Twenty Eight Dollar Model A owned for 53 years
 

While cruising around the area in my '29 Tudor yesterday I spotted a '29 Model A Pickup parked in someone's driveway. Being our local club's membership chairman, and seeing a man working outside in the yard, I stopped to visit - just might recruit a new member. I have seen the Pickup parked there before but no one had answered the door when I rang the bell. This time the owner was outside so what better time to introduce myself and "kick some tires" since I was driving a Model A as a conversation icebreaker.

After introducing myself and letting him look over the '29 I was driving, we walked over to check out his Pickup. He volunteered that he has owned it for 53 years and that he paid $28 dollars for it (yes, thats twenty-eight dollars).

He said that he was 66 years old and when he was 13 he spotted the Pickup with a FOR SALE sign in the window and immediately fell in love with it. He talked to the owner who told him he wanted $30 for it. He said, "All I had at the time was $25 saved up from my paper route and of course I wasn't old enough to drive yet."

He rushed home on his bicycle and walked into the house where he found his Dad and Uncle playing poker. When he walked into the room they immediately scooped up their money and tried to hide it, only leaving the coins in the middle of the table.

His Dad asked what was up and he said, "I found a Model A I want to buy but don't have enough money." His Dad told him that he could have the three dollars worth of coins that were left in the middle of the table from the poker game and he went back to the seller and showed him the $28 he had and proudly became the owner of a '29 Model A Pickup.

Yesterday the truck was actually pretty presentable considering that it has been parked outside uncovered for several years however it hasn't been driven in many years and he said the usual, "I'm gonna do this, and gonna do that when I get around to it." He had at least five other collector type cars parked in the driveway showing signs of neglect and zero cars in the two-car garage which was filled to the ceiling with "stuff" like a segment from the TV show "Hoarders".

I wasn't able to recruit a new club member but I'll keep an eye on the driveway in the future to see if there is any progress made. As most of you know, some guys are just not "joiners" but would rather remain Lone Wolves. I enjoyed the story of how he bought it and thought I'd relay it to my fellow Ford Barners.

I told him about another local club member who I think wins the prize for the Best Procrastinator. He has a '31 Model A Roadster that he disassembled to restore in 1958 and still hasn't finished it - that's 55 years of "I'm gonna get a round to it." :eek:

Fred

Re: Twenty Eight Dollar Model A owned for 53 years
 

Now that is just an awesome story. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Twenty Eight Dollar Model A owned for 53 years
 

That's exactly what I experienced with a 1929 Tudor. Met a guy when I was driving my Hudson and he said he had a Model A he wanted to get going. I told him to call me and I would help him get it going thinking it was points/plugs etc. Went to look at the car one Sat and found it in a machine shed surrounded by "stuff". Tood a half day to get to it and then found out he had started a restoration 30 years earlier and then it sat outside for 20 some years with the parts in boxes inside the car. Then engine wasnt stuck and we were able to get it running. Now its a year later and we are still working on it. Well made a friend and had never even heard a model A run in person so it's been fun.

Re: Twenty Eight Dollar Model A owned for 53 years
 

On a ride with my 92 year old father I stopped to fill up the coupe. At 3.50 cents a gallon and 10 gallons to fill it up I noticed he was laughing at the pump. I asked what was so funny? "The last A I bought I only paid 25 dollars for" he said. I looked at the pump to see 38 dollars for a total.

Re: Twenty Eight Dollar Model A owned for 53 years
 

When we went to autozone for supplies there was a group of guys looking at the model A engine in the back of my truck one had a coupe and another had a tudor that need finishing every time we go for a ride we find others that have As that need finishing work or engine work to run but still setting for years i'm amazed how many cars there are out there still waiting to be finished glad i bought a A instead of that mustang when i retired have three of them now :)

Re: Twenty Eight Dollar Model A owned for 53 years
 

The last part of your post is funny to me... I bought a 34' International C-1 Pickup from a guy that had bought and drove it when he was 13. At 16 he parked and was going to restore it... He figured it had been like 50 years and didn't think he was ever going to get around to restoring it when he sold it to me.

Re: Twenty Eight Dollar Model A owned for 53 years
 

Yeah, funny how almost every ad for an old car says, "Ran when parked." They don't bother to tell you that it was parked in 1947 though. :eek:

I've been amazed how many old cars out there sitting in barns might have been "parked" and not started again for some minor issue that the owner couldn't diagnose. It could have been something as minor as a bad condensor which would have cost 10 cents to fix at the time or an electrical short somewhere. All too often the owner messes something else up like the wiring or timing trying to get it to run when it was a 10 cent fix. Then after sitting 60 years it still has to be "diagnosed" and now we find that the engine might be frozen or a valve stuck from rust and neglect.

Anyway, Model A's are fun to play with and most of them will start again once you diagnose the original problem and whatever the previous owner did to them trying to get it to run. Remember it's best to drop the pan and valve chamber cover and clean out the sludge and put in fresh oil before firing it up. :D

Remember Henry's famous saying: "Four quarts of clean oil added to one quart of dirty oil makes five quarts of dirty oil." :rolleyes:

Fred

Re: Twenty Eight Dollar Model A owned for 53 years
 

Yeah, funny how almost every ad for an old car says, "Ran when parked." They don't bother to tell you that it was parked in 1947 though.

You got that on the nose.

Re: Twenty Eight Dollar Model A owned for 53 years
 

Please post a picture of the $28 pickup......

Re: Twenty Eight Dollar Model A owned for 53 years
 

I'll try to remember to take a photo the next time I'm in his neighborhood.
Fred

Re: Twenty Eight Dollar Model A owned for 53 years
 

For what its worth I owned at least a dozen Model A's in the late 50's. I dont think I paid over $50 for any of them. Some were free, and a lot were in the 25 to 30 range. At that time I worked for $0.60 cents an hour and paid $0.26 for a gallon of gas. In 57 I bought a 33 5 window with a banger for $75. I threw the banger away. Wish I had it now.