Life Unscripted with Kevin Shook
Welcome to 'Life Unscripted with Kevin Shook', a heartening podcast where embracing vulnerability is the key to success. Join your host, Kevin, as he dives into the stories of remarkable individuals who have transformed their lives by opening up, facing challenges, and finding strength in their most vulnerable moments. Each episode features inspiring conversations with guests from various walks of life. Kevin's journey of embracing vulnerability has led him to meet amazing people, and now he brings their wisdom, laughter, and insights to you. Tune in and discover how embracing your vulnerabilities can lead to your greatest victories in life, both personally & professionally.
Search 'Life Unscripted with Kevin Shook' on YouTube to watch this episode and more!
Life Unscripted with Kevin Shook
Life Unscripted in Motion: A Model T Tour with Ron Hughes Through Richmond, Indiana
On this episode of Life Unscripted with Kevin Shook, we step back in time and climb aboard a 1924 Model T "Depot Hack" for a memorable ride through Richmond, Indiana during the annual Model T Homecoming Celebration at the Model T Museum. Our guide for the journey is Ron Hughes, a devoted Model T enthusiast who proudly owns two of these century-old automotive treasures. What began as casual curiosity while volunteering at the museum has since turned into a lifelong passion.
The conversation hums along as smoothly as the vintage engine beneath us. Ron shares fascinating insights into the simplicity and genius behind the Model T—built with just a single fan belt and generator—and how its design still inspires awe today. These machines were made to last, and Ron is living proof: he even bought a larger touring model so his grandchildren could enjoy the ride right beside him.
Richmond is home to the nation’s only museum solely dedicated to the Model T, supported by a passionate team of volunteers who keep these icons of American innovation alive and running. The museum also embraces innovation, recently launching a virtual tour that features “Henry,” an AI-powered chatbot that answers visitor questions along the way.
We arrive at the museum just in time to experience the energy of the Homecoming Celebration—complete with swap meets, driving schools, and crowds of enthusiasts keeping these incredible vehicles on the road. When modern tech breaks down, these 100-year-old machines keep rolling, thanks to the vision of Henry Ford and the people like Ron who preserve it.
🖥️ Learn more: https://www.mtfca.com/museum/
🚗 Explore the virtual tour (and chat with Henry!): https://storage.net-fs.com/hosting/6752951/37/
Do you think, like babes really dig these, I'm sorry. Do you think, like a young guy like me, do you think, like you know, chicks kinda dig model tees, or yes?
Speaker 2:Alright, I do Alright.
Speaker 1:How fast does my boy?
Speaker 2:go. I would say top speed on this is about 30.
Speaker 1:She said no.
Speaker 2:Ford Motor Company used to say that they would go 40. Okay, I doubt it.
Speaker 1:Was that just trying to sell more? I think that was what it was. It was downhill.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, yeah, going downhill with. I think that was what it was. It was downhill. Yeah Well, yeah, going downhill with a good wind behind you you could probably get up to 40. I imagine Actually I had my little Roadster up to 40 once and it was shaking so bad. I chickened out, I slowed down and the only reason I knew I was going 40 was because my wife was behind me and she said oh, you're doing 40. Whoa.
Speaker 1:Hold my beard. So, ron, welcome to Life. Unscripted Podcast. Okay, obviously we're not in the studio, like we normally are. We're in the Spine. Model T you are quite the Model T enthusiast. You have a couple of your own right, I do so what types do you have?
Speaker 2:I have a 1924 Roadster, which is a little two-seater car, Okay, and if you think about it it's 101 years old, oh wow. And then I have a 1927 Touring which actually has a back seat and it'll seat five people comfortably.
Speaker 1:What got you into these model seats?
Speaker 2:Well, believe it or not, I'm kind of an antique buff. I like old stuff. Okay, and so when they had the Centennial back in 2008, I told Rachel, my wife. I said let's volunteer. So we did, we volunteered, went out there and spent the week doing stuff with them.
