Slide Show: Cruise Night car of the week Q & A

Alex Horton Jr., 75, of Manorville owns the Times/Review Cruise Night car of the week for July 14. Scroll down to see what his daughter Patti and her boyfriend Tom Pilz had to say about the 1921 Model T Ford.

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1) When did you get the car?

“We are not really sure when my grandfather got it but we remember he drove it in Riverhead’s Bicentennial Parade in 1976. It was originally black out of factory, but when my grandfather owned it it was dark blue,” said Mr. Horton’s daughter Patti.

2) What shape was it in?

“It had been sitting for 30 plus years not running at all. It was rough. It had surface rust all over and some major rust on the body. All the wood frame had to be rebuilt,” said Mr. Pilz, who restored the car.

3) What was the biggest challenge in restoring it, and did you do the work yourself?

“The thing that took me the longest was to find out how the badly rusted steel on the top of the body should look like and get it done. It took me a month of research talking to people and on the internet. I did everything except recore the radiator and rebuild the transmission. Otherwise everything on the car that could be taken off was taken off, rebuilt, sandblasted and painted,” Mr. Pilz said.

4) What’s your favorite thing/feature on the car?

“Geez, that’s a tough one. There are so many things that amaze me. The ingenious individual coil and the internal magnito ignition system on the car,” he said.

5) What was the first car you owned, make and model?

“I had a 1976 Ford F250 chocolate brown metallic decked out pickup before I was old enough to drive. I think I was 15. I bought it in 1980 and sold it in 1991. The next car I will be restoring is a 1925 Ford Roadster,” he said.