Boothbay Harbor summer resident Tom Cotter caulked another item off his automotive bucket list last year when he drove a 100-year-old car across the United States on a 100-year-old highway.

The adventure took Cotter and his co-driver 15 days to drive more than 3,300 miles from New York City to California, averaging 53-miles-per-hour for 12 to 14 hours per day.

He chronicled the trip in a new book, “Ford Model T Coast to Coast,” which was published by Motorbooks International in June.  It’s the 18th book Cotter has written about cars, motorcycles and rock-n-roll.  Some of his other books include “The Cobra in the Barn” and “50 Shades of Rust.”

Cotter also hosts the “Barn Find Hunter” video series on You Tube.

“I’ve always wanted to drive a Model T cross country, but it wasn’t until I met my co-driver, Dave Coleman of West Virginia, a Model T enthusiast, that it finally happened,” said Cotter.  “There is something special about driving an open car across America’s Heartland; there are sights, smells and experiences most people miss when they are driving an air conditioned, modern sedan on an Interstate highway.”

The road trip began in Manhattan at the intersection of Broadway and 42nd Street in Times Square, the eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway, America’s first trans-continental road which was built in 1913.  From New York City, the little Model T sputtered across 13 states before reaching the western terminus at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

“As travelers did 100 years ago for good luck, we dipped our front wheels in the Atlantic Ocean at the start of our drive, and again in the Pacific Ocean at the conclusion of our trip,” he said.

Henry Ford III, the great grandson of the Model T’s inventor, wrote the foreword to Cotter’s book, and Comedian and auto enthusiast Jay Leno is quoted on the front cover.

Cotter is hosting a book signing on the front porch of his Boothbay Harbor cottage on Wednesday, July 4, from 10 a.m. to noon, and again from 2 to 4 p.m. The address is 26 Atlantic Avenue, formerly the Rowe Market at the east end of the footbridge.