Real McCoys

[Dave Mellor NJ]

grandpa gonna give walking lessons

[Marshall V. Daut]

Watching "The Real McCoys" in the 1950's with that Phaeton planted a seed for me later getting into the hobby. 'Didn't start out with a sunny weather Phaeton (in Iowa???), but in my mind, I was going to get one someday. My favorite episode had Grandpa McCoy trading in the Phaeton for a newer model at a used car lot. Of course, he wasn't happy with the new-fangled car/truck (I don't recall which) and he missed his Model A. So, he somehow got his Phaeton back before the end of the show and all was good with the world again.
I wonder who owns that Model A now? Or did it stay part of some TV company's rolling stock and resides somewhere on a studio's backlot?
Marshall

[Joe K]

My revelation was the AA truck used on The Waltons.

I didn't see a lot of Waltons during their 9 year heyday on network TV. I was in college at the time and television was a luxury afforded those who went to the "class club."

What I did see of Waltons I saw the AA Truck. I eventually bought the Avatar which is the same body, but placed on the Model A car chassis.

Today I'm working my way up through the online episodes of Waltons. When I'm sick or the wife is away, I'll dig up the next Waltons episode and watch it. I save my wife the exposure since she thinks the show is too "goody-goody."

Which I guess it is. I have to say there is something spiritually refreshing about watching Waltons. And maybe this indicates something that is now "missing" from our culture and society?

Imagine - a people that reserve epithets for their own private moments - and then feel sorry for having "slipped?"

Joe K

[Marshall V. Daut]

Joe K -
When you get around to viewing to the episode entitled "The Car" and see what John-Boy did to a pristine dark-blue 1929 Standard Coupe he earned in exchange for performing repairs on an embittered neighbor's old shack, you may not look so kindly upon the Waltons afterwards. I pray that the Coupe he got was NOT changed by the film company into that gawd-awful yellow barn-painted Coupe he and Jim-Bob drove thereafter. Please tell me two different Model A's were used!
Marshall

[w.michael]

My recollection is that the pristine dark blue coupe was a 30-31, and that John Boy not only painted it a “respectable tan” color, but that he also transformed it into a 28-29. Is that correct, or did I just dream that up?

W. Michael

[Marshall V. Daut]

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No, the car in the barn garage in that episode was definitely a 1929 steel-back coupe (a "Standard" Coupe). Perhaps you are thinking of some other episode where a car figured into the story? Jim-Bob made a lot of modifications to various vehicles over the years. Maybe that was the car you are thinking of?
Marshall

[w.michael]

I think it’s something I just didn’t remember correctly. It’s been about a hundred years since I watched that episode.

W. Michael

[Gold Digger]

I thought I remembered the McCoy's had a 28 or 29 phaeton.

[180 a]

No, a 1931 standard 4 door

[Marshall V. Daut]

It was a 1931 Standard Phaeton, the one the family drove from West "Virginny" in the first episode and kept throughout the run of the series (1957-1963). It was featured on a late 1950's "The Restorer" cover with Grandpa McCoy standing next to it, wiping his face with a handkerchief, if I remember correctly (a rarity!). The radiator shell was definitely a 1931 style. I also seem to recall from the short blurb in that issue that the Phaeton was a late '31 with indented firewall. Or maybe I spotted that in an episode when the passenger's side hood was open, perhaps in the episode when Grandpa traded the car in.
I'll see if I can find that back issue in my stack of hundreds of Model A and T magazines. I'll check tonight and if I find it, I'll scan the cover and short description inside.
M.

[Marshall V. Daut]

"180a" types faster than I do with the same answer! Great minds think alike, don't they?
M.

[180 a]

I also have a 1931 standard phaeton with my 1931 deluxe phaeton

[ThirstyThirty]

You know you have Model Aitis... when you can see an old pix of an old 'A'... and smell the car, feel the tin, know what an old gasoline on/off valve looks like after decades, the pix dimensions are more than just 3-D deep.... etc

[Marshall V. Daut]

'Sorry. No luck. I couldn't find the old "The Restorer" issue with Grandpa McCoy and the '31 Phaeton on the cover. I remember that it was falling apart 19 years ago when we packed up and moved from one state to another. It might have been tossed or simply disintegrated on its own. Maybe MAFCA has that cover on file?
Marshall

[Marshall V. Daut]

This photo should put any doubts to rest about which year the McCoys' Phaeton was. I wonder why the driver's side headlight was missing in this episode? The other headlight appears to be a sealed beam. 'Don't remember that!
M.

[Keith True]

Also,in the early episodes the car had regular A wheels on it,not the V8 wheels.I don't know if they just changed the wheels and tires,or if they used a different car.The car in the early episodes also had an empty riders side spare tire well,so it is most likely the same car.The Real McCoys are on TV here 5 days a week.The Waltons are too,every week day at noon.They're on MeTV,I's have to look to see what channel the Real McCoys are on.I don't have cable,just an antenna.

[Marshall V. Daut]

Closing the loop: Out of boredom tonight, I grabbed a pile of old "Restorer" issues from my many shelves of antique car publications and thumbed through a half dozen or so. By sheer dumb luck, in one issue was the Grandpa McCoy photo I referenced in post #10. Although this is not the issue I discussed there, it is the same photo, once again providing proof positive that Amos drove a 1931 Model A. Sharp eyes will identify the body style as a Standard Phaeton. Where, oh, where is that car today???
Marshall

[Jeff/Illinois]

The Waltons was kind of fun to watch in the early years but it got long in the tooth later, and bordered on ridiculous.

One thing that always drove me bonkers was when they get to WWII and one of the characters I don't recall his name, Jim Bob or Bob Bob or Erin Bob, winds up in the US Army,,, still sporting that hillbilly hairdo. Definitely not a regulation military haircut. Plus somehow he made rank awful damn fast appears back home as a Sgt. E-5, three up, and is shouting orders and locking heels... the guy was a putz at least the character was And to become 'leadership' material?

Small things like that tend to drive you away from watching the show.

[ModelA29]

Too bad CA dumped all their old historic records - not really but they require a hand search and they'll no longer do that. Or we could find the serial number from the yellow/black 1956 plate.
If the studio had 2 cars they would have painted a plate to put on the extra car. A hero car for all the closeup work and a stunt or backup car in case the hero didn't start. It's cheaper to have a second car than to pay the stars and crew to stand around while the prop guy tries to get one running. The first photo the plate looks flat and the closeup later photo it looks like the real embossed plate.
In that time period studios usually owned a fleet of cars to use or park in scenes. Today there are several companies that provide them.

This one is next to Leno's Garage. https://www.google.com/maps/@34.2072...oASAFQAw%3D%3D