It was spring of 1916 when Sandy Keith, an all around auctioneer and Ford dealer, came out to our farm and went to work, trying to sell dad his first car. It was way after supper before dad got talked into signing a promissory note for $450. Sandy was then able to place an order for five Fords. In about three weeks, a box car of brand new Model T’s arrived in Davenport. One was daddy’s car.
I remember well that spring day when Sandy Keith drove that shiny black three door open air Ford out to our place. Us kids and mama immediately placed ourselves in the back seat, while dad crawled into the driver’s stall with instructor Sandy sitting next to him. In that six mile stretch to Davenport, Mr. Keith gave dad his first and only driver’s lesson. It was all that was necessary for dad to get us safelyback to the farm that day.
Sandy gave us a five gallon coal oil can that was full of gasoline. He said to store it in the outhouse, as it’s explosive and could cause a fire. —For days our outhouse was not patronized by me, ‘til dad moved the emergency gas to the blacksmith shop.
That summer, whenever dad finished certain field work, we went everywhere - camp meetings [and] excursions with other groups of cars to Medical Lake for outings and swims. Went visiting mom’s relatives at Ritzville and Walla Walla etc. And of course, our weekly Saturday afternoon shopping sprees to Davenport.
"Road Testing a Model T" Kik-Backs, No. 3, page 11, part 1 (continued) (home)
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