Abandoned roadster

[Dave Mellor NJ]

From pinterst. Know nothing about it

[Dave Mellor NJ]

From pinterest. nothing known about it

[mercman from oz]

Abandoned 1931 Ford Model A Deluxe Roadster - Dave Mellor NJ

[Marshall V. Daut]

This is how I prefer to see Model A's and T's, not in a line-up of shiny red and yellow restored ones. When I was younger, my greatest passion was combing through local farm fields, ravines, woods and creeks for abandoned Model A's, let alone peeking in rundown barns. Sometimes I found some gems, sometimes nothing. I still revel in that ditch near Washington, Iowa, that contained about 40 Model A, T and early V-8 bodies that had been dumped there in 1940 to fill the ravine for eventual farming. Boy, do I miss those days! The excitement of the hunt and "kill". This abandoned roadster photo awoke memories of all those years of excitement and hunting for abandoned antique cars. Thanks for posting it. I sure hope someone saves this car before nature completely reclaims it.
By the way, it looks more like a 1931 than a 1930 with that radiator shell.
Marshall

[Oldbluoval]

Ran when new!

[oldspert]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Owner will not sell, is going to restore it "someday"

[Chuck Dempsey]

Deluxe '31? I see a step plate for the Rumble Seat, and a chrome windshield frame....

[47topless]

......Boy, do I miss those days! The excitement of the hunt and "kill". This abandoned roadster photo awoke memories of all those years of excitement and hunting for abandoned antique cars. Thanks for posting it. I sure hope someone saves this car before nature completely reclaims it.
By the way, it looks more like a 1931 than a 1930 with that radiator shell.
Marshall[/QUOTE]

You nailed it!

WW11 took a lot of the old cars to recycle into arms. It appears that was a good thing.

[Big hammer]

Damn it ! That’s where I left it , it was a good party though!

[AzBob]

Originally Posted by oldspert

Owner will not sell, is going to restore it "someday"

X2, That was commonly heard remark back in the 1960's and 70's when I would find Model A's in similar condition out in a field or behind a shed in Idaho farm country.

[Stretch Cab]

Is it just me or do you try to see into every old barn you pass that has a door open? I often see cars that aren't there but I can't help but keep looking.

[Marshall V. Daut]

Yup. I am constantly looking in open garage and barn doors while driving around. 'Haven't found anything for decades, though. Either the cars are hidden from sight under mounds of cardboard boxes and tarps, or the cars are stashed in more dedicated storage facilities away from prying eyes - like mine. Time was, you could count on seeing a Model's rear end in an open garage while the owner was cutting his lawn. Those days are apparently gone, too.
Marshall

[Marshall V. Daut]

"Deluxe '31? I see a step plate for the Rumble Seat, and a chrome windshield frame...."

Could be. The stainless steel windshield posts seem to be the right height versus Standard Roadster posts, which are taller. The cowl lights are another possible DeLuxe identifier, although many Standards received them from owners or dealers, akin to rumble seat additions post-factory. The windshield frame itself would have been chrome plated. But after years of exposure in this environment, the plating would have certainly gone away, resulting in the frame looking like it does here.
The odds are also in favor of this being a Deluxe Roadster. According to the DeAngelis book, there were only 5,499 Standard Roadsters produced in 1931, while the DeLuxes reached a whopping 52,997. That equates to about 10 times as many Deluxe Roadsters that year than Standards. Why wouldn't anyone back in the day pay an extra $45 or so to upgrade from a Standard Roadster to a DeLuxe, considering all the extras one got with the DeLuxe model? Yes, $45 was actually $45 back then and a hefty chunk of change during the Great Depression. But what a difference between the two models for a measly $45 Yankee cartwheels!
Marshall

[Chuck Dempsey]

According to one Inflation Calculator I found online, $45 in 1931 equals $910 today. So it would equal almost 5% of a modern car costing $20,000. Not a bad deal....

[Marshall V. Daut]

As I recall, a 1931 Deluxe Roadster had these features that the Standard Roadster did not, unless specially ordered from the factory or dealer/owner installed:
(1) More attractive color combinations with coordinated colored wheels, including the classic Stone Brown and Deep Stone gray combo, as well as Washington Blue with Riviera Blue. Later in 1931, however, Ford specified that "no sale will be lost to due color limitations". So, a buyer COULD order his 1931 Model A any color Ford offered. Standard models came with black wheels, unless specially ordered in color.
(2) Cowl lights
(3) Rumble seat
(4) Brown leather seats with a more attractive pleat configuration
(5) Higher quality door panels that were padded instead of plain colored cardboard
(6) Pockets in the cowl kick panels
(7) More attractive top irons with wood bows and chromed arms
(8) Tan top instead of a black long-short grain material
(9) Chromed windshield frame and windshield wiper; Standard Roadster's were black
(10) Shorter windshield posts and windshield frame that made the car look sleeker.
Now, wouldn't all these upgraded features be worth the extra $45 cost?

