This article was written by my son, Charles Standifer, in 1979, when he was a junior student at Georgetown High School. Under the guidance of his history teacher, Ms. Marietta Mugford, he entered it in a contest sponsored by the Williamson County Historical Commission. He placed second. He still has the car.
Ann Lind sent photo to Charles Standifer in 2002
The old Lind family car is a 1923 Ford touring car. The car was one of 239,189 cars built in November of 1922 in Henry Ford’s plant in Detroit, Michigan. It featured the new one-man top, a standard 9 gallon fuel tank, 20 horsepower motor, and optional electric starter. The car was purchased for $350 at Georgetown Motor Company by Carl Lind of Georgetown in early 1923.
Carl Lind was a well-known blacksmith in Georgetown. He had one son, Chester Lind, who opened a garage in the same building with the blacksmith shop in 1944. The C.C. Lind garage was located southwest of the square in Georgetown on Rock Street.
When the car was delivered to Carl Lind, he did not know how to drive. A close friend, Morris Johnson of Round Rock, took the family for their first ride in the car and probably taught Mr. Lind how to drive it. Mrs. Lind never learned to drive, but in later years the car was driven by Chester Lind and his wife. It was the only car that Carl Lind ever owned.
After Carl Lind bought the car, he built a shed at the blacksmith shop and a garage at his home so it wouldn’t set out in the weather. He even drove it into the garage when he was home during lunch every day.
The Linds drove the car as far away as Brady and Corpus Christi. They always went to the Swedish Old Settlers Reunion in Round Rock in those days. However, most of the car’s trips were in Williamson County. Blenda Lind remembers she and Chester Lind “courting” in the car. They went to places like Taylor, Burnet or Liberty Hill in the car. Sometimes they drove it with the top down. The car took the family on shopping trips, to parties, and to the lakes on fishing trips. Mrs. Lind remembers making many trips to Austin to Walter Tipps’ to get horseshoes. She would make the trip with her father-in-law so that he wouldn’t have to go alone and to help him with the driving.
Blenda Lind recalls Carl always washing the car and taking very good care of it. She said, “He would probably walk before he would get the car muddy.” He had the car reupholstered and repainted. He took pride in the car.
The car was on display at the Ford dealership in Burnet sometime in the 1940’s. It has been in several rodeo parades.
In 1952 Carl Lind died, and the car was set up on blocks in the garage at the Lind home. It stayed there until after Chester Lind’s death in 1972. Then Mrs. Lind had the men at the Lind garage clean and tune it up. *
On July 26, 1974, Mrs. Lind sold the car to David E. Sandefur. The side curtains could not be found. However, with the original tires on it and the original wiring, Mr. Sandefur started the car and drove it from the Lind home on Austin Avenue to his home in northwest Georgetown. He put new tires on it and painted the wheels, and rewired it.
On December 7, 1978, Mr. Sandefur sold the car to F.K. Standifer, my father. Actually, I bought the car, but it cannot be registered in my name until I am eighteen years old.
Old cars are not as easy to drive as most people think. The car has three levers in the floor. They are the forward lever, the reverse lever, and the brake lever. The forward lever has two gears and neutral. On the steering column there is a throttle lever and a spark lever. There is a battery operated electric starter. I usually use the hand crank on the front of the car for the challenge of it.
With the help of the original owner’s manual which the Linds had kept, I keep the car in good running condition. I have cleaned the carburetor and adjusted it so that it starts and runs better. I have also readjusted the transmission bands.
I hope to always keep the car because I believe it will increase in value. I plan to keep it in original condition and someday restore it to show room condition.
Now the car is setting in the garage waiting for the Williamson County Sherriff’s Posse Rodeo parade.
*Family information given by Blenda Lind, widow of Chester Lind, of Georgetown.