With half-a-dozen classic Model T Fords parked in front of the Hotel Pattee Sunday evening, it was easy to imagine the hotel opening grandly in 1914 with just such a line up along Highway 17 out front.
That was the year that saw the start of Europe’s descent into 30 years of self-destruction and slaughter, which opened the way for the American century and the triumph of Fordism worldwide.
Henry Ford manufactured his Model T from 1909 to 1927, so Perry’s new luxury hotel would surely have attracted a few of the newfangled automobiles in 1914.
These vintage motor cars, all owned and operated by members of the Model T Ford Club of America, came to Perry Sunday on the first leg of their weeklong tour of historical Iowa hotels.
Alan Peitz of Perry, a member of the Hotel Pattee management team, welcomed the touring T drivers, including his brother, David Peitz of Springfield, Missouri. David is driving a 1925 Model T “depot hack” in the tour, the kind of car used to transport people from train depots to hotels in the 1920s, he said.
David is a member of the Heart of the Ozarks Chapter of the Model T Ford Club in Springfield. Monday takes the tourists to Mason City, Tuesday to Decorah, Dubuque on Wednesday, the Amana Colonies on Thursday and back to Perry come Friday, where local visitors can take a closer look at these vintage machines.
