Hakes: Driving across U.S. in a 1924 Model T? Two local men are on 100th anniversary team
About six years ago, three young Davenport high school boys laid eyes on a 1924 Model T Ford stored in a barn near Davenport.
Emblazoned on the side of the car were these words: “The Ten Millionth – New York to San Francisco via the Lincoln Highway.”
The grandfather of one of the boys had actually driven this antique car on that cross-country route twice – once in 1974 and again in 1999. He was a popular Davenport dentist and antique car buff named Alan Hathaway.
Hathaway bought the car in the early 1960s and organized the two journeys on his own to commemorate the 50th and 75th anniversaries of a Henry Ford publicity stunt. When Ford’s 10-millionth Model T rolled off the company’s Highland Park assembly line in 1924, the manufacturing pioneer had it driven across the nation over the bad roads of the era to prove its worth.
These boys were infatuated with the idea of such an ambitious excursion 100 years later.
“I remember we talked about it at the time,” said Max Henning, now living in Iowa City, one of the three. “We said we wanted to be part of its 100th anniversary trip across the country if we could.”
That time has come.
The three friends have now joined the team preparing to recreate the cross-country journey with that car once more beginning June 2, leaving from Battery Park in New York City. Henning’s two other friends are Alex Richter of Coralville, and John McAtee of Madison, Wisconsin. McAtee’s grandfather was the late Alan Hathaway.
Other family members are on the team, including four of the surviving Hathaway children – Ted, Anne, Tony, and Chuck. Also on the team are Chuck’s wife, Nancy -- plus a mechanic, Mike Vaughn, from the Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, Nebraska. About four years ago, the Hathaway family loaned the car to the Lincoln museum, which arranged for Vaughn and other volunteers to do a complete mechanical rebuild in preparation for its sponsorship of this historic event.
Note that the current schedule calls for the Hathaway Model T to pass through Cedar Rapids on about June 7.
The two local team members see this as a once-in-a-lifetime event, facing the challenges of driving and maintaining an extraordinarily primitive vehicle nearly 3,000 miles in 18 days.
“How bad can it be?” Richter quipped. “After all, we’ve got a mechanic.”
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Is this the original car?
Whether the Hathaway car is the original ten-millionth Ford Model T is unclear. Museum officials call it a “great representative” of the original car and are not sure where the original ended up.
“But if you asked my Dad, he always said it was the original ten-millionth car off the assembly line,” Ted Hathaway told me. “He always told the public that, but he was something of a character, and nobody else had claimed that, so maybe he was just going to claim it.”
It hardly matters, because the Davenport dentist still built his own legend with the commemorative anniversary trips in his 1924 Model T.
“He just had a car and a dream,” said Ted, adding that his dad had many other interests – including riverboats, trains and state and local politics. His father also made 50 trips to Brazil to volunteer his dental services at pediatric clinics.
Ted was just 14 years old when he was allowed to accompany Dad on the 50th anniversary cross-country Model T adventure in 1974.
“He rented a motorhome and we towed the car to New York,” he said. “It was a neat, fun trip, but there were always many breakdowns. I think on the 75th anniversary trip, they even threw a rod.”
For the coming journey, the car will be towed by truck to New York and then back from San Francisco in an enclosed trailer. The team will carry tools, parts, and spare gas cans since the Model T has only a 10-gallon tank. At least two other vehicles for drivers and family members will be part of the cross-country caravan.
Not that easy to drive?
Ted Hathaway said he, his brothers Tony and Chuck and his sister Anne recently traveled to Lincoln for a weekend course arranged by the museum on how to drive a Model T.
“It’s different from any car you have ever driven,” he said.
Drivers must work a hand throttle, which is on the steering shaft, and navigate various floor pedals − a brake, a clutch, a forward pedal, and a reverse pedal. The car originally had only two forward gears, but Vaughn added a third in the most recent restoration.
The car has an electric start instead of the classic front-end, arm-breaking crank, but driving time will be limited to a few hours every day. A cruising speed of about 45 miles per hour will limit travel to low-traffic roads only — no interstate highways.
The car has lights but will probably not be driven at night. Model T car clubs will be invited to join the caravan at various communities along the way. Ted Hathaway says a car buff friend is arranging a celebration in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, which will include a proclamation by the mayor.
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University of Iowa grads will be a part of history
Anticipation is running high within the team, family members, museum supporters and sponsors. The family has now donated the car to the American Museum of Speed as a permanent exhibit.
“I’ve been looking forward to this trip for 25 years,” Ted Hathaway said.
“We’re making history,” Henning said.
“I think we’ll have quite a story,” added Richter.
You might also call the journey a Hawkeye event. Henning, Richter, and McAtee are recent graduates of the University of Iowa, as are most members of the Hathaway family.
Will there be a Tigerhawk flag flying from the Model T?
“No,” Ted said. The organizers want to keep the trip historically accurate.
“We may put a decal on our support truck, though,” he said.
Richard Hakes is a freelance columnist for the Iowa City Press-Citizen.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Two Iowa men are driving a Model T across the U.S. for its 100th anniversary
