Ride Back to 1915 in a Ford Model T

It’s not every day that you see a driver using a hand crank to start their car, so when this reporter passed Bob Coiro pulling his 1915 Ford Model T into Goodyear Auto Service Center on Jericho Turnpike in Commack, it was clear that there would be a story to tell.  

Coiro’s love for antique cars started as a child when his father would take him each spring to the Long Island Automotive Museum in South Hampton. “I was in second grade when I first saw these cars and I just fell in love with them,” he said.  

Even then, his favorite of the cars was the Ford Model T. Henry Ford made 15 million them, more than any other American car ever built. It wasn’t until a few years ago though, that Coiro finally decided to call one of them his own, buying one from a collector upstate.

He did some work on the car, installing safety features that would make it fit for driving on modern roads, but without sacrificing the car’s integrity. For instance, he hides small blinkers inside of the gas lamps. However, the car still has the original engine, wood spokes and no windshield wipers. With a sleek black finish and brass details, it’s easy to fall in love with, “Penelope,” a name Coiro’s daughter chose for the car.  

Penelope gets to show off her beauty at local car shows, including one this past weekend in Melville, and the Kings Park auto show on Thursday nights at the Professors Diner Shopping Center. However, it’s not just at car shows that Coiro and Penelope get people’s attention.  

Workers at Goodyear quickly came out of the shop Thursday as Coiro pulled in the horseless carriage to have its battery charged for the season. The mechanics snapped photos and asked questions, all of which, Coiro is happy to answer. The Commack resident has become a human encyclopedia on antique cars, particularly Fords, ever since he took a liking to them as a child. He can name where just about every bolt is on the car – and even where there’s not, including the driver's side door. The door does not actually exist on the Ford Model T, since as a “devout penny pincher of the highest order,” as Cairo puts it, Ford knew it would be cheaper to build if the front seat only had a door on the passenger side.  

The car is very different to drive, he explained. In the original model, the brakes are located within the transmission, and there are no front brakes. Shifting is also done with the feet.  

“They have about the same braking capability as the Titanic. Braking is enhanced by clenching your teeth and opening your eyes as wide as possible, especially when you’re going down hill,” he joked.  

Cairo gets so much attention for his vehicle that he keeps a basket filled with old-fashioned hats, bonnets, vests, a candlestick phone and even stick-on mustaches so that admirers can dress up in the car and have their photo taken. He even has a 100-year-old fountain pen for Penelope’s passengers to sign in his guest book.  

When offered to go for a ride in the nearly 100-year-old car, this reporter couldn’t resist – mustache and all.  

Driving through Commack and Kings Park on a sunny, spring day in a nearly 100-year-old car is a thrill, even if only going its typical speed of about 30 miles-per-hour. There’s something very special about making someone smile just by driving by – and when Coiro hit the "ahooga" horn, the smiles turned into bursts of happy laughter.  

“I was surprised when I first started driving around town because I expected people to be impatient with me,” said Coiro, who even had a “slow moving vehicle” sign put on the back of the car to warn those behind him. “But whenever I pull over and wave them on so they can pass, they just wave back at me. They want to follow me around,” he said with a laugh.  

Coiro even got the thumbs up from a driver on a bright green motorcycle wearing a Mohawk bike helmet. “When a guy like that is impressed, you know you have a cool car,” he said.