Speaker 1:Now, was that here for the Model T Museum? It was, it was here.
Speaker 2:Well, it was the Centennial of the Model T, so it had turned 100 years old, okay.
Speaker 1:And this was way back before Rachel was director of the oh yeah this was way before and, like I said, we volunteered for that.
Speaker 2:It helped out. And the more I hung around them and the more I looked at them I thought these are too cool not to have one, oh, I bet. So I told Rachel I said we ought to really think about that and she kind of was like a typical wife yeah, okay, Right, yeah, sure.
Speaker 1:Did she make you sell anything before you got one?
Speaker 2:Actually, no oh okay, and the fun part about the whole thing was our anniversary came up Probably about nine months later and she actually bought me a Model T my first Model T for our anniversary. Oh, wow, yeah, that's a good wife, I'll be a keeper.
Speaker 1:So then now we're at a second one coming to play. Is it like a little addiction? Well, kind of like potato chips you eat one, you gotta have another, all right. So then how did the second one come into play Is?
Speaker 2:it like a little addiction, Well, kind of like potato chips you eat one, you gotta have another. But the main thing was the grandkids always wanted to go with us, but it was only a two-seater car, oh yeah. So we decided well, let's get a touring car. So we found a touring car. So we found a touring car, and it was a survivor car. But what it amounted to was it had been in a flood.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, so it had some work to be done?
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, and I actually went to Illinois to pick it up and we got it, brought it back and had to basically rebuild the engine, the transmission, the rear end, okay, and everything we opened up had mud in it, oh wow I hope you got a good deal on it we did, we did. I don't think I would have bought it if it wasn't a good deal. Right, it was because it was a lot of work to be done.
Speaker 1:I feel like you're not going to buy one of these unless it't a good deal Right, it was like because it was a lot of work to be done. I feel like you're not going to buy one of these unless it's a good project.
Speaker 2:Yes, you can buy them with that Mario project. Yeah, but most of the time, sooner or later, you're going to have to do something to them. Oh, yeah, so.
Speaker 1:Well, you're trying to keep a 101-year-old car alive, so tell me about this one that we're in.
Speaker 2:This is a 24 called a Depot Hat, and basically it was used at a train station to pick up people and take them to different places, you know, okay, and that's basically what it was used for. So it wasn't built for comfort, it was built for, you know, just basically hauling people for a short distance.
Speaker 1:Right, because we got what is it? Six-seater.
Speaker 2:Uh yeah, you can probably get six people in here.
Speaker 1:Skinny people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, you'd figure, a hundred years years ago, people were a lot smaller.
Speaker 1:I know there's much junk food and all of that. You know Exactly. This is wild.
Speaker 2:It's one of those things that you get once it gets into your system. You really, you really yeah.
Speaker 1:Like we all gotta have our thing, like we all, exactly, you gotta have a thing, you gotta have a hobby, you gotta have a passion, yep, so it's a lot healthier, right here.
Speaker 2:So what's the furthest you've traveled in one of yours? We did a 120 mile tour one time, but I'll be honest with you that's a short tour for some of these guys.
Speaker 1:Oh really, 120 miles of sort yeah.
Speaker 2:We've had guys. We've had one guy that drove from California out here, oh wow, and we had a team of guys that took a car from New York to California. So it's, that's wild why you just figure I'm gonna end.
Speaker 1:They planned on having breakdowns oh yeah, they probably got all the yeah, so explain some of the mechanics to this. So you don't have a rubber belt, right? I'm sorry, but you don't have like a rubber belt. You don't have like a whole serpentine and all that. Right, you do have a fan belt. You don't have like a whole serpentine and all that.
Speaker 2:Right, you do have a fan belt, a fan belt, and all it does is operates the fan, okay, it doesn't do anything else. All right, and so that's the only belt you've got, okay, all right, there is no. There's no turn signals, there's no windshield wipers. Let's see what else. They do have a generator, alright, not an alternator, but they do generate electricity to charge the battery.
