Harold and the Mustang Mach-E

Tuesday, 24 August 2021

Watch Harold Baggott, who learned to drive in a Ford Model T, drive a brand new Mustang Mach-E

Lots of us will have learned to drive in old cars before moving onto newer and better automobiles. But not many are able to say they learnt in a Ford Model T back when it was the latest and greatest.

101-year-old Harold Baggott is one person that can genuinely say they did, learning at age 10 to drive the family’s milkman’s delivery float on a farm. That means he actually learned to drive before most of us were even born.

He went on to get his licence in 1936 (the first year they were introduced the UK), and purchased his first car, a Ford 8 Popular in 1937 for £100, about £6,987 (or roughly NZ$14,000) today, and a Ford Anglia the next year.

Harold Baggott learned to drive in a Ford Model T, back when it was a new car.

Harold recently got to relive his Model T memories at the British Motor Museum at Beaulieu in Hampshire, but he also had a special, very modern treat – a drive in a Ford Mustang Mach-E, Ford’s first proper entrant into the global EV market.

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Baggott didn’t get to drive the Model T but a short trip in one evoked plenty of memories.

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He drove his great-grandchildren, 15-year-old Felix, who has ambitions to be a racing driver, and his 12-year-old brother Charlie, three miles from Beaulieu to former shipbuilding village Bucklers Hard.

Struck by how quiet electric vehicles are, Baggott said “Since the age of 10, I’ve retained my interest in motoring and today find myself interested in the switch to electrification following the government phasing out the traditional combustion engines I’m used to.

“I have reminisced about my driving history with the Model T and seen what the future has in store. It was exciting to get behind the wheel of what I expect to see my great-grandchildren will be driving.”

The Ford Model T used a 2.9-litre inline four to generate 15kW of power, paired with a two-speed planetary gear transmission.

Compare that to the Mach-E’s twin electric motors generating as much as 358kW. As for torque, the Model T produced a decent amount for the time, around 113Nm, while the Mach E’s instant electric twist ranges from 430Nm up to 860Nm.