Stafford Classics is a Stafford County and Northern Virginia-based group of individuals

who believe in driving and enjoying classic vehicles.

Dom's Adventure

Classic 1919 Ford car suits its owner to a 'T'

 

 

 

 

Stafford man goes ocean to ocean the old-fashioned way

By Edie Gross

Date published: 10/2/2009

 

Drivers in the 1909 Ocean to Ocean Endurance Race faced a host

of obstacles during their 22-day road trip across the country.

 

Summer rains and mountain snow. Pitted dirt roads and quicksand.

Washed-out bridges and hail.

 

The going wasn't quite that tough when a group of Model T enthusiasts set out this summer to mark the 100th anniversary of that journey with a cross-country trip of their own.

 

It helped that all the participants, including Stafford County resident Dom Denio, had AAA membership--just in case.

 

And that a parts wagon accompanied them on the 3,800-mile

journey.

 

And that just about everyone in this day and age carries a

cell phone.

 

But that doesn't mean the going was easy.

 

In Kansas and Oregon, Denio repaired two broken axles on his

1919 Model T. In eastern Kansas, he scrambled around in the brush on

the side of the road for a fellow driver-s tire after it popped off during a downhill run.

 

Some of the cars had to be towed up hills. One was hit from behind by a garbage truck.

 

"Every night, in the parking lot, somebody was working on something so we could get across the finish line," said Denio, who has owned his Model T for seven years.

 

Still, he said, the trip was the adventure of a lifetime.

 

"This is the way to see the country--on the back roads, seeing the people," he recently told fellow members of the Rock Hill Ruritan Club in North Stafford. "The scenery was just so awesome."

 

 

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