Anyone who knows Dan McDermid knows antique cars are his passion. He has a stable of rare and historic cars that would make a museum blush.
Throughout the years as he was amassing and restoring this collection, there was one old car that sat in the corner of a shed, patiently for decades.
Over these years, his family grew, and the farm was a place for his kids and grandchildren to play, learn, and explore. His grandson Dave caught the car bug from grandpa and has fond memories of his childhood at the farm.
Through all these years, that one car, a 1920 Ford Model T sat, waiting.
Dan bought the Model T in the 1940s.
“It came from Rowley,” Dan explains. "It was Ryning’s car. John Ryning was a painter, but it was his father’s car, and he bought it in 1920."
It saw the back roads of Starland County for a few years with Dan at the wheel. Not long after high school, Dan parked it in the shed.
Dave took a shine for the car and brought it out into the sunshine again.
“My grandson was interested, so I gave it to him,” said Dan.
In the age of COVID-19, looking for a project and wanting to do something for his grandfather, Dave set to work.
“I just wanted to show my appreciation for my grandpa and everything he has done for me,” said Dave.
Dave is not a mechanic by trade but growing up around cars, he knows his way around them. He also rebuilt the first motorcycle his mother owned.
When he started to dig into working on the Model T, he realized the car was not abandoned when it was put away. Dave said everything was greased and over greased, and the block was put away with diesel fuel in it to make sure it wouldn’t seize.
"It only took a battery and some wiring…" Dave tells the Mail.
Of course it took a bit more than that, but surprisingly the old hooptie hopped to life.
Since then, he has been puttering with it when he gets the opportunity to come down from Red Deer. He has redone some of the woodwork in the cab and restored the seat. New tires have also been installed.
It takes a bit of getting used to driving it, and the starting procedure takes a couple of steps, and sometimes an extra hand. On the day Dave showed off the car to the Mail, it took Dan’s knowhow to get it going.
Dave is going to keep working on his new 100-year-old car, and it brings him special feelings. He tells his children, ‘if it weren’t for this car, great-grandpa wouldn't have been able to go and meet great-grandma.’
