06/07/2026
An Oklahoma resident named Maurice just celebrated three centennials at once. His 100th birthday. The 100th anniversary of Route 66. And a 1926 Ford Model T that turned 100 the same year he did. Born the same year the car was built. Driving it down the same highway that opened when both were new.
Maurice is the youngest of seven children, all of whom lived well past 90. His great-grandsons share his love of old cars. "I'm really proud of them. They take good care of the vehicles," he told KJRH-TV in Tulsa.
The Model T was in good shape. So was Maurice. The highway still thrives. But the car itself is a reminder of how completely the automobile has changed in a century.
The Ford Model T has three pedals, but none of them do what you'd expect. The left pedal controls the gears. The middle pedal is reverse. The right pedal is the brake, and it brakes the transmission, not the wheels. There is no gas pedal on the floor. The throttle is a hand lever on the steering column, right next to another lever that manually adjusts the spark timing of the engine. You don't just get in a Model T and drive. You learn a system that has nothing in common with any car built after 1927.
Every modern car on the planet uses the same basic layout: Gas pedal on the right, brake in the middle, clutch on the left if it's a manual. Steering wheel in front. Shifter in the center. You can get into any car in any country and drive it within seconds. That standardization didn't exist when the Model T was built. The Model T had its own control scheme, and when Ford replaced it with the Model A in 1927, one of the biggest selling points was that the Model A drove like every other car on the road.
Maurice learned to drive on this system. And at 100 years old, he still remembers how. Three pedals that don't do what they should, a hand throttle on the column, and manual spark timing. On Route 66. At 100.
