A loud “awooga” announced a motley crew of five white-bearded men arriving outside USC’s Gambrell Hall in an unexpected mode of transportation: Ford Model Ts. 

“You could tell the generation gap, because one student had made a comment about, ‘Oh, look, they lined up railway cars,’” University of South Carolina Professor James Risk said. “Because they have never been exposed to something like this, they didn’t even understand what they were looking at.”

They were actually looking at Ford Model T cars from 1918, 1921, 1923, 1925 and 1926. Risk’s History of the Automobile class saw some of the world’s oldest vehicles in action on Feb. 9. 

“It’s really cool to see how durable and reliable things used to be built,” senior history major Ava Swindler said. “And things aren’t always built to last anymore. And it’s really interesting to get to see like, hey, these were made over 100 years ago in some cases, and they’re still kicking.”

Risk hoped to give his class a hands-on lesson about the first mass-produced and affordable automobile in history. He noticed that USC IT specialist Robert Burton drove to work every day in that very car. 

“He sees me drive the Model T to my work, because I work right here,” Burton said. “And so he was like, ‘Hey, do you think I can show it off’ to his automotive history class?”

Burton, president of the South Carolina Model T Club, was able to reach out to other local owners. Richland and Lexington County members of the statewide club were more than happy to bring in their own vehicles, hoping to garner interest in the car among a younger crowd.

“They’re part of history, and it’s when it’s gone, it’s gone,” said Michael Driscoll, owner of the 1925 model. “So nothing would be better than young kids taking an interest.” 

Jim Morris, a retired Heathwood Hall Episcopal School science instructor, passed out the club’s brochures to each student he talked to. Morris himself became interested in the Model T at a young age and rebuilt his first as a high schooler in 1971.

“The Model T in its day was just as revolutionary and just had as big an impact on society and business as the iPhone did for Steve Jobs, just as much for technological and sociological and economic rights,” Morris said. 

Indeed, when a self-driving GrubHub robot wheeled right past the Model Ts, it was clear to see the evolution of vehicles over the past century, Morris said. 

Risk’s class oohed and aahed as Lexington County resident Terry Smith demonstrated a ‘special trick’ on his 1926 model, starting and stopping the engine without a key or a crank. 

“He knows how to stop the engine at the exact moment where the pistons or the spark plugs are about to fire,” Morris said as Smith’s vehicle sputtered alive. “The car starts itself. He’s trying to demonstrate that it’s kind of a magic trick.”

Smith also helped fellow club member Gary Varn restore his own 1918 model back in the 1980s. 

“The impact of one kind of car, one model of a car, and people going from horses to cars, women being able to be mobile, people working in the factories, increased wages – it’s just a game changer in the early teens that’s worth studying,” Varn said. 

Her fellow students were lucky to learn that lesson outside a textbook, Swindler said.

“It’s always interesting to me to see history come off the page and get to see it in real life,” Swindler said. “I feel like it makes things more tangible and more real, and it makes it even more obvious how important it is to study history and be a part of it.”