Family car is time capsule for Tribou

Contributed photo/John Tribou
ALL IN THE FAMILY — The Tribou family of Houlton have a long history with their 1930 Model A Ford Tudor. The car belonged to John Tribou’s father for many years before it was sold to a family friend. Tribou reacquired the vehicle in 2001. From left are Ryan, Julie, Logan, Caleb and John Tribou.
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Nearly everyone has a fond memory of his or her first automobile. Or perhaps it is a memory of a car their parents had growing up. Sitting in such a vehicle can make a grown man feel like a child again.
    Such is the case for John Tribou of Houlton.
    As a young boy growing up in the small, western Maine town of Dixfield, the Tribou family got from point “A” to point “B” in a 1930 Model A Ford Tudor sedan.
    “My father (John H. Tribou) purchased the car in the late 1950s,” Tribou said. “He used that car every day for regular transportation up until 1980. My parents were school teachers who lived just a mile or so away from the school, so the car never saw long distances.”
    A three-speed, standard transmission automobile, the Model A was the Tribou family car for many years, taking them to school, to camp or the grocery store. That was until multiple sclerosis made it impossible for his father to keep driving.
Contributed photo/John Tribou
WORK IN PROGRESS — John Tribou of Houlton is in the process of restoring this 1928 Model A Roadster. With the vehicle, at the time it was acquired several years ago, are his sons Ryan, left, and Logan.
    “My dad sold the car to a really good friend of his, Richard Maxim, who lived in West Paris,” Tribou said. He kept it and drove it from 1981 to about 2000. I was only 10 at that time, but knew somehow the car would make it back to the family.”
    Starting at the time that John was about 15 years old and able to drive, he visited Maxim twice a year, in the spring and again in the fall, in the hopes that he would sell the car back to the Tribou family.
    “Every year, from about 1986 to 2000, I visited him in the spring and fall, just like clockwork, and every year he declined to sell,” Tribou said. “The car had such history, that I really just wanted to have it back in our family.”
    The Maxims did not have any children of their own, so Tribou feared the vehicle would be lost to him forever if he did not keep up with his yearly pilgrimage to purchase it, even after he moved to Houlton. Tribou even went so far as to find a different car, a 1928 Model A Ford, to offer as an even swap.
    Tribou’s persistence paid off as Maxim finally agreed to the swap in 2001.
    “Today, the car is exactly the way it was when I rode in it as a child back in the 1970s,” he said. “It has the same, original interior and mechanically, I’ve done whatever repairs were needed. It’s really a time capsule for me.”
    The vehicle still has remnants of a sticker his father placed on the back window from the National Rifle Association and since he was an avid fisherman, he kept a “dry fly” hidden in the upholstery above the windshield.
    By his best estimates, the vehicle has “well over 150,000 miles” and still runs smoothly.
    Tribou said he can still vividly recall the time in 1976 that his father decided the car needed a new coat of paint.
    “Dad decided he wanted to perk up the car for a bicentennial parade,” he said. “I can remember just like it was yesterday, going into the body shop as a 5-year-old boy and seeing the car all taken apart. It was a two-tone car, so they had to take the fenders and running boards all off.”
    His father always maintained the car, which is a tradition that Tribou continues to this day. Every winter before putting the vehicle away, he drains the water out of the radiator. He uses water instead of antifreeze because “that’s how they did it back in the day.”
    One day, Tribou said he plans to pass the car along to one of his three sons – Ryan, Caleb and Logan. All three have taken an active role in caring for the vehicle and have helped out with another restoration project — fixing up a 1928 Model A Roadster with a rumble seat.
    “All three of my boys have had a hand in restoring that car,” he said. “We have completely disassembled that vehicle and have been rebuilding it from the ground up.”
    Tribou said he has spent about 8-10 hours a week over the past two years working on the car.
    “I’m getting close,” he said. “I think we’ll be able to go for a ride in it this spring.”
    His father had five Model A Fords during his lifetime, a 1930 Model A sedan, a 1930 Model A roadster, and two Model A pick-up trucks. Tribou’s grandfather, Earl sold Model T Fords in Buckfield.
    “My goal is to be the best caretaker I can for this automobile,” he said. “It’s mine, but it’s not. My father was the caretaker before me and one of my three boys will want to have it. I want them to have great memories of growing up around this car. By the time one of them gets it, it will be more than 100 years old.”