Starting on Friday, July 17th, the Historical Vehicle Association (HVA) began recreating a tour route taken by Edsel Ford and six of his boyhood friends in 1915 from Detroit (Ford Estate at Fairlane) to San Francisco.  The HVA was taking this tour to celebrate America’s Road Trip Century.  In addition to the a 1915 Model T touring car, their team consisted of a new Mustang convertible and an eco-boost equipped F-150 pickup truck pulling a trouble trailer.  Their tour route took them to Colorado and down to New Mexico.  Tin Lizzie Member Vaughn Rockafellow had been in touch with the tour organizers and, coordinating with Larry and Lorna Azevedo, arranged to meet the 1915 Model T tour group.

The rendezvous point where the Tin Lizzies were to meet the HVA tour group was a Shell station on North Hwy 14 (east side of the Sandia Mountains) where it intersects the road to Sandia Crest ski area.  At this point in the HVA journey, their team included the main driver and HVA historian Casey Maxon; Chris Paulsen, Assistant Professor, McPherson College; John Paul, Media Coordinator; historic car transport expert Jim Gallagher; and Kurt Gessler, Media Intern.

The Tin Lizzie members who drove to the Shell station were Larry and Lorna Azevedo, Don Mitchell, Vaughn Rockafellow, Marilyn and Paul Duncan, Fran Gurule, Ann and Dave Merewether, and Bill and Donna Hansen.  After the drive down from the east side of the mountains, everyone enjoyed a lunch together and the HVA tour group met with members of the media.

Later in the day, the HVA tour group and many members of the Tin Lizzies, met at the Azevedo’s residence in Corrales for a potluck dinner, to hear about the HVA tour adventure from organization’s Historian Casey Maxon, and to have the 1915 Model T looked over and maintenance performed in Larry’s garage.

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It was wonderful to hear about the adventure of traveling on largely back roads, many of them unpaved, and facing many of the challenges that Edsel Ford and his tour group experienced 100 years previously.  After an oil change and a replacement of one of the top straps, our HVA guests were ready to head back to their hotel.  We found out later that the battery powering their lights was so weak that they made it back to their hotel using a flashlight!  A very nice account of Larry’s and Lorna’s garage, and the Tin Lizzies was documented on their blog site (links below).

Thanks go out to Vaughn for organizing the rendezvous with the HVA 1915 Model T tour group, Larry and Lorna for hosting the potluck and offering their garage and expertise for repairs and maintenance, and the Tin Lizzie members that so warmly greeted the HVA tour group with their Tin Lizzies and at the potluck.