Story and Photos by Paul Duncan

            This fall has been wetter and colder than many in the past ten years. This isn’t weather conducive to working outside on our T’s but many of us have indoor Model T projects and time with Larry’s assistance is welcomed. Over the past month,  we  put an I timer on our 1920  Touring at Larry’s and the engine runs smoother and with less spark advance.  One of the coils was difficult to tune so I ordered two from Lang’s which come directly from Ron Patterson (The Coilman) in Michigan. On  Saturday I checked out the resistance of the primary and secondary windings in a number of older coils I had collected to find suitable cores to return. I needed to borrow one from Larry’s stock of cores. 

            When I arrived around 10 on Saturday morning there were at least 10 “modern” cars in the area around the shop and one T which I recognized as Don Neidigk’s ’27 Coupe. Except for Mark Wing and Dave Ferro working outside everyone was inside. Including me there were 12 Tin Lizzies and 4 guests. There was plenty of energy. 

            Phil Lance was showing his brother in law Roman Chavez and Roman Jr. the shop. Phil has had a rough year with health issues and I was delighted to see him. He relates that Jessica’s 1926 Tudor is running but needs some work on the bands. Jim Glover is finishing the rebuild of his 1918 T engine and was checking the pan for leaks. Jim brought Austin Pisani to the workday and he plans to join the Tin Lizzies. He is a laser welder at Sandia.  Frank Lewark was grinding a T head flat. He said the building he and Leonard Scarborough are renovating in Socorro now has five of their cars inside.  On our recent tour to Socorro we saw the building project. 

            Larry was supervising a number of projects and was showing the shop to two young Sandia Lab engineers. Will Hale, an electrical engineer educated at New Mexico Tech was guest of  Roger Burton.  Roger designed and built an addition to a vise-grip which will enhance one of his ongoing projects. Austin Pisani is from New Jersey and.  He plans to join the Tin Lizzies.  . 

            Joe Warren was observing. Chris Otto is going to get his T truck running and needed to borrow a set of head bolts. He announced that he and Gwenevere are engaged. He received many high fives. Paul Musgrave has been on a working assignment to Seattle for the past 6 months. He has not been driving his roadster much this year. Mark Wing was cleaning up a 1914 T pan.  He tells us that Sue is recovering nicely from her C-spine stabilization procedure. Dave Ferro was working on the engine head for his Montana 500 entry. His Scottish terrier Kinsey was present and well behaved at the workday.  His speedster project is on hold. Paul D. was checking for continuity in old coils he needs as “cores” for Lang’s. 

            I don’t remember many work days with as much participation and we all agree that adding younger new members to our club and hobby is important.