Robert and Curtis begin by considering why the Model T is important in history--and why it's important to themselves (1:16), as well as how the 'assembly line' revolutionized industry around the world (2:50). Then Robert asks Curtis to detail the cars specs (4:42) before 'taking us for a drive' (6:42) and talking about what exactly the car is capable of (9:14). Right before a break, the consider how creating the auto industry necessitated the gasoline industry and how some of the quirks of the car foreshadowed modern developments in the industry (10:34).

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Then Robert asks Curtis to detail his own history with his Model T (13:37) and how he approached resoring it (15:31). This naturally leads to Curtis sharing some personal memories and Robert recounting the importance of 'living history' (16:30). Robert pivots to ask about the Model T community (18:07). Then Curtis shares one of his favorite memories of taking the car to a 'drive thru' zoo (20:08). Robert asks Curtis to open up his garage and share what other cars he's collected and is restoring (22:03). And lastly, Robert asks Cutis to give advice in starting your car collection (26:23) before Robert and Curtis consider if any modern-day cars will be as impactful on history as the Model T (27:36).

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Hosted by: Robert Ross

Produced & Edited by: Chris Porter

Sound Engineering: Michael Kennedy

Theme Music By: Celleste and Eric Dick

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Transcript

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 *PLEASE NOTE: TRANSCRIPTS ARE GENERATED USING A COMBINATION OF SPEECH RECOGNITION SOFTWARE AND HUMAN TRANSCRIBERS, AND MAY CONTAIN ERRORS. PLEASE CHECK THE CORRESPONDING AUDIO BEFORE QUOTING IN PRINT.​

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00:00:02
Automatic Voice: From  CurtCom  Media.

 

00:00:06
Dr Curtis Saunders: I  certainly  do  think  that  there  will be  more  cars  that  we'll  look  back  on and we'll say that  was  the  car  that  really  launched  this.  It  might  be  more  like  the  propulsion  technology,  electric  or  even  self- driving,  but  there  are  definitely  still  shifts  to  come  in  the  auto  industry  in  what  we  drive.  I  definitely  think  that it's going to be an exciting next  century  of  cars.

 

00:00:29
Automatic Voice: This  is  Cars  That  Matter.  (music)

 

00:00:41
Robert Ross: This  is  Robert  Ross  and welcome to  another  episode  of  Cars  That  Matter.  Today  we're  joined  by  Dr.  Curtis  Saunders,  Mechanical  Engineer  Researcher  at  Johns  Hopkins  University.  How  are  things  in  Baltimore  today  Curtis?

 

00:00:52
Dr Curtis Saunders: They're  great  Robert.  It's  a  beautiful  sunny  day  here.

 

00:00:54
Robert Ross: And  Curtis  is  here  because  he's  the  owner  of  a  1914  Ford  Model  T.  Now  I  guess  I  could  make  all  kinds  of  jokes  Curtis  about  how  you  really  need  a  PhD  in  mechanical  engineering  to  work  on  one  of  these,  but  I'm  sure  it  doesn't  hurt.

 

00:01:07
Dr Curtis Saunders: It's  true, it's true.

 

00:01:08
Robert Ross: First,  we're  going  to  dig  into  the  history  of  the  Ford  Model  T  just  to  understand  a  little  bit  better why it  was  such  an  important  automobile.  The  Ford  Model  T  is  often  named  the  car of  the  century.  Obviously  it's  an  important  car.  Why  is  it  important  to  you?

 

00:01:23
Dr Curtis Saunders: I  should  say  while  I'm  a  mechanical  engineer,  I've  always  loved  history.  I've  always  been  a  student  of  history  and  history  has  always  been  a  passion  of  mine.  So  the  Model  T  it's  important  to  me,  one  of  the  reasons  is  just  the  impact  it  had  on  American  history  and  just  the  auto  in  general.  In  addition  just  to  manufacturing  in  general,  the  manufacturing  methods  behind  the  Model  T,  some  of  the  things  that  Henry  Ford  really  pioneered  with  the  car,  I  was just  really  fascinated  how  it  had  in  areas  as  well  as  the  impact  of  car  itself  had  in American culture.

 

00:01:51
Robert Ross: From  what  I  understand,  they  made  about  15  million  and  they  had  quite  a  lifespan.  The  first  one  came  out  in  1908,  is  that  right?

 

00:01:57
Dr Curtis Saunders: Yes, that  is  correct.

 

00:01:59
Robert Ross: Kind  of  wrapped  things  up  by  1927  when  by  that  time  it  was  almost  as  much  of  an  antique as  it  is  today.

 

00:02:05
Dr Curtis Saunders: It's  amazing  how  long  the  car  ran  and  even  through  its  cycle  while  the  appearance  of the  car  changed  a  lot  of  the  underlying  mechanical  structure  while it  had  some  changes  it remained  basically  the  same,  the  same  four  cylinder  engine,  the  same  two- speed  transmission.  The  bones  of  the  car  really  did  run  20  years.

 

00:02:20
Robert Ross: I  remember  years  and  years  ago  in  my  former  life,  I  worked  with the operating  engineers  at  UCLA  and we'd  have  these  emergency  generator  rooms.  Now  UCLA  campus  was  built  back  in  the  1920s  and  we  actually  had  an  emergency  generator  that  was  still  powered  by  a  Model  T  engine.  This  was  back  in  the  eighties.  Imagine  that,  that  old  engine  was  deemed  reliable  enough  and  competent  enough  to  be  working  all  those  decades  later  and  I  guess  it  was  really  Testament  to  the  endurance  of  that  particular  design.  You  talk  about  Henry  Ford  and  how  the  Model  T  was  really  the  first  mass  produced  car,  but  I  almost  get  the  feeling  Henry  could  have  been  making  washing  machines  or  vacuum  cleaners.  In  a  lot  of  ways  the  Model  T  was a  test  bed  for  the  whole  production  line  process.

 

00:03:04
Dr Curtis Saunders: You're  absolutely  right.  The  moving  assembly  line  process  was  not  unique  to  Model  T's. It's  been  applied  to  so  many  different  types  of  products  from  airplanes,  trains,  cars, like you  said  household  goods,  washing  machines,  TVs,  just  the  idea  of  that  type  of  process.  We  take  it  for  granted  now,  but  someone  had  to  think  of  it  first  and  there  had  to be  a  pioneer  that and the type of industry that  really  started  this  whole  thing,

 

00:03:24
Robert Ross: Not  only  introducing  a  whole  new  way  of  making  things,  it  was  done  so  efficiently  and  relatively  inexpensively  that  it  gave  any  American  with  a  halfway  decent  paying  job  the  opportunity  to  own  a  car.

 

00:03:36
Dr Curtis Saunders: In  Ford's  heyday  he  was  rolling  a  car  off  the  assembly  line  every  90  seconds.

