Good Seed, Bad Seed

29RPU

29RPU

Senior Member
Trivia question: Do you guys find that in your travels there are some Model A's that are better than others...meaning they just seem to help you restore them? Maybe it is a luck thing, maybe it is just whatever. I don't know how to put my finger on it, but.... Having owned close to 40 67-69 camaros, I have had a few really troublesome cars, and a few that practically helped me every step of the way, and I just find this very interesting.

I don't believe cars have souls or anything wacky like that (though it is fun to play like sometimes). I don't really believe in lemons...so what is the deal?

I'm just finishing a 1yr house addition. Both of my A's sat for a year. The 29 Phaeton (running poorly) fired right up after 4 cranks. I couldn't believe it. The 29 RPU (fresh good quality resto) had a dead battery and took 20 cranks once it was charged. Both batterys are 1 yr old...no draws that I'm aware of. Not serious in either case, just interesting.


OK weird post/question for the day is out of my system.
 
I am liking your style, Visalia. I totally believe some cars are inherently good and some ain't. My A is a dream, awaiting only upon my lack of expertise. Poor baby. I have owned it for 50 years. Just getting to be as smart as is it.
 
I am just lucky, I guess. Mine is usually no problem. If I remember to turn the key on, open the gas valve, and set the choke, it always fires right up. Oh, there is the occasional bad battery, but those are an expendable item!
 
A good friend of mine is an automotive journalist, specializing in antique cars... he came from the newspaper world, so he is an old-time journalist and photographer, plus he runs trains for Steamtown in his spare time.
He is a regular contributor to Auto-Restorer, Auto-Week, and Old Cars Weekly, among others.
His favorite subject cars are "survivors" and Brass-era cars and trucks.


When I got my Model A , he told me about several Model A's that he had done stories on, all of which "had issues"... a pick-up that had terrible overheating problems, a Tudor that "just wouldn't run right, no matter who worked on it", another sedan that was in remarkable original condition "because nobody drove it much when it was new, and not at all from WW II on, because it was nearly impossible to drive it down the road in a straight line, from new." And so on.

I suggested to him that he had somehow found the five worst Model As still in existence, and somehow they were all right here in northeastern Pennsylvania, as I had exprienced no such issues with my '28... ;)

The conversation went down-hill from there...:rolleyes:

While my Model A experience is limited to just my Special Coupe, I've had multiple examples of other makes / models: mostly flathead MoPars and Stovebolt Chevy trucks, and several Falcons, and have found they all seem to have individual personalities; then there's the issue of how they've each been treated over their respective lives...

The local Model A expert around here, 80 years-young, often says that "no two Model As are alike"...

Having made over 4 million of the beasts, I'm sure a few flawed Model As got out the door...
 
Frank,
"I'm sure a FEW flawed Model As got out the door"...
Have known guys who worked auto assembly lines, who stated that THEY would not buy a car that was made on certain days of the week...can guess which days. My guess is that 'lemons' have always existed. Hmm, it only took a hundred years to make a lemon law tho.
 
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