Kate Miller, Record Managing Editor
John Butte owns a silver 1926 Ford Model T that has been scribbled on like a high school yearbook.The car has such a past that Butte wrote a book about it. The book is titled “Darlene’s Silver Streak and the Bradford Model T Girls.” The book is a true story about a group of women who took summer road trips in the Model T from 1936 to 1942.Butte will talk about the book when he visits the Scenic Regional Library Warrenton Branch at 912 S. Highway 47 in Warrenton at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 23.“It’s a wonderful story about a sisterhood of girls,” said Butte.He said readers get to relive the adventures the ladies took during nine consecutive summers, when social norms were different and so was the landscape.“It’s a great piece of Americana and a great part of history,” said Kerry Christian, a programmer at the Warrenton library. “It takes you back to a time that was simpler.”To explain the title, Darlene was the car’s owner. Silver Streak was the nickname for Darlene’s silver car, Bradford was the name of the town where they lived in Illinois and the car was the Ford Model T.The ladies, later called the gypsy coeds, were led by Darlene Dorgan. They drove the Model T across the country at a time before interstates. The road trips are more impressive considering the car’s top speed was about 35 mph and six ladies traveled at a time, no seat belts required.They took Route 66, passing through Missouri, to California one summer. They visited many states and Canada and Mexico.It was a newsmaking adventure at a time, Butte said, because women didn’t usually travel without an escort.“(Some people) didn’t think they ought to be doing that,” he said, adding that police often stopped the girls out of concern rather than traffic violations. It was the police who offered empty jail space for the ladies to stay in when they needed overnight accommodations.They made headlines along the way. They invited people to autograph the car. Henry Ford’s signature is one of them.“They met Henry Ford twice and met movie stars,” Butte said.About 20 women were part of the Bradford Model T girls. Butte’s aunt Eleanor Butte went on trips in 1936 and 1937. His mother Regina Fennell Butte went on the 1939 trip.Butte heard stories about the Model T girls, but the weight of their accomplishments didn’t make an impact on him until after his mother’s death. Shortly after, he tracked down and bought the Silver Streak in 2012.Luckily, it still had all the story-telling signatures intact. Later, he started researching newspaper articles and diaries about the ladies and found his way to the Henry Ford Museum.“There, we found 35 different letters back and forth between Ford (and the girls),” Butte said. The more he saw, the more inspired he was to write the book.“I thought this is a story I need to write,” he said. “I want my children to know about this.”It was important to the families of the Model T girls and also important to share with a public hungry for history.Butte’s wife Carmen has a brother named Dan Welch. Dan and his wife Kitty live in Warrenton. Kitty said she and Dan had heard some of the Model T stories, “but not nearly as many as there are in the book,” she said.What amazed her was that the women were so independent and adventurous at a time when woman were not appreciated for those qualities.“It’s amazing that the ladies did what they did,” she said. “And we thought, ‘oh, my goodness, they went that far in that car going that slow.’ ”Butte lives in Peoria, Ill. When he visits Warrenton library he will talk about the book. Copies will be available for purchase and signing.“He’s bringing the car,” said Christian. “A lot of people are going to want to see that.”Reserve a seat by calling 636-456-3321, registering online at scenicregional.org or in person at the library.The Bradford Model T Girls in the Silver Streak in Bradford, Ill. They are getting ready to leave for California in 1940. The photo is part of the archives at the Henry Ford Museum. Submitted photo.
John Butte and his wife Carmen in 2012, bringing the Silver Streak back to Illinois after a long hibernation in storage. The Buttes tracked it down and bought it. Submitted photo.