 

00:03:40
Robert Ross: From  what  I  understand  though,  maybe  you  can  correct  me  if  I'm  wrong,  the  Model  T  was  such  a  grand  vision  of  Henry  Ford's  that  he  actually  set  up  manufacturing  facilities  or  plants  all  around  the  country  and  even  in  other  continents.

 

00:03:54
Dr Curtis Saunders: He  truly  believed  it  was  the  car  for  the  masses.  I  don't  think  he  really  viewed  it  as  just  something  for  a  specific  region  or  even  a  specific  country  or  specific  time.  He  thought  he'd  really  distilled  down  the  essential  components  of  a  vehicle  and  that  that's  what  anyone  in  the  world  would  want.

 

00:04:08
Robert Ross: I guess there  was  more  than  just  one  Model  T,  everything  from  pickup  trucks  to  delivery  vans,  they  made  a  whole  bunch  them, didn't they?

 

00:04:14
Dr Curtis Saunders: Yes,  absolutely.  There  was  various  types  of  cars  from  two  seaters  to  four  seaters  to  even  enclosed  cars  and  open  cars  later.  And  right,  they had  a  whole  line  of  trucks.  You  could  even  buy  a  Model  T  rolling  chassis  and  build  your  own  body  for  it.  If  you  didn't  like  what  Ford  was  offering,  you  could  just  build  your  own.  You're  not  even  limited  to  cars.  Like  you  said,  the  power  plant  could  just  buy  the  Ford  engine,  the  Ford  power  plant and just  have  all  sorts  of  other  applications

 

00:04:36
Robert Ross: That  would  make  a  nice  margarita  blender,  wouldn't  it?  Just  about  the  right  amount  of  horsepower  to  get  that  ice  just,  just  right.  Everybody  knows  what  one  looks  like,  but  I  suspect  most  people  don't  really  understand  what  it  takes  to  make  one  move.  It's  got  a  little  engine.  What  is  it  like  a  three  liter  inline  four  or  something like that?

 

00:04:54
Dr Curtis Saunders: It's  a  little  inline  four  and  it  has  a  two  speed  transmission.

 

00:04:57
Robert Ross: What's  the  horsepower  output  on  that  engine?  What  do  you  figure?

 

00:05:00
Dr Curtis Saunders: It  was  rated  at  22 and  a  half  horsepower.

 

00:05:03
Robert Ross: Wow,  okay.

 

00:05:03
Dr Curtis Saunders: So there's a lot  of  lawnmowers  today. You can buy it  a  riding  mower  from  a  hardware  store  that  has  more  horsepower  than  this little Model T.

 

00:05:11
Robert Ross: You  look  at  a  car  today  and  you  look at it a little  Model  T and it's  the  difference  between  chalk  and  cheese.  We  take  so  many  darn  things  for  granted.  The  first  thing  we  take  for  granted  is  just  being  able  to  put  a  key  in  the  ignition  and  start  at  or  these  days,  walk  to  the  car  and  press  a  button.  Back  then  you had  to  get  out  and  crank  and  as  I  understand  it  wasn't  until  1912,  the  Cadillac  introduced  an  electric  starter.  When  did  the  Model  T  get  a  starter  motor?

 

00:05:34
Dr Curtis Saunders: The  Model  T  got  an  electric  start  in  1919.

 

00:05:37
Robert Ross: Other  stuff  that  you  don't  think  about,  what  if  I'm  driving  at  night?  People  had  lanterns.  Didn't  these  things  have  acetylene  lanterns  or  something on them?

 

00:05:44
Dr Curtis Saunders: Yes,  acetylene  lanterns  and then  oil  side  lamps,  oil  marker  lights  for  the  side.  Driving  at  night  wasn't  just  a  matter  of  turning  your  lights  on.

 

00:05:51
Robert Ross: What do  you  have  to  do?  Take  us  through  the  process.  You've  got  these  acetylene,  do  you  like  blow  your  head  off  like  coyote  in  the  roadrunner  cartoon  or  is  this  stuff  safe?

 

00:05:58
Dr Curtis Saunders: It's  safe.  They had  to  be  careful.  It's  a flammable gas, but  first  you  have  to  generate  the  acetylene  gas.  So their  cars  have  a  little  acetylene  generator  on  the  running  board  and  it's  basically  a  tank  of  water  and  below  that  is  some  calcium  carbide  rock  that  you  would  put in  and  you  have  a  little  needle  valve  and  the  water  drips  onto  the  rock.

 

00:06:15
Robert Ross: Sounds  like  you're  setting  up  an  execution  in  a  gas  chamber, [ inaudible  00:00:06:20].

 

00:06:18
Dr Curtis Saunders: You had to have  a  little  chemistry  experiment  right  on  the  running  board  there.

 

00:06:23
Robert Ross: That's  awesome.

 

00:06:23
Dr Curtis Saunders: It  runs  for  a  while  to  build  up  gas  pressure  and  then  the  gas  is  piped  to  the  two  headlights  and  then  at  some  point  when the  gas  is  flowing,  you  light  a  match  and  that's  how  you let  your  headlights.  You  can  control  the  valve  and  the  flow  of  the  gas  a little  bit  to  make  them  slightly  brighter  and  dimmer,  but  in  general what they are is  what  they  are

 

00:06:38
Robert Ross: I'm  fascinated,  that's  great.  And  guess  what?  We  haven't  even  put it  in  first  gear.  First  of  all,  I'm  confused  man.  There  are  three  pedals  in  this  thing and  not  like  the  three  pedals  we  have  at  our  manual  cars  today.  How  do  you  drive  it?  Set  us  behind  the  wheel  and  take  us  on  a  drive.

 

00:06:52
Dr Curtis Saunders: So  when  you're  sitting  in  the  driver's  seat,  you'll  notice  three  pedals.  The  left  one  is  labeled  clutch,  the  middle  one  is  reverse  and  the  one  on  the  far  right  is  brake  and  then  on  the  steering  wheel,  there's  two  different  levers,  one  on  the  left  and  one  on  the  right.  On  your  dashboard,  you  do  have  a  key  and  on  the  far  side,  you  have  a  little  needle vial,  a  little  rod  to  a  needle vial,  and  these  are  all  things  you  need  to  adjust  to  get  the  car  started  and  running.

 

00:07:14
Robert Ross: I've  already  crashed,  I can't manage that many things. It's like being an octopus  on  a  drum  kit.  How do you learn this? What do you  do  first?

