Three local drivers going across the country in their Model T Fords

Billy McGuire and a couple of Richmond-area buddies plan to see America the old-fashioned way this summer: puttering along back roads in their Model T Fords.

McGuire and the others, accompanied by their wives and their toolboxes, left yesterday from White Plains, N.Y., as part of an event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Ocean to Ocean Endurance Race that changed automotive history. They are scheduled to arrive in Seattle on July 12.

"It's a hell of a way to see the country," said McGuire, who is president of the Model T Ford Club International and teaches biology and environmental science at St. Christopher's School. "Thirty-five miles per hour. Without the air conditioning. Without the radio."

The event features 55 Model T's, including three from the Richmond area. The other local drivers are Morris Cameron, who will be in a 1920 T, and Cassel Adamson Jr., who will drive a 1914 model.

McGuire's T is a 1926 that his uncle bought for $15 in the 1940s and gave to McGuire when he was 10. McGuire promised himself in 1984, at age 19, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the event, that he wanted to drive the same route "when I grew up. It was going to be on my list of things to do."

The Model T, introduced by Henry Ford in 1908, helped bring the automobile into popular use because of its affordability. The car's original price tag was $850, but in later years it sold for as little as $260 because of the mass-production assembly line pioneered by Ford, according to a company history.

As a scientist, McGuire became infatuated with the Model T because of its simple ingenuousness. It's "incredibly well-engineered, lightweight and has a responsiveness to a knowledgeable operator that gives a sense of freedom unparalleled by any vehicle ever produced," he said. McGuire's car also features pink trim, a signature touch suggested by his wife and daughters.

The Model T proved its worth by winning the 1909 cross-country race against bigger models, propelling Fort Motor Co. to prominence. It also signaled the arrival of a society on wheels.

John Adams, who lives in Chesterfield County and is considered a local guru of Model T's, bought his first T for driving to school in 1939. Price tag: $5.

On Wednesday morning in Adamson's garage, Adams oversaw the final tweaking of Adamson's T. Cameron was on his back under the car, tinkering from below. McGuire was fetching hammers and diagrams. Adamson was playing with 3 ½-year-old granddaughter Annie, who will accompany him and his wife, Pearl, on the trip.

Adamson, a retired attorney who lives in Richmond's West End and has a collection of more exotic cars, traded for his T about a dozen years ago. Cameron, who lives in Ashland, bought his T in 1985.

"Best decision I ever made," said Cameron, a retired meat cutter. "The very best."

The best?

"You get in the car and you ride down the road and you're in your own little world," Cameron said. "It gets attention. People recognize you. I just like to drive the car."

McGuire, Cameron and Adamson drive their T's on occasion, putting hundreds of miles on them each year. But they've never done anything quite like this event: a 4,000-mile excursion over more than three weeks that will retrace the route of the 1909 race.

To prepare their cars, they refurbished key parts and added things such as auxiliary transmissions to help the cars climb the Rockies. They called on local experts such as Adams and retired machinist Paul Carreras, president of the central Virginia chapter of the Model T Ford Club International, to whip their cars into shape. They're also packing long underwear for driving their open-air cars in the mountain cold.

Every fourth day of the event will be a free day "to repair man and machine," as the race literature puts it, although repairs surely will occur nightly in motel parking lots.

"One of the neat things about the Model T is it's easy enough to work on . . . and it's not uncommon to find most of the drivers collectively working on a couple of cars," McGuire said. "It's sort of a community thing."

Contact Bill Lohmann at (804) 649-6639 or .