'It was just too special' son says of Model T McKee family donated to Lincoln Highway Experience

The 1927 Model T Touring chugged to life, just like David McKee remembered.

After the car slowly was backed out of his late father’s Ligonier Borough garage Friday afternoon, it was time for some fun on a sunny fall day.

“This is my last ride, so I’m going to … make it special,” he said.

And McKee did — back and forth, and around the Diamond, with curious passersby stopping to look as the 97-year-old relic cruised by with a honk of the horn on its final joy ride.

Once it hit Route 30 westbound, lined with brilliant autumn leaves, the black car had 9 miles left in its impressive lifespan before officially retiring to become a future museum piece at Lincoln Highway Experience. McKee of State College and his sister, Jane McKee Melvin of Maryland, gifted their father’s Model T to the museum, run by the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor.

“We just couldn’t sell it,” McKee said. “It was just too special, too big of a story.”

That story started in 1943 when Benton McKee bought the Model T at age 16 for $20, his son said. While making a delivery in the Seward area with his father, Benton McKee spotted the car sitting in a barn. He inquired about it, and they later towed it back to Johnstown.

It turned out to be quite the investment.

“He never restored it, which is incredible,” David McKee said. “He replaced the roof of the car, because it’s a convertible, and he repainted the car one time. Everything else is totally original.”

Some of his earliest memories are from the passenger seat in the Model T.

“I grew up riding in it, and it’s been in countless parades including many, many Fort Ligonier Days parades,” he said. “It wasn’t a show car, it was … meant to be driven.”

Benton McKee was pastor at the Heritage United Methodist Church in Ligonier Borough for 14 years in the 1960s and ’70s after serving with the U.S. Army at the end of World War II. McKee also led churches in Brookville and Johnstown before retiring to Ligonier with his wife, Mona McKee, in 1989. He became visitation pastor at Heritage United Methodist Church, visiting patients in the hospital or shut-ins, his son said.

He died in January 2023 at 95 after being married for 71 years.

After their mother died in March, the siblings were left to decide what to do with the Model T. It was important to them that the history of it be preserved and protected.

To get the car ready for Friday’s final trip, Matt Ferry from Ferry Automotive did a little maintenance with the help of his dad, Don Ferry. It hadn’t been run in three or four years, but fired right up.

The Ferry father and son rode in an antique borough fire truck behind the Model T on Friday. McKee drove his father’s car while wife Jacqui McKee and their son Spencer were passengers.

The Model T has a manual transmission and two gears — high and low. There are three pedals on the floor and a lever on the left side that all control various movements. McKee said he’s gotten better at driving it over the past 20 years, but it can be tough to juggle all the pedals and lever with none of the modern vehicle comforts.

“The way that you drive it is complicated,” he said.

The Model T helped Americans explore their surroundings in a new way, said Kimberly A. Cady, executive director of Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor. The car was introduced to the country by Henry Ford in 1908 as an affordable, mass-produced vehicle costing between $260 and $850, according to Ford.

“The Model T was really the vehicle that got everyone out,” Cady said.

Production ended in 1927 with more than 15 million sold. By then, the Lincoln Highway, conceived in 1913, was already on its way to changing life for Americans, many of whom were using Model T cars to travel what is now known as Route 30.

McKee’s car is being put into storage for the time being at the museum. Cady said there is a plan to have it on display, but there’s one snag.

“As it stands right now, we don’t have a way to get it into the museum,” she said.

The organization is planning a fundraiser to install a garage door on the building. She estimated the project will cost between $4,000 and $6,000. The garage door will open up new opportunities to bring in other types of vehicles and exhibits.

And it’ll eventually let in a tangible memory for the McKee family. Knowing that the car will be well taken care of is meaningful to them.

“I will always have … a place where I can go and tip my hat to dad and know that part of his history is preserved,” David McKee said.