 

00:07:20
Dr Curtis Saunders: The first  thing  that  you  do  is  you  turn  the  key  to  on,  but  that  doesn't  start  the  car.  That's  just  sends  the  ignition,  there's a little  battery  in the  car.  So  that  sends  the  spark  to  the  spark  plug  basically,  and  then  you  put  the  lever  on  the  far  left,  that's  the  spark  that  controls  the  timing  sequence  when  the  spark  plug  fires  to  where  the  piston  is  in  the  cylinder.
So  you  put  that  all  the  way  up  to  have  it  fire  later  and  that's  where  people  would  normally  have  backfires  and  issues  with  the  crank  spinning  around  and  breaking  their  arm  is  the  ignition  will  be  too  far  advanced.  So  you  put  the  left  lever  up,  which  is  the  spark.  You  put  the  throttle  a  little  bit  down.  He's  on  on.  There's  a  little  needle  valve  on  the  dashboard.  You  have  a  turn  and  a  half  open.  That  controls  the  fuel  air  mixture  and  the  carburetor.  Now  you  make  sure  the  parking  brake  is  set  to  on.  These  are  all  things  you  need  to before  for  the  car will  even  start.

 

00:08:02
Robert Ross: So  I  take  it  all  back.  You  really do have to be a PhD.

 

00:08:03
Dr Curtis Saunders: Do  not  worry  about  it  being  stolen,  I'll  tell  you  that.

 

00:08:08
Robert Ross: Well  let  me  ask  you,  are  these  things reliable?

 

00:08:09
Dr Curtis Saunders: Absolutely,  they  were  very  reliable.  They're  just  so  simple.  It's  just  a  very  simple  car.  There's  very  few  moving  parts  and  the  tolerances  are  in  general  a  lot  laxer  than the  modern  challenges  we  have  for  engines.  So  even  if  some  things  break  on  it,  in  general  it  can  keep  running.  Things  can  be  pretty  far  out  of  spec  for  this  car  to  run.  It  might  not  run  well,  but  it  will  run.

 

00:08:28
Robert Ross: It  might  be  blowing  a  quart  of  oil  every  two  blocks,  but-

 

00:08:31
Dr Curtis Saunders: But  it's  running.

 

00:08:31
Robert Ross: What  about  stopping?  Do they have  anything  for  brakes or do you have to  be  Fred  Flinstone?

 

00:08:35
Dr Curtis Saunders: You  basically  have  to  be  Fred  Flinstone  with  this  car.  It  does  have  a  brake.  There's  just  a  single  drum  on  the  transmission  and  you  have  a  band  which  has  some  treated  cotton  on  it.  When  you  push  the  brake  pedal,  it  just  kind  of  clamps  down  on  the  drum  and  then  the  friction  between  those  is  what  slows  your  car.  It  does  not  even,  drum  brakes  on  the  four  wheels  are  just  brakes.  It's  just  a  single  drum  on  the  transmission.

 

00:08:53
Robert Ross: Cotton  like  fabric  for  a  brake?

 

00:08:55
Dr Curtis Saunders: Yes,  but  Ford  actually  advertised  that  as  a  feature  in  the  car  because  the  brake  drum  was  inside  the  transmission.  So  he  described it  as the  car  would  stop  the  same,  whether  it  was  wet  or  dry.  Other  cars  had  these  treated  cotton  bands  around the  drum  as  well,  but  it  wasn't enclosed in  the  transmission.  So  if  it  was  wet  out  or  grimy,  you  might  have  reduced  clamping  power,  so.

 

00:09:11
Robert Ross: This is  truly  awesome,  stuff  that  we  don't  even  think  about.  Let's  talk  numbers.  How  fast  does  it  go?  How  fast  do  you  drive  this  thing?

 

00:09:18
Dr Curtis Saunders: The  1814s  didn't  come  with  the speedometer.  That  was  not  a  standard  thing.  So  a  lot  of  my  speeds  are  guessed.  I  feel  like  a  GPS  on  there  sometimes  though  to  get  an  idea  and  I'd  say  mine  cruises  about  35, 40  miles  an  hour.

 

00:09:30

Robert Ross: Sounds  perfect.

 

00:09:30
Dr Curtis Saunders: You  can  go  faster,  but  the  wheels  aren't  balanced.  It  still  has  its  original  brake.  So  it  gets  harder  to  stop  and  harder  to  control  at  the faster speed.  So  35  to  40  is  good  for  cruising.  No,  it  only  has  two  gears.  So  it  really  does  not  like  going  uphill.  They  really  would  love  a  third  gear  when  it  goes  up a hill.

 

00:09:44
Robert Ross: Well I guess that's what  a  passenger's  for,  to  get  out  and  push,  huh? How many  people  fit  inside  that  thing?

 

00:09:50
Dr Curtis Saunders: Mine's  a  touring  cars, so it's  a  front  and  rear  seat  and  it  will  comfortably  fit  two  in  the  front,  two  in  the  back.  You  can  squeeze  three  adults  in  the  back.  You  can  have  people  standing  on  the  running  boards  I  suppose  if  you  wanted  to  add  more,  but  I  would  say  four  to  five  comfortably.

 

00:10:02
Robert Ross: I'm  sure  that  poor  little  motor  is  going  to  be  straining  if  you  get  more  than  five  big  frat  guys in there?

 

00:10:07
Dr Curtis Saunders: The  car  will  definitely  tell  you  when  you're  hauling  passengers  versus  when  you're  just  taking  it  out  or  a  drive  by  yourself.

 

00:10:12
Robert Ross: Well they  can't  weigh much, probably a  1500  pound  guard?

 

00:10:14
Dr Curtis Saunders: They're  very  light,  it's  wood  and  metal.  It  doesn't  have  all  the  features  and  all  the  extra  reinforcing  that  a  modern  car  would  have.  It's  just  a  wood  carriage  body  covered  in  sheet  metal,  put  on  top  of  a  light  duty  frame.

 

00:10:24
Robert Ross: Your  car  have  a  name?

 

00:10:25
Dr Curtis Saunders: It  does  not  actually,  because  I  only  have  one  Model  T  I  just  call  it  the  Model  T.

 

00:10:29
Robert Ross: They  used  to  call  them  a  Tin  Lizzie  and  there  was a lot of question  about  where  that  name  came  from.

 

00:10:33
Dr Curtis Saunders: Tin  Lizzie,  yes.

 

00:10:34
Robert Ross: What did  they  do  for  gasoline  back  then?  Did  they  have  gas  stations  like  we  have  today?

 

00:10:39
Dr Curtis Saunders: So  they  did.  Early  on  gasoline  was  one  of  the  byproducts  that  will  come  about  when  trying  to  refine  for  kerosene because everyone  had  kerosene  and  oil  lamps  and  gas  was  just  this  byproduct  that  came  through  their  refining  process  they  didn't  really  know  what  to do with.  So  they're  already  producing  gasoline  before  they  really  had  a  big  market  for  it.

 

00:10:57
Robert Ross: No  kidding,  so it's like  all  dressed  up  and  nowhere  to  go.  We  got this  stuff,  now  we  have  to  figure out what  we  can  use  it  for.

