Soon to be a Model A owner

L

lucky_stripe_garage

Senior Member
Hey everyone. New to the Ford Barn. Also I'll be purchasing my first Model A soon. It's an older restoration done by a gentleman (true ford guy) I had the pleasure of getting to know before he passed away a few months ago.

The history that he told me was that he bought the car in 1974. He spent the next two years restoring the car with his children in his garage. His wife actually found pictures of him painting the car in his garage with just a paper dust mask on. :eek: He drove it in a Christmas parade in 1976, and the announcers disrespected him so he drove it home and put it up on jack stands. It's sat since December of 1976 from what they both have told me. He was in the middle of replacing the radiator, and had a few other ideas that he was wanting to finish to get the car back on the road again, unfortunately his health declined and he was unable to finish.

I don't plan on painting it at this time since the paint is still good, body work is fair, the upholstry was done by his wife and still looks like its never been sat on. There's too many extra parts to list, but it's going to be a fun puzzle to piece back together. I will try my best to get some pictures loaded for you guys, cause I know without pictures, it doesn't exist or didn't happen. Hope you don't mind me asking a ton of questions whenever I get started.
 
Welcome to the Ford Barn, What body style is it and what year. You will have a lot of fun with your A. Ask away with questions and use the search function as well. If you tell us were your from there is club members probly close by, that can help you as well.
 
Currently I live in the Texas panhandle. It's a 1930 Two Door Sedan. Lets see if I can get a couple of these pictures to work. One iswhen he first brought it home in 1974. The other is a couple of days before the parade in 1976.
 

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Welcome! Hope to see you on the road soon. The MAFCA.COM website lists local chapters, it is always good to find local folks to talk about problems, parts etc. There is a great swap meet in Wichita in February that you might think about going to. Texas has a great meet that moves around the state, another place to find people, see cars, locate parts etc.

Again Welcome!
 
lucky_stripe_garage said:
... The history that he told me was that he bought the car in 1974. He spent the next two years restoring the car with his children in his garage. His wife actually found pictures of him painting the car in his garage with just a paper dust mask on. :eek: He drove it in a Christmas parade in 1976, and the announcers disrespected him so he drove it home and put it up on jack stands. It's sat since December of 1976 from what they both have told me...
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Nice to know the history of a car. Wish I knew some of the past adventures of my '30 Sedan. A few things about my car have me scratching my head.:rolleyes::rolleyes:

I'm curious tho, What did the announcers say or do to disrespect him enough to make him park the car for ~38 years?? :eek::eek:

Nice looking car. Enjoy it.
 
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Welcome to the hobby and I second the suggestion the you look at the MAFCA and MARC site to find a local club and like minded Model A'ers.

Get it running and drive the heck out of it.

Best of luck.
 
Hi from Dallas. There is a panhandle A's club but they are a little hard to find and not very active. Maybe a google search might bring up something. I know they would love to see a new face.
 
The story that I was told, was that he entered the parade as an individual. There was a car club in front of him that had several cars entered. He had filled out the paper describing his car for the annoucer to use. The anouncer described all of the cars in front of his, and when he came around the corner the annoucer said, "And here's another old car."
 
Y-Blockhead said:
And he took it home and parked it for ~38 years? I would of just said F*** Off and never supported their Christmas Parade again... :rolleyes::rolleyes:
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That's what I told him while I took care of him. But he was an old hard headed retired Navy man. Haha. Very stubborn, even while I cared for him for his last 3 and a half years.
 
Here's a few pictures of how it sits currently. There is approximately 6" on the front, rear and passenger sides. On the drivers side, there's barely enough room for someone to walk next to the car. The drivers door can be opened fully. But it's a tight fit all the way around.
 

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It's funny how one comment can affect you. The same happened to me at a car show. A buddy with a 64 impala asked if I would join him with my 66 impala to a charity show. I reluctantly agreed being that I knew mine wasn't show quality. But being that it was for a kids charity organization I did anyway. Long story short, a guy made a comment to his kids in front of me assuming I was a spectator as well. All he said was Damn if I would of known they were gonna let cars like this in the show I would of brought my old project car. Well that comment did it for me. I literally stripped my car down the next day. Started all over again with bare Steele and a stripped down chassis. Body completely blown apart. It still kinda bothers me. But anyway I always warn my boys about what comes out of their mouth when we go to car shows. I had one instance were I may have done that myself to a fellow owner. At a show I was admiring a 40's era Ford and I said in front of the owner that his car looked like a toy meaning it was so perfect it looked unreal. As soon as I said it I hoped he didn't take it wrong. I may have mumbled some other compliments to try and persuade him I really did think it was beautiful.
 
