How I got my Model A

caveman3094

caveman3094

Junior Member
I would like to share with all of you how i got my Model A. I'm sure there are a lot of you that have interesting stories off how you came to be a Model A owner, and if ya wouldn't mine id love to hear them. Sorry this one is a little lengthy.

Before i owned this car my grandfather owned it. Him and my dad had been into Model A's quite a bit, each having owned several before i showed up. With my sister on the way my dad decided to sell his, leaving my grandfather with the only Model A left. I cant remember when he started giving me rides in it but i used to hate it. It was slow and noisy and slow. Being a smarty i would always joke with him of how the green lights would always turn red again before we could make it there, and he always said back someday i would be driving it. I just didn't believe him. As i grew up though i secretly started to love it, i couldnt tell him this, i would never hear then end of it, we picked on each other alot. He would tell me stories about his child hood when ever we rode in it, all the trouble he got in to, all the dumb things he did, all his friends, id laugh to the point were i would be in tears. It was like stepping back in time when ever i rode with him. As i got older he did to. With the Model A needing work, and him being unable to do it, and me being to young, the poor girl sat. When ever we would go and visit i would stare longingly at the car, still not letting my grandfather see it, but some how he new because he would tell me that i could drive it someday. As the years ticked by, the dust piled on thicker and my grandfather wasn't getting any better. The day came when he passed away. His wife needed the money and said she was going to sell it (even though the car was willed to me). I didnt now how i was going to earn enough to buy it. I was only 13. I went around to my neighbors an soon came a cross an old widow who needed lots of yard work done. Little did i know that for my next three summers she was going to be my main source of income. Good thing for me, she talked me up and i soon had 4 others i was steadily working for. Doing stuff from mowing lawns, cleaning ponds, picking rocks, and tons of other stuff. I thought many of times of telling her to go ahead and sell it, but i couldn't, i was to attached. After many sun burnt backs, blistered hands, and calloused feet, i had the money. When i got the key all that i went through was worth it. The car was finally mine, my first car to. Being 16 i now had some experience with cars. I quickly ordered new tires (white walls of course!) and had my rims powder coated to match the red pinstripe on the body. Man it looked sharp. I drove it an soon found out that something was wrong. It would only run about 20minutes then start backfiring and not wanting to run. I can go on an tell you what all happened from there, but to save time ill just finish up by saying the old girl need: new spark plugs, new coil, new modern points and condenser, new exhaust (stainless), new exhaust manifold, some new gaskets, rebuilt tillotson carb, and a new sediment bowl. She now purrs like a kitten and all my buds out at school love it, and the girls like the white walls haha. Thanks for reading and sorry again it was so long. Post a reply.
 
Great story. Lots of us have a Model A, but few have the grandfather connection that you are so fortunate to have. Sounds more like a family member, which goes back to the idea that I have always had, that a car is personified by it's life. The more you know it, the closer you get. Congratulations.
 
Good job on getting it running, keeping it in the family and keeping it original. There can't be enough original cars, but there are plenty of rods.:D

Wish I could have had a Model A when I was only 16, but my dad wanted nothing to do with antique cars while I was that age. Later he liked my Model A though.

Any pictures?
 
There is just something about Model As that make them seem like one of the family once you get used to it. Thanks for the story.
 
My granddad also bought me my first car, which was a 1930 Model A Tudor. It was $300. Later we partnered on a '30 Coupe. He had worked on them at the local Ford Dealership when he was a young man, and I think it was a nostalgia thing for him as well as a fun thing for us to do together.
 
Caveman, that is a great and moving story. I got my A from my dad, and he from his, so in a way it came from my Pop pop. He bought it in 39. I had a bit of work to do to get her running also.
Just a note, I’ve kept most everything that I’ve taken off her because I plan on restoring all the original parts and taking off the repro stuff that really isn't all that good anyway. I.E. coil, ignition switch etc...
 
Great story.

My cabriolet was originally purchased new by my father. He gave it to his mother after a couple years and she drove it the rest of her life. I got it in '59 a few years after she died.
 
To the OP - great story and good job getting her back on the road! You're lucky to have an early start and you're bound to have lots of fun for many years. The family connection is also special and that is also how I got my coupe.

My coupe was aquired by my grandfather around 1962 or so and by this time it had already lived a hard life and was sporting an ugly green metallic paint job and vinyl interior. I think it may have been missing an engine also. I think he bought the car for almost nothing and It sat derelict in the corner of his garage for almost 30 years before I took an interest in it as a little kid and he retired from farming and got a renewed interest in doing something about it. When I was little I'd get filthy climbing into the car while pretending to drive it. I felt it was special and loved the fenders and headlights - a look different than any other modern cars.

When my grandfather retired from farming he decided to start restoring it so he took it down to the frame and had it painted, upholstered and got an engine for it. I was probably 12 or 13 when he finnally got it running and I'll never forget going outside to drive around town in it with him for the first time. He didn't have a seat or interior yet so he sat on a 5 gallon bucket and I sat on the floor while we drove around his VERY small town (all gravel roads but the highway) while we were grinning ear to ear. His health prevented him from ever getting too far with correcting the mechanical components and having it suitable for long drives or traffic but he loved tooling around his small town in it and stopping at the general store to play cards with the other locals and tinkering with the car when he was able.