Unlike the 1930 DeLuxe Roadster, in 1931 Ford deleted the left side spare mount, rear trunk rack and full-length rear bumpers in order to lower the cost and appeal to a cash-strapped Great Depression market.

Marshall

[ModelA29]

Originally Posted by Marshall V. Daut

Now, wouldn't all these upgraded features be worth the extra $45 cost?

Added over 10% to the base price of $385. $45 was a lot of food in the 30s.

[oldspert]

Originally Posted by Marshall V. Daut

Either the cars are hidden from sight under mounds of cardboard boxes and tarps

Neighbor down the street has a 34 Ford 5 window in his garage, stuffed under mounds of boxes.

[Marshall V. Daut]

"$45 was a lot of food in the 30s."

True. But after a week or two, that $45 worth of food would be history. The same $45 put instead towards upgrading to a DeLuxe Roadster over a Standard Roadster would still be present until the car was sold way down the road. I know ya' gotta eat, but I would have tightened my belt a couple holes for two weeks in order to afford the better Model A. Resale value would have also more than made up for that extra $45 spent at the time of purchase.
Marshall

[David in San Antonio]

Marshall, Thank you for that concise description of Standard compared to Deluxe Roadsters.
By the way, the food store advertisement says:
“For that “special” Sunday dinner roast a FORD SEDALIA CHICKEN”
$1.47 each
Boy, ol’ Henry diversified more than I thought.

[jerrytocci]

Just what I need for my retirement years.

[ronn]

X2, That was commonly heard remark back in the 1960's and 70's when I would find Model A's in similar condition out in a field or behind a shed in Idaho farm country.



when I was a kid, there was a coupe nearby. The fella lost his son in Vietnam and it was his car............
Understandably, he wouldnt sell his kids car. It was rotting into the ground......

[Synchro909]

Originally Posted by ronn

X2, That was commonly heard remark back in the 1960's and 70's when I would find Model A's in similar condition out in a field or behind a shed in Idaho farm country.



when I was a kid, there was a coupe nearby. The fella lost his son in Vietnam and it was his car............
Understandably, he wouldn't sell his kids car. It was rotting into the ground......

Even over here, I've seen a few cars rot into the ground after the owner refused to sell them. Some of them were Model As too. I even tried to shame the last guy into selling but the more I spoke, the more he dug in. He was going to do it up one day but by now, I think he will have nothing left but a pile of rust.
If only......

[AYooperA]

Re: The ‘31 Roadster if it exists
Get your MiG welder and shore up the body
Find on halfway decent chassis/running gear on Facebook or Craigslist
That a rodder is discarding
Same with sheet metal that is less than ideal.
And you will have a roadster that gets noticed.
Example:
Old Friend pulled this ‘31 Tudor out of the woods in Northern Wisconsin many years ago. Had lots of fun with his rolling museum.

[frank55a]

Originally Posted by Marshall V. Daut

This is how I prefer to see Model A's and T's, not in a line-up of shiny red and yellow restored ones. When I was younger, my greatest passion was combing through local farm fields, ravines, woods and creeks for abandoned Model A's, let alone peeking in rundown barns. Sometimes I found some gems, sometimes nothing. I still revel in that ditch near Washington, Iowa, that contained about 40 Model A, T and early V-8 bodies that had been dumped there in 1940 to fill the ravine for eventual farming. Boy, do I miss those days! The excitement of the hunt and "kill". This abandoned roadster photo awoke memories of all those years of excitement and hunting for abandoned antique cars. Thanks for posting it. I sure hope someone saves this car before nature completely reclaims it.
By the way, it looks more like a 1931 than a 1930 with that radiator shell.
Marshall

I can relate to what Marshall said about hunting for As in the 60s and 70s. My first "A" a 29 Tudor I found in 1963 in a cherry orchard in Idaho, where it sat for over 20 years. It cost me $25. My second "A" a 28 roadster also found in 1963 was missing a lot of parts but the body was intact and good condition, was sitting behind a barn in Washington state. It cost the large sum of $2.

