Campbell soup cans and a sign reading “just married” dragged behind a newly restored Ford Model T as it drove down Bouquet Canyon Road, escorting a Santa Clarita homegrown bride and groom to their wedding reception Oct. 13.
“One of my sisters asked me, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to have the kids in the car for the wedding,’” said Robert Lamoureux, uncle of the bride. “It’s in great shape now, and has evolved into something amazing for this wedding.”
The bride, Grace Sexton, and groom, Nick Wells, tied the knot at Santa Clarita United Methodist Church and were escorted to their reception venue at Bridgeport, in the 1927 restored Model T.
“The entire family was on board with this,” Lamoureux said. “It was really the kids who asked to be taken to the venue in that car.”
Dressed for the occasion, Lamoureux, the driver and his longtime friend Jim Turner, acting as doorman, transported the couple back in time while en route to their reception.
“Only he would get me to do this,” Turner said, as he suited up in a bow-tie and white gloves.
The two men both dressed the part wearing white shirts with a bowtie, black hat, gloves and glasses — and even had a top hat for the groom.
“I’m probably the only idiot who knows how to drive this thing,” Lamoureux said, as he laughed. “It’s not a conventional car.”
The Model T was one of the first affordable automobiles and was produced by Ford from Oct. 1, 1908 to May 26, 1927. The floor has three pedals, the brake on the right, reverse in the middle and a pedal to shift the gears from low to high speed on the left. The gas on steering wheel, Lamoureux said. “You’re hands and feet are constantly going and moving.”
His specific car has a history of its own, including Lamoureux being only the second registered owner of the Model T.
The car was purchased by a woman in 1927, he said. “She was a doctor and ran her medical practice in the car for a year. She was an unusual lady.”
During that time in history, it was very unusual for a woman to drive, or work as a doctor, Lamoureux said. “She subsequently gave it her nephew, who then sold it to me.”
When he bought the car about five years ago, it was running, but not well, he said.
Lamoureux mainly did cosmetic and mechanical updates to the car.
“For me, vehicles are a passion not a chore,” he said. “Anybody who is willing to take an almost 100 year old vehicle and get it back up and running, it has to be a passion.”
During the restoration, there were many trials and tribulations, but when searching for information, he learned more and more about the original car.
“Not knowing, snooping and digging, that’s a big part of the fun when you learn something,” Lamoureux said.
The dark green 1927 Model T became a memory their family will cherish forever.
“I’m just very family-oriented,” Lamoureux said with a smile on his face as he prepared to drive his niece and her new husband in his restored Model T.