 

00:11:03
Dr Curtis Saunders: Yeah,  exactly.  When  refining  first  started,  people  mainly  want  kerosenes,  they  weren't  producing  it, but you had to build  up  your  gas  station  infrastructure  and you  had  the  old  glass  pumps  that  people  see  in  the  small  underground  tanks,  but  that  was  definitely  a  major  challenge  is  you  have  this  car  now,  but  now  you  need  to  build  up  this  infrastructure  to  fuel  it.

 

00:11:18
Robert Ross: What  did  they  do  for  electrical  system?  I  know  the  original  Model  T's  didn't  have  batteries  at  all  and  I'm  sure  yours  has  got  an  electrical  system in it, is that right?

 

00:11:25
Dr Curtis Saunders: Mine  has  a  12  volt  battery  under  the  rear  seat and  that  basically  just  fires  the  four  spake  plugs.  When  you're  starting  the  car, it switches  to  battery,  but  they  also  had  a  magneto.  It's  an  eight  or  nine  volt  magneto,  which  can  generate  its  own  electricity.  I  start  the  car  on  battery  and  then  once  it's  running,  I  switch  it  over  to  magneto  and the  car  is  producing  its  own  electricity,  but  the  entire  wiring  harness  is  the  wire  that  goes  from  the  battery  to  the  ignition  switch,  the  four  wires  that  go  to  the  spark  plugs.

 

00:11:50
Robert Ross: That  is  every  mechanic's  dream.  Instead  of  trying  to  untangle  a  rat's  nest,  the  stuff.  You  work  on  some  of  these  old  Italian  cars and  that  harness  is  so  snake  bit.  One  wire  starts  out  red  and  it  ends  up  being  green.

 

00:12:03
Dr Curtis Saunders: The  wires  of  course have  all  been  replaced,  but I don't think  it's  given  me  any  electrical  issues.  One  of  the  interesting  things  about  the  electrical  system  on  this  car  is,  (inaudible)  car  is  actually  coming  full  circle  with  this  is  each  spark  has its own  ignition  coil.  Instead  of  a  single  coil  with  a  distributor  which distributes it out. In  my  case,  there's  four  different  ignition  coils.  Each has its own  spark  plug  and  they  sit  on  the  dashboard.

 

00:12:23
Robert Ross: That's  positively  modern,  it's  21st century.

 

00:12:26
Dr Curtis Saunders: Yeah,  exactly.  We  now have half of  the  coil  packs,  now  they're  going  back  to  that  for  the  spark  plugs.  It  come  full  circle  and  actually I  had  a  coil  go  bad  while  I  was  driving. It was  actually  when  I  was  on  a  tour  with  a  bunch  of  Model  T's. The  car  just  started  running  rough  and  it  didn't  have  the  power  and one of  the  club  members  looked, " Oh,  one of  the  coils  went  bad."  That  happens,  just  switched  out  and  put  in another  one.  They  said, " You  can  do  that  while  driving  too,  that's  happened  to  us. " Because  it's  right  there  on  the  dashboards.  You  just  pop  the  coil  out  pop  a new one in and  they  keep  going.

 

00:12:49
Robert Ross: Boy,  what a whole different world.

 

00:12:51
Dr Curtis Saunders: It's just  so  simple  that  things  can  go  wrong,  but  the  car  will  still  run.  It's  a  very  forgiving  car.  I  joke  out  of  all  of  my  cars is  the  most  reliable.

 

00:12:59
Robert Ross: That's  great.  We're  going  to  take  a  short  break,  but  we'll  be  right  back.

 

00:13:05
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00:13:37
Robert Ross: We're  back  with  Curtis  Saunders.  Curtis,  tell  us  your  story  and  tell  us  about  your  car.

 

00:13:41
Automatic Voice: My  uncle  bought  a  1914  Ford  Model  T  in  1968.  It  didn't  run.  So  we  would  go  and  sit  in it  and  play  with  it.  We'd  play  with  the  levers  and  the  pedals and  the  steering  wheel.  So  I  really,  even  from  a  young  age,  I  grew  up  playing  with  this  car  that  sat  in  the  garage.  And  then  when  I  was  in  high  school,  it  was  summer  of  2004,  my  best  friend  Pete  and  I,  he  kept  nagging  me  to  get  the  car  out. "You've got  this  great  car  in  your  garage  and  your  uncle  has  this  car.  You  really  need  to  get  it  out  and  drive  it." So I was  like, " Oh,  you're  absolutely  right,"  and  here  we  are  high  schoolers  and  we  have  learners  permits,  so  we're  all  excited.  We  got  the  car  out and then  pushed  it  around  the  block  to  a  garage where  I  could  work  on  it.
At  first,  we  vacuumed it  and  cleaned  it  up  and  then  we  had  it  pushed  around  the  block  and  in  the  garage  and  my  uncle  got  home  from  work  and  we  were  like, " Hey,  look  at  this  great  thing. We're  going  to  get  it  running,"  and  he  was  all  excited. He was  like, " Oh  yeah,  that's  great."  And  so  we  spent  a  few  days  working  on  it  and  then  summer  of  2004,  it  finally  fired  right  up.  There's  a  plume  of  blue  smoke  that  engulfed  us.  We  had  poured  oil  in  the  four  cylinders  to  try  to  keep  everything  lubricated  as  we  were  starting  it,  but  of  course  all  this  oil  burned  off  as  soon  as  it  started  running,  so  we  were  just  engulfed  in  this  plume  of  smoke  as  this  thing  started.

 

00:14:40
Robert Ross: What  a  great  science  experiment,  I  love  it.  You're  a  young  guy.  For  anyone  under  60  to  have  an  interest  in  these  cars  is  probably  a  bit  of  an  anomaly  and  I  think  that's  fascinating,  clearly  the  connection  then  was  not  just  the  mechanical  one,  but  maybe  something  a  little  more  personal.

 

00:14:55
Dr Curtis Saunders: Absolutely.  I  grew  up  hearing  stories  that  my  uncle  told  me  when  he  had  done  work  on  it  and  had  driven  it  when  he  was  younger.  He  drove  it  for  about  10  years  from  1968 to  the  late  seventies  where  it  was  parked.  So  yeah,  having  this  great  car in  my  backyard  and  hearing  all  these  fun  stories  about  it  from  him  and  the  work  he  did  really  peaked  my  interest  and  then  getting  it  running  and  then  he  and  I  would  drive it  and  work  on  it  and  just  swap  stories  about  the  projects  we  were  doing,

 

00:15:16
Robert Ross: Everybody  jokes  about  what Henry  Ford  told  his  customers, " You  can  have  any  color  as  long  as  it's  black."  Am  I  to  assume  yours  is  an  old  black  Model  T?

