Spotted in Maldon on Saturday 29 March: this gloriously coloured Model-T Ford, on its way to participate in the Florence Thomson Tour, which celebrates “the pioneering spirit and contribution of women to Australian motoring.”
It’s a tour for female drivers in classic cars; this one was driven by Louise Kilgour who has been driving it for less than a year. Pointing to the vehicle’s gear-pedal and the hand-operated accelerator stick, Louise said: “It’s completely different and you almost have to retrain your brain.”
She points to her dad, Brian Smith, as responsible for the car’s eye-catching colour-scheme. Is it a traditional palette? Not exactly, but Brian liked the extra punch of the fluoro highlights and, he said, almost as a defiant response to Henry Ford’s famous quote: “I just don’t like black.”
Florence Thomson was a trailblazer, having been the first woman to drive a ‘motor car’ from Adelaide to Melbourne in 1905.
“The journey was accomplished with great difficulty,” said a contemporary newspaper account. “As there are sandy stretches along the road which only a light flying car can traverse.”
Mrs Thomson drove a Beeston Humberette with about 5 horse power, wearing “leather overalls, peaked cap, ear-flaps, mask and googles.”
She was such a startling sight that some hotels along the route would not allow her to stay so, coupled with numerous mechanical delays, her journey took eight days to complete.
This article appeared in Tarrangower, Times, 4 April 2025.
