Pics that proved it happened
My boss just sent me a few photographs he took yesterday of me in costume. One of them is this shot of me driving the 1929 REO, a luxury car that cost four times as much as the 1928 Ford Model A: $1600 new in a time when the average man was making less than $2 a day. It's really roomy; I actually need to have a cushion to brace my back against or I can't reach the pedals, not to mention how comfortable the back seat it for folks with long legs... It has an electric starter (though there's always the option of a crank so you can start it manually if your battery dies), and an electric windshield wiper (not a manual one like the Model A), though apparently it doesn't work if you're driving up a steep hill... NEVERMIND.
It is a gorgeous car. Even if it has a super-wide turning radius.
This is what it looks like, zoomed out, though this photo was taken last year by someone else of two other interpreters who are not me. But you can at least get a sense of the majesty of this vehicle!
Now I'm going to tell you more about the controls of this car, if you promise not to use this knowledge for evil. I'm not going to tell you where the keys are kept. For all you know, they're kept in a large chain around George's neck and he doesn't take them off even when sleeping.
Now, this is a photograph of the interior of the 1928 Ford Model A we have at the park. Its controls are rather similar to the REO's, but in a slightly different orientation. The REO's interior looks way classier and more polished, too. The Model A is more of a workhorse.
The two oblong pedals on the far left are the clutch and the brake, respectively. It is a stick shift, but it's not quite a standard as you would know it today. You have to double-clutch when shifting gears, for instance. (So it goes clutch in, shift from first gear to neutral, clutch out then clutch in, shift to second.)
Beside the steering column there's a very small round metal button: that's the electric starter.
The two tall things in the middle are the gear shift (round handle) with the park break beside it (the straight metal one with the button on top).
The weird thing on the far right of the image that's coming out of the dashboard is the choke, to add extra fuel to begin with. This is done automatically in modern cars when you turn it on by turning the key.
Now for the two round pedals on the floor, side by side. The metal one on the left is your accelarator: your gas pedal, as you would find in a modern car. The one on the right isn't a pedal at all, but an immovable peg. It's the foot rest. You see, in the 1920s the road conditions were generally terrible. If you go around driving with your foot solely on the gas (as I found out the first time I drove this one), and you go over, say, a rut, or a set of train tracks, or something, you stomp down on the gas, and you lurch, and it's terrifying. So don't do it. You rest most of your weight on the footrest, then roll your foot onto the gas.
You can also see, in the middle of the steering wheel, the button for the horn (which has an amazing purr to it) and a lever to turn the headlights on and off. The wonders of electric lighting! :)
I hope that you found this interesting! Now, you have three more days to get down to the fort and perhaps get a ride in one of these cars with me in the driver's seat!
It is a gorgeous car. Even if it has a super-wide turning radius.
This is what it looks like, zoomed out, though this photo was taken last year by someone else of two other interpreters who are not me. But you can at least get a sense of the majesty of this vehicle!
Now I'm going to tell you more about the controls of this car, if you promise not to use this knowledge for evil. I'm not going to tell you where the keys are kept. For all you know, they're kept in a large chain around George's neck and he doesn't take them off even when sleeping.
Now, this is a photograph of the interior of the 1928 Ford Model A we have at the park. Its controls are rather similar to the REO's, but in a slightly different orientation. The REO's interior looks way classier and more polished, too. The Model A is more of a workhorse.
The two oblong pedals on the far left are the clutch and the brake, respectively. It is a stick shift, but it's not quite a standard as you would know it today. You have to double-clutch when shifting gears, for instance. (So it goes clutch in, shift from first gear to neutral, clutch out then clutch in, shift to second.)
Beside the steering column there's a very small round metal button: that's the electric starter.
The two tall things in the middle are the gear shift (round handle) with the park break beside it (the straight metal one with the button on top).
The weird thing on the far right of the image that's coming out of the dashboard is the choke, to add extra fuel to begin with. This is done automatically in modern cars when you turn it on by turning the key.
Now for the two round pedals on the floor, side by side. The metal one on the left is your accelarator: your gas pedal, as you would find in a modern car. The one on the right isn't a pedal at all, but an immovable peg. It's the foot rest. You see, in the 1920s the road conditions were generally terrible. If you go around driving with your foot solely on the gas (as I found out the first time I drove this one), and you go over, say, a rut, or a set of train tracks, or something, you stomp down on the gas, and you lurch, and it's terrifying. So don't do it. You rest most of your weight on the footrest, then roll your foot onto the gas.
You can also see, in the middle of the steering wheel, the button for the horn (which has an amazing purr to it) and a lever to turn the headlights on and off. The wonders of electric lighting! :)
I hope that you found this interesting! Now, you have three more days to get down to the fort and perhaps get a ride in one of these cars with me in the driver's seat!