In the 70s there were two 29 Tudor Sedans sitting in a small town about 20 up river from Davenport, Iowa (perhaps Marshall also knew about them) that I tried several times to buy. So the story went that the owner told me, he had bought them both new and parked 1 while driving the other. When the driver needed to much work he parked it in the backyard and started driving the other "A", when it too was about worn out he parked it next to the first "A" where they both sat for many years. He would not sell either car "as he planned to restore one of them and use the parts from the other to do the job. They had been sitting so long that about 6" of the bottom of the wheels closest to the ground were rusted off. To my knowledge they were still there in 1984 when I left Iowa for Delaware. Frank

[Sunny the Model A]

Originally Posted by Dave Mellor NJ

From pinterst. Know nothing about it

To quote Charlene from the Andy Griffith show: "Oh no Paw, that make me cry!"

[1928Mik]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Back in the 80's I used to run a small company where we would drive around and find cars for $50 to $100 and part them out, anything from trucks to T-birds. Of course those days are gone, but so many times I heard the same thing, "Not for sale, I'm going to fix it up". There is a local guy who is very lazy & had alot given to him from his parents and/or his father in law, including a '66 Harley Electra Glide, a pristine (at one time) low mile '65 Pontiac LeMans, and a restored 50's Mack Model B, all of which are now basically rotting away in an old barn. I have tried to buy the Harley and the LeMans for years, nope, won't sell, and the guy is now 65 yrs old. I know he'll never touch them.....Very frustrating to see vehicles just rotting away....

[Synchro909]

Very frustrating indeed but they are his cars and it's his prerogative as to what he does with them. I just know that the fate of those cars would be very different if they were mine and I suspect anybody else here.

[Marshall V. Daut]

"I know he'll never touch them.....Very frustrating to see vehicles just rotting away...."

Whenever I ran into those types, who wouldn't sell their rotting away vehicles, I wondered how these guys will be able to restore a Model A when they didn't have the energy or found the time to even cut their lawns in the last six months or shave their beard growth for the previous two weeks. Following up years later whenever possible, I found that not ONE of those vehicles had ever been restored by these guys. The cars had either rotted away, sunken into the ground so as to make them unrestorable, or the heirs had the carcasses hauled away to the junk heap. But, by Gawd! They were going to restore those cars one day - right after they cut their lawns and shaved! Yes, it was their property. But as temporary caretakers of the cars, it was their responsibility to see that they survived in decent condition for the sake of history and for future generations, who will now never get an opportunity to bring those rotted-away vehicles back to their splendor. Who wins these situations? Nobody, that's who!
Marshall

[mhsprecher]

Who knows how old the photo is. Still looks pretty good, considering.

We all love finding old cars. I bought a 24 T couple that had been sitting in a garage for about 60 years. I just bought another T that had been in the same family since 1955 and not run for quite a few years.

[Steve in Denver]

Not abandon yet, but wouldn't you love to have one of these.

https://youtu.be/hRMAQj0yA44?si=9jphLLdqThvvu4On

[BobNH]

Great stories all, Years ago I kept after a friend of mine to go take a look in a barn close to his home wondering if there was any old cars there. He finally relented and we went to look. I peeked in through a crack in a rear barn door and a headlight was looking back at me. We went in and I did not quite know what it was till I came back home and looked it up. Turned out to be a 1926 Oakland sport coupe complete with landau irons and dual rear spares in what appeared to be wonderful condition. Seemed like a battery would have started it then. Many folks from that family started a war between them over the property and eventually the place caught fire and burned flat ! A beautiful auto lost for what ? Still think of it today.

[1928Mik]

Marshall, you hit the nail on the head. The guy who has all 3 of those vehicles lives in the country with his wife who inherited all her Dad's things. He does not cut the grass hardly at all, and has a beard down to his belt buckle. Included with those I mentioned are about 3-4 various makes steam engines, Waterloo Boy tractor, a never used 40ft goose neck trailer, and a D6 dozer, all rotting away in several barns. Sure they are his to leave to rot, but very frustrating for all of us wanting them to survive.

[Marshall V. Daut]

"...and eventually the place caught fire and burned flat! A beautiful auto lost for what?"

AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!

M.

