Our Model T came to us when my Father passed away and my Mother asked me to find a home for his car collection. At that stage the T looked pretty miserable as can be seen in the photo below. Sandy and I had gathered all the parts we could find so we could make the car look as complete as possible for photos for possible buyers.
But when I did find a buyer, Mum couldn't sell it to him, so if you're interested to know why and to find out how we became the owners, then read on.......
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The story goes that in about 1962 Mum was out with her father looking around the country for a pair of old brass headlamps for Abigail, Dads 1903 Curved Dash Olds.
They came across an old farm house at Euberta, between Wagga and Narranderra on the northern side of the Murrumbidgee River. (NSW, Australia). There was no one home at the property so Mum and my Grandfather had a look around anyway and found a shed full of Fords, about 6 of them. Mum reported the find to Dad so a couple of weekends later Mum, Dad, my sister and I all packed into the family's Wolseley 6/80 and headed out to have a look.
When we arrived, my sister and I were ordered to stay in the car and wait. I was 11 and sis was about 6. Apparently Mum and Dad were met by a little old lady striding across her ploughed paddock carrying a shotgun. She didn't take kindly to them trespassing on her land and became quite annoyed, so much so, that she fainted. Dad caught her as she fell and carried her inside where Mum made her comfortable and made her a cuppa.
This little, old, lady, Mae Edis, lived alone and ran her 2,000 acre, wheat and sheep property, by herself. Mum took pity on her being all alone and kept in touch by sending cakes and letters to her via the mail truck. Soon a friendship developed and around 1964, Miss Edis said that since Mum was looking for old car parts would they like to chose one of her cars for themselves. I remember going back out there then, with them to "help" select a car. I was 12. They were all Fords, the newest was a Customline of about '55 vintage, then a '49 Single Spinner, a '37 Sedan, a '28 model A Sedan with a fabric body and this model T at the open end of the shed, in by far the worst condition of all of them. As a matter of fact the others were ALL in good condition. I urged Dad to take the Model A, but he must have liked a challenge and chose the T. I found out later, it was because he grew up with one and it was the oldest.
Dad did some small restoration work on the car, as much as his meagre funds would allow, but it mostly didn't progress at all. So when he died in 1990, Mum had no further use for any of the cars and asked me to find new home for them. I managed to find a buyer for all his cars and as I mentioned above, I had found a buyer for the T, but when the crunch came, Mum wouldn't sell it to him.
When pressed for a reason, she said its because it was given to her on one condition. The condition was that Mum didn't ever sell it to a MAN.
Now, that says a LOT about MISS Mae Edis, eh? Right away, Sandy said, well then, you'd better sell it to me. Right then, Sandy became the 3rd lady owner of this rotten heap of spare parts, and we set about dragging it home and restoring it.
It took us several years, as money would allow, and for some time the thing was stored in the corner of the shed. At the age of 10, my daughter asked me what was that heap of junk over in the corner?
I told her that one day, I'd drive her to the church on her wedding day in that heap of rubbish. 10 years later she gave me 13 months to finish it, which I did.
Anastasia's first outing had a nervous bride to be and matron of honour in the back seat and an even more nervous father of the bride behind the wheel navigating through busy Canberra traffic, on the way to the church. Please bear in mind that this was only the second time I'd driven a T and the first was in a sheep paddock with no traffic. So it was excusable, in my mind anyway, that I stalled the car at the very first round-about that we came to.
The photos show the car as it was when we got it, how it looks today and on its first outing haven taken my little girl to the church to become some other man's girl.
Cheers,
Rob
But when I did find a buyer, Mum couldn't sell it to him, so if you're interested to know why and to find out how we became the owners, then read on.......
__________________________________________________ ____________________________
The story goes that in about 1962 Mum was out with her father looking around the country for a pair of old brass headlamps for Abigail, Dads 1903 Curved Dash Olds.
They came across an old farm house at Euberta, between Wagga and Narranderra on the northern side of the Murrumbidgee River. (NSW, Australia). There was no one home at the property so Mum and my Grandfather had a look around anyway and found a shed full of Fords, about 6 of them. Mum reported the find to Dad so a couple of weekends later Mum, Dad, my sister and I all packed into the family's Wolseley 6/80 and headed out to have a look.
When we arrived, my sister and I were ordered to stay in the car and wait. I was 11 and sis was about 6. Apparently Mum and Dad were met by a little old lady striding across her ploughed paddock carrying a shotgun. She didn't take kindly to them trespassing on her land and became quite annoyed, so much so, that she fainted. Dad caught her as she fell and carried her inside where Mum made her comfortable and made her a cuppa.
This little, old, lady, Mae Edis, lived alone and ran her 2,000 acre, wheat and sheep property, by herself. Mum took pity on her being all alone and kept in touch by sending cakes and letters to her via the mail truck. Soon a friendship developed and around 1964, Miss Edis said that since Mum was looking for old car parts would they like to chose one of her cars for themselves. I remember going back out there then, with them to "help" select a car. I was 12. They were all Fords, the newest was a Customline of about '55 vintage, then a '49 Single Spinner, a '37 Sedan, a '28 model A Sedan with a fabric body and this model T at the open end of the shed, in by far the worst condition of all of them. As a matter of fact the others were ALL in good condition. I urged Dad to take the Model A, but he must have liked a challenge and chose the T. I found out later, it was because he grew up with one and it was the oldest.
Dad did some small restoration work on the car, as much as his meagre funds would allow, but it mostly didn't progress at all. So when he died in 1990, Mum had no further use for any of the cars and asked me to find new home for them. I managed to find a buyer for all his cars and as I mentioned above, I had found a buyer for the T, but when the crunch came, Mum wouldn't sell it to him.
When pressed for a reason, she said its because it was given to her on one condition. The condition was that Mum didn't ever sell it to a MAN.
Now, that says a LOT about MISS Mae Edis, eh? Right away, Sandy said, well then, you'd better sell it to me. Right then, Sandy became the 3rd lady owner of this rotten heap of spare parts, and we set about dragging it home and restoring it.
It took us several years, as money would allow, and for some time the thing was stored in the corner of the shed. At the age of 10, my daughter asked me what was that heap of junk over in the corner?
I told her that one day, I'd drive her to the church on her wedding day in that heap of rubbish. 10 years later she gave me 13 months to finish it, which I did.
Anastasia's first outing had a nervous bride to be and matron of honour in the back seat and an even more nervous father of the bride behind the wheel navigating through busy Canberra traffic, on the way to the church. Please bear in mind that this was only the second time I'd driven a T and the first was in a sheep paddock with no traffic. So it was excusable, in my mind anyway, that I stalled the car at the very first round-about that we came to.
The photos show the car as it was when we got it, how it looks today and on its first outing haven taken my little girl to the church to become some other man's girl.
Cheers,
Rob
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