Maybe if Paul comes by this way again in a few years, and the MM has recovered from this year’s misjudgment, we can add it to the itinerary. We just missed the Motor Muster at the meetup, as it’s held the weekend of Father’s Day. The result was a noticeable thinning of the Old Car Festival, while the Motor Muster was a disaster, with only about 360 participants this year, vs 900 in prior years. Organizers decided that both the Old Car Festival and the Motor Muster had grown too large, 8-900 cars each, and were straining their infrastructure, so the powers that be decided to thin the crowd by both raising prices for participating and by being very picky about the cars that participate. The originality of cars became a hot issue at THF this year. I saw it parked on the village green with the rest of the mid 20s participants. I am surprised they did not have the car in the tent across from the town hall with the other historically significant special appearances, which included a Benz replica. …various events including the 2017 Old Car Festival held at The Henry Ford, where they were granted a participation waiver because the car is “not original!” You can find more information about the Silver Streak at. Currently the Silver Streak is on loan to the Model T Museum in Richmond, Indiana until August 2018. Jean was on the 1942 trip (the last trip). Winnie was on the 1938 trip (first meeting with Henry Ford) and the 1939 trip (traveled with my mom). Winnie is on the near side, Jean is on the far side. Winnie is 99 and Jean is 98, They have ridden in the Bradford Labor Day Parade with us every year since 2012 when we brought the car back from Portland. Our reception in each location was fantastic.ĭougD I must tell you that two of these amazing travelers are still alive and continue to be an amazing inspiration. We stopped and displayed the car, made a presentation and had a book signing notably in Brantford, and Callander, but also in Oshawa, Brockville, Dorval and Ste Anne de la Perade. We took a little detour and went to Callander, Ontario where my aunt had gone on the 1937 trip. Brantford was our first stop as we retraced the Canadian portion of the 1939 trip that my mother took in the Silver Streak. I couldn’t believe in when we were in Brantford Ontario showing the Silver Streak on Canada Day, and ran into DougD, who told us he’d heard about the Silver Streak from Ed. Thanks for a great tell of a remarkable story Ed. I have certainly enjoyed watching as Ed has told the story. Regards, JR.” John, who had little knowledge of Model Ts, nor even what the value of the car might be, responded back that he was interested “if it still has the words hand painted on the body.” I can contact her and see if it is still available. She called a few months ago and said it was for sale. She asked me to sell the car a couple of years ago. He was floored when he got a response that read, “I posted this for a friend. The site at which he had found the Portland, OR photos listed an email address, so John decided to ask whether the car might be for sale. Hot on the trail, John continued his web searching and slowly started to piece together the bigger picture of just how many trips had been made, as well as the extensive distances the girls had covered. Internet searching led John to several recent photos of the Silver Streak, one titled, “2007 Portland, Oregon,” and another captioned, “Once again seeing the light of day and still running,” which confirmed that the car still existed and had not been hot rodded or restored. It was at this point he realized there was perhaps a lot more to the story than he had heard. Ford at The Henry Ford Museum, reproduced in the book Ford 1903 to 1984. Regina’s middle son John became curious to learn more about the trips, which eventually led to him finding a photo of the girls posed with Mr. One of those women was Regina Fennell, who had ridden with Darlene on the 1939 trip. Regina had married Donald Butte, a local farmer, in 1941, and they would have seven children who would grow up hearing the tales of their mother’s escapades in the Silver Streak traveling to the New York World’s Fair. After nearly 70 years of marriage, Donald would pass in 2010 at age 91, followed by Regina less than six months later.Īs families often do when they gather, the old stories were told, including the accounts of Regina’s trip with Darlene so long ago. At the time of Darlene’s death in 2001 (aged 91), there were twelve Gypsy Coeds still living but none were aware of her passing and thus did not attend the funeral. Darlene’s daughter, Bekki, took possession of the Silver Streak in 1998, and had it shipped to Portland, OR where she was living at the time, subsequently moving it to a climate-controlled storage facility in Vancouver, Washington. Reproduced with permission of Kathleen Butte Grimes.ĭarlene’s husband would pass in 1995.
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