Dillow's Model T turns heads at international Ford celebration in Indiana

Morris Dillow, left, with his 1911 Model T Touring Car, shakes the hand of Henry Ford III at the Model T Ford Club of America 2008 Centennial T-Party at Richmond, Ind. Dillow took third place in the T1 class, known as "the brass class" during the week-long celebration July 21-26. Photo submitted

But his recent win of third place was made significant because it occurred at the international Model T Ford Club of America 2008 Centennial T-Party at Richmond, Ind., July 21-26, the largest centennial celebration in the world.

There were 978 Model Ts registered from 47 states and nine countries. Twenty-five hundred people descended on Richmond, which houses the Model T Ford Club of America's museum.

Virginia Ness, Morris Dillow's mother, with his 1911 Model T Touring Car. She took first place in the reproduction clothing fashion show. Photo submitted

Models from 1908 to 1927 were represented, Dillow said.

Ford Motor Company family members and executives were on hand for the celebration, including Edsel Ford II and Henry Ford III.

"All their concept cars were there and all their hybrid/flex fuel cars," Dillow said.

Dillow took third in class T1, called the "brass class" for the model's detailing, made from 1909 to 1912. He competed against approximately 75 other T1 class owners with his 1911 Model T Touring Car.

"This is a difficult class to compete in because of all the brass," he said. "After 1914, the cars are black."

He said probably 80 percent of the people attending the celebration wore period clothing, and in the reproduction clothing fashion show, his mother, Virginia Ness, took first place. Dillow emceed the show.

The town of Richmond went all out to welcome the centennial celebration.

"I've never seen something as organized as that was," he said. "For 2,500 people, they ran us through there like they'd done it every day of the week. They fed 2,500 people in an hour and a half, buffet style.

"People would drive up next to us at stoplights and thank us for coming to their town. As long as you had on the nametag, you got discounts at restaurants. Everyone was open arms for us to be there for a week. We had every hotel room in the whole town and the campground.

"They had done huge balloon arches at the entrance to the historic district. There were 100 banners that said 'Model T-Party.' They had blocked the whole downtown off for us the day of the parade.

"It just went on and on. Every merchant in town had a banner up welcoming the Model T Centennial -- insurance companies, banks, gas stations. The gas stations had a motto, 'Lift your seats and fill up with us' because the gas tanks are under the front seats.

"Everyone was just so overwhelmingly friendly."

The parade through the historic district and downtown was seven and a half miles long, Dillow said, which has won it a place in Guinness Book of World Records for the longest parade of a single make of vehicle.

Dillow grew up in Elgin, Ill., home of the Model T Ford Club International's printed publications. He bought his first Ford, a Model A, in parts for $150 when he was 14 years old and put it together in three months with the advice of neighborhood men.

Dillow has had a love affair with Model As and Ts ever since.

He belongs to several Model T clubs, was a founder of the Fox Valley chapter of Model T Ford Club International and the Arkansas Tin Lizzies, and is a master judge for the International Model T Club.

He does weddings and takes photos in town with his Model T. His photo is on the cover of this year's Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce Visitor Guide.

Next year the International Club will do a reenactment of Henry Ford's winning the 1909 race across America. Model T owners will take 29 days to drive from New York to Seattle through the middle of the county. That same route will be taken, with only about 20 miles of it on a modern freeway.

"We're following the route as close as the roads will let us," Dillow said. "The closest we'll come to here is Olathe, Kan. We'll average 250 miles per day."

In Edsel Ford's emotional welcoming speech to the gathering last month, he said of the Model T, "It was a product that delivered freedom. People recognized this. It was what made them love their Ts. They just couldn't own them. They trusted them. They thought of them as kindred spirits.... They gave their model T's names. They didn't own their model Ts. They were part of the family."