My grandpa passed away in August 2008 and after the funeral my uncle tossed me the keys and said "its yours! wanna take it for a drive?" Aside from it being a tough time for all of us that was pretty exciting and humbling expirience. It turned out to be a special way to remember him. I was the only grandson and my dad agreed with his brother and sister that I should have the car. They told me there was really no question since my grandfather had always said it was my car (at least since I had been around and taken an interest in it at a very early age). I also happen to be the most mechanically inclined person in the family who genuinely enjoyed working on farm machinery and anything with an engine so they felt it was perfectly appropriate.

I'm now a pilot living in the city and had to store the car at my Dad's cousin's place until I bought my first house and had a place for it. I towed it out to the Seattle area from Montana a year and a half ago. I got plugged into my local Model A club and have had a blast getting to know a whole new group of friends. I meet with them weekly for breakfast, attend meetings and workshops and they've been a huge help for mentoring, knowledge, parts etc. Since then I've gone through and rebuilt almost everything mechanical from brakes, electrical, straightened a bent front axle, replaced a bent and worn wishbone, obtained rebuilt original shocks, wheel bearings, rebuilt rear end, transmission, steering, got a straight tie rod and new tie rod inserts, manifolds, exhaust, etc etc. Now the car stops, steers, and drives properly. I had less than 60 miles on it before the engine destroyed a rod bearing but one of the club members was nice enough to loan me an engine so I could get the car on the road and attend the New Years day tour for its maiden voyage a couple weeks ago. The wife also had a lot of fun on the tour and one day she might even understand my Model A addiction / sickness but it continues to grow!

- Sorry I had a pretty long one but you asked! :o ;)
 
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A very wealthy woman who "summered" in Bar Harbor, ME, had a mansion and my grandfather was the property manager. She bought the Model A Roadster in 1930 for her niece to use for one month that summer as she visited. It was then put in the back of her 10 car garage. In 1944 when my dad turned 16 my grandfather bought it for him. Used all through high school and college by my father then left up in a field behind a barn at our home in Vermont. In 1966 when I was 14, I pulled it down and started to fix it back up. Then used it for my high school and college car. Since that restoration in 66, it has been well protected and loved.
 
In 2002 I was at a car event with my 1928 chrysler, when in she came, my wife said look at that, top down, rumble seat, and it was for sale...I just bought it, din't drive it till it was delivered, paid the guy and said, could you show me how to start it, been in love with it ever since and never regeted buying it! It my avatar, 1931 delux roadster, drove it while I restored it.
 
Caveman3094,

Great story!

Here is mine...

On the ranch, I remember as a kid, we had a 28-29 Closed Cab Pickup sitting just outside our shop and I used to get in it and pretend to drive it. Unfortunately it got sold before I had any say about it.

I got my interest in the Model A Ford a few years later when I used to go to a farmer friend of mine, Herb Seagraves, who lived about 3 miles down the Touchet River Road and up a canyon. There he had this nice restored 1928 Open Cab Pickup which belonged at one time to another neighbor. I was about 11 years old and liked to sit in the Pickup and pretend to drive it. My friend took me for rides in the pickup and I was hooked.

In the spring of 1964 he asked me to come up and pull rye out of his wheat. Hey, why not earn a little money. While at his place, I noticed that he had another Model A in the barn. It was in real nice shape and needed restored. I asked my farmer friend what he was going to do with it. As usual, he told me just what most of us have heard at one time or another. He told me that he was going to restore it someday.

Well, for the next two years or so I was always going by and looking at it. I was also admiring a 1929 Closed Cab Pickup in another shed. I kept pestering him about selling it to me because he just was not going to do anything with it as far as I could tell.

One day in September of 1966, just as I was starting my Junior year of High School, I must of got him on a good day because he asked me if I wanted to buy it. I told him yes. He told me that he would sell me the 1929 Standard Coupe and the 1929 Closed Cab Pickup on one condition….that I restore the car and pickup to original and not to a hot rod. I told him that I would so he told me that I could have both vehicles for $250.00. I couldn’t get back to the ranch fast enough. I was soon the proud owner of two Model A’s.

Started to restore the coupe but after graduation from high school in 1968 I went to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California where I graduated in 1973 with a degree in Crop Science.

Moved home in 1977 and continued the restoration. At this time I joined the Model A Restorers Club (MARC) and the Model A Ford Club of America (MAFCA), for which I have been a member ever since.

Restored my Coupe but sold the Pickup. You should of seen the smile on my farmer friend’s face as I showed him the Coupe for which he sold me. I then returned the favor and took him for a ride! I will never forget that day. I then moved back to California in 1982, returning back home in 1993.
Pluck
 
Thanks everyone, for the posts. I plan on restoring mine once i get out of the service. I got a list of stuff i'd like to do to it. Mostly motor work so I can go on road trips with it. Until then though I'm going to have fun driving it and taking it to my local cruise ins. The car in my picture is mine, the tommy gun isn't unfortunately.
 
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