DRAIN — The rusty grill of Walter Fousel's home-built 1926 Ford Model T is plastered with crusty, dried bees and other insects that lost their lives on the road.

“There's one from every state,” Fousel joked this week while showing off the car as it rested in front of his Drain home after a long drive.

Fousel, 75, returned home Sunday from a cross-county trip in the custom rig with his son, Forest. Seated shoulder to shoulder in the Model T's tiny cab, the pair set off at the end of May, driving about 10,000 miles and passing through 27 states on the way from Oregon to North Carolina and back.

Along the way, the two men enjoyed the thrill of traveling America's back roads in the old-fashioned ride. They also won over a legion of fans from across the country who were inspired by their ambitious trip.

“It was just very interesting seeing how people reacted to the car,” said Forest Fousel, 50.” People were very struck by the contraption.”

Spending all that time sandwiched together also brought the father and son more than literally closer. They don't often get to see each other. Forest Fousel lives in Seattle and Walter Fousel splits his time between Drain and Dateland, Ariz.

Two years ago, Forest Fousel made a surprise visit to his father in Arizona to celebrate both their birthdays, which are a day apart in March. It was then that Walter Fousel made a proposal to his son. The senior Fousel had spent about 30 years gathering and piecing together parts in Arizona to build a custom Model T, and it was nearly complete. He wanted to take it for a long ride.

“In 2010, I turn 75 and you turn 50. Let's take this old car and go across the country,” he told his son.

A year ago, Fousel was able to drive the car all the way from Drain to Alaska.

“That convinced me that if she could go there and back, we could make it across the states and back,” he said.

After some last-minute adjustments to the Model T to make sure it was road ready, Fousel and his son set out on what would become a two-month trek circling the U.S. — first through the southern portion and then across the North.

“All my life I've been kind of adventurous,” Walter Fousel said. “This is the biggest thing I've ever done.”

He drove the entire distance, averaging about 225 miles a day at a cruising speed of 45 to 50 miles an hour.

Before he retired, Fousel was a mechanic who worked on jets, but his passion was working on cars.

The Model T is Fousel's baby. He kept it rusty to show its age and converted it from a four-door to a truck, lining the bed with wood he scavenged from abandoned buildings in the desert. It now runs with a motor from a 1972 Ford Pinto. The most colorful parts of the car are the bright-yellow tire spokes. The cover over a spare wheel mounted on the back of the car has “Seeing America” painted on it in honor of the cross-country ride.

It was always thrilling when people he met on the trip told him they liked his car, Fousel said. One man in Spokane, Wash., sticks out in his mind.

“He said, ‘That's the baddest truck I've ever seen,'” Fousel said. “It made me puff up. People work their whole lives to get comments like that.”

Forest Fousel remembers one old man who was in tears because the car reminded him of a truck his mother had when he was a kid.

Even though the car has a modern motor, both men agree that they felt like they got an authentic experience of what it would be like to ride in car from the '20s.“I'm looking from the windshield of a car that my dad or granddad got to ride in,” Walter Fousel said.

As the trip progressed, a Facebook profile chronicling the journey dubbed “Sandy Jalopy” gained more than 170 friends. The name was inspired by Walter Fousel's childhood nickname of “Sandy” and the jalopy, rat-rod style of the Model T, his son said. The pair also carried a log book for people they encountered on the road. The book has at least 150 signatures, Forest Fousel said.

While thankful for all the support he and his son got along the trip, Walter Fousel said he believes the car made it across the country for one reason.

“I built it that way,” he said. “I wouldn't take it out if I didn't think I could do it. I put everything into it. My heart and soul.”

That's not to say that there weren't a couple hiccups along the way. The car had transmission problems in Oklahoma and blew a head gasket in Iowa. But each time, with the help of family and complete strangers, Fousel managed to get it up and running again.

Other than some plans to meet up with a friend of Walter Fousel's from high school in North Carolina, along with some other friends and family on the way, Fousel said he and his son had no itinerary. All along the trip, the two were commonly asked were they were headed next, Fousel said.

“The answer was always the same: ‘I don't know if I haven't looked at the map yet,'” he said. “When we got tired we stopped.”

Most of the trip was spent driving, but that was just fine, Forest Fousel said.

“People would say, ‘Did you stop and see any sights?,'” he said. “Well, no we didn't. The trip was the sight.”

Fousel is already planning his next trip in the Model T. He'd like to go to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in September. He has no doubts that the car can make it.

“There's lots of people that look at that and wouldn't drive it across the street, much less across the country and I did it,” he said. “Would I do it again? Without hesitation.”

• You can reach reporter Inka Bajandas at 541-957-4202 or by e-mail at ibajandas@nrtoday.com.