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After 3 short months' working only on Thursday nights Ken and Paul Leblanc, with friends Chet, Pete and myself (mostly just looking on) had his 1926 Model TT Snowmobile ready for the Model T Ford Snowmobile Club meet. Saturday February 4th turned out to be a beautiful sunny day in Tamworth. Ken, Paul and myself had a wonderful time meeting old and new friends, Russel Nave came all the way from the Mojave Desert in southern California! We spent most of the day driving his snowmobile all over the farm making a day full of fond memories that will last a life time.
"Back in the day" these Snowmobile became an indispensable necessity for the anyone requiring dependable transportation during the cold snowy winter months. Country doctors and rural mail carriers were the largest users of this type of vehicle. In fact, when the father of President Calvin Coolidge died on March 18, 1926, a Model T Snowmobile led the Coolidge funeral procession over the snow-covered hills of Vermont.
Getting your Model T Ford out of the shed and started was no easy task it required a major effort! 1st jack up one rear wheel, next place the emergence brake lever all the way forward, pour boiling hot water into the radiator (these would make it easier to turn the crank). Trying to spin the flywheel magnets through oil as thick as molasses in the hogs-head would be easier after you drained the oil into a can the night before and set it on the cook stove to thin in out, but DON'T forget to put it back in before trying to start your Ford.
Words and photos by Warren Henderson