 

00:15:23
Dr Curtis Saunders: It  is  an  old  black  Model  T,  yes.

 

00:15:25
Robert Ross: They  look  good  in  that  color  and  let's  talk  about  the  car  itself  then  and  your  restoration  work.  Obviously  you  had  to  completely  recommission  this.  How  have  you  approached  it? Is  it  more  of  a  sympathetic  restoration  or  is it  a  showroom  deal  or  what  was  your  approach?

 

00:15:37
Dr Curtis Saunders: Out  of  necessity,  when  I  first  started  working  on  it,  I  really  didn't  do  bodywork.  So  doing  a  complete  taking  it  apart  and  repainting  was  off  the  table  and it was  also  the  paint  was  in  pretty  good  shape  from  when  it  was  restored.  I  really  approached  it  as  a  mechanical  restoration  to  do  what  I  needed  to  to  get  the  car  to  run  safely  and  reliably,  but  also  keep  it  mostly  original  as  I  could.  So  I  definitely  haven't  added  a  whole  lot  of  features  or  upgrades  to  the  car.  I  really  wanted  the  car  to  be  the  technology  it  was  in  1914,  but  at  some  point  you  have  to  make  a  guess  as  to  what  might've  been  on  it.

 

00:16:06
Robert Ross: Is  there  such  a  thing  as  original  engines  in  the  Model  T  community  or  I  guess  the engines  don't  blow  up  though?

 

00:16:11
Dr Curtis Saunders: The  engine  is  original  as  I  can  say.  The  serial  number  on  the  block  dates  to  July  of  1914  and  the  body  also  has  the  components  of a  1914.  So  I  can  say  it's  a  1914,  but  it's  not  like  a  modern  car  where  you  have  a  VIN  on  the  engine  block  which  matches  the  frame.  So it  really  can't  go  to  that  detail,  but  it  is as far as  the  Model  T  community  goes,  it's a  1914  engine.  When  I  was  in  high  school,  the  other  hobby  I  had  was  actually  volunteering  at  some  local  state  parks  with  old  forts,  like  a  Seacoast  defense  fortifications  from  the  Civil  War  after  World  War II  and  so  we  would  take  the  Model  T  to  Portsmouth,  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey  across  the  Delaware  river.  And  we  have World War  I  uniforms. [ Horse  shack  00:00:16:50] and World War I  would  not  probably  have  been  uncommon  to  see  a  Model  T  driving  around  the  fort.  So  it  was  just  really  popular  for  people  too  because it  just  gave  them  another  aspect  of  the  history  of  the  area  to  see  the  car  running  and  driving  and  just  moving  all  around.

 

00:17:02
Robert Ross: I  have  to  plug  one  of  my  favorite  places  in  the  world and that's  the  Henry  Ford  museum  in  Dearborn,  but  especially  Greenfield  village  and  to  visit  Greenfield  Village  and  understand  what  Henry  Ford  and  his  cohorts,  Thomas  Edison  and  all  those  guys,  the  Wright  brothers,  all  the  great  inventors  of  the  era  did.  And  to  be  able  to  actually  live  it  in  a  small  town  environment  that  was  created  in  Greenfield  Village,  I  would  say  that  it's  literally  a  Disneyland  for  kids  and  adults  who  are  interested  in  American  history  and  the  invention  of  some  of  the  fundamental  machines  and  concepts  that  built  America.

 

00:17:39
Dr Curtis Saunders: I  agree.  That's  on  my  bucket  list.  I  have  not  been  there,  but  I've  read a  lot  about  it.  It  was  interesting  Ford  built  six  brand  new  Model  T's.  So  at  least  several  of  them  are  at  that  village  that  you  can  ride  in.  Some  of  the  cars  they use,  they  continued  the  assembly  line  and  they  got  subsequent  serial  numbers  after  the  last  Model  T  and  they  built  some  brand  new  ones.

 

00:17:56
Robert Ross: I  had  no  idea.

 

00:17:57
Dr Curtis Saunders: It's  one  thing  to  see the  car  or  learn  about  history  in  a  museum  or  in  a  book,  but  it's  entirely  different  to  see  it  like  a  working  museum  that's  not  just  static  where  you  see  everything's  coming  to  life.

 

00:18:07
Robert Ross: Talk  about  the  community  for  a  minute.  As  I  pointed  out,  you're  a  pretty  young  guy  to  have  such  an  old  car.  I  know  that  Model  T's  and  Model  A's  where  all  the  collectible  rage  back  in  the  fifties  and  sixties, and  you  don't  see  many  of  them  around  anymore,  where  are  they  all  lurking  and  who  are  the  owners?

 

00:18:22
Dr Curtis Saunders: You're right. There was  a  big  rage  back  in  the  fifties,  sixties  that  really  launched  a  lot  of  the  old  car  hobbies,  but  a  lot  of  them are still  around.  They're  just  in  garages.  They  might  be  in  your  neighbor's  garage.  One  of  the  things  that's  become  harder  with  Model  T's  is  as  general  cars  get  faster  and  roads  get  bigger,  it's  less  and  less  safe  to  take  them  on  main  roads.  I  have  to  be  very  careful  in  planning  routes.  One  of  the  benefits  is  I  really  like  road  cycling.  I  can  find  similar  routes  for  both  of  my  hobbies  and  then  what's  popular  goes  with  different  ages  of  people.  As  certain  generations  get  older,  they're  attracted  to  certain  cars.  I  am  definitely  an  anomaly  as  a  33  year  old  really  being  into  Model  T's,  but  I  will  tell  you  though,  my  experience  when  I  pull  up  to  traffic  lights,  the  Model  T's  generally  get  more  honks  and  ways  than  a  Firebird  or  something.  It's  just  people  are  just  amazed  to  see  it  still  on  the  road.

 

00:19:08
Robert Ross: What  about  rallies?  Do  you  close  yet  together  and  drive  these  things  in  mass?

 

00:19:12
Dr Curtis Saunders: Absolutely.  So  there's  national  meets,  there's  local  meets,  there's  local  clubs  where  you  go  to a  drive  in. There's  all  sorts  of  different  levels  of  communities  for  people  wanting  to  get  involved.  Growing  up,  I  was  involved  in  the  Delaware  Model  T  Club.  I  went  on  some  club  tours  with  them,  which was just  a  lot  of  fun  to  get  a  group  of  Model  T  owners  together.  And  then  of  course,  I've  gone  to  some  of  the  shows,  Hershey  is  the  big  one  in  Pennsylvania,  it's  not  too  far  away.  I've  been  really  happy  with  the  different  Model  T  communities  that  I've  come  across  and  the  different  states  I've  lived  in.  When  I  was  growing  up  in  Delaware,  that  was  a  really  great  way  as  a  kid  to  see  that  there  was  other  cars  out  there.And  that  really  got  me  to  the  next  level  of  driving  it  around  a  few  blocks.  The  first  tour  I  did  with  the  club, it really got  me  more  comfortable  taking  it  on  longer  drives.  I  got to see that  these  guys  are  just  taking  them  out,  they're  not  worried.

