Greatest moment in a Model A

Boy that is a tough one there have been many.
When I was four years old, I ran away from home and went to school. It was close to home. A teacher and here husband put me in there 28 Model A coupe and give me a ride home. I was so scared that I still see the dash of that coupe in my mind. I can still see that little black 5 window coupe, like it was yesterday.
 
After having my 29 Model A pickup for the last 41 years, I can't say that this is the "greatest", but it is a recent "Good one"!

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Dad always kept his coupe parked under the carport, about 30 feet from our backdoor. When I was about 8 years old, I got mad and told them I was running away from home. I only got 30 feet and slept in the seat of the coupe. Boy was I scared. I don't think I made it thru the night and later was told they waited looking thru the window until i came in. Been hooked on A's since then. Boy that seat look's short today. Ron
 
Bringing my sons home from the hospital the day after they were born in the 29 tudor. Did not have health insurance when the second one was born, so sold my 40 ford deluxe to pay the hospital bill.
 
The Day Grandpa Called me and told me that he was giving me the car. The next was the day that I backed out of the drive way with it (3 years later). Just the wife and I. Its was very special. I will always remember that day.
 
Borrowed dad's 31 rdst and took my girlfriend on a date to ask her to marry me. 34 years later still have both!
 

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Seeing a 28/29 phaeton on my grandfathers farm when I was 9 in 1944 and wanting it. It was owned by one of the farm workers, had no top, poor paint and there was a shotgun on the front seat. I've been hooked on Model A's ever since. I can still picture that one.
I didn't actually get a Model A until 1980 and that one I still have.
 
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That would be the day when my son took the Huckster out and started washing it in the late afternoon. Next thing he did was ask to take it a few miles to see a girl he wanted to impress. This was his first solo. Best part was when he called about 30 minutes later when he couldn't get it restarted. By then it was dark. Took 2 trips out to get him running. The girl showed up with her brother and rode back to town with my son. He couldn't quit smiling for a while, me neither. Bob
 
The excvitement of seeing my 400-A being unloaded from the 747 from Sydney and touching the ground, being the FIRST MODEL A to drive Around the World. (1982)
Bruce Davis a400usa@nccn.net
 
My greatest moment with a Model A took 5 years to come to fulfillment.
It started in 1987 as I was watching a TV commercial for Sun Raisins. The grandfather and grandson finished eating a small box of raisins and when finished the grandfather said something like "it's time to get some more raisins" so they got into an antique/ car and drove down the road.
After seeing that I thought that having an old car to drive around would be fun so the seed was planted. I started looking in the classified section of the local papers and found a 1928 Roadster (basket case) within 5 miles of my home. I convinced my wife that I only needed to assemble the parts and have it painted and we would have a neat old car. I bought the car and brought all the pieces home to start the project.
Our house has an attached two car garage so it was necessary to move my wife's Station Wagon outside so the Model A could be assembled in the garage.
From that time on, it took me 5 years to complete the restoration, she called the Roadster "That Thing in the Garage". She was not happy that her wagon was being kept outside.
I finished the restoration in June 1992 just in time to attend the MARC National meet in Buffalo, New York. I was able to put 200 miles on the car prior to the trip so was somewhat prepared for the trip. We live just north of Baltimore, MD so we were looking at a 350 mile trip. The local club, Greater Baltimore Model A Ford Club, had a group going up starting on Sunday, staying overnight part way and arriving Monday afternoon. My wife came down with a migraine headache and was unable to leave on Sunday with the other club members so we made the trip by ourself on Monday driving the entire trip with rain most of the way. Driving a Roadster with side curtains in the rain can be a challenge. Visibility is not great and with the mechanical wiper my wife had to operate the wiper while I drove. She was still getting over the headache so was not in a good mood. We made it, arriving early evening. The only problems encountered on the trip was a rear brake dragging causing the drum to heat up and running out of gas. I was checking the drums every stop by feeling for any excessive heat. Backing off the adjustment screw solved that problem. The other problem was running out of gas. The gas gauge was stuck somewhere just above 1/4 tank. I still can't believe I didn't realize that there was a problem and Model A's don't get that kind of mileage.

