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Notes


Ben and Mary made this trip in a 1913 Model T (Touring) Ford. Ben had modified the car by cutting down the back seats, so that he and Mary could sleep in it. During this trip, Ben added the cabinet shown in this picture.


Benjamin Ernest and Mary Catherine (Smoyer) Wilson with their 1913 Model T Ford

Ben and Mary with their Model T Ford, after Ben added the cabinet.

From Wikipedia:

"The Ford Model T (colloquially known as the Tin Lizzie and Flivver) is an automobile that was produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from 1908 through 1927. The Model T set 1908 as the historic year that the automobile came into popular usage. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, the car that 'put America on wheels'; some of this was because of Ford's innovations, including assembly line production instead of individual hand crafting, as well as the concept of paying the workers a wage proportionate to the cost of the car, so that they would provide a ready made market. The first production Model T was built on September 27, 1908, at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan.

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"The Ford Model T was named the world's most influential car of the twentieth century in an international poll. Henry Ford said of the vehicle: 'I will build a car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family, but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one - and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces.'"

Mary frequently referred to their car as "Liz" or "Lizzie." She also spoke of it as if it were a horse. Among her other accomplishments, Mary was an excellent horsewoman.


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