 

00:19:54
Robert Ross: I  know that  the  guys  at  Hagerty,  the  insurance  group  who  publish  some  great  magazines  and  have  a  lot  of  enthusiasts  in  their  ranks.  They  had  a  program  a  couple  of  years  ago  where  I  guess  one  of  their  guys  fixed  and  drove  a  Model  T  across  the  country.  That  was  very  inspiring.  What's  the  furthest  you've  driven  your  car?

 

00:20:10
Dr Curtis Saunders: The  furthest  I've  driven  the  cars  across  state  lines  from  Delaware  to  Maryland.  I  have  trailered  the  car.  The  furthest  the  car  has  been  is  Canada.  When  I  was  in  graduate  school  at  the  University  of  Vermont,  I  had  the  car  with  me  in  Burlington  and  a  few  of  my  grad  school  friends  and  I,  we  got  in the car and we  drove  it  up  to  Canada,  so we crossed  the  border.  So  the  car  has  left  the  country.  That  was  probably  the  first  time in  it's  100  year  history  that  it  left  the  United  States.  We  not  only  drove  it  across  the  border,  we  took  it  to  a  drive  through  a  zoo.  So  we  had  the  top  down  and  there  was  camels,  elk,  and  ostriches  that  were  coming  into  the  car and  you  could  feed  them.  So we  had  a  giant  bag  of  carrots and  we  were  just  feeding  these  animals  just  from  this  Model  T  and  of  course  everyone  else,  and  they  have  windows  and  there's  like  things  to  protect  you  from  the  animals.  So  they  were  just  right  in  our  laps  and it was  the  most  insane  thing  to  do  with  an  old  car.

 

00:20:53
Robert Ross: Oh,  that's  incredible.  Those  ostrich  are pretty formidable, they can get in  your  face.

 

00:20:58
Dr Curtis Saunders: They  were  a  little  aggressive.  The  camels  loved  us.  They're just so happy. I was like "One of these camels could  just  push  this  car  right  over if it wanted to." Like " Is  this  really a  good  idea?"

 

00:21:07
Robert Ross: Curtis,  that's  great.  We're  going  to  take  a  quick  break  and  then  we'll  be  right  back.

 

00:21:12
Ad Voice #2: A  Moment  of  Your  Time,  a  new  podcast  from  CurtCo  Media.

 

00:21:17
Speaker 5: Currently  21  years  old,  and  today  I'm  going  to  read a poem for you.

 

00:21:20
Speaker 6: It felt like magic extended  from  her  fingertips  down  to  the  base  of  mine.

 

00:21:22
Speaker 7: You  have  to  take care of yourself because the  world  needs  you  and your work.

 

00:21:25
Speaker 8: Trust me,  every  do  gooder  that  asked  about  me,  was  ready  to  spit  on  my  dreams.

 

00:21:28
Speaker 9: Her  fingers  were  facing  me.

 

00:21:30
Speaker 10: You can feel like  your  purpose  and  your  worth  is  really  being questioned.

 

00:21:33
Speaker 11: They're going  to  stop  me  from  playing  the  piano.

 

00:21:35
Speaker 12: She  buys  walkie  talkies wonders  to  whom  she  should  give  the second [crosstalk 00:21: 39].

 

00:21:39
Speaker 13: Cats  don't  love  humans.  We  never  did.  We  never  will.  We  just  find-

 

00:21:42
Speaker 14: The beauty of  rock  climbing  is  that  you  can  only  focus  on  what's  right  in  front  of  you.

 

00:21:46
Speaker 15: And so  our  American  life  begins.

 

00:21:50
Ad Voice #2: We  may  need  to  stay  apart,  but  let's  create  together.  Available  on  all  podcast  platforms.  Submit  your  piece  at  curtco. com/ amomentofyourtime.

 

00:22:03
Robert Ross: Welcome  back  to  Cars  That  Matter.  I  should've  known  you  were  a  guy  who  didn't  have  just  one  car.  Tell  us  about  some  of  the  other  cars  in  your  garage  or  shall  I  call  them  antiques?

 

00:22:14
Dr Curtis Saunders: They're  both,  you're  absolutely  right.  Once  you  have  one  car and you  really  get  bit  by  the  old  car  bug,  it's  hard  to  just  stop  with  the  one.  Once  I  got  the  car  running  and  we  started  enjoying  it,  my  uncle  was  also  really  bit  by  the  bug.  So there's the  1914  Ford  Model  T,  there  is  a  1930  Ford  Model  A.

 

00:22:30
Robert Ross: Oh,  well now the  Model  A.  Okay,  stop  right  there.  That  was  essentially  its  successor,  is  that  right?

 

00:22:37
Dr Curtis Saunders: Yes,  it  was.

 

00:22:38
Robert Ross: And  damn  near  as  popular  as  the  T.  I  know  the  Model  A  was  the  staple  up  to  probably  up  to  World  War  II.

 

00:22:45
Dr Curtis Saunders: You  can  really  see  the difference in  the  technologies,  even  between  those  two  cars.  It  really  helps  that  I  have  an  earlier  brass  era  Model  to  use  because  I  have  a  lot  of  brass  trim  on  the  crank  start  and  acetylene  gas  headlights  and  then  you  progress  to  the  Model  A,  which  is  electric  starter,  electric  headlights,  electric  horn.  It's  an  enclosed  car. It  has  four  wheel  drum  brakes,  it  has  your  standard  transmission,  the  clutch  pedal,  brake  pedal  accelerator  with  your  standard  age  three  speed  in  reverse  transmission,  which  is  becoming  much  close  to  what  you  would  think  of  as  a moderate  car.  The  sheet  metal  is  a  little  more  styled.

 

00:23:21
Robert Ross: It  actually  had  a  couple  little  curves  in  it  if  you  look  real  hard.

 

00:23:25
Dr Curtis Saunders: It's  true,  it's  true.  We  started  rounding  things  over.

 

00:23:28
Robert Ross: What about the engine? What  are  those,  has  similar  in  line  four?

 

00:23:29
Dr Curtis Saunders: Similar  in  line  four,  but  we're  at  40  horsepower  now  and  a  whole  extra  gear.

 

00:23:34
Robert Ross: What  color  is  your  A?

 

00:23:35
Dr Curtis Saunders: It's  Navy  blue  with  black  fenders  and  yellow  wheels?  The  color  is  straw,  so  straw  wheels.

 

00:23:41
Robert Ross: You're  really  styler.  That's  the  Brooks  Brothers  of  Model  A's,  that was a good look.

