Model T Fords are taking over Richmond, Indiana, this week ahead of Saturday's Homecoming celebration. Richmond is home to the Model T Museum, operated by the the Model T Ford Club of America, the largest in the world.
Historic cars from 24 states, Canada and Australia are in town for the Model T National Tour and Homecoming.
The tour was last here in 2008, when Tour Coordinator Jerry Kramer says more than a thousand Model Ts converged in Richmond to celebrate the car's 100th anniversary.
"This isn't anywhere near the size of the 2008 event, but we'll still have over 100 cars and it'll still look pretty big."
They'll be traveling around Indiana and Dayton all week, visiting Carillon Park, the National Model Aviation Museum in Muncie, and driving on the Cardinal Greenway Trail, Indiana's longest span of trails which is normally reserved for hiking and biking.
"From July 9-13, the Model Ts will drive a different tour every day," Kramer says. "We are really excited about being allowed to drive the Cardinal Greenway rail/trail in our Ts from the Richmond trailhead to Williamsburg and then on to the National Model Aviation Museum in Muncie."
Special this year is a 1922 Wikner Ford Special that was shipped over from Australia. The speedster's owner and his son will be on hand to talk about the car. It will then be on display at the Model T Museum.
You can also still see the historic Silver Streak, profiled by WVXU in 2016.
The women who called themselves the "Gypsy Coeds" are shown here in a 1939 image signed by Henry Ford. The women met Ford on two occasions. Courtesy of John Butte
For eight summers beginning in 1934, a series of 20 women toured the U.S. and Canada in a Model T Ford known as the Silver Streak. They were heralded everywhere they went, even meeting Henry Ford.
The son of one of those women now owns the car and has written a book about the self-proclaimed Gypsy Coeds and their adventures, very daring for young women at that time. John Butte will share the story of the Silver Streak and the Gypsy Coeds during Saturday's Homecoming.
A full listing of Homecoming events is available here.
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