Blood, Sweat & Gears: Ryan Bailey’s 1923 Model T Pickup

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Ryan Bailey's 1923 Ford Model T pickup at Summit Racing's TruckFest 2012

Ryan Bailey's 1923 Model T pickup before the May 2009 accident.

The accident site--and the state of the truck after the crash.

This is how Ryan Bailey found his Model T pickup when he came home from the hospital following the accident.

If you look closely, you can see a small dent on the base of the hood ornament--a reminder of the accident years before.

The rebuilt 1923 Model T pickup at the site of the accident.

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It happened in a matter of seconds.

In a near-instant, Ryan Bailey found himself bloody, severely injured, and laying on the ground next to the road. The 1923 Model T hot rod he had been driving was now resting upside down several yards away—under a semi trailer!

In most situations, this is where the story would come to a sad end. In this post, it’s where the story of Ryan Bailey and his 1923 Model T pickup begins…

Blood
Bailey was driving his 1923 Model T pickup around his hometown of Stow,OH, when he suddenly lost control of the vehicle.

“I hit second gear hard and then went sideways,” Bailey said. “(The truck) flipped over a curb, rolled down a hill, and slid underneath a parked trailer. At some point I flew out.”

Bailey spent eight days in the hospital, including several days in the intensive care unit. If there was an ICU for automobiles, the Model T would have been there as well (see the photo gallery above for the incredible wreckage photos).

Instead, the mangled truck ended up back in Bailey’s garage, where he found it upon returning home from the hospital.

“As soon as I got home, I hit the garage door button, and there it was on jack stands—just trashed,” Bailey said. “The headers were smashed, but it still started right up though.”

Although the pickup was severely damaged, Bailey was determined to rebuild the truck to the way it was before—better even.

I thought about maybe just getting rid of it and getting a Chevelle,” Bailey said. “I’ve always wanted a Chevelle, but I only had that truck a few months, and I wasn’t done with it.”

Sweat
On July 4, 2009—just over one month after the accident—Bailey and his friends tore the Model T completely down and began a frame-up restoration. While there were a few components worth saving, most of the resurrected pickup is made from all-new parts.

Since the old frame was bent and gashed beyond repair, the restoration started with a brand-new frame, Bailey had everything powdercoated and updated the suspension with QA1 coil-overs. The Model T also got a new body from Spirit Industries, which was sprayed in the familiar black-flamed paint job to match the old look of the truck.

“The body was the biggest challenge,” Bailey said. “We had to keep taking it on and off to make sure we drilled the proper holes.”

Gears
The Model T originally packed 283 cubic inches worth of Chevy horsepower. Bailey elected to drop in a fresh 283 following the accident and has since stepped up to a Chevy 350 crate motor from Summit Racing. Most of the go-fast parts and mechanical components are now new.

“I saved the valve covers, water pump, and a few other pieces from the wreck,” Bailey said. “But we made hundreds of trips down to Summit Racing to get parts for the rebuild.”

The parts list includes:

• Chevy 350 crate motor
• Edelbrock Endurashine intake manifold
• Holley carburetor
• Summit Racing headers
• VDO gauges
• Rebuilt GM Turbo 400 transmission
• QA1 coil-overs
• Cragar wheels/Mickey Thompson tires

“I don’t think I could part with (the truck) at this point,” Bailey said, as he shuffled through pictures of the restoration process at Summit Racing’s TruckFest. “I’ve been through too much with it.”

Way too much.