Dirk DeJohn, president of the Fort Lauderdale Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America (left) and Chris Chambers, vice president, unveil the 1915 Ford Model T that local Boy Scouts will restore at the Sample-McDougald House in Pompano Beach. [Photos by Gary Curreri/New Pelican]

By Gary Curreri | New Pelican Writer

Pompano Beach – Local students got their hands dirty alongside members of the Fort Lauderdale Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) as they helped bring a 1915 Ford Model T back to life.

The restored classic was recently unveiled at the Sample-McDougald House by Dirk DeJong and fellow club members, including collector Chris Chambers, who owns 17 antique cars and runs a non-profit collector’s museum in Lauderdale Lakes. The AACA also held a car show at the event, followed by lunch.

Chambers, vice president of the local AACA chapter and a helicopter mechanic, will guide the students through both the restoration process and the history behind the car.

“Without kids, we don’t have a future – the whole collector car industry could collapse,” said DeJong, who is also president of both the Fort Lauderdale Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America and the Sample McDougald House, and on the executive committee at John Knox Village.

Fort Lauderdale’s Nicholas D’Alberto (right) helps Chris Chambers, vice president of the local AACA chapter, dismantle parts of the 1915 Model T for deep cleaning at the Sample-McDougald House in Pompano Beach.

“The club identified a need to involve more young people to sustain the collector car hobby,” added DeJong, whose organization targeted the Boy Scouts to help in the restoration process. “I thought it’d be really cool to see if we could do something for kids. So, I knew about this Model T hidden in a corner, and Tommy Sheehan and I are really good friends, Tim Sheehan, his brother, and of course JT, the grandson of Sherwood Sheehan, who started Sheehan Pontiac many years ago.”

DeJong said he went to speak to Tommy Sheehan about the car, and when he told him what he wanted to do with it, Sheehan said he could have it.

“He told me, ‘Take it, it’s yours,’” DeJong said. “Our goal is to introduce it to kids, and we are doing a complete restoration curriculum. So, the first order of business was to strip it down and detail it.”

There were 15 million made from 1906 to 1927, and DeJong said that Henry Ford made the cars the same way, with the same features and the same braking system. 

Nico Humes washes the 1915 Ford Model T.

Pompano Beach’s Z Kamphuis is eager to be part of the Model T restoration project, and he serves as one of the directors for the local AACA. The 17-year-old will attend the University of Central Florida in the fall to study mechanical engineering after graduating from high school, while also earning an AA degree in pre-engineering from Florida Atlantic University.

“I think being part of the Model T restoration is going to be an incredible experience,” said Kamphuis, who recently earned his Eagle Scout rank and owns a red 1993 Jaguar XJS convertible. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for young car enthusiasts to learn by helping rebuild one of the most important vehicles in automotive history.”

He particularly loves how a classic car can bring him back to another era and get him thinking about what went into the design.

“Why a car was designed the way it was, why a certain engine was used, how it drives, and even how it feels to sit in it. I can’t think of a better way to understand the engineering of a different time than by actually restoring one.”

Chambers said the community has wrapped itself around the project, beginning with the donation of the car. His first car was a World War II Army Jeep, restored with his father at age 17. He said driving the Jeep led to interactions with veterans who shared personal stories, sparking Chambers’ interest in history and learning.

“It’s covered in dust, and we’re going to bring it back to life, and we’re going to have the kids do all the work,” said Chambers, who owns 17 cars, ranging from 1909 models to vehicles from the 2000s.

“The antique cars were just time machines that you can use to explore the past in real life, outside of dusty books and black and white photos,” he continued. “If you lead with the antique automobiles and all of the artifacts, it makes it real, it makes it feel tangible, and then you’ll inspire kids to go to the books.”

Nicholas D’Alberto, 17, of Fort Lauderdale, like the other teens involved in the project, got his introduction to classic cars by playing and collecting Hot Wheels cars and building racetracks.

“I just grew up loving cars,” said D’Alberto, who will be a senior at Fort Lauderdale High School in the fall. “This was a lot of fun today. I got to learn about the Model Ts and then the other classic cars that were here.”

Fort Lauderdale’s Nico Humes, a 17-year-old junior at Pompano Beach High, said he’s been exposed to cars through his father’s auto consulting business, his experiences cleaning antique vehicles since he was 5, and the unique satisfaction of restoring classic cars.

Members of the Fort Lauderdale Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) look on as local teens begin bringing the Model T back to life.

“When you pull the tarp over the car and then that first splash of water,” Humes said of the unveiling. “You just saw like dust come off.  We ripped out the seats, and you saw dust flying everywhere. It’s a really simple car. There’s not a whole lot of gears and stuff.”

Just before lunch, Humes and D’Alberto were presented with certificates commemorating the extreme detailing of the Model T.

Visit fortlauderdale.aaca.com for more information on the club.