 

00:23:45
Dr Curtis Saunders: Instead  of  brass  trim,  which  has  to  be  polished,  it  is  stainless  steel,  so you don't have to  do  anything  at  all.

 

00:23:51
Robert Ross: Well  so  far,  I'd  call  you  a  Ford  man.  What  else  you  got?

 

00:23:53
Dr Curtis Saunders: Also  have a  1931  Buick.

 

00:23:56
Robert Ross: You  jumped  ship  to  GM.

 

00:23:57
Dr Curtis Saunders: The  restoration  is  still  in  progress.  I  was  working  on  that  while  I  was  in  graduate  school.  It  was  a  nice  outlet  from  research  to  have  a  project  like  that  to  work  on.

 

00:24:05
Robert Ross: I'll  bet  it  was,  that's  nice  to  have  a little bit of a  distraction  there,  huh?

 

00:24:09
Dr Curtis Saunders: Yes  and  I'm  fascinated  by the  '31  Buick  because  it  has  a  straight  eight  engine,  double  the  number  of  cylinders,  but  they're  all  in  a  row,  a  straight  eight.

 

00:24:16
Robert Ross: Straight eight  was  an  engineering  challenge  because you got that  big  long  crank  and  you  got  a  lot  of  temperature  challenges,  maintaining  constant  temperatures  across  such  a  long  series  of  components.  Of  course  you  get  that  good  looking  long  hood  to  go  with  it.

 

00:24:30
Dr Curtis Saunders: It's a beautiful car and it's  a  big  enclosed  car  too.  It's  a  seven  passenger  sedan  and  it'll  be  done  someday.

 

00:24:35
Robert Ross: I  suspect  that's  not  your  last  car  though.

 

00:24:37
Dr Curtis Saunders: I  also  have a  1956  Ford  Thunderbird.  So  again,  with  the Fords.

 

00:24:42
Robert Ross: That's  not  only  a  modern  car  by  comparison,  but  it's  also  quite  a  beautiful  classic  and  certainly  among  the  T- birds  that  and  the  five,  six  and  seven,  those  are  the  three  one  you  want.  Maybe  a  '63,  a  lot  of  nice  Thunderbirds  out  there.  But  certainly  the  first  series  were  the  ones  that  everybody  really  thinks  about.

 

00:24:57
Dr Curtis Saunders: I just love  the  look of it. It's a  great  looking  car.

 

00:25:00
Robert Ross: What  are  your  plans?  You  got  any  big  drives  ahead  of you?

 

00:25:02
Dr Curtis Saunders: The  next  big  drive  for  the  car  will  be  at  my  wedding.  I'm  getting  married  this  October  and a  Model  T  will  be  our  wedding  car.

 

00:25:08
Robert Ross: Congratulations,  that's  awesome.

 

00:25:10
Dr Curtis Saunders: Thank  you.

 

00:25:10
Robert Ross: Who  needs  a  Rolls  Royce  convertible  for  a  wedding  limousine  when  you've  got  a  Model  T  that  you  actually  built  yourself?  That  is  fantastic.  I'm  sure  your  uncle  would  be  thrilled.

 

00:25:20
Dr Curtis Saunders: It's  a  great  way  to  remember  him  and  to really just continue  to  enjoy  the  car  and  have  it  continue  to  be  a  part  of  my  life  moving  forward.

 

00:25:26
Robert Ross: Well  then  I  have  to  ask,  is  your  fiance  into  cars?

 

00:25:28
Dr Curtis Saunders: She  loves  it.  She's  driven  it  too.  She  thinks  it's  awesome.  It's  easy  to  teach  her  to  drive  it  because  she  already  knew  the  principle  of  the  clutch  and all that.

 

00:25:35
Robert Ross: That's  fantastic.  Well,  if  I  ever  get  back  East  I  may  look  you  up  and  hit  you  up  for  a  driving  lesson  because  I  would  be  thrilled  to  get  behind  the wheel of  something  like  that. It sounds  like  so  much  fun.

 

00:25:44
Dr Curtis Saunders: Anytime.

 

00:25:44
Robert Ross: I  always  like  to  ask  our  guests,  if  you  could  have  any  three  cars,  what  would  you  pick?

 

00:25:48
Dr Curtis Saunders: That's  a  great  question.  I  think  definitely  finishing  the  restorations  is  a  top  priority  to  really  just  get  to  enjoy  them  and  see  that  go  full  circle  to  finally  get  to  the  part  of  driving.  I  really  just  love  all  brass  cars.  The  older,  the  better.  I  would  love  an  old  Stanley  or  Doble  steam  car.

 

00:26:06
Robert Ross: Okay,  yeah.

 

00:26:06
Dr Curtis Saunders: Also,  the other one is an  old  brass  car  called  an  American  Underslung.

 

00:26:10
Robert Ross: They  look  like  a  race,  well  they  were.

 

00:26:12
Dr Curtis Saunders: I  just  love  the look.

 

00:26:14
Robert Ross: The  best  look  in  the  world,  huh?  That's  fantastic.  And  it's  especially  gratifying  to  know  that  the  brass  flame  is  alive  with  a  whole  younger  generation  of  enthusiasts.  What  advice  would  you  give  somebody  if  they  thought  they  wanted  to  do  something  as  out  there  as  go  back  in  time  and  look  for  a  brass  era  car?  Would  a  Model  T  be  a  place  to  start? .

 

00:26:32
Dr Curtis Saunders: Absolutely.  I  would  say  Model  T's  or  Model  A's,  but  I  definitely  am  partial  to  the  T's.  In  terms  of the  antique  cars,  they're  very  available.  There's  a  wealth  of  information  and  aftermarket  parts  available.  If  you  need  to  find  a  part  and  you  can  pretty  much  buy  most  things  new  for  these  cars,  there's  enough  of  them  where  it's  vendors  can  make  new  parts to them.  The  information  is  there.  There's  different  clubs  you  can  join.  There's  people  that  can  help  you if  you  get  stuck.  And  I  would  just  say,  don't  be  afraid  to  try.  I  learned  by  doing  and  when  I  started  I  was just  a  high  schooler  and  I  had  done  some  work  on  lawn  mowers,  fine.  I  didn't  know  how  to  restore  a  car  or  how  to  work  on  things,  but  you  take  it  apart.  Sometimes  you're  smart  enough  to  take  pictures  as  you  go,  sometimes  you're  not.  And  you  have  to go  back  to  figure  out  how  someone  else  put  it  together.  But  I  would  just  say,  don't  be  afraid  to  try.

 

00:27:14
Robert Ross: That's  great.  So  just  pretend it's a giant  model  kit  and  start  from  scratch.

 

00:27:18
Dr Curtis Saunders: Exactly,  if  you  get  stuck  there's help along  the  way.

