Model A's heading to 'foriegn lands'?

[Dave in Boise]

Hi All,

Just sold my 1930 Fordor to a fellow that is containerizing and shipping all sorts of classic cars (Cadillac, Essex, etc) to Saudi Arabia. I figure if they were willing to pay the sort of cash that they did, the car would be heading to a good home and would hopefully be restored to what she should be.

Not that I want this to be a political post about the Middle East(heaven knows we don;t need one of those), has anyone ever sent an A overseas ? Were these neat old cars ever originally sold in the Middle East? I have seen a lot in South America, North America, Europe, Asutralia/New Zealand, but not much about Africa or Middle East Model A's being in existance.

Thoughts?

Free History Lesson?

Purely curious

- Dave in Boise

[Chris Haynes]

Thoughts?
You have just exported a piece of American history to a place where it will never be seen by another American.

[Dave in Boise]

True, but , 'I' did not export anything.. The buyer did..

I'd personally have rather seen it puttering around my hometown on occasion,..

[junk yard kid]

Originally Posted by Chris Haynes

Thoughts?
You have just exported a piece of American history to a place where it will never be seen by another American.

Actually not true. Do your research

[HoarseWhisperer]

Sad. But then again, so did Henry Ford.

[sukhoi]

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There are a number of " A " s in Sweden & Geermany.

[quickchange]

Well i have inported 53 A,s to New Zealand,From there helps to replace all the ones the American service men shipped from NZ to America. Now you guys can come out here for a holiday & get to drive some of them, Not sure about the middle east ?? winter is coming.

[HoarseWhisperer]

I personally know a fellow that buys and exports vintage cars to Europe.

I hate to see them go, but he gets twice the price that North Americans are willing to pay.

[peters180a/170b]

Been seeing this done for "YEARS" nothing new... Walk around Hershey and see how many TENT setups there are just to help in exporting cars once you buy one or a dozen or so at Hershey... You buy , they ship ! Big business...

[1931 flamingo]

It's all about money.
Paul in CT

[peters180a/170b]

Paul ,,IT'S all about [SHOW ME THE MONEY] ... if you are going to say it....say it right...l.o.l.

[RonC]

according to MARC, there were about 2,600 assembled in Istandbul Turkey

http://www.modelaford.org/technical/production.asp

[Dave in Boise]

Thanks for the Information Ron
I do appreciate it!

- Dave

[Karl]

Originally Posted by Chris Haynes

Thoughts?
You have just exported a piece of American history to a place where it will never be seen by another American.

I'm sorry Chris you can't convince me that exporting one Model A has done any damage to the cultural or historical heritage of the USA . When it's all said and done its a Model A (which much as we might love them are pretty common).

Over the past 60 years many of the truely rare automotive treasures in my country have been purchased by Americans and Brits with fat cheque books and have gone from us for ever. Model A's being common(er) in the USA and RHD drive here have been less affected

In fact the USA is quite good at protectiing its treasures. I know some one who wanted to export a Duesenberg from the States to New Zealand and was not allowed to as it was defined as a "national treasure " The sad thing is I think that they were subsequently allowed to import a container load of Duesenberg parts (which I suspect represented a disassembed Duesenberg!)

[ctlikon0712]

I think it’s a shame; most middle easterners don't like us or our flag. Model A's might be common but that doesn't make them less loved. There probably isn't much we can do in this capitalistic economy about our great contribution to civilization leaving this country, but it always makes me sad when I hear about it, no matter where they go. I’ve just seen so many YouTube videos of these.... more money than sense types trashing their vehicles because they aren’t appreciated.

[CarlG]

I imported mine from California, does that count?

[Lawrie]

My two cents ,
I have three old fords
A 28 model a that was reserected from a pile of parts here in Australia,the other two , a 33 and 34,both of these I bought from New zealand and shipped them back home to Australia,
they get used and appreciated just the same if they had stayed back in NZ,
Its not if they have evaporated or some thing just because they left were they were made.
The 34 may well have ended up as a hotrod had I not bought it.
They give my family many hours of fun and enjoyment.
Lawrie

[Brad in Germany]

Dave,

Model A's were assembled and sold in just about every corner of the world....and some of them are still out there for the finding in the most unexpected locations. For the Middle East, there are several in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and I even knew of one in Syria. If it make you feel good, an American has actually seen most of them in person....so they are not forgotten!

Speaking of import/export, I recently imported to the US a Danish Model A, re-imported (from Germany) an exported California Model A and have a German origin Model A that is waiting to be imported to the US (I need more garage space)....so the flow goes the other way as well.

There is even an annual Concours D'Elegance in Kuwait. Here is the link: http://www.kuwait-concours.com/kw/ (click on "ENG" in the top right corner for English). The below attached photo links are of Model A's that were at the 2010 Kuwait Concours.

Directly below is an original, Model A era, Ford sign from the Ford dealership in Alexandria, Egypt that is now hanging in my garage in Maryland, USA.

.هذه علامة فورد هو من مصر

إن شاء الله
Fordially,
Brad in Germany now in Maryland

Attached Thumbnails

[jkeesey]

I repaired one at my shop that was shipped to Norway

[HoarseWhisperer]

One could wonder if there was as much sadness when servicemen were buying pre-war MG's in Britain and bringing them home to North America. :roll eyes:

Perhaps it does go both ways.