“You have the coolest old cars. I enjoy reading about them all the time in the Villager. Would you consider taking me, my sister and her husband for a long ride in one of your old cars? Maybe we could go to a specific destination, make an afternoon of it. It would be a belated Christmas gift for him. We all like old cars. He would like that very much. I am willing to pay you for your time.” So said Lori Folger, long time resident of Hiram, Ohio. She also knew that I was a woodworker, something that I haven’t written all that much about. Possibly it’s from the church craft shows where I generally put out a table of bowls, turned boxes, tchotchke and the like, when we play music. I price them accordingly because people around here can’t pay as much as this stuff goes for in the city. I live here!
“Why yes, I would be more than glad to take you and your clan for a ride. No, you can’t pay me. That’s not why we have these old cars. We enjoy driving them, showing them to people and talking about them”, said I. “That’s the name of our game!”
Lori Folger is an acquaintance of mine from old time music gatherings in Kent and Jam sessions in Mantua. She is also an avid reader of the Villager and is well familiar with my columns. Lori is a dancer who would show up at these gatherings and dance sort of a clogging style step on a board she would bring with her. Some call the style clogging. Some call it flatfooting. Or more properly, it is referred to as Appalachian style flatfoot. There have been a few others who would show up at these musical gathering and do this also. I never knew what to call it but they seemed to enjoy the music and were/are a delightful addition to the musical goings on.
Lori explained to me that her brother-in-law Bill Wesco and her sister Lyn who live in Maryland, come through here every year to attend the Indianapolis 500. Lyn graduated from Hiram and Laurie from Kent, so both have deep roots here. Laurie explained that Bill is an avid woodworker and old car/race car afficionado and perhaps we might incorporate that into the trip. Well, this request had Skip Schweitzer and Jerry Siracki written all over it. Both of us have old cars, both of us are avid woodworkers and both of us talk endlessly to people about the cars, show them, and more importantly DRIVE them.
So, I called Jerry and got him involved. Two old cars are always better than one on trips. Breakdowns are always a possibility, particularly in hot weather. Memorial Day can be, and was, hot at 90 degrees. Old cars are particularly susceptible to overheating because the technology was originally primitive in the early years. For example, Model “T”s produced from 1914 through 1927 did not even have a water pump. They relied on thermosyphoning (essentially hot water rising to the top trickles down through the radiator back to the bottom of the system. It is essential that you keep moving—air circulating– at a fair clip for this to work somewhat efficiently. Otherwise, you boil over, which was common with “T”s . When you consider the fact that virtually all ancient cars have been significantly bored out to the max during multiple rebuilds, and high compression heads added, this causes them to run a good bit hotter than stock. Thus, you have a significant tendency to overheat. So, we generally stay out of parade situations and try to keep the load light. Model “A”s do not have much room in them so it is better to spread out the occupants to 2-3 per car. Yes, we have trunks strapped to the back but these are always packed with tools, tow straps, and things needed for on-the-road repairs. Now you know why you don’t see many antique cars in parades.
Jerry and I planned out a route through Amish country in the morning when it, ostensibly, would be cooler and we would end up at an Amish restaurant by noon, hopefully avoiding the heat of the afternoon. We could open the windshields up and there would be a grand breeze coming through the cars (AKA air conditioning circa 1930) with a minimum of bugs coming through the open windshield this time of year. Later on in the summer you want to be much more careful because of the plethora of bugs, bees, yellow jackets. After giving them a tour of both Jerry’s and my woodwork shops and Jerry’s garage where we rebuild the Model “A”s and store parts we embarked on a circuitous route through the heart of Burton and Middlefield at 35 mph, seeing young foals lying in the grass, and Amish tending to their fields, barns and outbuildings. People took turns sitting in the passenger seat up front. This gives you a distinctly different view of riding in an antique automobile with the lights, horn, radiator mascot in full view (what is that thing on the radiator? It is known as a flying quail mascot and was an accessory) –as well as the various noises, grinds, bouncing, and rolling associated with antique cars. With another Model “A” in front you get to see how an old car bounces and handles the road from a different perspective. And you see firsthand why 35 MPH is the recommended traveling speed for these cars.
We stopped at an Amish hardware/food store/ bakery on Nauvoo Road, one of our favorite places where we always buy Fry Pies, a delectable treat that should never be missed if you’re out in Amish country. They’re sort of like a filled Hostess dessert treat but a thousand times better. They have for real pie filling and pie dough that is crispy and light like you would get in a real bakery. I always get 6 and freeze them for later treats. We then proceeded down Nauvoo Road to the Trumbull Hardwoods Lumber yard where they specialize in grand wood that artisans and renown builders would use to build mansions and magnificent creations. They have 8 foot long, 3-4-foot-wide longitudinal cross sections of rare wood—spalted maples, walnuts, chestnuts in two-inch-thick sections. I’m sure that this stuff is shipped all over the world. They have standard sized hardwood lumber too, that wood workers would use to make furniture or anything else. I stop there regularly and if I see an interesting piece of spalted or gnarled wood (regular boards and rough cuts) I buy it for use in next winters turnings. Bill was delighted. He had not seen this kind of wood warehoused anywhere. I think he was going to go back after our trip and take some home to Maryland with him.
We then stopped for lunch at the Dutch Country restaurant about half-way between Middlefield and Burton. Word was that this place had been under new management of late and the food was excellent. It did not disappoint. The pandemic has closed down several of our favorite restaurants so we were pleased to discover this place again.
I believe that all three of our passengers were delighted with the morning tour and experiences in the 92-year-old automobiles. This is the first time we have done this sort of thing outside of our regular club tours and outings. I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I hope they did too.
