Auto Part Accessories

Auto Part Accessories

One evening, while mingling at a cocktail party with his wife, Carol, Doug glanced across the room to see Lester "Joe" Robinson engrossed in reading a small book. Intrigued to know what could possibly occupy the man so thoroughly that he would avoid the party around him, Doug went over to learn what he was reading; it was Hemmings Motor News. Joe told Doug that the latest printing had just come in the mail that day and he wanted to get the best deals before other readers even had the magazine delivered to them. In those days, living in New York meant he got the magazine by air mail one day after it left Hemmings in Vermont, while it wouldn't even be delivered to California subscribers for another 8 days. Joe showed Doug how you could buy antique cars cheap, if you acted fast to find the deals before anyone else. Doug bought himself a copy of the magazine and saw an ad for a 1924 Model T Touring "basket case" for only $295. While he didn't even know what a basket case was, he decided to go see the car and bought it. He then brought his first 1924 Model T Touring, which had most of the parts "in baskets", to Lockport and decided to put it in the cellar of the main house. One problem, the car did not clear the cellar doors. After removing the hubcaps and trying again, he was still one inch short. So, Doug removed the door trim and shoehorned the car in.
At the time he purchased his restoration project, Doug was the co-owner of a land surveying business and was used to meticulous organization, measuring and labeling. He looked at the baskets of parts, and just as Henry Ford did when he first started tinkering with unicycles, farm engines and watches, Doug was curious to know what the parts were, where they fit and how they worked. At the beginning of the Model T’s restoration, Doug applied his land survey skills by sorting and applying tags to each and every part. The tags included crude terminology describing where the part came from and the function of each part. Doug and his three sons, Rob, Randy and Rick cleaned, sand blasted, primed, and painted in the basement & sometimes even the kitchen.

Auto Part Accessories

 Auto Part Accessories

 Auto Part Accessories

 Auto Part Accessories

 Auto Part Accessories

 Auto Part Accessories

 Auto Part Accessories

 Auto Part Accessories

 Auto Part Accessories