 

00:27:20
Robert Ross: Now  are  you going to  get  thrown  out  of  the  club  if  you  decide  to  paint  one  something  other  than  black?

 

00:27:24
Dr Curtis Saunders: You  may  get  some  looks,  but-

 

00:27:25
Robert Ross: Well  it  keeps  saying  it's  easy.  You don't  have  to  worry  about  what  you're going to wear.

 

00:27:28
Dr Curtis Saunders: Exactly,  it's true. That's  one  less  decision  you  have  to  make  with  the  restoration  process.

 

00:27:32
Robert Ross: So  Curtis,  let's  change  our  perspective.  Let  me  ask  you,  what  do  you  think about  the  future  of  car  collecting?

 

00:27:39
Dr Curtis Saunders: It's  a  more  accessible  hobby  than  many  people  think.  My  Model  T,  it's  not  a  million  dollar  car.  It's  maybe  like $ 14000.  Not  everyone  has $ 14000  laying  around  to  go  buy  a  car,  but  I  would  say  that  the  future  of  the  hobby,  it's  more  accessible  than  many  people  think  there's.  Plenty  of  collector  cars,  just  pick  up  a  Hemmings  or  some  classified  digest  and  you'll  see  that  there's  plenty  that  are  within  range.  It's  going  to  be  really  interesting  for  me  as  a  33  year  old  is  seeing  over  the  next 20,  30  years,  the  cars  that  I  remember  from  my  youth  that  are  going  to  become  collectible  much  less.  I've  heard  stories  on  other  people  talk  about  that,  but  I  will  definitely  experience  that  and  it'll  just  be  very  interesting  to  see  what  will  become  collectible  because  there's  always  going  to  be  things  that  are  collectible  and it's only  like  a  brass  era  car  isn't  as  collectible  as  it  once  was,  there  will  certainly  be  new  types  of  cars  that  are  discovering  and  people  want  to  keep  after.
So  I  the  future  of  the  hobby  is,  I'm  hoping  it  sticks  around.  I  love  it.  It's  been  a  great  experience  for  me  and  I  think  it'll  stick  around, that  it'll  just  be  fascinating  to  see  what  becomes  collectible,  but  I  would  just  encourage  people.  Like  I  said,  it's  more  accessible  than  you  think, it  doesn't  have  to  be  a  show  winning  restoration.  If  it  looks  good  from  10  feet  away  and  you  enjoy  driving  it,  all  the  better.  Even  if  it  doesn't  look  good  from  10  feet  away,  but  you  enjoy  driving  it.

 

00:28:50
Robert Ross: Probably have  more  fun  that  way  anyway  because we  don't  have  to  worry  about  the  rock  chips.

 

00:28:54
Dr Curtis Saunders: Exactly.

 

00:28:54
Robert Ross: It's  funny,  brand  new  cars  become  old  cars  eventually  and  take  it  from  me  time  flies  and  I  remember  buying  some  new  cars  that  today  are  treasured  classics.  So  it  happens  quickly.  Talking  about  those  future  classics,  do  you think  any  car  from  the  past  100  years will  really  have  the  same  impact  and  significance  as  the  Ford  Model  T?  Anything  else  you  can  think  of?

 

00:29:15
Dr Curtis Saunders: It's  hard  to  say  for  me  for  sure.  I  think  that  there  will, something  will  have  an  impact  similar  to  the  Model  T. The Model T was  just  very  unique  in  how  it  brought  the  cars  to  the  country  and  it  gave  the  working  person,  it  was  the  first  car  they  could  afford.  It  really  put  the  people  on  wheels.  The  next  big  shift  would  probably  be an  electric  or  some  sort  of  alternative  energy  car.  Of  course  we  already  have  cars,  we  already  have  Rose,  so  it  wouldn't  be  the  same  type  of  impact  as  the  Model  T and  I  certainly  do  think  that  there  will  be  more  cars  that  we'll  look  back  on and  we'll  say " That  was  the  car  that  really  launched  this  movement,  this  revolution."  Of  course  Ford  new  early,  early  10  or  so  years  in,  he  was  really  onto  something because he  was  cranking  out  a  car  every  90  seconds.

 

 Wasn't  immediate,  it  took  a  while  for it  to  really  build  up  and  build  up.  It  might  be  more  like  the  propulsion  technology,  electric  or  even  self- driving,  but there  are  definitely  still  shifts  to  come  in  the  auto  industry  and  what  we  drive  and  when  we  look  back  on  it we'll  be  able  to  say, " This  is  really what  launched  that  movement."  I  definitely  think  that it's going  to  be  an  exciting  next  century  of cars. As  someone  who  loves  driving,  I'm  like, "Ah,"  but  also as someone  who  sits  in  DC,  Baltimore  traffic  everyday,  I'm  like, " Oh, that could be nice, not to have to drive."

 

00:30:14
Robert Ross: Well  that's  what  the  T's  for  for  the  weekend and  the  autonomous  EV  is  for  the  day  to  day.  Maybe  it's  the  best  of  both  worlds  and  I  hope  we're  all  enjoying  both  of  those.

 

00:30:24
Dr Curtis Saunders: It  will be  really  fascinating.  I'm  excited  to  live  through  this  change  and  to  really  see  what's  next  on  the  horizon.  It's  just  an  exciting  time  to  be  a  car  guy  and to be interested  in  cars.

 

00:30:34
Robert Ross: What  a  great  conversation.  Dr.  Curtis  Saunders,  I  really  want  to  thank  you  for  joining  us  and  taking  time  out  of  your  busy  and  mechanical  engineering  research  work  and  to  talk  about  something  a  little  more  down  home,  which  is  Model  T  that  obviously  has  stolen  a  piece  of  your  heart.

 

00:30:50
Dr Curtis Saunders: It was a lot of fun coming here today, talking to you about the car. It's been great for me  too.

 

00:30:53
Robert Ross: Well,  all the best for you  and  your  upcoming  wedding  and send us  a  picture,  will  you?

 

00:30:56
Dr Curtis Saunders: Will  do.

 

00:30:57
Robert Ross: Thanks  to  Curtis  Saunders  for  joining  us  today  on  Cars  That  Matter.  Come  back  next  time  as  we  continue  to  talk  about  the  passions  that  drive  us  and  the  passions  we  drive.
This  episode  of  Cars That  Matter  was  hosted  by  Robert  Ross,  produced  by  Chris  Border,  edited  by  Chris  Porter,  sound  engineering  by  Michael  Kennedy,  theme  song  by  Celeste  and  Eric  Dick.  Additional  music  and  sound  by  Chris  Porter.  Please  like,  subscribe  and  share  this  podcast.  I'm  Robert  Ross  and  thanks  for  listening.

 

00:31:40
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