Rollin’ out

Antique on loan goes back to family that owns it

Friday, July 18, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by DARWIN WEIGEL Richard Storey of Thurmont guides the 1914 Ford Model T ‘‘Depot Hack” out of the Chesapeake Beach Railway Museum Friday for its trailer ride to his garage. The antique vehicle was owned by his grandfather and loaned to the museum for display in 1981. Storey, who helped his grandfather build the car when he was a child, plans to fix it up for him and his family to enjoy. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo Above, Richard Storey of Thurmont and his daughter Breana, 7, look over his 1914 Ford Model T ‘‘Depot Hack” before removing the car from the Chesapeake Beach Railway Museum Friday for its trailer ride to his garage. Below, a look inside the Model T. Click here to enlarge this photo

Richard Storey’s grandson, also named Richard Storey, of Thurmont, came to the museum to take back the car that his grandfather had in 1981. Storey (the younger) had spent three summers with his grandfather, restoring and refinishing the Model T. It was actually his grandfather who gave him his love for antique cars.

‘‘He was always into Model Ts and he had about five or six of them in parts and we decided to build one from the parts,” Storey said. ‘‘The frame initially came out of a barn, so we decided to call it a ‘Depot Hack.’ I remember scraping the wheels with a piece of glass.”

Because of the car, Storey said that his grandfather was well known in the Calvert community. Storey learned to drive using the car. When he drove a modern car, he had to learn how to drive all over again.

‘‘It doesn’t brake on the wheels of the car,” Storey explained. ‘‘It brakes off a band inside the transmission which stops the drive shaft. The only brake is the parking brake.”

The Model T was the second one that he and his grandfather worked on. Storey currently works on restoring other cars and 1950s motorcycles. He always grew up around old cars.

The car, for many people, was a central part of the museum. As a crew from the Calvert County Building and Grounds along with Storey and his friend maneuvered the car from its tight spot, onlookers reminisced about how the car was an influence on transportation and how it was often the focal point for visitors at the museum.

Janet Bates of Holland Point, one of the founders of the Chesapeake Beach Railway Museum, was there the day that the Model T first came to the museum.

‘‘I remember the car going out for a couple of weddings,” Bates said. ‘‘I really feel there are many people train-oriented, but for the younger people, it’s really the car they come to see. It’s a loss, but I feel we are lucky to have it.”

‘‘I love trains, but I also love old cars,” said John Riedesel of North Beach. ‘‘I am really sad that we are losing our Model T. I have enjoyed looking at it over the years, but I am glad that Richard is going to have it out on view and not just have it sitting around and collecting dust.”

Riedesel is on the board of the Friends of the Museum.

The younger Storey’s mom, Mary Hart of Olney, was in attendance. She spoke of how her father-in-law loved to tinker with antique cars and cast iron toys. When Hart got married, her father-in-law drove them in one of his Model Ts from the church to the reception instead of in a limousine. She also loved to talk about and work on cars with her father-in-law, something that made them very close for a number of years.

‘‘The first time I met him, I was 18,” Hart said. ‘‘He had the 1914 Model T all dismembered in his basement and he was redoing the oak spoke wheels and everything else and put it back together.”

Hart would go and participate in parades and antique auto shows with him.

Storey’s daughter, Breana, 7, is following in her dad’s footsteps.

‘‘We are going to fix up the car,” Breana said. ‘‘We like working on motorcycles and cars together.”

Storey plans to keep the car in good condition. He wants to keep it in his family and put it on display in car shows and parades, so other people can enjoy a piece of history.

‘‘I wanted to enjoy it with my family,” Storey said. ‘‘My grandfather started the National Capital Model T Ford Club and I wanted to carry on the tradition of sharing it with the public.”

As the car was driven away in the hot July sun, onlookers waved goodbye with red bandannas, paying tribute to the days of yesteryear.