September 2003
FRONT SEAT NEWS
MODEL T FORD CLUB  NORTHWEST OHIO, INC.
Officers: Bob Torbet, Pres.; Bob Hollister, V-Pres.; Jack Putnam, Treas; Jim Cook, Sec/Editor
NEXT MEETING: September 10th, 2003 7:30 at Jack Putnam's Shop 1215 Hancock Rd 28; Bluffton (4th house east of Anderson Tractor Supply), Phone (419) 358-6313
The August meeting was held at Jack Putnam's shop in Bluffton.  Bob Torbet led the short meeting with 13 members and friends in attendance.  The treasurers report was read and approved.

Bob Torbet and Bill Mack are planning the upcoming tour to Kelly's Island.  They have opened the tour up to anyone who is interested.  We already know of a few from the Tickin' T's that will be participating.  To make hotel arrangements at the Lake Point Motel on the Marblehead Peninsula call 419-798-4684.  Contact Bob or Bill for further information on the tour.

Many of the upcoming tours were talked about and the members were encouraged to attend.  This included the Ohio Jamboree, Old Car Festival at The Henry Ford,  and, the weekend of September 13th and 14th at Kelly's Island. 

The price of the Newsletter was discussed.  It was decided to continue to put everything as usual on the internet; but, for the present make the hard copies in black and white.  The cost of having the color copies of the newsletter is very high.

After the meeting everyone enjoyed a time of fellowship and discovery.  Bill said that  Melvin's 1911 touring shoud be done soon.

Just for fun, David B tore his engine apart to find out why it didn't want to go in the gear that he chose.  It only took 20 minutes to have it opened and checked out.  It seems that the triple gears were spinning in a very unhealthy way.  A lot of heat was used to get all of the bushings off of the pins.

At the same time, Jim C was shrinking a couple of rims onto his linseed oil soaked spokes.  As a result, I didn't get any pictures of the project!!!  Someone did pick up a camera and got three shots for the newsletter.

Both projects involved the help of all of the guys.  I think that everyone came away from the projects with a lot of satisfaction.  All in all, a very good meeting
Visiting Car Collections
Below we see an early air cooled Franklin While few of us will ever own all of the cars of our dreams, it is possible to see and appreciate the efforts of others by visiting others' car collections.  We all know a few collections here and there that contain some of those rare finds that we all yearn for.  In a lot of cases the owners of these collections are more than happy to invite a few interested guys and gals over for a look-see,as long as the group doesn't get too big and overwhelm them.  On the other hand, I've seen some guys that invite the entire Jamboree crowd over for ice
cream.  That will be the case with Don Davis on next year's All Ohio Jamboree in Logan, Ohio.
I was fortunate enough to ride in this lone surviving Midland.  The Midland was an early auto venture by "the" John Deere of tractor fame.  Those fenders are huge.  The only other Midland is just a chassis.
This is one of those pesky EMF's.  I've toured with one of these.  It's a great car with just a little more oomph that a Model T (30HP).
The 15th Annual All Ohio Model T Jamboree
The Jamboree this year was held in Southern Ohio around Ripley and Aberdeen on the Ohio River.  Actually the host hotel was in Maysville, Kentucky; so, every tour started out with a trip down the hill in Kentucky and across the beautiful Ohio River.  The tours also ended with a climb up that same hill back to the hotel.  A few of the guys from the group braved the weather
(it rained a lot).   Those that I can think of were Bill, Bruce, Dave, and myself (Jim).  We traveled up and down some great hilly terrain to get to the home of President Grant, a preacher's underground railroad house, and the home of a famous counterfeiter.  Next year event will be hosted by the Tickin' T's in the Logan, Ohio area (Old Man's Cave)
Old Car Festival at "The Henry Ford"
This year's Old Car Festival was the first year that the event was held at "The Henry Ford".  That is the new name for Greenfield Village in Dearborn.  There was a little bit of a different layout of the different years of cars; but, we are flexible.  We really got some good spots under the trees and had a wonderful time,  thanks to some great weather and a lot of friendly people.
This is a big and expensive original Model B Ford.  Many people have never seen one of these.  It was very smoky.
This Model F is owned by Wayne Coffman of Tiffin.  I hope to arrange for a tour of Wayn's collection one of these days.  That is one tour that you won't want to miss
There were a couple of Model R's running around.  I believe that this is one of them
You'll have to excuse me for slippng this one in.  The craftsmanship on this hearse was just fantastic.  The inside looks just like a church and the outside is all carved drapes.  I've never seen such an ornate car.  This is one lucky funeral home.
Let's go Touring
Kelly's Island Tour with the Northwest Ohio T Chapter: September 13 & 14
    This is a tour of Kelly's Island, Marblehead Peninsula, and Lakeside.  On Saturday we will take the Ferry from Marblehead to Kelly's Island.  The time to leave is up to each driver.  We will tour the island with supper scheduled at 6PM at the Village Pump.  After supper we will Ferry back to Marblehead to the Lake Point Motel,  this will be our headquarters.  There are a limited number of rooms available at $57/night.  First come first serve, call 419-798-4684 for reservations.
    On Sunday we will tour Marblehead Lighthouse and the keepers house.  There are a number of antique shops for those who like to shop.  There are also a lot of old quarry roads in the area for touring.  Lakeside is also nearby for a short tour down narrow village streets.
What I Did on My Summer Vacation
Our summer vacation started out in Vermont with a visit to my favorite Railroad. I had talked with the Green Mountain RR before the trip to arrange for a couple of shots with "Old Henry" and "The Green Mountain Flyer".  The crew and the weather both cooperated flawlessly.  The combined baggage/coach was added to the train on Monday and the shots were taken on Tuesday during the second run of the day.  The shot on the right was taken at the Bartonsville covered bridge.  Scott Whitney from the railroad blocked the road so that Sue wouldn't get run over while getting the shot.
The shot on the left was taken at Bellows Falls, Vermont during the runaround move between runs.  The loading of milk onto the baggage car was a very common sight fifty years ago.  That is about the time that the RS1 locamotive in these shots was first used by the Rutland RR.  Many of these locamotives were used to replace aging steam locamotives that were labor intensive. 

