New member with a Tudor Sedan

T

The Austrian

Junior Member
Hello,
my name is Mirko and I live in Austria. Since I'm new to this forum I wanted to introduce myself.
Two years ago I bought a 1929 Model A Tudor Sedan from a classic car dealer in the US. As far as I can tell the car is in original (un-modified) condition appart from a re-paint in lombard blue (not sure if this color was available in 1929).
Since this Model A is my first contact with pre-war cars (so far I was restoring english sports cars from the seventies) I thought it would be a good idea to join this forum to pick some brains to speed up the learning process.
The plan for now is to get the car running and into a condition that I can get it registered as a historic vehicle here in Austria. Some modifications I will have to do in order to make it safe to run in modern day's traffic. I want to drive the car and not only trailer it to car shows.
Looking forward to some interesting conversations with this community.
Cheers,
Mirko
 

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Welcome to the Ford Barn!

you will know your laws better then anyone on here regarding registration. In America
we complain about 3.00 gas while you are probably paying closer to 8.00 a gallon.

fire away for great answers on how to start, maintain and run your A. great knowledge here on this board.
 
I am also a newbie to Model As and this board, but I cannot imagine working on my car w/o the participation of the knowledgeable folks on this board.
 
Hi Mirko,
i just turned green with envy, such a nice car. I want one, except i want a Fordor. Nice colour!
Thorsten
 
Thanks for all the replies and the warm welcome.

The thing that makes working on this car so interesting for me is that it is almost like archaeology. In my job I am working with engines every day but the Model A engine is so far off of what we are used to these days. There are a lot of things that I will have to adapt to. Good thing is that from my other car projects I have already a full set of imperial tools to work with :).

Cheers,
Mirko
 
go slow on making "improvements", not all are worthwhile.

First make sure your brakes, steering and cooling are working 100%.
If it came from a "classic car" dealer, these items are immediately suspect.

Try to find a local mentor who does their own mechanical work and drives their Model A a lot. If none is available, join MARC and ask lots of questions here......
 
Hello Chris,

thanks for pointing me towards the MARC. I will check out their website.

As far as the other points are concerned that is exactly what I have planned. I need to get the car running first especially since it was sitting in my workshop the last two years. I already looked into the radiator cap opening and what I saw there was not good. So a radiator re-core is in order.
Brakes are also on the top of my to-do-list, especially since I live in an area with lots of twisty mountain roads. You do not want to fail your brakes there.

Cheers,
Mirko
 
Welcome aboard, I am also new to the forum and I have enjoyed very much learning from all the members of the forum. I look forward to following your progress with your Model A.
 
I am still looking for literature that can be useful when working on and arround the Model A. Is there something like a workshop manual available that describes the different work steps? Also I think a parts list would be helpful since they normally contain a lot of "explosion views".
I know that there is a lot of literature available out there for the Model A but what would be the "essential starter kit"?
 
Les Andrews Red book is very good. I have also found the MARC/Model A Ford club of America “ restoration guidelines and judging standards” book to be very helpful as a new owner
 
Welcome to the club! Also, do t forget about Fords ‘service letters/announcements’. You can get reprints from either mafca or marc. I would go with the big version as they are easier to read. And that is a very nice car you have there.

Mike
 
flybob08 said:
Les Andrews Red book is very good. I have also found the MARC/Model A Ford club of America “ restoration guidelines and judging standards” book to be very helpful as a new owner
Click to expand...

Ditto on the red book. I have found Les Pearson's The complete Model A Restoration Manual to be very helpful, but it is by no means complete, and lack of an index is really annoying. I have not yet found a good/ complete body assembly book, but I am still looking. I have not found the restoration books by Gordon Hopper or Clymer to be of much practical value, but they do contain a lot of informative minutiae. There are many good videos on Youtube.
 
The Austrian said:
Hello Russell,
is there a certain Youtube channel that you are refering to?
Mirko
Click to expand...

I like Paul Shinn's attitude of 'fix it right in the first place', and Brentwood Bob's link is good. There are several others. As a newbie I find great value in seeing different persons tackle the same task. Depends on how much you like looking at a computer screen. You will also find that there are some video hosts that should stick to working on the cars.
 
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