VernGitsham says this is one car he won’t be selling. 53597
By Mara Pattison-Sowden
A SMALL piece of Yarra Junction history has been restored years after it was first discovered hiding in a loft.
Launching Place resident Vern Gitsham knew he had to have the 1913 Model T Ford that was found in the Yarra Junction garage – now the produce store in the mall – in 1970.
The self-proclaimed car nut was already restoring a four-door of the same type, but it was not meant to be.
“I knew the chap who had found it, but he didn’t want to sell it at the time,” Mr Gitsham said.
He bought the car when he saw it advertised 20 years ago, and it has taken another 18 years for him to restore the car to new.
“I didn’t touch it for many years, but every now and then I’d get a burst of enthusiasm and get into it,” he said.
“It’s an expensive hobby, about $40,000 to buy and restore plus hundreds of hours of my time.”
Mr Gitsham is celebrating the finish by taking the car to the Model T Ford Club of Australia’s annual rally, the T-Tour 10, in New South Wales.
“I’ve got to trailer it up to Windsor because it only does about 80km/h flat out, even though that was a lot on those days,” he said.
Mr Gitsham said his passion for old cars began 50 years ago when he bought his first car at age 15, took it apart and put it back together again.
“I had bought Cadillacs to do up, but I could never get over these.
“Henry Ford wanted to build a car for the average person to afford and it intrigues me that that’s all there was,” he said.
“Fifty miles an hour was pretty fast – a horse and buggy couldn’t do that.”
More than 200 Model T Ford owners are expected to show off their cars in the Windsor rally on 26 September.
