101 year old car enthusiast Harold Baggott has driven the new Ford Mustang Mach-E, 90 years after he first learned to drive in a Ford Model T. The former coach company proprietor and Ford customer’s interest in electrification prompted the test drive from the British Motor Museum, Beaulieu, near his home in Hampshire.
Born in 1920, Harold Baggott, had his first taste of getting behind the wheel of the Model T at the age 10, driving the family’s milkman’s delivery float on a farm. He went on to get his license in 1936 (the first year they were introduced), and purchased his first car, a Ford 8 Popular in 1937 for £100 and a Ford Anglia the next year.
Since then the family has owned 20 Fords privately, as well as Ford commercial vehicles in chassis form, converted into coaches for a fleet of 140 run by their travel and coach business.
Mr Baggott was reminded of his Model T experiences from all those years ago, with rides in a 1915 model from Ford’s heritage collection, before moving bang up to date and getting behind the Mustang Mach-E’s steering wheel.
Driving 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, Mr Baggott was struck by the quietness of electric motoring. His car-mad great-grandchildren got to join in the experience and share it with Harold, just like when first drove on private land in 1930.
Harold who shows no sign of slowing down at the impressive age of 101, still drives daily and is as interested in motoring today as he was a child in the 1930s. “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 Mach-E is Ford’s first all-electric SUV, with a maximum electric driving range of 379 miles, which is approximately 224 more than the old “gasoline” fueled Model T.
