BRENT in 10-uh-C
Well-known member
Ronn, understand what I am seeing in the industry from the Service industry side and not the Consumer side.
This forum is a great example of what I am seeing within the hobby. The foundation of this Forum is to discuss the repair of a Model-A, -and the fill-in would be the overall discussion of Model-As in general (vintage photos, tours, etc.) If we are being brutally honest here, what would you say by percentage of members here actually do the majority of restoration/repair work on their Model-A? If there are 5,000 Fordbarn members here, do we think there are 500 participating members that actually do the work? Take a moment to actually count up the participants who contribute here based on their first-hand knowledge. I think we would struggle to list names for even half of that 500 number, ...but for the sake of this, lets say there are 2,000 ppl out of the 5,000 members. That is 20%. So 20% of the membership can do the necessary work to Restore, Repair, or Maintain their Model-A. The rest generally rely on the expertise of friends or repair shops.
Now of that remaining 80% of Model-A owners, they might attempt the most basics of tasks (changing oil, spark plugs, etc.) but again, their lack of skillset and/or repair tools prevents them from getting too advanced, ...therefore they reach out to many cottage shops or small Model-A repair shops around the country to meet their needs. Now here is the struggle due to expectations.
For us, the most frustrating thing I hear out of clients is they paid money for a brand new item and then the mechanic must re-work that item to make it serviceable. It doesn't matter if it is an Ammeter or a Fender, it likely requires major additional work to make it serviceable. To the average participant here, this probably is not that big of a deal, ...but to the 80% of Model-A owners out there, it IS a big deal They want something that is correct and serviceable straight out of the box. So your comment about making a one-size-fits-all gas tank is likely going to be met with criticism.
Now, since we have mentioned 'cottage industries', let me explain this scenario as it pertains to the Model-A hobby in 2025....
There is a need right now for reliable retired people doing small piecemeal or niche jobs within the hobby. Since this topic is about gas tanks, -there is a need for someone to do tanks. I have basically quit taking on tanks because we were getting so many tanks we could not meet the demands and still focus on what our main job is. I am not going to mention a name, but a good friend of mine who is a contributor here was professionally rebuilding Model-A steering gearboxes for major retailers until it was interfering with his regular business. He has given steering gearboxes up now.
Now I want to be crystal clear in prefacing this by saying, there are more than a few 'rebuilders' out there whose work is less than adequate. You find these guys on social media, eBay, etc. peddling their 'Rebuilt' distributors or carburetors, shocks, brakes, etc. as Rebuilt. Their workmanship sux!! I doubt these Rebuilders actually have the ability, the skillset, nor the tooling to return those items to a condition equal to factory specifications however they convince their customer of that by a coat of shiney paint.
The equally troubling problem is the Buyers has no idea whether the 'rebuilt item' is functioning correctly after it has been installed. So my point is, if someone wants a cottage industry to supplement retirement income, then find original items and correctly restore to factory specifications (-to Fine Point terms by some) and you will have more work than you can do.
