Family's Model T tradition continues

By ZACHARY MARANO

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Ironwood - As the world's first mass-produced automobile, the Ford Model T was built to be durable. The passage of time has made Model Ts that are still in working condition an unusual sight but Etrayu FitzGerald, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, enjoys keeping his Model T on the road as part of an ongoing family tradition.

FitzGerald and his friend Bo Jacison, of Minneapolis, who is originally from Ironwood, rolled into the area this week for an annual camping trip. Making the 169-mile journey from Eau Claire, they arrived at Bear Track Cabins in Ironwood Township on Tuesday. They plan to leave Sunday.

"Normally, that's a three-and-a-half-hour drive, but it took about six or seven. It's slow and you're not allowed to drive on highways," FitzGerald said. "We had to take back roads and use a paper map. You go about 45 (mph) maximum and probably more like 35 average speeds. So, it took a lot longer."

FitzGerald said that the car is made up entirely of original parts except for the windshield, because they have to be made from shatterproof glass now. They brought spares of almost every part in case they had a breakdown, but did not need to use them.

The Model T was originally purchased in poor condition by FitzGerald's father in the early 1980s and he restored it. He said that his father wanted to restore the car for nostalgic reasons and because Etrayu's grandfather was starting a new tradition.

"In 1986, his dad - Royal Herbert Doughty - started what they called the Doughty 500. There were multiple cars like this (1924 Ford Model Ts) in the family and they would take them on a 500-mile trip through the backroads of Wisconsin. There were only maybe two or three cars back then, but over the years more and more family started to get into it and now we have 18 of them. It's a very large family," FitzGerald said.

He said his family drives 1924 Ford Model Ts because that was his grandfather's first car. Doughty may have bought this model because 1924 was also his birth year, he said.

FitzGerald said that about 70 family members come to the Doughty 500 every year. The tour starts in mid-July at Eau Claire and a common destination is Hayward, Wisconsin.

Although breakdowns are a somewhat frequent occurrence, FitzGerald said the Model T can be more easily fixed than some modern cars.

"For example, the gas pedal on my car is electronic so it stopped being able to read where my foot was. And I was like, 'That's OK, I can replace a gas pedal,' but it turns out you need to have somebody at the dealership program it with one of their fancy computers and that was an $800 repair. And that's a headache. But if something breaks on this, you might not even need the actual official part. You can just MacGyver it together and it will last for years," FitzGerald said.

Some of their fixes included hammering in a nickel to cover a hole when the frost plug blew out in a head gasket failure and replacing a broken spring with the spring from a ballpoint pen.

FitzGerald and Jacison also said that all the maintenance is worth it for people's reactions to the old automobile.