1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

My oldest son said "Dad you are about to start your 80th year of owning the Coupe" which got me to thinking. My parents gave me the $30 real nice car as a birthday present on Feb 22, 1941, even although I got it a month early. No, it was not my first Model A, I had previously owned another 1930 Coupe, a 1930 Fordor, a 1928 Tudor, a running "A" chassis and a 1928 Essex, a real dog. Purchase prices ranged from $4 to a max of $10.

As to my Coupe it is a 1930 Standard Coupe known in our Club because of its lack of accessories. No motor meter or quail, no stone guard, no cowl lights, no running board step plates, no side mount spare tires, no luggage rack or trunk, just plain Jane as so many Model A's were in the past before dressing your A up became popular. It does have a manifold heater which I believe is original, and as a teenager I converted the lift up rear deck to a rumble seat. You may be interested to know that in 1941 from a junkyard I paid $4 for a rumble lid, seat cushions, and the curved inner metal panel. I still have the original trunk lid.

It was my only car for quite a few years and has been continually registered and driven all 79 years except during WWII when I was in the service. It is barn kept in the same 200 year old barn all these years, and field mice have never bothered it since I made the decision to leave the hood open every time it was in the barn. Mice do not like daylight it seems and do their dirty work in darkness. I know its history since the say it was sold new to Irving Freeman of Provincetown MA in 1930.

It was close to 40,000 miles when I got it, now the speedo is on its second round trip at about 80,000 miles and has not worked since I put an overdrive in the car in the mid 1980's and found my cable was too short. Easy to fix bit I never have. It enjoyed a paint job and LeBarron Bonney interior in the early 1990's and the motor has been overhauled once during my ownership and runs great.

I used to have 5 Model A's but have cut back to two as I get older, and I have only owned the other one since 1954 so it is late to the party.

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

Good on ya!

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

You were wise to keep yours.

About 1937 Dad bought a 1929 RPU from the junkman for $15. He drove it a couple of years before leaving for college fall of 1939 when he sold it back to the junkman he bought it from for $15.

"Cheapest 15K miles I ever had in my life" he said. "All it cost me was the gas."

Then about 13 cents a gallon. Equivalent now would be $2.41. https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

Some things don't ever really change. Except the value of a dollar.

Joe K

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

I really enjoyed reading your story and how you have been driving the same car for so long.

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

Congratulations. Wonderful story.

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

I always love reading your stories and this one is no exception. Congratulations!

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

Thank you for your story.
Loved those "A's" starting in my early teens but got sidetracked w/Harleys for 30 years.
Your '30 is identical to mine.
Ride on.......................


Loubob

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

Interesting story, thanks for sharing with us.

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

Thanks for the story, thanks for serving our country at a very critical time in history.

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

great story!
You are obviously not as OCD as I am; would drive me nuts to have an odometer not working......

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

As you guys know, The 40MERC 4door convert I bought in 1956 for$25 is back home after being in another man's garages for 61 years

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

Thanks for the story.

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

Great story!

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

I have had my 29tudor since 1965 and I thought that was a long time.it was the ninth model a but that doesn’t count.great going barnstuf.

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

Bought my 1931 Std. Roadster (Canadian) in 1967 for $60. Now undergoing full (amateur) restoration. Hope to have it on the road this summer.

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

nice to hear from you Richmond, I remember you & Randy prepping it last summer for the parade. Hope to see you sometime this coming summer on the cape. Oldman

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

I love your stories and i am lucky to hear some of them in person.I hope to see you again with Joe, Jay and John this summer. Wayne Yankee

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

I am glad to see my story has been well received and that being a Cape Codder fellow hobbyists drop in to see me at the summer time of year. I look forward to seeing "oldman" and "wyankee" this coming season and as "wyankee" mentioned he is usually with Jay, Joe, John the triplet brothers who love Model A's and who have found many used parts they needed in my barn, especially the 5 or 6 used engines.

It is doubtful if another faithful summer visitor Bobby from Brazil has seen the story but I have seen him for at least 20 years on an annual visit to look for parts to take back with him for his own "A" and for friends back home. He is a seasonal house painter on Nantucket island. Bob from California visits relatives in another part of Cape Cod annually and drops by every year to visit. He is a retired airline pilot who switched from flying passenger jets to Fedex jets as parcels do not complain. When retirement was forced by age regulations he became a crew chief, then switched again to refueling planes as he aged some more, and we have talked annually as he has gone thru those occupational phases. As a retired airline pilot I believe he gets free air travel.

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

I believe I may have gone to your place in the early 70's with a Model A guy from around here.Stan Brown.I was 15 or 16,and he treated me like a fellow Model A guy,not like a kid,just because I had an A and liked them.He warned me about the A guys around me,as a lot of them were thieves and swindlers.They're all gone now though.Seems I remember quite a few new or nice used front fenders hanging either in a barn or a cellar at your place.It may have been someone else's place,but I think it was you.

Re: 1930 Coupe Acquired 2/22/41, 79 Years ago
 

WOW!! barnstuf, what a fantastic story. I gotta ask, how old were you on your birthday in 1941 when you got your 'A'?