Model T Fords zoom into Libby for Montana 500

The parking lot of the Venture Motor Inn looked like New York City in the 1920s as the drivers for the Montana 500 Model T tour arrived to have their cars inspected Sunday afternoon.

This is the first time Libby is hosting the 500-mile endurance run.  

Drivers travelled 200 miles on Monday, and will drive another 200 miles today and 100 miles Wednesday, when a champion will be crowned.

The winner’s engine will be torn apart and inspected to make sure it  

is within the guidelines of acceptable parts.

Last years’ champion Garrett Green arrived with Team Green, a group he is in with two other drivers from California.  Green has won the endurance run twice.

On the outside, Green’s forest-green Model T is faded, scratched, and  

banged up, but on the inside it is a champion.

“I pay very close attention to the mechanicals,” Green, who lives in Orange County, Calif., said. “Finishing is an absolute must. If you don’t finish, you are a loser basically.”

Green bought his Model T in 1964 as his first car.

“This event is pedal to the metal, full throttle, as fast as you can make the car go,” Green said.

Drivers push their vintage Model T Fords to the limit, driving at speeds of up to 55 miles per hour.

Green said everyday of the run is important because one bad day detracts from the total race time. One year he was disqualified for an illegal bearing on the drive shaft that was discovered after the endurance run was completed.

Green brought three Model T Fords with him, the other two are driven by his teammates: Alex Watt and Andria Myers.

Myers, a 51-year-old from Long Beach, Calif., is the first woman to compete on Green’s team. She has been involved with Model T Fords for three years and is also a helicopter pilot.

She said the thing she likes most about the Model T is its cartoonish appearance.

“They evoke a lot of memories for people,” Myers said. “Not just for people who drove them when they were younger, but for people who had a grandfather,or another member of the family, who had a Model T.”

She said people always walk up to talk to her about the car, and even yell questions when she is stopped at stoplights.

Watt, who was born in a fishing village in the north of Scotland, competed for Team Green last year. Watt met Green through the Orange County Model T Club.

“We’re all a bunch of kids out here,” Watt said. “Physically I am 67, but mentally I am 16.”

Watt said he loves the competitiveness and the camaraderie that comes with the event.

“Out (on the road) it is cut-throat, but as soon as you pull in the pits, if you have a problem, everyone is here to help,” Watt said.  

“You don’t want to win by having someone break down.”