What should I look for when purchasing a Model A???

[Arlen]

Also look at Hemmings website. Nearly 200 A's for sale there. Parts are everywhere and dirt cheap. They also reproduce every nut and bolt on the car. If your looking to get into the classic car hobby, a Model A is the way to go.

[Kevin in NJ]

First take time to learn about this investment you are about to make. Unless you do not mind throwing money away.

Go to car shows and look at cars and ask questions. Look under the cars as that tells you a lot about the real condition. Lots of cars look nice but still need thousands of dollars in work to be sort of safe to actually drive. I know of several people who bought professionally restored cars and spent over $8000 to got the car safe and reliable to drive.

Ask just what was the Model A when it was built?

With some research you will find it was a safe reliable car driven every day for 20 or 30 years. It was designed to run 60 mph. In fact Ford insisted the dealers demonstrate the speed and handling to the customers. A correctly restored car will run 60 mph and get in the 20's for fuel mileage.

Of course my advice generally goes against common word of mouth. So do with it as you wish. You can read about yourself I can tell you where to look.

[Mitch//pa]

look for one that is solid and has not been unprofesionally molested, an "experienced" eye is required. a good flash light is good for lookind down inside the doors and body panels.. much can be felt by just driving it also, but again someone with experience on how these cars operate
make sure you dont have milky oil also

[bart78]

Get what's going to best suit your needs. Do find some guys that know about the cars. I myself have mixed feelings about joining a club. Shop around there are a bunch out there.

[Rowdy]

Look for signs of a sagging frame, hood gap. fan clearance. steering column bind and other things will be a dead give away. Often too many accessories are used with cars like this to help distract the eye from seeing the obvious signs of problems. The simper and less dressed it is the easier t seem to be able to spot at a slight distance. Rod

[Mark W.]

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Originally Posted by whirnot

Or do what we did, just go to an Auction and jump in with no idea what you are doing. A few surprises, but we love our roadster.

I had to laugh at this answer - I've been "into" antique cars for 35+ years having owned several different makes of 20's cars. I have been mainly into Model T Fords for the last 20 years and did pretty much this exact thing last fall on e-bay. I bought the Model A Standard Roadster to your left from pictures & a description without having the knowledge with A's to ask the key questions. Key questions which are salted all thru the responces above...

Between then & now I've added around $2000 in parts plus my own labor to a "running" car - and although I think I'm still around the break-even point if I were to re-sell the car, a little more knowledge would have saved me a few hassles.

Look carefully and get some local advice before diving in too deep - there are a lot of cars available and sometimes paying 2-5k more will be money well spent - even then you should be prepared to do some minor repair work to any car you find - brakes and safety items first, the "bling" last.

Good luck hunting - Mark

[Kahuna]

The only thing that I can add is don't buy a project or incomplete vehicle as your first entry to the old car club. It becomes much more expensive that way.
Best of luck to you. They are great cars

[John LaVoy]

A lot of the decision is what do you plan on doing with it? Touring is better in a closed car because of the weather issues. Open car more fun in the sun. Showing a car in the plans getting one that is easy to meet the restoration standards is always good. Having the standards is also good when you are looking at cars. But joining a local chapter is the easiest was to see the various body styles and hear what the owners say about them.

[ctvpa]

Keep in mind that no matter how it looks, nice paint, brightwork, clean and fancy; none of it is any good without a good strong engine. There are people out there that thinks a paint job is "Restored". My humble opinion:
1) find a body you like. Go to some meets, and look and check out what style you like. For example I have a rumble seat, but at our age, none of my friends can get in it.
2) Join a local club first, they are very friendly. I'm sure someone can go with you.
3) Don't look at the body first. Bring a compression tester, multimeter, and some tools to test the engine.
4) Take off a wheel and hub. How they look will tell you how this car was cared for.

Best of luck, and hope to see you at a show. Where are you located?