I am giving all this background so you fully understand my wife's experiences and opinion of the Roadster.
We spent the week attending the meet and sightseeing around the Buffalo area. Everyone commented on how great the Roadster looked and how great it ran. One evening we stopped at a local restaurant for dinner and when the owner saw the car she insisted that we park it on the lawn right in front of the place. She had the people in the bar go out and look at it and in general made a big deal out of it. Ever where we went people made a fuss over the car.
We drove home with the club and one day about a week after our return my wife asked: "When are we going for a ride in "THE A"?
It was no longer "That Thing in the Garage" It was now "THE A"
That was 19 years ago and some 10,000 miles later she still likes to go in the Roadster. We also have a 1930 Town Sedan for touring but she prefers the Roadster.
So I consider the point when she started to like the Roadster as my greatest moment/satisfaction dealing with the Model A.
 

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JBR, I have to admit that I don't know what the colors are beside the wheels being orange. Sad to say the car is in storage in NC and I work in S. Florida.
 
I have had many great momments in Model A's but one of the most exciting was driving my just rebuilt 28 roadster over 400 miles one way to my first MARC National meet in Indianapolis in the early 1990's. This was my second ground up rebuild of a Model A. No one in my Model A club had ever driven their Model A more than 20 miles on a club trip at the time. Nearly everyone of them said that my Model A could NOT make the trip there and back. The day of the grand tour to the speedway I was so excited that I could have carried that roadster around the track on my back if needed! Oh yeah....the only problem was one flat tire in 900 miles. Once I returned home I was able to get my local club members to make longer day tours in their Model A's.
 
When I was born I was brought home from the hospital in this Model A. My father bought the car new. Here is a picture of me with the car about 3 or 4 years later. My father built this 6 foot pram in the garage and the picture was taken at Lake Hopatcong, NJ. He traded the 1930 Model A in for a new 1939 Plymouth Road King in December 1938 and got $50 for the trade. I was quite upset at the time as I feared he would not haul the boat on top of the new car. He did however as soon as the weather got warm enough.
 

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My dear wife, Pat, was on a downhill slide with dementia along about the time I was making sure "MINERVA," our black '30 coupe was de-bugged and ready for cruising. My neighbor was doing likewise with his his just completed '30 roadster, just short area trips to build confidence. Not knowing how much she understood, I was telling her about our escapades. She replied, "Why don't you & the other Bill go for a drive in country, but be sure to take a CHAIN." I was so elated at her understanding and reply, that the next day, we loaded up in the coupe, along with the rubber chicken, and did a 97 mile round trip up and around the Sierra Nevada foothills. It was hotter than a 2 dollar pistol, but Minerva performed flawlessly, climbing hills like a goat in high gear. Used second gear a couple of times just to see what it felt like. Pat had a BALL! She would hold the chicken out the window to cool her off, OOPS, she accidentally dropped it! After an unscheduled u-turn to retrieve the chicken from the gravel, she wiped and nursed that fowl the rest of the way home. I should name that chicken, "GRAVEL GERTY." The best part of the trip was that Pat had a smile on her face for 3 days.:):):)--Bill W.
 
More like "most memorable" moment. I had been drinking with some friends and went home late in the evening, but knew I needed to clear my head - and drain the bladder - so I headed to the nearby park and decided a drive my '29 A coupe around the circular lagoon would be a good idea. No other cars, and no streetlights, so I put the throttle just above idle, stepped out onto the running board, unzipped and solved the problem, holding onto the steering wheel through the window with one hand. I opened the door, climbed back in and circled the lagoon about three or four more times, then drove home. I am older, wiser and adamantly against driving if I've had even one beer nowadays, but laugh to myself every time I think of that foolish episode.
 
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