Speaker 1:Do you think, do you think like babes really dig these, I'm sorry. Do you think, like a young guy like me, do you think, like you know, chicks kind of dig monoteeths or yes, alright, I do Alright, and I hope, I hope there's more people that get interested in them.
Speaker 2:Okay, because you get guys my age, you know. We're going to drive them for maybe another ten years and then we're either going to sell them or they're going to be in our they're going to be sold at our estate sale or something.
Speaker 1:Well, you don't want them to go back downhill the car after you put so much work into it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I'm hoping, I'm hoping the kids will take it and you know, and enjoy it, maybe get their kids involved in it. Yeah, because it is would be a shame that something that's been around this long, which let's start to disappear yeah, so richmond.
Speaker 1:So for those watching uh, richmond has the model t museum right here, and is it the only one in the nation? Is there another one?
Speaker 2:I, I, the only. It's the only museum dedicated solely to the model T. Okay, there are other museums that have Model T collections. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I think we've got a couple in our local county Exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But the thing of it is they're not solely dedicated to the Model T. They'll have other cars involved. One of the museums I think of is the Gilmore Museum. They have a whole building of Model Ts, but they've also got 10 other buildings dedicated to different kinds of cars. So they got a whole variety. Yeah, so they're not solely. This is the only one that just has Model Ts and Model T related things in it.
Speaker 1:Well, I've enjoyed working on the virtual tour and learning more about the Model Ts through that and you know it's like we showed you earlier. We kind of brought Henry Ford back to be our AI powered chatbot. They are AI powered and flat-bought, so in the virtual tour he answers all the questions you ask him about all the vehicles at the museum.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got a chance to preview that before anybody else. Good that my wife's the director, yeah, but anyhow I got to see it and I was so impressed with it. It was so nice to see, it was so nice to see.
Speaker 1:Oh, it was fun. It was fun. And when I figured out that chat bot Then I was like I'm naming the Henry. That's how we do entering for yeah.
Speaker 2:So, yep, but now that's gonna be, that's gonna be a nice addition to the museum. Yeah, yeah, well, it's a beautiful museum. We keep adding new things all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's 100% volunteer that works on all of these vehicles.
Speaker 2:Yes, if a vehicle needs something done to it, there will be somebody. May not be the same person every time, but there'll be somebody that'll come in and work on it and that's how we keep it up. You know, people come in and dust clean. It's just a real community in itself. If there's a real Model T community, then they're dedicated to keeping these things alive and keeping them going. Yeah Well, I've written close. As there's a real Model T community, then they're dedicated to keeping these things alive and keeping them going.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, as we're getting close to the museum, kind of tell me what's going on this weekend, why everything's so exciting this is a time of year we call it the homecoming, and it's basically a spinoff of the Centennial yeah.
Speaker 2:And what it amounted to was once a year. We decided to get together. Everybody wanted to get together and try to relive the Centennial Although the Centennial had almost 1,000 Model Ts in one place, wow, and we don't get that many, but we get quite a few. It's just a chance for the Model T guys to get together, or women, and they get together and have just have a fun little weekend. There's, you know, always hot dogs and hamburgers and a swap meet free ride, or you can get a ride and if you want to donate to it, you can.
Speaker 1:And you even do a Model T driving school.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we have a driving school so you can learn to drive your Model T. Matter of fact, we had some people today that just bought their Model T and they wanted to come and learn how to, you know, learn some things that they didn't know Really.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:So it's just a fun time.
Speaker 1:It's exciting. Well, I appreciate the ride. It's kind of cool, uh, getting to cruise down history lane, you know, especially after we use so much technology to make the tour and kind of tie that gap together. So I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:No, problem, glad to do it and, like I said, we kind of laugh when you hear about sunspots and computers are going to quit and everything. Oh yeah, I can get in Model T and drive anywhere I want. And somehow it's not going to affect me. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's a wrap. No-transcript.
