Dave and Connie Cooke of Windsor, Ont., enjoy reading CarStory in the Tecumseh Shoreline. Connie sent me a photo taken over 80 years ago, along with this explanation:

"The picture is of my father-in-law Rupert J. Cooke sitting and Art Ballantine standing with a Model T Ford touring in Windsor in 1927. Both young men worked at Ford of Canada's Head Office on Riverside Drive. Both were going out together with their dates that night and had been in the same shop at different times and had purchased the same outfits. They both turned up looking like this."

Art was born in 1905 and Rupert in 1906. Art owned the car in the photo. They both played for the Salvation Army Band in Windsor. Art married Mamie and Rupert married Frances. Both women were members of the Salvation Army's Stitch and Chat. The four often double dated.

Art died of a heart attack in 1957 while driving home to Windsor from a cottage near Parry Sound. Mamie was now a widow. Frances died in 1964, leaving Rupert a widower. In 1965, Rupert married Mamie. He died in 1981 and Mamie died in 2004.

With the photo having been taken in 1927, it's interesting to note that that was the last year for Model T Ford production. Henry Ford launched his Model T in October 1908, and kept building it (with frequent upgrades) for 19 years, finally replacing it with his famous Model A Ford to keep up with the competition

During the height of its popularity, half of all the cars in the world were Model T Fords.

The Model T touring (like the one shown here) was especially popular with farmers because Henry Ford insisted that the distance between the back of the front seat and the front of the rear seat be wide enough for a farmer's milk cans. Mass production on the assembly line kept lowering the price until 1923, when you could buy a new Ford roadster in Canada for $360.

My grandfather (Desmore Sherk) owned a Model T some 80 years ago.

It had seen better days and had a large hole in the windshield. Whenever he was driving into town, his dog Rusty would jump from the front seat through the hole and stand on the hood with the wind in his face.

When the engine warmed up, the hood got hot and Rusty began lifting his paws. Finally, the heat would get to him and he jumped back through the hole to the front seat.

And that's when my grandfather knew the engine was warmed up. His dog was his temperature gauge.