A retired couple are traveling around the world in a 100-year-old Ford car .
Dirk and Trudy Regter have been traveling since 2012 and have covered 50,000 miles of ground since setting off from their home in the Netherlands.
The first leg of the drive took them from their home town of Edam in the Netherlands to Cape Town in South Africa onto the U.S. and Canada, crossing 22 states during their trip.
In 2014 they ticked off another 16,000 miles through South America in a further 180 days.
The intrepid couple have been visiting and supporting various projects run by the international children’s aid organisation SOS – Children’s Villages.
During 2016 and 2017 they plan to continue through New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, and India, crossing the Himalayas to China, through Mongolia and back to the Netherlands via Central Europe.
Travelling the world in a 100-year-old Ford Model T takes serious dedication, but the vintage model is very robust and its simple design makes it easy to service and repair.
Dirk and Trudy – both retired – have owned their 1915 Ford Model T since 1997.
Dirk previously owned a 1923 Ford Model T and a 1928 Ford Model A, and his lifelong passion for vintage Fords is inherited from his father and grandfather.
Read more:World's first hybrid car worth £200,000 was built a century before the Toyota Prius
The Ford Model T helped put the world on wheels, and owed its mass appeal to being affordable, reliable and easy to maintain with standard, interchangeable parts.
Dirk said: “In Africa we had to weld a broken front wheel at the local blacksmith.
"I’m pretty handy and a screwdriver, hammer, some duct tape, tie wraps and tensioning straps go a long way”.
The Regters’ Ford Model T is powered by a 3.0-litre petrol engine and remains in the same specification as when it left the factory in 1915, apart from larger tyres for the wooden-spoked wheels, which make the ride softer and more bearable over long journeys.
A set of tyres will last around 9,300 miles on normal roads, but fewer miles on some of the rough, unpaved tracks tackled by the Regters in regions such as Africa and South America.
“On the border of South Africa and Botswana we met a farmer who had an old Ford Model T in the shed, he gave us the tyre off of it as a gift to help us on our way,” Dirk said.
Read more:This rare 1951 Ferrari which raced at Les Mans to sell for more than £7million
Dirk said the couple's highlight of the journey was Highway 1 from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
He added: "Steep slopes, deep ravines,mountains on one side and wonderful view of the ocean on the other. It’s breath-taking."