1924 'T' model Ford

Car of the Month

Brisbane Vintage Auto Club inc

(from Club Magazine) An Autobiography By A.T. Roadster.

You could say my life started in the foundry. I do not care to think about what happened before that day but on 31st March 1924 I distinctly remember being extremely hot. When I cooled down I was the engine block of a Model T Ford.

Someone came along and hit me on the side with some sharp instrument and I became known as number C 481771.

My memory is a bit fuzzy around that time however I recall being placed in a chassis with some other parts and then started up and driven out into a yard with hundreds of my peers.

After a while I took stock of the situation and noted that I was not getting a body, but instead I was loaded in a crate and put on a boat bound for Australia. I eventually ended up in Adelaide at a local Ford distributor called Duncan Motors where under their guidance I was fitted with a runabout body. Boy I was proud.

Some of my friends were taken away and one of my closest friends No C 453592 ended up at

Griffins Garage, Victor Harbour, next came a quirk of fate, my mate was sold to Gerald Chibnal of

Middlemount, however he was also sold to someone else and at the last minute I found myself at Victor Harbour being driven home Gerald I might add that he paid 199.10 Pounds for me and it cost one whole pound to fill my tank'

Gerald registered me in Victor Harbour at a cost of 10 shillings, and I ended up with the easily remembered ,

number of 35005. I gave Gerald pretty good service for a few years and in return he had a valve grind done on me in 1930, would you believe that it cost him 2 pounds but included in the price was a header gasket, 2 sets of coil points and 2 spark plugs.

I continued to serve Gerald faithfully until one day in 1937 he went and bought an Essex Super Six. Well I was devastated. Fortunately he took some precautions and I was placed on some blocks in a shed. I was not lonely as there were several items of farm machinery with me but how I longed for the open road

The years passed and then in 1946 a young 16 year old boy called Peter came and pumped my tyres up, put in some petrol and cranked me up. I purred into life and off we went. I had to be registered again but I couldn't keep my old number but ended up SA 264435.

We had some good times for a few years. Plenty of parties, plenty of booze and finally a young lady took him away from me and into a Studebaker Ute

He still cared for me in a way but now I had dirty work to do. My back was removed, along with my rear guards and a tray was erected in its place. I then carted Carcasses around an island loaded with Boxthorns and saltpans. I had punctures in all of my tubes and finally my tyres were removed and I ran around on rims.

By now my paint was worn and I had been raved by the elements and finally then taken over by young kids. They cut my running board stays and attempted to do the lowering job on me. They lost interest eventually and I just laid about in the paddock with the rest of the junk. I was nearly drowned in 1965 when the Murray flooded and after that I thought the end Has come.

But no, on the 25th February along came a bloke with an old boat trailer and loaded me on it and dragged me off to Melbourne. After I arrived in Melbourne I was completely dismantled. Some thing roughly and placed in little piles all over the place. Some parts were placed in some vile smelling molasses solution, others sand blasted, nearly all scraped, welded and pummeled before finally painted. Lots of parts were remade and replaced and finally in December 1992 my engine was restarted. The first time in twenty years.

In February 1993 I was placed on a trailer and taken to Victor Harbour where on the 28th I stood outside the Police station and was reregistered with my original number plate. 35005. Once again I was so proud.

Since then I have been taken out on some wonderful trips with friends of all shapes and sizes and really look forward to every club event. I am now over seventy years old and look forward to an easy and full life in my retirement. I often wonder what would have been my destiny Gerald had been given my mate as he was promised. - have been on every international model T Ford rally held in Australia

The Proud owners of this Vehicle are George and Chris Schoenauer. Thanks for the story.