A couple in Bridgeville, just north of St. Johns, took off on their annual trip up to St. Ignace Sunday morning, a tradition they’ve held for more than 20 years. This year, however, will be the first year they travel the more than 200 miles in their 1914 Ford Model T.
It will be the car’s longest trip yet.
Tom and Erica Wright go to the Annual St. Ignace Car Show Weekend every year, save last year as it was canceled due to COVID-19. This year it’s back, and the couple is taking the scenic route at a comfortable 30 miles per hour with their two dogs and a trailer.
"The trailer is built out of Model T parts," Tom said. "It was a front axle and the barrel – interesting – is off of a cider mill press from Uncle John’s Cider Mill just up the road.”
The 107-year-old car originally belonged to Erica’s grandfather. It was built in Ithaca, Michigan.
“So it’s been in Gratiot County almost its whole life,” Tom said. "They made over 15,000,000 Model T Fords from 1908 to 1927.”
“This era here, is called the brass era," Erica said. "So there’s a lot less of these ones left than there is like in the '20s.”
Tom said the 1914 Model T is coveted as it was a special year for Ford.
"That was the introduction of the $5-a-day pay raise. That was what Henry Ford did. Everybody thought he was nuts," Tom said. "And, it worked. He started the eight-hour shift…so I mean, there’s a lot of things that went on in 1914.”
“The assembly line was officially done in ’14,” Erica added.
Tom said if you look inside the car at the engine and transmission, you can see parts that have the letters DB stamped into them.
“It’s Dodge Brothers," Tom said. "Dodge Brothers was – they were one of your biggest machinists in Detroit. So they were making a lot of stuff for Henry Ford.”
To the Wrights, a Model T Ford is a unique way to help them slow down.
They left this morning just after 7 a.m. and made it to Grayling by 1:30 p.m. Their trip will take them nearly seven hours in total, but they are spreading the journey across two days so that they can make lots of stops to give the car a break.
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