10th Annual Ford T-Bucket Nationals - Expanded for Web

Almost 60 cars went on the first organized drive of the event (about 80 miles in one direction) to Barry, IL (the Shooting Sports Capital of the World), which is the home of the NTBA's first president, who goes by the handle Punkun. Since no one knew where the drive would end up, Punkun (in the orange bucket being greeted by his wife) didn't know the drive would take him back to his hometown, where the mayor and others had some nice things to say about him.

Current NTBA president, Bill Darr (left), presented Punkun an award for his many years of service in his community and with the club.

Raymond Liffrig, from Lake City, MN, had one of the nicest Ts we've seen in recent memory. It's covered with a custom-mix orange paint (with copper flames), and it just glows in the sunlight. Expect to see a full feature on this ride in an upcoming issue of STREET RODDER.

Though it's common for some folks to be working on their cars right up to the beginning of an event, Rolla Hessel, from nearby St. Louis, was busy putting the finishing touches on his '23 during the first night of the show with the aid of some friends and their truck's headlights.

In from Spring Grove, IL, Linda McDonald's T was low and lean, partially due to the independent rear out back. Linda is a member of the Crazy T's of Northern Illinois.

How 'bout a Hemi-powered T truck? Al Conn, from West Milton, OH, was seen cruising around in his unique Model T all weekend long.

We watched as this cool-looking '26 T roadster started out for sale at $18,000, then came down to a more reasonable $14,000 later in the weekend. Hard to believe you could build one as nice looking for less-wonder what deals will be at the next T-Nats?

Pride of ownership. That's what we're talking about here! Teresa Wiersma was out under her and her hubby's (Dale, the VP of the NTBA) T, making sure all the bugs were off and the car looked great. STREET RODDER's Eric Geisert rode shotgun with Dale on many of the event's driving excursions, and a big thanks must go to Dale for making it a safe and enjoyable trip.

During another cruise, out to a lake-side house for some chicken, we spotted Deryl Border's just-finished T, which is powered by a well-detailed Flathead. Based on a Total Performance T kit, the '23 was painted Lexus Gold Almond metallic with the frame and flames done in a candy tangerine. Nice!

Of course, you'd expect some ingenuity with T-bucket owners, but we can't remember ever seeing another twin-mill T. Rob Albano, from Tomahawk, WI, had his dual-engine on display, but he didn't get it out on the event's long drives. We would have liked to have heard what this ride sounds like at speed going through some tunnel!

These Bucketheads were serious about their valve cover racing. Well, some were more serious than others. That's "Uncle Larry" Green on the right, testing the alignment on the racing ramp he built and lugged in from Albuquerque, NM.

All types of race cars were there, from quick-builds (strapping a valve cover to a skateboard) to more high-end, purpose-built racers.

Some even went further than decorating their racers by building a detailed carrying case for them. Try explaining that to the TSA official at the airport check-in. "See, we take this V-8 valve cover and . . ."

STREET RODDER was happy to supply the photo-finish results of some of the close racing during the finals, and some of it was so close you needed a magnifying glass to see who won!

Angie Milton, holding her plastic-wheeled valve cover, was in the mix of it with her racer.

So, how do you decide who wins an award when results are even? A Hula Hoop contest-the first one who drops it loses!

Like ol' Willie sings it: "On the road again, like a band of gypsies we go down the highway, we're the best of friends." See you in North Carolina in 2009.