Model A Ford.... I keep threatening.....

[3930dave]

.... To Buy One.....

Model A Ford (or B, 18 ) Owners, Present or Past:

Comments, Likes, Dislikes, availability of Parts etc ?

What brought me to the keyboard today ? :

1) First coffee of the day.
2) Long-weekend here, so a bit more time.

3) Last, but definitely not Least ! I just spent $2400 CAD getting a hold of (hopefully next week), the ONLY (repeat that >>>> ONLY <<<<<) New ISL turbo-actuator Cummins had on the continent.

Fortunately that ^ was for Work; otherwise I couldn't type this, as I'd presently be locked up in a rubber-room somewhere if it was for a personal vehicle.

(I know there are other options out there; some are even worth considering, but Work at the moment is of the mindset to only buy from Cummins. Talking to mother-Cummins yesterday morning, their 'RX version (in-house Reman) of that actuator is 200 Days Away. I didn't slip an extra zero in, that is Two Hundred Days).

4) I may be wrong (posting here to find out)..... but I suspect that it is probably easier (and, you do it less often ) to find and GET parts for cars that were made long before I was born, than the "Quality" Hi Tek junk I'm servicing today......

Questions Posed, Rant Off (Ok, well, turned-down a bit, at least for now...... )....

Back to my Coffee....

Rgds, D.

 

[Frankenkubota]

model a? here the geezers call them a models.

i would love to find a beater that ran, just to zoom around my trails. I've seen video of those cars driving thru what looked like a swamp.

flat heads sound cool!

 

[Jstpssng]

If you're into old cars, buy one. You should be able to have fun with it for a few years and then sell it for what you paid for it. What's the sense in busting your tail if you can't spend it on something you want?
My father had one for a couple of years... one of many old things he bought, had fun with for a while, then sold. I always wanted to go out to the local takeout in it and buy my parents lunch there, but one day he sold it on a whim.

 

[Ford850]

We happened to be in New Philadelphia OH a couple weeks ago while the Ford Model T International Club was having a meet. Hundreds of old Fords lined the streets and were driving everywhere around town. Those old cars parked diagonally shoulder to shoulder for blocks! It was surreal since we didn’t know about it and stumbled on it by chance. If that doesn’t get you thinking about getting an old Ford, nothing will.

 

[Jstpssng]

We happened to be in New Philadelphia OH a couple weeks ago while the Ford Model T International Club was having a meet. Hundreds of old Fords lined the streets and were driving everywhere around town. Those old cars parked diagonally shoulder to shoulder for blocks! It was surreal since we didn’t know about it and stumbled on it by chance. If that doesn’t get you thinking about getting an old Ford, nothing will.

There used to be a rally every fall down in Western Maine, and they would ride the back roads checking out the foliage. It was fun to come around a curve and have a string of those old cars coming at you.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I was at a car show in Eureka Springs, and while looking at a Model A sedan, I noticed an A/C compressor on the little 4 cylinder. I asked the owner about it, and he said it worked great, and he had plenty of power. He also said that the engine, although it looked original, was a later model...probably industrial...I have seen the little Model A engine on combines made in the 40's.

 

[3930dave]

I'd be driving mine on modern roads, but I know what Franken means....

Somebody on here (think it was Paystar) described working on a highway job up North.

Bad enough driving through a construction site; I can imagine how painfully slow time must drag working those..... He got chatting with an older fella, who lived by the highway. Gent wore work clothes, but by the look of his property and driveway, he'd done OK for himself.....

His comment (when asked his favourite vehicle today) was something like "Model A. Will go places w/o blinking, that my modern 4x4 trucks stumble on".

I hadn't thought about it much, till reading Paystar's post a while back.... It makes sense though. For much of the year, rural "roads" back then would make many training loops at a modern Jeep off-road centre look pristine.... That's what the "cars" of the day had to be designed to deal with.....

Rgds, D.

 

[qstott]

Me and my dad In the picture. He has the new one (1931), and mine is the old one(1930). He bought his first and a few years later a friend of mine that helped him wanted to sell me his along with a shop full of parts. He had engines, transmissions, frames, wheels and a ton of small parts. They are fun, especially if you like to tinker. You can buy just about anything you need for one except a frame. Reproduction stuff is better than it was, but original parts are usually preferred. They guy I bought it from said it’s more like driving a tractor than an current automobile.

 

[3930dave]

He also said that the engine, although it looked original, was a later model...probably industrial...I have seen the little Model A engine on combines made in the 40's.

History repeating.... I'm thinking of the later inline 6, that may even today be available Industrial. One of my favourite engines, for what light-trucks used to be used for.....

Rgds, D.

 

[Cat385B]

I click on this to read, and vroom, off the neighbor goes.