Model A commercial vehicles picture thread!!

Here's one for JB...

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-Tim
 
Here's one of ours, a restoration in progress. Does anyone have any info on this body? There were no markings anywhere that I could find.

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I'm just learning how to upload pictures. The story of Model A's used in Libyan desert exploration is pretty amazing. Ralph Bagnold used Model A's in paving the way for the Long Range Desert Group which he later commanded with distinction during WW2. In one of his books he describes the moment when he tried for the first time to drive a Model A 1.5 ton truck up one of the 300ft-high sand dunes that made up the Sand Sea. Previously it was thought to be completely impossible for any vehicle to drive through the Sand Sea which stretches for hundreds of miles in the Libyan interior. In his book he records his great surprise and pleasure when the Model A truck, driven at 40mph straight at the foot of the dune, did not crash into the wall of soft sand, but instead climbed straight up to the crest of the dune "as though in an elevator". Here are some pics of Model A's used in Libyan desert exploration in the early 1930s. These are the ones used by another explorer (Awkwright) but I have some more pics here, as used by Bagnold and others if anyone is interested. Some, but not all have balloon tyres. Model A's were the "vehicle of choice" in desert exploration due to their durability, power, lightness, good gear ratios and relatively low cost. They were decribed by British explorer Bill Kennedy Shaw as "the best car Ford ever made" (and he wrote that in 1944!).
 

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Here are a few more pics of Model A's used for exploration in the Libyan desert. Most are of Ralph Bagnold's vehicles, including one showing him using a "sand ladder" to negotiate very soft sand. However the first photo at top left, is labelled "Almasy pickup on the way to Kufra" and shows the famous Hungarian explorer Count Almasy, (the "English Patient" in the recent film of that name) with his Arab assistant riding on the back.

Incidentally a trip by yourself from Cairo to Kufra and back would have involved travelling about 3000 miles across uncharted desert with no water or petrol or help of any kind. So if you ran out of water or fuel or broke down and could not fix the car you were more or less dead. The decision about what car to use would not have been taken lightly. and these early explorers bet their lives on the Model A Ford.
 

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Was that the expedition covered in one of the magazines?
It may have been Secrets magazine I think??

Manuel in Oz
 
Mad Mac said:
Not sure about that. It would certainly have been covered by the National Geographic Magazine.
Click to expand...

The story I read was a reenactment of an old desert expedition that used Model A's.
They even camped in the same places and found the old discarded water and fuel tanks still lying in the sand [rust is not a problem in the desert].
Manuel in Oz
 
Manuel said:
The story I read was a reenactment of an old desert expedition that used Model A's.
They even camped in the same places and found the old discarded water and fuel tanks still lying in the sand [rust is not a problem in the desert].
Manuel in Oz
Click to expand...

Hey Manuel, Can you provide more details about that?
 

Great pics Tim. Are they all of the Bagnold expedition?
And is there a date on the Modern Mechanics magazine?
I love reading about these desert trips done before WW2 :-)

Manuel in Oz
 
Tim (and others),

I have to commend you on all of the A Commercial and AA Truck photos that you come up with.

If you ever get a hold of some original copies of Ford News...I garuntee you that there are a ton of good photos of these vehicles within.

Pluck
 
Steve Plucker said:
Tim (and others),

I have to commend you on all of the A Commercial and AA Truck photos that you come up with.

If you ever get a hold of some original copies of Ford News...I garuntee you that there are a ton of good photos of these vehicles within.

Pluck
Click to expand...

Thanks Pluck...

Here, how about some Model A Commercial Vehicle moving pictures?

http://www.dvarchive.com/stock-foot...longhaultruckinginsoutfittedwithgiantspeakers

http://www.dvarchive.com/stock-footage/000-6463/forddevelopsarangeofnewtrucksin

http://www.dvarchive.com/stock-footage/000-6405/roadconstructionin

-Tim
 
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Tim, thanks for those links! I especially liked the first video with the 3 way dump truck and the expandable camper!! Really some nice footage.
 
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