On June 7, 2012 the RJ Haney Heritage Village & Museum, just south of Salmon Arm on Highway 97B, took possession of this 1925 Ford Model T Coupe. The car, procured for the heritage village by the Shuswap Chapter of the Vintage Car Club of Canada, was installed as a display at the museum in a reconstruction of an old service station, the Lester and Thomson Garage. It now sits beside two other cars in the garage, a 1929 Plymouth Coupe and a 1918 McLaughlin E63, 5 passenger touring car. The Plymouth was restored by a local man, Pat Shirley, once a member of the Shuswap Chapter of the Vintage Car Club and a big push behind both the construction of the Lester and Thomson garage and the firehall at the museum.
Built in no less than nine body styles, plus cab & chassis models, the Model T was produced by Ford, more or less unchanged, from October 1, 1908 until May 26, 1927, when it was replaced by the Model A, a great improvement on the "T". Named the "most influential car of the 20th century" for its affordability, the Model T was the car that put the world on wheels. The first automobile produced on an assembly line, Ford produced 15 million Model Ts in the twenty years it was in production. This model, a coupe, was often referred to as a "Doctor's Coupe", as it was the vehicle of choice of thousands of doctors while making house calls.
There's lots more to see in this heritage village and museum. We visited the RJ Haney Heritage Village & Museum and enjoyed seeing all the great old buildings, vehicles, machinery and displays in the village.
It is a 40 acre park owned by the City of Salmon Arm, and operated by the Salmon Arm Museum and Heritage Association. They host a dinner theater and it is usually sold out. During the summer they perform reenactments at the Broadway School.
Included within the museum grounds is the Broadview School, a one room schoolhouse constructed in the winter of 1917. It was moved to the village in 1988. The R.J. Haney House from around 1910, Mt. Ida Church, Blacksmith Shop, Filling Station with old pumps in front, a Cook’s House circa 1900, the Kew Homestead circa 1890’s one of the first log homes built in the valley and the Queest Fire Lookout Tower. All of these buildings have displays within them.
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