Colonel Harland Sanders and His Model A Coupe

[beemertrash]

Originally Posted by 400A

My first job was at KFC way back in 1974. I made $1.60 per hour. I actually met the Colonel at a company event a year or so later. I don't remember much about him as we only shook hands and talked for a minute or so. I wish I had known he was a Model "A" man back then. I bought my first "A" in 1973 ... we would have had something interesting to talk about.

That is funny, I worked at KFC in 1973.

[Marshall V. Daut]

"And I also remember the Rick packs !"

I'm still trying to forget those d*mned, worthless things! NOTHING ever fit. Newcomers to this hobby have no idea how lucky they are not to have owned Model A's in the 1970's when the parts vendors and quality of repo parts we were obliged to use were at their nadir.
Marshall

[rich40701]

I live in Corbin, Ky birthplace of KFC and Harland Sanders was quiet the character and for that it is probably good that most that actually knew him around here are now deceased. I worked with a gentleman whose first house was Sanders before the Colonel upgraded and built a brick home. Both homes are still standing but the first has been moved and few remember it belonged to Sanders.

[Keith True]

I know exactly what you mean when you say it is good that most who knew him are deceased.I grew up a half mile from Jack Sharkeys home,and any locals can verify what he was like.A lot of the ones that were old folks in the 70's could get downright rabid when talking about him.His description of us locals had all of us lumped together.He called us,dead from the neck up.There was a little diner a couple hundred feet from his house,and he would actually sit in there and insult the owner and her family.The man that started the diner in the late 40's and sold it in the early 70's would not let Jack Sharkey in the door.He had quite a paw on him.I saw it wrapped around a beer bottle a few hundred times,and it would just look like he had a brown thumb sticking up a little.

[nkaminar]

What is a Rick Pack?

[Keith True]

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Ricks Model A,from the early 70's.He would package up stuff into neat little kit,and sell them as a Rick Pack.Maybe a bunch of brake parts,or lug nuts,any components that might take a bunch of little parts to redo.It was a good idea,but it was trash that that went into the packs.I still have a few of them around.Rick and Jeanne Freeman.My house burned down over 4 years ago,and there was a stack of old manuals and catalogs on a shelf.The Ricks catalog survived,

[David in San Antonio]

Why does a chicken coop have only 2 doors for the chickens?
Because if it had four doors it would be a chicken sedan.

[JRrev]

Originally Posted by Keith True

Ricks Model A,from the early 70's.He would package up stuff into neat little kit,and sell them as a Rick Pack.Maybe a bunch of brake parts,or lug nuts,any components that might take a bunch of little parts to redo.It was a good idea,but it was trash that that went into the packs.I still have a few of them around.Rick and Jeanne Freeman.My house burned down over 4 years ago,and there was a stack of old manuals and catalogs on a shelf.The Ricks catalog survived,

I remember him too and his Rick Packs. Only took buying once to not again. He was not the most honest person. One time at Hershey in I think 1974, I asked him if a given part was USA made and he said yes. When he handed it to me, the package clearly said some foreign country which now I don't remember. Gave it back to him. About that time it started raining big time. The blue field he was in became a river headed toward the the storm drain on the east end. Most of Rick's boxes of parts that were not in his trailer were floating toward the drain. I thought that was justice!

[Jeff/Illinois]

Originally Posted by nkaminar

What is a Rick Pack?

If you are Catholic, and feel the need to go to confessions, but really don't have anything to 'confess' to the priest, get yourself some 'Rick Packs' and start working on your Model A.

THAT will bring you full circle, using God's name in vain, showing extreme anger, hatred, wanting to kill the next guy that walks into your garage door, etc. etc.


That,,,, is a Rick Pack

[Keith True]

I used a bunch of them with no problems,distributer,carb kits,lug nut packages.The bearing kits I bought were all brand name.The gasket ses I bought were horrible.The lug nut sets I bought all had the recess machined into them(some brands didn't)but the plating was poor.I got some patch panels that were a joke.I bought a complete new distributer for $49.95.Big investment at $1.90 per hour.It's still in my truck.We always remember the bad experiences 100 times more than we remember the good ones.Still,I did get a lof of bags of unusable trash.At that time I was only getting parts from J.C.Whitney,so going to Ricks was a sideways move,not downhill.

[Gene F]

I guess now that Pepsi owns the company they still wanna keep the recipe of herbs and spices secret. I guess it got published on the WWW for a while, and their lawyers sent a bunch of demand letters making it be removed.

[Marshall V. Daut]

I recall seeing a cartoon decades ago showing two tough-looking policemen dragging a worried-faced Colonel Sanders out of a KFC store with the caption: "They finally found out what those secret ingredients are."
Marshall

[Keith True]

Marshall,that was on the cover of The National Lampoon.I was in high school when it came out,It was however,published in dozens of different publications,so you could have seen it most anywhere.I still have a copy of it tacked up in the shed I built in 1974 where I worked on VW's.It is now a Model A shed.Mine is captioned,they finally found the secret of those 11 different herbs and spices.

[Marshall V. Daut]

Yes, that could be the complete quote. I remembered a shorter version. 'Haven't seen that cartoon for decades. Same message, different words.
M.

[Keith True]

That little cartoon was probably done in a dozen different versions.Mine has been tacked up in the shed for 50 years now,I hung it up in 1974.I went out to get a picture and read the quote to verify it.I remembered it a little different too.Mine is so age blackened I couldn't get a picture.I saw another version of it back in the 70's with two HUGE black cops carrying him out with the same caption under it.That one had more text under it,but I don't remember what it was.

[Jeff/Illinois]

HA!!

Years ago they had the recipe for their cole slaw online it was good! Tasted just like what you bought from the Colonel.

Gone now!

Oh yes the local KFC in Milan, Illinois has that big picture of 'Colonel' Sanders standing by his Model A Coupe when you walk in the door. They must be in every KFC! I have only been in one once in the last 5-6 years they aren't any good anymore and are very expensive.
They ain't gonna make it.

[Gene F]

Originally Posted by Jeff/Illinois

HA!!

Years ago they had the recipe for their cole slaw online it was good! Tasted just like what you bought from the Colonel.

Gone now!

Oh yes the local KFC in Milan, Illinois has that big picture of 'Colonel' Sanders standing by his Model A Coupe when you walk in the door. They must be in every KFC! I have only been in one once in the last 5-6 years they aren't any good anymore and are very expensive.
They ain't gonna make it.

Pretty common when a big company buys em. KFC is part of that Pepsi group thing. Bob Evans, and Red Lobster are both owned by some equity company based in SanFracisco. They will be toast soon. Bob Evan even sold all their property, and then leased them back. You know, take all the money out of the company before running it into the ground and dumping it for what you can get.

White Castle is still family owned.

[ModelA29]

Everyone knows coupes and chickens go together......

[Marshall V. Daut]

Yet ANOTHER unfinished hotrod project...
M.

[Model A Canuck]

From what i understand Mr Sanders was a dyed in the wool Ford man he had a model T before he had the A and owned many other Fords over the years.Back in the late 60's early 70's he was on a tour of the Canadian stores and made a stop at our local steam show and road in one of our members Lincoln limo.Some place around here i have a picture of him sitting in it