1909 Model T Ford New York to Seattle racer

[retriever]

In 1909, Rober Guggenheim, who had made a fortune in mining, decided to offer a prize to the car that could drive the fastest from New York to Seattle. He thought it would be great for the still-new automobile industry, as well as for promoting Seattle's Alaskan-Yukon-Pacific Exhibition.

The automakers were torn between lust for the good press of winning such an ordeal and the potential embarrassment of failing along the way. Thirty-five companies did enter, but only six showed up on the starting line that June 1st, 1909. Besides two essentially-stock Fords, there were an Acme, a Shawmut, a Stearns, and an Itala. All the other cars were three to four times more expensive than the Fords and were also much heavier and had higher horsepower engines. Henry Ford's theory about lightness and strength would prove to be correct.

The Stearns broke down at the strating line; the Ital was disqualified for traversing the Cheyenne-Seattle segment on a railroad flatcar. This Ford, crewed by Jimmy Smith and bert Scott, finished first on June 23, followed 17 hours later by the Shawmut. The other Ford Model T arrived two days later, having made a couple of wrong turns along the way. The remaing car, the Acme trailed in on June 29th.

Five months later, the victory reverted to the Shawmut when it was discovered that Smith and Scott had installed a new engine along the way. But by then, Henry Ford had already taken the win to the bank: After much publicity, the demand for Ford Model T cars was larger than the Ford plants could turn them out.

Here's the actual car:

And here's my 1/32 scale version built from a Pyro Model T kit chassis and a scratch built body.....  Built back in 2011

Hope you like it.

Tony

[El Caballo]

You may find these interesting, these were taken in Walla Walla, WA in 1959.

Edited December 5, 2017 by El Caballo

[retriever]

I hadn't seen these photos before.  Thanks Ed.

Tony

[Earl Marischal]

A fine bit of modelling and some fascinating images.

Thanks!

steve

[Eric Macleod]

Another excellent model. 

[DumpyDan]

45 minutes ago, Eric Macleod said:

Another excellent model. 

Well done

[Lovefordgalaxie]

Very nice work, specially in 1/32 scale.

Looks like the 1:1 even has the same tires from 1959.  

[ChrisR]

Looks great!

[1930fordpickup]

Nice work on your T. 

Let's see beat them by 17 hours and changed an engine on the way. 

[bbowser]

I love your subject matter, great model!  Nice to see more early classics showing up here. 

I know others have posed and answered the question before, but when did tires go from white to black?  The ICM kits I've been building all have white rubber c. 1912-13.

[unclescott58]

Very cool. A nice model and a fun subject. I like it. 

[Tom99]

Very well done!!

[Bobchayer]

23 hours ago, bbowser said:

I love your subject matter, great model!  Nice to see more early classics showing up here. 

I know others have posed and answered the question before, but when did tires go from white to black?  The ICM kits I've been building all have white rubber c. 1912-13.

As I recall, black tires came about the same time as WW1. Tony may know the exact date. I believe "white walls" were taken after the white tires as they would get black where they met the road. Eventually someone marketed white walls and it took off.

[PhilX]

I'm building a 1/24 version of this car.

How do we know the numbers on the hood were red ?

The original 1909 photos were of course black and white.

And the replicas are not necessarilly credible.

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by PhilX

[Bobchayer]

On 12/6/2017 at 9:05 PM, bbowser said:

I love your subject matter, great model!  Nice to see more early classics showing up here. 

I know others have posed and answered the question before, but when did tires go from white to black?  The ICM kits I've been building all have white rubber c. 1912-13.

I believe rubber went from off white or gray to black in 1914 when a blackening agent was added to the rubber. That is the date I have been using for my models.

 

[slusher]

Great build on your T!