Today around noon or so I decided to stop at the local McDonalds in Blountstown, Fl for a quick burger. I saw what I thought was a Model T Touring turn in the other entrance, with a Florida tag. So naturally I circled around to get close, and managed to park right beside it. The guy exited at the same time I did, (his wife remained seated) and I spoke to him. I pointed and said " I like it!" The car had a slightly wrinkled rear fender and not much shine to the paint. It was obviously a well kept original or a very old restoration. He thanked me and we walked toward the door together. I asked what year and he told me it was a 1919. A few minutes later we were standing together waiting for our orders, so I made more small talk about the car. "I said it is a T, right?" He said "No, it is a 1919 Franklin." I asked where they had traveled from, thinking probably Tallahassee or Panama City. Either is about 50 miles and I figured that would be quite a trip for a 100 yr old car. He replied Tampa. Tampa is about 350 miles from here. I said, damn, thats quite a haul for a car that old. I am sure that he noticed the befuddeled look on my face, then said, "We are from Tampa, but we left home in July and are headed back home now." He said they had traveled from Tampa/St Pete area north as far north as Michigan, then west sorta along the Canadian border to California. They visited The Calif coast all the way south (to include Pebble Beach) and then turned back east across Ariz and New Mexico and a somewhat straight line toward Florida. I had gotten really interested by then and started asking questions. He said he had to stop and lube the car every 100 miles. I did not ask details. I also asked about major breakdowns. He said the only thing he would consider major, was a broken axle in Calif. Fortunately they near near enough to where some friends were that they did not get stranded. He said it only took 3 days in that location and they were back on the road. I did not ask how the axle was repaired or if it was replaced. He said the one other mishap was in New Mexico. One of the wood spoked wheels started breaking spokes. He traded it out with the spare and was good on to Florida. He did say he had to buy 3 sets of tires along the way. After I got home I decided to look up a 1919 Franklin and check out the pics closely. I am not sure if I have ever seen one before or not. If so, I know it would have been at a car show and not an original driver. After looking at the car pictures I click back about to leave the search. But something caught my eye on the next search entry so I clicked on it. Now I wish I could have kept the guy talking a lot longer, and looked his car over more closely. This is a link to what I found.....................https://24hoursoflemons.com/1919-franklin-tour-of-america/ Sorry, I cannot seem to make a clickable link of it. But type in the link and you will find a story about this couple and their travels. Ron
I've been following his trip for a while now, on facebook.... (model T fords have a radiator up front)
Your link opened the article for me. Thanks for posting. What an adventurous spirit!! and Admirable! Ray
I expected that some of you guys had maybe encountered him along the way, or at least was aware of his attempted and now almost complete feat. Yeah, if I had even looked at the front of the car I would have known it was not a T.
Wow - no pics from burger stop? - I know people with updated Hot Rods that are afraid to leave the City Limits
That couple has a real appetite for adventure! My story isn’t near as good but I will relate it anyway. As late as the early 1960’s there was a door to door vacuum cleaner salesman that visited my neighborhood yearly. As best I can recall the Franklin four door sedan he drove was around a 1925 or so, from photos I looked at online. Still ringing door bells he was probably in his late 80’s at least. I had never seen a Franklin before this one and my dad pointed out the so called horse collar grille and mentioned that the engine was air cooled. I have no doubt it was the earliest unrestored car I have ever seen that was likely a daily driver.
Funny that the newspaper clip pictured in the Lemons site from 1947 refers to the Franklin as an antique. It was only 18 years old then!
A great story. I met the owner at the Concours d' Lemons and St. John Concours in Michigan this summer. Yankee ingenuity and persistence at its finest.
My best friend's grandmother used to tell us about driving her father's Franklin to college in the forties! She dearly loved that car and pleaded with her father not to trade it in. Said it never failed to start, never had any running problems and drove like a magic carpet.
Earlier, this year, we went to the Gilmore Auto Museum in Michigan. They had a whole section dedicated to the Franklin. It was a very impressive display, with frames, cut away engines and transmissions and several complete cars. Tons of information about the car and evidently Franklin had a following of dedicated admirers back in the day. I guess they still do! Wish I could remember all I saw and read about the Franklin, way too much info that day for this old brain to retain. But I remember it is an impressive car. Bones
That is a great story. Kind of makes you chuckle at those guys with much newer rides that are afraid to drive them more than 30 miles from home many of them not getting 250 miles a year on them let alone a day.
More than interesting story, thanks for sharing. A shout out to those that shared the links, HRP and Squirrel too.
Great story - most of us who have driven our cars long distance pale in comparison to Jim Eby. Good for him!
Oops, yes it was 28 years old in 1947. I read 1929 from the caption of the road trip of that year, above the newspaper clipping and did my arithmetic from that. It pays to double check!
Hector Quevedo drove a 1928 Model A from Chile to Detroit (a destination fraught with danger in itself, almost in comparison to the rest of his trip)
In the 60s, I was in the Canadian Air Force, and was stationed in Moose Jaw, Sask. Because of my hobby of playing with cars, I was always frequenting auto wreckers for one reason or another. At this one wrecker, I encountered the first 1927 Franklin I had ever seen. I asked who owned the car, and it turned out to be the owner of the wrecking yard. He told me that he was the second owner of the car, and that it had been on the road continuously since new. He told me that he loved the car, and drove it whenever weather allowed. Franklin also made aviation engines for fixed wing aircraft and helicopters, and I ended up owning a 4 place Stinson 108-2, which had a Franklin 165 hp engine. It was a wonderfully smooth, reliable engine. Bob
There’s a nice little Franklin Museum in Tucson if anyone is passing thru. Last time I was there the guy that took us through had worked on the restoration of about half the cars. Very entertaining. http://franklinmuseum.org/
I've been following this family traveling from Argentina to Alaska in a mechanical stock Model-T Roadster Pickup. They seem to have abandoned their blog, but keep their Facebook updated. https://www.facebook.com/Argentinafordalaska-211933649298484/
I really wish I had known the whole story at the time. I would have engaged him for however he would have allowed. I am truly envious of people who completed such dreams and undertakings. To imagine that he, his father, and grandfather all completed similar trips with the SAME car, beginning near 100 yrs ago.