Barber31 said:
It's funny how one comment can affect you. The same happened to me at a car show. A buddy with a 64 impala asked if I would join him with my 66 impala to a charity show. I reluctantly agreed being that I knew mine wasn't show quality. But being that it was for a kids charity organization I did anyway. Long story short, a guy made a comment to his kids in front of me assuming I was a spectator as well. All he said was Damn if I would of known they were gonna let cars like this in the show I would of brought my old project car. Well that comment did it for me. I literally stripped my car down the next day. Started all over again with bare Steele and a stripped down chassis. Body completely blown apart. It still kinda bothers me. But anyway I always warn my boys about what comes out of their mouth when we go to car shows. I had one instance were I may have done that myself to a fellow owner. At a show I was admiring a 40's era Ford and I said in front of the owner that his car looked like a toy meaning it was so perfect it looked unreal. As soon as I said it I hoped he didn't take it wrong. I may have mumbled some other compliments to try and persuade him I really did think it was beautiful.
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Its amazing how much harder some of us work when we are mad-at-the-world. I had a Boss once that did his best to piss me off every morning, until I was finally smart enough to catch on to what he was doing.

lucky_stripe_garage said:
Hey everyone. New to the Ford Barn. Also I'll be purchasing my first Model A soon. It's an older restoration done by a gentleman (true ford guy) I had the pleasure of getting to know before he passed away a few months ago.

The history that he told me was that he bought the car in 1974. He spent the next two years restoring the car with his children in his garage. His wife actually found pictures of him painting the car in his garage with just a paper dust mask on. :eek: He drove it in a Christmas parade in 1976, and the announcers disrespected him so he drove it home and put it up on jack stands. It's sat since December of 1976 from what they both have told me. He was in the middle of replacing the radiator, and had a few other ideas that he was wanting to finish to get the car back on the road again, unfortunately his health declined and he was unable to finish.

I don't plan on painting it at this time since the paint is still good, body work is fair, the upholstry was done by his wife and still looks like its never been sat on. There's too many extra parts to list, but it's going to be a fun puzzle to piece back together. I will try my best to get some pictures loaded for you guys, cause I know without pictures, it doesn't exist or didn't happen. Hope you don't mind me asking a ton of questions whenever I get started.
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Hope you enjoy the car! It looks much too nice to get discouraged about somebody else's unthinking comments. Right now is the time to make up your mind that YOU are the one you are out to make happy with what you do to the car....there will always be some knucklehead that will make comments about some aspect of your car....grow a thick skin and learn to ignore it. Good Luck.:)
 
One of the earlier shows I was in, some passerby made a quite crude comment about one of my "not original" engine components (hood was propped open). So, now, hood is only opened on request.
 
Rex_A_Lott said:
Its amazing how much harder some of us work when we are mad-at-the-world. I had a Boss once that did his best to piss me off every morning, until I was finally smart enough to catch on to what he was doing.
Click to expand...

The upside to it is it keeps us motivated to keep pressing on. I was determined to finish my car better than what I did the first time. My wife and I also used that "being mad about it" mentality to build our own business. So it's kinda good sometimes. I can also see how it can take root in someone's spirit and cause bitterness and hatred. Guess it just depends on the person.
 
CarlG said:
One of the earlier shows I was in, some passerby made a quite crude comment about one of my "not original" engine components (hood was propped open). So, now, hood is only opened on request.
Click to expand...
A Man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: "You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?" So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides."
So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along."
Well, the Man didn't know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said: "Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey of yours and your hulking son?"
The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey's feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge.


If you try to please everyone you can wave your donkey goodbye.

So you can have accessories as long as you like them. If you don't like them you don't need to have them.
 
I'm excited that I'll get the chance to drive this piece of history and continue to share it with people. It scares me a little because I know a little about what he was working on when he got sick, but I'm not sure where to start as far as piecing it all back together again.
 
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