Returning to my comment about "old coots" in Post #5, let me make it clear that I used that term in a positive meaning. In the 1960's there were still plenty of people alive who had bought Model A's new or had driven used ones for decades previously. These people were only in their late 50's and 60's when I first got interested in Model A's (NEVER a thought about Model T's!), so it's hard to believe that during the 1960's, these same people were YOUNGER than most of us on this website today! YIKES!!! To a teenager, those people WERE old coots! When I finally got my first Model A in 1966, I never tired of "old" people stopped next to me at a red light leaning over and telling me about the new Model A they had bought or their experiences in a rumble seat - much to the embarrassment of the old ladies sitting next to them.
It seemed that every block in town had at least one "old coot" who was willing to offer advice about fixing my car and/or telling me stories about their Model A days. I think it made them feel young again with a whole lifetime ahead of them - instead of behind them. Jeez, how I wish those folks were still around these days. I'd appreciate their stories even more as an old coot myself than when I was a "know-it-all" teenager (Who wasn't a know-it-all as a teenager after all?) What a crying shame that they took their experience and knowledge with them to the grave. You can't replace that kind of loss. The human element from the Model A days is all but gone now.
Marshall