Model Ts cruise through Issaquah, celebrate historic race

July 16, 2009 12:38 pm
This Ford Model T was one of the many cars which stopped in Issaquah last weekend as part of a recreation of the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exhibition cross country car race.
This Ford Model T was one of the many cars which stopped in Issaquah last weekend as part of a recreation of the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exhibition cross country car race.

In 1909 hundreds of cars set off in the longest cross country race of its time, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific (AYP) Exposition.

Originally planned to celebrate the discovery of gold in Alaska, the race saw hundreds of cars leave from New York 12 years after the discovery of golf in the Yukon, instead of celebrating the 10th anniversary as organizers had hoped.

The first car to cross the finish line in Seattle was a Ford Model T. In honor of that race, a group of Model Ts made the same historic journey across the country, visiting Issaquah last weekend, the second to last stop in the month long journey.

Steve Grate, a tech consultant and local history enthusiast, said exactly 100 years ago the first car crossed the finish line at the University of Washington.

Back then, Grate said, the campus created a temporary fair with buildings made of cardboard and plaster, of which two are left standing.

The architecture building and the women’s studies building are the only two left from the 1909 event.

The AYP event brought Seattle into the national limelight, especially after a visit from then President Howard Taft.

“It was the first Seattle World’s Fair,” said Grate.

Taft’s visit included catching a pro-baseball game in Newcastle, and visiting the coal mines near Issaquah.

Today, Grate said, the original Newcastle town center is long gone, but some of the coal mines sites are still visible through hikes Grate leads himself.

Grate highlighted the history of the event and local impacts during several presentations he made over the weekend.

For Model T driver Larry Riches, the race’s recreation was another chance to get to see America. The native of Lincoln, England, had done a cross country ride through the U.S. in a 1935 Rolls Royce several years ago and jumped at the chance to do it again.

“It’s just been incredible,” said Riches. “The people we’ve met have been very friendly and the welcome they’ve given us, you can’t even measure it.”

Riches said the drivers averaged about 200 miles a day, during which time the 54 antique cars hit a top speed of around 35 mph.

The oldest car to make the journey, which left from White Plains, N.Y. on June 14, was 98-years-old.

From the opposite side of the globe, almost, were the Fowlers from Eagle River, Alaska. The husband and wife team said, during the group’s stop at the historic train depot in Issaquah, that the trip was the best vacation they’d ever taken.

Barry Fowler, an antique car collector, heard about the trip on an online forum, said his wife Doris.

“It’s just been a beautiful drive,” she said. “It’s just been great.” While the Fowlers would stick to mostly back roads which fit the speed of their stock Model T, Doris said drivers were free to choose their own route, with the entire group meeting at the same hotel each evening.

Once the race was over the Fowlers were shipping their car home to Anchorage, where they would follow it home.

After a private barbeque on Saturday the cars made the final journey across Lake Washington onto UW’s campus to celebrate the finishing of a historic race.