Historic Hood River
“Fords Do Your Best”
Notes
I couldn’t resist sharing this one. Alta Walter snapped this view of her friends Grace Palmiter and Viola outside of Idaho Falls, Idaho, on their way to Yellowstone National Park. They were traveling in a 1927 Ford Model T Roadster, so couldn’t resist the taunt of this sign. A Model T struggles to reach 40 mph. By 1929 the 22 HP Model T engine was twenty year old technology. Earlier that same year a new land speed record of 231.45 mph was set at Daytona. The fastest production car topped out at 119 mph. While there were still plenty of Model T’s on the road in 1929 (ten years earlier they made up more than half the cars on the road) you can be pretty sure there were some cars whipping past them– at least on the smoother portions of the largely unpaved roads.
Tags: automobile, Idaho, Idaho Falls, Palmiter, Sunnyside, Walter, Yellowstone National Park
Kalley
We had a 1928 Model A that we bought from my uncle. Then my husband decided to buy a Model T. I think it was a 1926. Where we ever shocked at the difference between the two models. I can see why many people drove their Model T’s for a long time. A Model A was so much easier to drive as it was somewhat similar to modern stick shifts, but folks were so used to the Model T’s foot pedals. To us it was very different. We kept the A and sold the T!
L. E.
A little bit faster than a covered wagon.
Thanks Kalley for the interesting story. My mother in law talked about a trip she took to Long Beach in a Model T. That might have been her first land trip. They normally took the steam boat down to Illwaco. She said she thought they were never going to get there.
Arthur Babitz
I consider driving my Model T from Hood River to Oak Grove on well paved roads a big adventure. Bouncing around all day on desolate, rough and dusty roads is really hard to imagine– though, as LE points out, it’s luxury compared to the wagon trains of the previous generation.