Ricks pack

D

DBrer

Senior Member
On another thread people are talking about a Ricks Pack, what is this, I'm just curious, thank you
 
Rick Freeman was a producer of "aftermarket" parts for the Model A Ford. He relied heavily on South American sources and as such his quality level was not exceptional.

Rick was reported to have association with the JC Whitney bunch.

Rick also published "Model A Shop Manual" book probably to augment parts sales, which was one of the first "How to" books for the Model A after "the day." The date range on these would be late 1960s through the 1980s. The books can still be bought used on Ebay. I would rate the information contained therein as "average" - but at the time of their popularity there was little else.

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Rick-Packs would contain "All you needed" to restore a certain component in the Model A, the Distributor, the carburetor, the transmission, the brakes, the rear end(?) And there was some savings over buying the components individually.

In the other thread are narrated some adverse personal experiences of an financial nature with Mr. Freeman. It seems his business practice was not above reproach.

Joe K
 
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Rick gets blasted here from time to time, but my recollection is that he marketed what for the time was a better-quality reproduction of headlamp sockets.
 
ericr said:
Rick gets blasted here from time to time, but my recollection is that he marketed what for the time was a better-quality reproduction of headlamp sockets.
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I bought the headlamp Rick pack and shop manual and thought the parts and info was very good . I did the headlamps on our 31 standard coupe with Rick parts and info and everything worked well .

Rick had one of the best catalogs of the time . To bad they didn't have a lot of the parts that were listed .
 
ericr said:
Rick gets blasted here from time to time, but my recollection is that he marketed what for the time was a better-quality reproduction of headlamp sockets.
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I went through a couple of Rick Packs back in the day.

The rubber "Ricks" stuff I found NFG. Rubber door straps for the 29 CC pickup door were cracked in two days - it took the rest of the week for them to "fold double" and break.

The Carburetor stuff was OK - at least my carb worked. Of course then we had no appreciation of "flow testing" and the correlation between jet numbers/orifice sizing had yet to be identified. This is where I learned about the "fingers" and their purpose on the GAV. I think I ended up with a blend of new and old parts to make something that worked.

The Rick Pack front bearings were good - not Timken but whatever was an offshore equivalent in size whose name I had never heard before - but they fit. And the inner seal was "tight" but I chalked that up to "manufacturing irregularities" and offshore parts. It took a stout oak board and a sledge-hammer to get them into place - but they worked.

I think a lot of the criteria of success in those days was "does it work."

My experience with Ricks about 80 percent was fine - use as is.

I learned about bluing and setting up a rear end from Rick's book. Also that I prefer black magic marker over bluing for this purpose.

Joe K
 
what part did he sell that said on it, as I recall, "Industria Argentina"...was that an exhaust manifold?
 
ericr said:
what part did he sell that said on it, as I recall, "Industria Argentina"...was that an exhaust manifold?
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One of the inner dust seals on my front spindles that came off easily had that stamped on the backside of it. My guess is that complete side was a pack of parts. Maybe a Rick Pack? Spindle and bearings are also aftermarket. Bearings are no-name and the spindle has PFC in raised letters on it.


Passenger side has a Ford spindle and Timken bearings.
 
I got parts from several places back in the 70s and they all were getting "Industria Argentina" parts. Many worked fine but some were just not right when I tried to install them. It could be that if I used all Argentina made parts that they may have fit but they didn't mix in with original Ford sometimes. There could be a good population of model A's in Argentina so they may have started making parts is my guess and they got into our supply chain since there wasn't a whole lot else. We probably have some of the best parts now since the model A went out of daily driver use after WW2, Rick's was just filling a need like Sears then JC Whitney, it is evolving and getting better. New blocks and similar parts are being made in the US, who would have ever figured that would happen?
 
Back when, I bought new seat upholster from Rick's, for our 1928 roadster. I sent my check to him for his "made to order", "No return" seat covers. It took over 6 months to finally receive them. Now I know why it took so long to get them. He was using my money all of that time. I had to throw out the new roadster seat upholstery because they were not presentable, made of only hot stamped plastic, and not as I expected. That was the last purchase that I made from him.
 
I know, I know, it's easy to make fun of Rick Packs now, but when I did my first A restoration back in the 1970s there were some other suppliers (Ernie Hemmngs in Quincy, Illinois, and Bob's Model A in Rockford) but not a lot. Snyders was around and running funny ads in Hemmings Motor News. Still, there are probably a good many As "restored" that wouldn't have been if it hadn't been for those old Rick Packs and Rick's shop manual. In spite of their shortcomings.
 
I recall Mark's as a decent supplier for the time. I liked Antique Auto Hardware as well. Was disappointed when they closed shop.
 
I remember Rick's when I "restored" my '29 roadster back in '71 and '72. His parts were OK as I recall. I also used a parts guy out of Kansas, can't recall his name. I bought some sheet metal parts from somebody out of Texas and was very unhappy with him- waited 6 moths or so then demanded my money back. He eventually sent it.
Ned
 
I have a Steering sector and upper radiator outlet with "Argentina" on them.

I don't think I would use the water outlet, just to beefy looking, but the steering sector looks very nice compared to original USA Ford.

Pluck
 
Model A Medic in Wichita, KS.

It is still there. I have my running rear there for a complete rebuild. My dad and I used to do the running gear ourselves, but Eric has it down to an assembly line process to get everything disassembled, cleaned up, painted, rebuild the engine, transmission, rear axle, brakes, etc. He can do mods to the engine, etc if you want to.
 
neds29 said:
I remember Rick's when I "restored" my '29 roadster back in '71 and '72. His parts were OK as I recall. I also used a parts guy out of Kansas, can't recall his name. I bought some sheet metal parts from somebody out of Texas and was very unhappy with him- waited 6 moths or so then demanded my money back. He eventually sent it.
Ned
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Howell's Sheet Metal is still down in Beaumont, TX

When I was there on business in 2014, a sign on a very well appointed building announced "Open by Appointment Only."

The local number answering machine announced "Howells is open on Saturdays." You go there on Saturday and there isn't even a car in the parking lot and the lights are off.

Their business reputation has been at best "variable."

Their online presence (www.fordor.com) now reveals bodies and parts by Brookville (that much I recognize) and no mention at all of the cabs for the 29CC pickup which was their call to fame 10 years ago. The rumor that Howells had bought the dies of a South American producer for the 29 squarecab has now apparently been passed on to others.

Joe K
 
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