"I find that while Model-T’s may exude charm in photographs, they tend to transform their pilots into contorted figures resembling monkeys attempting an impossible task with a football – heads jutting a foot beyond the windshield, knees grazing their chins, contorted into ergonomic nightmares that shatter any illusion of motoring bliss." I'd be really offended by this paragraph if it wasn't so true.
The thing is, you can't see this in photos even when there's a driver in the car... and they are so svelte and sleek and... A great example of this is the Khougaz Roadster. Not a T, obviously, but same principle. One of the best looking roadsters EVER built. I love everything about the car. There isn't a detail I would change - then or now. But when I drove it, I looked like an absolute ****ing idiot folded up inside that thing.
I feel called out by that snippet! This applies to bikes too. How many modified motorcycles that have been modified by removal end up being beautiful at the curb, but lose all dignity with a normal human pilot?
I always thought that this cool roadster built by" Blackie Gejeian" looked proportionally correct, especially with him sitting in it, but the angle of the photograph, may be deceiving, which fools the eye into thinking that he isn't scrunched up. Everyone's results may vary. Thanks from Dennis.
I love Blackie's car too, although it appears in that pic, his left hand is resting on his knee, which is damn near in his ribcage. I'm not sure how tall he was, either. My T empty vs. with me in it racing. You can see I'm always looking over the top of the windshield, and I have every inch of this body carved out to fit me inside of it. Dropped floor pan, virtually no seat back. Looks especially bad with a helmet. I think I'm going to add a second windshield panel above this one, I've got an extra set of stanchions. At least that way I'll be looking through gl***, and maybe the height of the windshield will help the wacky proportions a bit, at least when I'm in it.
Dang. Thought I was going to see a homemade logging skidder when I read the ***le. ****, I’d drive it
This works though... You don't look like an idiot. I think because the body is on top of the rails as god intended and your windshield isn't crazy chopped.
Even worse when channelled, my roadster maybe a Chev but roughly the same size, '26-'27 T's have a slightly smaller interior. Can become uncomfortable after short drives, long drives haha body aches head to toe but at least the roadster looks good. from GCRR 2022, Wilson Murphy photos and forgot who took first photo
Alas, mee too. In my defence, I'm 6'6". And at 20 yr old it was the only car I could afford that could do 131 in the quarter.
^^ those are great pics. But also kinda terrifying, with that roll bar towering over the body and still not above your head! 131!
He (Eaton) ended up here in Motown as one of the managers at the late Detroit Dragway. We had an annual driver's meeting at my shop back in the 90s and he attended. Nice guy. In the 96 season he said Detroit Dragway was going to ban the use of delay boxes. I poured a cup of coffee and began listing the why and why not, and after some time drafted a letter and made a bunch of copies for the staff and another racers. You see, the why was rendered down to the very few who not only didn't but refused to use one. Of course I used one and my perspective was clearly from that point, but I wasn't alone. Super Pro was a legion of fast cars and delay boxes. For the uninitiated that box lets you leave on the 1st yellow and the box counts down the tree "for you" in a sense. Still, miss that bulb or flinch too soon and you go from hero to zero in thousandths of seconds, + or -. Advantage? Maybe or maybe not. Ed and I had a nice long talk. He changed his mind and I was king-for-a day. I knew he was an all in car guy but didn't know about this car. Why am I not surprised. Good stuff...
As with any car, room is what you make of it. I care more about what my stuff looks like going down the road than I do in a parking lot, so even though I chose one of the smallest bodies possible, Through use of a dropped floor, and flexible joints, I made it look pretty good. hell, its comfy enough that my wife has done a couple hundred miles with me!
The Jalopy Journal
