Will your A Start today

I didn’t believe it until I experienced it for myself, but the human body can acclimate to extremes. I moved to Minnesota and the first few winters were just horrible. I learned that CFL lightbulbs won’t illuminate below a certain temperature. I switched to that newfangled synthetic oil when the 10w-30 refused to flow out of the bottle. Didn’t lock the car or house because a frozen lock is inconvenient. When the temp was below 20 or so people would go out at lunchtime to start their cars. One fun thing was watching cars and motorcycles race on frozen Lake Phalen. After some number of days below freezing the ice becomes strong enough to support an 18-wheeler. I thought the Minnesotans were crazy or something because it seemed to be no big deal. The fourth winter I walked outside in 20 degree F weather, with little wind and the sun shining low in the sky. I pulled off my gloves and hat, unzipped my parka and thought “Hey, this is pretty nice.” Then I said out loud “I’ve become one of THEM!” On March 1st the mercury hit 32F (O C) and I went bicycle riding wearing shorts and a t-shirt. There were hundreds of others, jogging, pushing those running baby buggies, in-line skating, and no one seemed concerned.
I will say though, I still haven’t acclimated to Texas in the summer after being here 20 years. So I guess there are limits.
 
We have been in the single digits in the morning for the last 5 days. My pickup and sedan start right up, in the unheated barn.
 
Model A's should start in cold weather. It helps to have winter blend gasoline in the tank that has more light components that will vaporize in the cold.
 
Minus 6 C (about 20F) today in my part of Germany. Too darned cold...and 'glatteis' (black ice) from recent fog to take a drive but I started my Tudor out of habit. Since installing the Zipper Distributor it has not failed or even hesitated to start once.
 
OMG I have turned into my old man. Do you remember in the 1950s how your folks would worry if they had enough antifreeze in their radiators to survive a cold-snap? Or would their car even start so they could get to work. Now-days we seldom give a moments thought if our modern vehicles will fire-up for a short trip to the convenience store for coffee and donuts!
 
My Model A is resting in a heated 45 degree garage and will have no problem starting, probably will go for a ride later this week.
 
David in San Antonio said:
I didn’t believe it until I experienced it for myself, but the human body can acclimate to extremes. I moved to Minnesota and the first few winters were just horrible.
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If one grows up with cold winters, you acclimatize with it. I grew up in Manitoba and 40 below (F or C) overnight in mid January was the norm, usually rising to -25 F in the afternoon, no big deal.
 
I had a PM from a member of the Barn today asking about the heated shed which my 29 Tudor resides here it is
 

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One thing that should be mentioned about driving your Model A in cold weather is to check the tire pressure. The air pressure will decrease when it gets cold.
 
We finally had snow here in Charleston S.C. and it was cold. only the A started up no fuss. First revolution and it popped off instantly. Here are some photos I took of my truck in the snow. Yes I cleaned the undercarriage after driving it and no the trunk isn't something I normally keep in there
 

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Jemelton# said:
How did it handle in the snow especially the brakes?:rolleyes:
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Handled better than any modern car I saw on the road. Because of the narrow tires and high ground clearance there was no trouble. as far as brake they felt amazing. I could still stop faster since the rears get more power than the front as Henry intended. I trust no cars but A and the T
 
As long as we're discussing starting and driving our Model A's in cold weather, in late 1966 we had one heck of a snowstorm here in SE Iowa, virtually a blizzard. Snow had accumulated overnight to two or three feet with virtually no snowplows in sight. In those days there was still such a thing as personal responsibility and dedication to meeting one's responsibilties = you showed up at school under penalty of being beheaded if you didn't or were two minutes late. I had been driving my 1931 Coupe to school since the beginning of my senior year in all kinds of weather and was not about to miss one day on account of a "little bit" of snow. After all, I lived in Iowa, the capital of crappy weather! With its $10 Western Auto battery, the old Coupe grumbled and complained at 7:30 am after sitting outside all night, but it did start up. After letting her warm up a while and getting hot air into the passenger compartment via an Autolite manifold heater, off I went to school into the blinding snow.
There were very few other cars on the road during that 3 mile drive to high school. I was proud that "Lucifer" had started up and was negotiating the two or three-foot deep snow-covered streets when "modern" cars were staying home. A few blocks from the high school, I got stuck at a stupid, meaningless side street traffic light that had changed to red for no reason whatsoever. When the light finally turned green, the Coupe's rear tires simply spun in the snow and slush, no traction, no forward progress. "Lucifer" and I were stuck! No amount of rocking from 1st to reverse got us out of the rut in the snow. In desperation, I set the hand throttle to 3/4 throttle while the car was in 1st gear and the rear wheels were spinning, got out of the car and began pushing and pulling on the open door's cage. I manually rocked the car back and forth in this motion. After a couple such maneuvers, the tires caught traction and off went "Lucifer", with me desperately hanging onto the doorframe. Fortunately, I was able to swing myself onto the runningboard like a bareback circus rider hopping onto a speeding horse and hence into the open doorway to take a seat to bring the car under control. Had there been other cars on the road besides me, I doubt that I'd be here today to write this missive. "Lucifer" would have surely hit one of them with me clinging onto the door for dear life.
And do you want to know what the punchline to all this is? When I finally reached the high school, it was closed for the day due to the snowstorm! All that for naught. That was the last time I busted my C.K Yang to get to high school when the weather was bad. My motto after that was: Mark me "absent" instead of "dead" when the roll was called at school!
By the way, I moved to sunny Arizona five years later. :)
Marshall
 
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Good story Marshall. Thanks. I did the same push with throttle set when my rear tires were slipping in mud, but set the throttle just above idle so I could jump in easily. That was in, maybe, 1973.
 
Skinny tires high clearance and low power, second gear I could climb hills that moderns had trouble driving downhill ! Leaving school one day I turned in an intersection on ice and couldn’t counteract the sliding ending up against the curb , I put it in reverse got out and pushed then jumped in and went home. The next project was to go through the steering gear box so it would return to center with ease !
 
Marshall, So what did you do for fun without snow in Arizona ?

Gave up the Model A for a Corvette ?

jb
 
"Marshall, So what did you do for fun without snow in Arizona ?
Gave up the Model A for a Corvette ?"

Jimbo -
For fun I had convertible Model A's and Corvettes, some with T-tops. Neither one would have cut it in Iowa with our 7 or 8 month winters. At one time in Phoenix, my only two drivable vehicles were a 1926 Model T Coupe and a 1965 Corvette. The T had 20 horsepower, while the Corvette had the rare 396 CID/425 HP engine with side exhausts. Talk about culture shock going from one car to the other!!! The T Coupe was surprisingly fast, though. It kept up with Model A's on club tours over long desert roads at 50mph. But compared to the 'Vette - well, why bother comparing the two? I had the best of two worlds - a fast Model T and an even faster Stingray. :) :) :)
Marshall
 
I have a 'bud' who has a '14 T, 'E'28 Tudor, '32 Flatbed Truck and a couple of hit & miss engines. After a weekend of tinkering with these, Monday AM he goes to work for Google !!!!
 
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