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More Than 200 Model T Fords Park in Downtown Boone Sunday, Tour of High Country Continues & Ends Friday

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The Model T Ford International Club began its tour of the High Country on Sunday with a car show in downtown Boone. Photos by Ken Ketchie

By Jesse Wood

July 14, 2014. If you were out and about this weekend, you probably noticed the many Model T Fords on the roads of the High Country.

That’s because more than 200 of the Model T Fords are in town for the 2014 Model T Ford Club International tour, which kicked off on Sunday with a car show on King Street in downtown Boone. For five hours King Street was closed for residents and visitors in the High Country to get an up-close-and-personal look at the Model T Ford, which was manufactured by Henry Ford’s Ford Motor Company from 1908 to 1927.

Model T Ford Club International Executive Director Steve Bumgarner said that the club tours a different location each summer. Last year, the club rode around Utah and next year it will tour Branson, Mo. Bumgarner, who lives in Hudson and noted that he wanted a locale closer to home this year, said the tour location alternates between the East Cost, West Coast and middle of the country.

Today, the club is riding around Shatley Springs in Ashe County and will have lunch there as well.

“We have a good time. All we do is ride and eat,” Bumgarner said.

In the next few days, the club plans to tour Grandfather Mountain, Linville, Whippoorwill Village, Wilkesboro, Linville Caverns, Linville Falls and make their way back to Boone and Blowing Rock on Friday. They plan to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway and dirt roads along the way.

Bumgarner added that it took one year and a half to put the route on paper.

So far Bumgarner said, “Everything is working out great.”

For more information about the Model T Ford Club International, click to http://modelt.org.

See dozens of images from the car show below.

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