early dealer advertisment

frank mcdaniels

frank mcdaniels

Senior Member
I have an early ford dealer poster that is about 24 by 30 inches.It has a picture of an early 28 roadster on it.On the bottom in big letters is ROADSTER. No door handles and a red steering wheel.The thing that puzzels me is that it has no bumbers on it. My question is , was the bumper a late design element in the production of the model A. Would Ford have sent out body style examples to the dealers before they had decided on a bumper design, and has anyone else seen one of these.Spring has sprung here in Minn. and am getting anxious to bring my As out of hibernation. Thanks, Frank
 
In the Jan/feb issue of the restorer or M.A.N, there is a picture believed to be factory, of a 28 roadster with no bumpers.
 
Frank, is it a artist rendering or an actual factory photo?

To play Devil's Advovate with Steve, there is long-standing controversy that Ford touted his Model 'A' was cheaper than his competitors and the way he achieved this was by theoretically selling it w/o bumpers however when the bumper & oil was added, there price was actually a little higher than his competitors. Supposedly all cars were sold with bumpers. His sales tactics may not have been as well accepted in our era. I have seen invoices that showed the price of the car and then a seperate line-item for oil and another for bumpers.
 
Brent, It is an artist rendering,not an actual photo.I found it in our church on the back of the alter with a hand drawn plat of the church cemetary on the back.It's pretty cool and I have it hanging in my"man cave", Frank
 
When the new ford was ready for its grand unveiling in December 27, many of the dealerships didn't have a car yet to put on display so all the dealership got a set of artist pictures of each body style. Like you said, it has the body style name on it and normally a price. None of the drawings have bumpers. Guess they were a last minute decission to add. That's what you have. A VERY early original dealership picture of what the new ford was going to look like that was shown to customers before the cars could be produced in great numbers. That pics a real gem. Be careful with it. Worth big $$$
 
Yes,i have seen original invoices also,showing the bumpers not included in the original price,but added as an option.Makes you wonder if an A could be had without the bumpers.
 
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