Before FordBarn

[rfitzpatrick]

What do you guys do before Ford Barn for your inspiration, knowledge, advise, experiences?
just wonderin'

[Gary WA]

Originally Posted by rfitzpatrick

What do you guys do before Ford Barn for your inspiration, knowledge, advise, experiences?
just wonderin'

Ahooga.com was the one in Mid 90's

[Vern]

There is/was Ahooga.com, which had quite a lot of good info and answers for newbie’s like me. Alas, it seemed to also attract some opinionated individuals who just wanted to “flame” others. A number of knowledgeable posters left. IMO, it seemed politics were allowed. I lost interest.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have access to individuals with years of experience. Before YouTube videos I used books and manuals.
Of course, some of the books and manuals had misinformation.
My group of friends and club members were and still are my saviors.
And we go get good BBQ after the garage time.

[nkaminar]

Books. I made a lot of mistakes, but learned from those.

[Gene F]

Originally Posted by Vern

There is/was Ahooga.com, which had quite a lot of good info and answers for newbie’s like me. Alas, it seemed to also attract some opinionated individuals who just wanted to “flame” others. A number of knowledgeable posters left. IMO, it seemed politics were allowed. I lost interest.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have access to individuals with years of experience. Before YouTube videos I used books and manuals.
Of course, some of the books and manuals had misinformation.
My group of friends and club members were and still are my saviors.
And we go get good BBQ after the garage time.

Same. Plus some of the guys passed-away..... which is a bummer.

Also, I have a streetrod, so I used to frequent a site called streetrodding dot com, but it got hacked. After it got rebuilt it was a quick death. The site owner closed it down. I think his new developer sold him a bill of goods, so he could book billable hours. The redone site was a mess, and we lost everything. It never worked from day 1. Happens all the time. Developer is gonna make it better, and ends up getting rich for cutting a bunch of services, and then walking off. And the site was great beforehand.

I still check over there some.

[Oldbluoval]

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Seems there were more experienced people we actually talked to face to face!
Go figure!!

[Ayers1]

I learned so much from my dad while I was growing up. Once he couldn't get around and then passed what I wasn't sure about I asked fellow club members. We are fortunate in Virginia to have some knowledgeable members in our clubs!

[Big hammer]

Originally Posted by Oldbluoval

Seems there were more experienced people we actually talked to face to face!
Go figure!!

Now we have face time on IPhones LOL, seriously service bulletins and few books ( some not written well ) and catalogs with pictures and specs and a old man who had some NOS parts. That was 64 years ago and all I was doing keep it running for school and dating, a chick magnet if the girls didn’t like my A I didn’t like them !

[oldspert]

I bought my first Model A in 1959. Back then the only source of info was a small magazine printed by Floyd Clymer. It had very little info but that was all there was. I still have the book. My dad and an older gentleman that lived down the road helped me with a lot of maintenance that I knew nothing about. I was 15 and Model A crazy.

[ursus]

Back in the 1960's there were more than a few Model A experts to advise a dumb kid like me. It took me a number of years to sort the experts from the BS artists. Thanks to sites like the Fordbarn we now have real experts to sort them out in short order!

[Marshall V. Daut]

Heck! In 1966 when I got my first Model A, there were lots of people still around who had bought their Model when it was NEW!!! Can you imagine in this day and age meeting someone who bought a new Model A? When I was learning the ropes of Model A repair, there were precious few worthwhile books to help, and most were not very good or helpful. Besides picking the village old coots' brains for their experience fixing Model A's over the years, there were the bi-monthly national Model A club magazines. But their virtue was also their defect - they only came out every two months. It was a hit or miss proposition whether the contents in any given month would be worthwhile to a teenager with a broken Model A, waiting for the next issue to appear. People getting into the hobby today don't realize how fortunate they are to have so many resources literally at their fingertips! Not all the old coots' advice panned out, as I recall. Time and age sometimes resulted in misinformation being passed along. Still, I miss that generation, now that its people are all but gone. I'd take listening to their advice any day over watching abysmally researched and produced U-Tube videos.
Marshall

[Dodge]

We suffered......Thank you Ryan

[Marshall V. Daut]

"We suffered......Thank you Ryan"


M.

[Bob Bidonde]

Ditto nkaminar & Marshall. I had my 1st Model "A" in 1962 and I learned by mistakes and books I found in a used book shop in lower Manhattan. I also learned from old timers in some of the ancient gas stations that were still in business during the early 1960s. In 1971 I joined the Model A Ford Club of Long Island and learned many many lessons from old time club members. I am still learning things about my A's through trial & error.

[Planojc]

Books and the senior members in the Model A club.