The mountain in the background is one of the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  The Bellows Falls loading facility and passenger station are on an island flanked by the Connecticut river on the east and the Bellows Falls canal on the west.
The Keystone Cops' Tour this year was centered around Bath, Pennsylvania.  One of the interesting stops was Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.  This town adopted Jim Thorpe after his death  so they could build up their town's reputation. The town is home to a famous miscarriage of justice.  One of the condemned left a handprint on the wall to proclaim his innocence; and, it has never been removed, although, many jailers have tried.  They claim that the plaster has been removed and replaced; but, the handprint still comes back.

The town is also home to Asa Packer, owner of the Lackawana Railroad and reportedly one of the richest men in the world at the time. 
Meeting Projects
There's just nothing like waking up one day to the fact that your wood felloe wheels have finally shrunk to the point of no return.  I was polishing my hubcaps before a recent tour and found that I could see daylight between the wood and the metal rim.  Of course, I had known that they had been getting looser all of the time and that eventually I would need to take some type of action.  The old trick of running through water now and then just wasn't going to work forever.  
So here we go.  After some advice from the forums and a few individuals, I decided to soak the wheels in linseed oil.  This seemed easy enough.  First, the tires were removed and the rivets removed from the metal rims.  Next, the wood was driven out of the rims.  This proved to be a lot harder than I expected.  I had thought that they would just drop out once
the rivets  were removed.  It seems that the rivets pull the metal into the wood and it drags everywhere that a rivet had been.  That wood never would have just fallen out as I had feared.  Anyway, once the wood was out, the wood was soaked for 24 hours and the felloes were once again driven back into place and the rivets popped into place.  The pictures show the wheels as the hubs are removed and the wood is read to be placed back into the rim.
Here is an over the top view of Dave's triple gears on the flywheel.  It was amazing how quickly the group got the whole engine disassembled and had diagnosed the problem.  Everything had been torn down and this seems to be the only problem.  It's anyone's guess just how the gears tied up.  The clearances were set to factory specifications; but, maybe the new brass bushings need a little more slop than the original bronze.  All of the parts will be ordered along with a gasket set and the engine will be back together in no time.  An engine project doesn't need to take forever.