August 18, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
DeKalb County was treated to a blast from the past Sunday as more than 100 vintage vehicles motored through as part of the Model T Ford Club of America USA National Tour.
Two hundred seventy people from across the country registered to be part of the tour which featured up to 140 Model T Fords.
The scheduled tour through DeKalb County took the participants along the backroads to Center Hill Dam and Edgar Evins State Park before stopping for lunch at Blue Water Grill on the Hill and a visit to the Appalachian Center for Crafts and then to the Smithville public square.
Ken Nye of North Carolina from dwayne page on Vimeo.
“I brought my 1923 touring car. I got it from a guy in Florida and had to get it back in shape to drive it,” said Ken Nye from the Blue Ridge Rider Model T Club of Hendersonville, North Carolina.
“I have 1927 wheels on it that are steel spoke and I put a new steering column in it to bring the gear ratio up. I also had to use an overhauled rebuilt transmission to get it on the road,” he continued.
“We have participants here from Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Iowa, and a lot of other states. Most of us truck them or trailer them in but some of the hard core guys like the fellow from Iowa drove his down here,” said Nye.
“Henry Ford built Model T’s from 1909 to 1927. More than 15,700,000 of them were built and registered but no one knows how many cars were also built from spare parts,” he said.
Nye said although he has never been to DeKalb County he lived for a time as a child in Tullahoma.
“I spent nine years in Tullahoma. My dad was a doctor there during the war. We moved to Ohio where I spent my teenage years and then I went into the Army and stayed there for 25 years and saw the world,” he said.
Nye added that he has enjoyed this weekend’s tour here and he would like to come back again sometime.
“We have enjoyed it traveling the backroads. This is beautiful country,” he said.
The Model T Ford Club of America was organized in late 1965 for the purpose of bringing together people who are interested in the Model T Ford, its history, its evolution, and its place in the American scene. It is the largest Model T club in the world. Over one hundred chapters have been formed in the United States, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and Europe, providing activities and fellowship for Model T enthusiasts on the local level.