BEFORE PLASTIC AND CHROME; Why one former farmer keeps these century cars on the road every week.

Byline: PHIL BERG

Forty years ago, Clem Konen was driving with his wife, Mary, in their 1914 Ford Model T, briskly traveling down a back road. Suddenly, a deer ran out, and they hit it with the car's front left tire.

"It flipped us completely over and tossed Mary out. I stayed underneath the car, which had broken its top's bows and collapsed the windshield, but it didn't bother the radiator. I wiggled myself out, and we didn't have a stitch of clothing that was torn. Mary's stockings weren't run. All I had was a bruise where my wallet was.''

The incident didn't stop Konen from regularly driving his antique cars, trimmed with brass and nickel, produced up to about 1915. Once a month, he drives one of his nine antiques in a local rally in Ohio; six times a year, he does weeklong, long-distance drives.

Today, a nickel is worth about nine cents if you melt it down and sell the metals, so it's a federal offense to do so. But back in the early 20th century, when there were no Ziploc bags, no wire ties or Velcro or duct tape, and a copper penny (worth about six cents on today's metals market) actually was useful, the cars Konen would collect, fix, restore and drive were ...