They called them "Tin Lizzies."

Over 15 million of them were built, but 80 years have elapsed since the last one rolled off the assembly line.

In their day, they were a phenomenal success, as attested to by the production figures. And some of them will be touring Leelanau County the third weekend of this month.

They’re the legendary Model T Fords, which were built from 1909 through 1927.

They’re the “Crankun T’s of Michigan” – a club that involves nearly 70 families in an area that stretches from Lake City to Harbor Springs.

“This is one of the most active chapters of the Model T Ford Club International,” said Steve Hubert, an area resident who is a past president (1988) of the MTFCI, which presently has nearly 5,000 members.

Some are “show” clubs, but the local club is a “driving” one. A few club members even hauled their cars south this past winter and drove them on Daytona Beach, Fla., along with cars from the local Central Florida club.

The cars are typically driven about 35 miles an hour, which is probably faster then they were normally driven in their heyday.

The quality – or rather lack of it – of roads 80 and more years ago discouraged any would-be speed demons.

A contemporary (1917) automotive book expressed it this way:

“Sure, you can drive your vehicle 30 miles per hour, but, if you drive 15 miles an hour, your tires may last twice as long.”

The T’s four-cylinder engine was not very efficient (about 15 mpg), according to Hubert, but it was rugged.

The 176-cubic-inch engine originally developed 23 horsepower, but the compression was lowered during World War I. It was then rated at only 20 horsepower.

Hubert says the move was made because of the very poor fuels available at the time.

On the upside, the cars could run on almost anything, and some farmers reportedly burned kerosene in their vehicles. The only problem might be in getting the engines started, but gasoline could be used for that.

There was no need for a fuel pump, because the car had a "gravity feed" tank. This could cause a problem, though, if one encountered an unusually steep hill, which one might have to ascend in reverse gear to get fuel flow.

The cars employed a two-speed planetary transmission, which was also used for braking. An “emergency brake” consisted of cables attached to brake shoes at the two rear wheels.

Wood was used in the car’s frame until the last two years of production, when steel was substituted.

For many years, the “T” was only available in one color. “They (the customer) can have it in any color they want – as long as it’s black,” Henry Ford once joked.

The legendary Michigan automaker was well acquainted with this corner of the state. His brother-in-law, Milton Bryant, had a dealership in Traverse City, where on Aug. 14, 1914, nearly 210 autos converged for a “Ford Picnic.”

At one time, about half of all the cars on the country’s roads were Fords, but competition from other companies finally forced Ford to develop a new model.

New Fords were sold at Suttons Bay, and Owen Bahle relates at least a few Model Ts arrived there by rail.

In 1927, the Suttons Bay dealership took out a full page ad in the Enterprise – a rarity in those days – to announce the introduction of Ford’s new “Model A.”

In addition to the big ad, there was a Page One story about the new car. No, this wouldn’t have been a coincidence, but the introduction of the new car was big news. It was bigger news than the introduction of Ford’s Edsel or Mustang years later.

The Model A sold well enough, but it wasn’t able to recapture the market share once enjoyed by its predecessor in the days when just about every other motorized vehicle was a “Tin Lizzie.”