black because the black paint dried quicker), it was available in a large variety of colours.

Some famous Australians used Ford Model Ts in their exploits across Australia.

Hudson Fysh (the founder of Qantas) used a heavily laden Model T to map out the proposed air route from Longreach, Queensland, to Darwin in the Northern Territory.

So popular was the Model T that Ford Australia built 29,000 between 1925 and 1928, an average of around 1000 cars and trucks a month.

Body styles ranged from the standard open-top four-door family tourer, to the Deluxe Tourer favoured by doctors and businessmen, to the sporty Runabout, two-seater beloved by the smart set, and the Deluxe Runabout for the wealthy.

As well as passenger cars there was a Light Delivery, the forerunner of the utility and a one-ton chassis that became the preferred vehicle for farmers, tradesmen and carriers.

In those days you could buy a Model T chassis and have the body built to your own specifications. This led to many one-off styles and lots of special buses, station wagon-type bodies, covered vans, ambulances and petrol delivery tankers.

What made the Model T so special? Probably its greatest feature after the low price, was its reliability.

The rugged, four-cylinder engine had a magneto ignition system built into the flywheel, the transmission was a simple planetary gear system driving the rear wheels through a completely enclosed tail shaft, and the suspension consisted of simple transverse springs.

The chassis and many of the engine parts were made from tough vanadium steel.

The Model T, of which 15,000,000 were made between 1908 and 1927, was available in almost every country in the world. In many cases, it was the first car people ever owned.