Model T Ford tour to stop in Bigfork

Next week Bigfork, as well as the rest of Northwestern Montana, will feel like a step back in time to the early 20th century.

Nearly 200 Model T Fords will be cruising through town as part of the Montana Majestic Mountain T Tour, hosted by the Rocky Mountain Model T Club. The 370 people in the area for the tour come from as far as New Zealand as well as across the United States including from Hawaii and Alaska.

Bigfork is the destination of day five of the six-day tour of Northwest Montana. The tour is based out of Whitefish Mountain Resort starting Aug. 1. In addition to Bigfork, the tour will include parts of Glacier National Park as well as the Tobacco Valley, Polson and the Libby dam.

Since the visit to Bigfork is toward the end of the tour, Karen James, a Ferndale resident and organizer of the Bigfork portion of the tour, doesn't anticipate all 175 Model T Fords coming to the Village on Friday, Aug. 5, but a fair amount of them will.

Tour participants will be moving through the area at their own pace, traveling from Whitefish Mountain Resort by back roads to arrive, dine and explore the Village on Friday. Their trip will include a stop at the V-8 Ford Museum, along Montana Highway 35.

The Model Ts will also be passing through the Village and along the East Shore on Thursday, Aug. 4. As part of that day's excursion to Polson, tour participants will round the Lake and stop by cherry orchards along the way.

James herself grew up around Model T Fords. Her father, Ed Towe, developed the antique car collection in Deer Lodge.

"My father has been into old Fords for his lifetime," James said. "For me, it's not been a lifetime. It's been a growing interest. As we retired, we sort of moved into it."

James and her husband Wes will be driving their 1927 Model T touring car, still wearing its original black color, along with the tour. The Model T was produced by the Ford Motor Co. between 1908 and 1927.

An interest in Glacier National Park spurred a national tour of this part of the state.

"This is the first national tour," James said. "We've been scurrying trying to pull it off."

In fact, this is the only national tour this year sanctioned by the Model T Ford Club of America, which will hold its board's summer meeting along with the tour.

For more information, visit www.montanamajesticmountainttour.com.