Driving A Ford Model T Across America Is Now On Our Bucket List

August 7, 2015

Adulthood is a scary prospect, especially if your father, Henry, had created one of the largest industrial empires, ever. So at 21 years old, before he was to start at the Ford Motor Company, Edsel Ford and six friends went for a drive in the country…from Dearborn to San Francisco.

One hundred years ago, the journey was an epic one, taken through an unfolding expanse of American wilderness. This year, a team from the Historic Vehicle Association are recreating Edsel’s trip—and it’s been no less epic in 2015.

The core team is HVA President Mark Gessler, a life-long car guy and veteran of a number of Mille Miglias. Alongside him is the group’s historian, Casey Maxon, who among other things was head of the team at McPherson College that could reassemble a Model T in record time—about 10 minutes.

Using two cars built 100 years apart, a 1915 Model T Touring and 2015 Mustang EcoBoost Convertible, the team is essentially live-blogging the journey online through social media, not only logging all of its mileage, maintenance, and events visited, but backing it up with beautiful photography. We wish we were standing just out of frame in most photos!

This week, look for them in and around Monterey, as they attend several events in the area before ending the journey on August 18/19 in San Francisco.

You’ll find the dates and locations for the Road Trip Century Celebration here. You can follow HVA’s progress for the last leg on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, as well as read a daily blog at drivehistory.org. Hashtags to look for? #drivehistory and #RoadTripCentury