[eagle]

I hate it when people look in my sheds and think they've found gold. Yeah, maybe but its MY gold. A dry shed with plenty of air movement will keep a car nicely for many decades. Some of us have plans for retirement, although I'll admit I have enough plans for about 70 years of retirement. Recently pulled out an early 60's FoxTrac that is my next project. After that it'll be my 70 VW bug, or maybe the 1948 JD M, etc etc.

[Gene F]

Originally Posted by 1928Mik

Back in the 80's I used to run a small company where we would drive around and find cars for $50 to $100 and part them out, anything from trucks to T-birds. Of course those days are gone, but so many times I heard the same thing, "Not for sale, I'm going to fix it up". There is a local guy who is very lazy & had alot given to him from his parents and/or his father in law, including a '66 Harley Electra Glide, a pristine (at one time) low mile '65 Pontiac LeMans, and a restored 50's Mack Model B, all of which are now basically rotting away in an old barn. I have tried to buy the Harley and the LeMans for years, nope, won't sell, and the guy is now 65 yrs old. I know he'll never touch them.....Very frustrating to see vehicles just rotting away....

I know the feeling! When lloyd Young died I went to his auction. I had made arrangments with my bank for a letter of credit, and the auctioneer. I was all set. So I go to the auction. I wanted one specific car from Lloyd's collection, and I wanted it also as a Great Race entry car. So we get down to me and just one old guy bidding. BTW; I was almost 60 at the time - LOL. We were going back and forth just he and I. He was just gohna keep one uping me $1,000 at a time. Finally I told the auctioneer (Larry) "let him have it". To which he looked at me and said "are ya sure". I replied "yeah". The guy could hardly walk? A car from the late 1920s..like the first time that car got a flat, or a dead battery and that car was finished. No grandson with him, nor a son-in-law... I am sure that car is almost a POS now. Just a shame.

I hear that I'm gonna fix it up speech all too often. By the time they get around to it the car is noting but a pile of scrap.

Owning a collector car comes as a duty if ya ask me. That probably sounds odd to a lot of people. A collector car is not just another used car.

[700rpm]

I met a girl in college in 1966 who said there was an old Ford in a field on her parent’s property, and I could have it free just for the taking. She drove me out to the farm and as we approached the field I could see a roadster that looked pretty rough but sorta complete sitting under a tree. As I got closer it showed as being somewhat picked over, and pretty straight, but the tree had grown up right through the middle. It would have taken a pro arborist a full day to cut that tree out safely, and a way lot of hard labor to move what remained of that roadster from its 30+ years in that field. It’s been over 60 years, but…
…It might still be there.

[David in San Antonio]

I had a German car I dearly loved, bought it new in 2000. A somewhat rare spec which was great fun to drive until it began falling apart. One darn thing after another, and it wasn’t nickel-and-dining me to death, it was frighteningly expensive, but way too complex to fix on my own. It sat for 2 years under a tarp, and for 5 years before that in a garage. A few weeks ago Copart offered me $170 (!) for it. The dang taillights are worth three times that much. I just couldn’t stand the thought of scrapping it. I wanted to put it into someone’s hands who would appreciate it. Finally found just the right guy who could get it fixed up and I GAVE it to him. No charge. I knew I was never going to get to it “some day”.

[Marshall V. Daut]

Do you think these bodies could have been restored if the owner hadn't decided that someday HE would restore them?
Marshall
By the way. all these bodies have sat in the same place since 1940!

[Canton_Model_A's]

That will buff right out and look good as new!

[Marshall V. Daut]

"'Ran when parked."

[old31]

Originally Posted by 700rpm

I met a girl in college in 1966 who said there was an old Ford in a field on her parent’s property, and I could have it free just for the taking. She drove me out to the farm and as we approached the field I could see a roadster that looked pretty rough but sorta complete sitting under a tree. As I got closer it showed as being somewhat picked over, and pretty straight, but the tree had grown up right through the middle. It would have taken a pro arborist a full day to cut that tree out safely, and a way lot of hard labor to move what remained of that roadster from its 30+ years in that field. It’s been over 60 years, but…
…It might still be there.

Ya but, but, but what happened with the college girl?

[gdmn852]

I too remember that famous quote,Owner will not sell, is going to restore it "someday"remember a nice 1930 coupe rot away near a fruit stand, sat there for about 30 years until owner died and was finally scrapped, not much left to it by then.

[gdmn852]

As a side note, the 31 roadster I currently have was most likely a Standard model new, had pins in quarter panel for trunk, and found remnants of Lombard blue in places when stripping it , apparently converted to Deluxe when it was restored.

[WRA]

They are still out there. I found a 1916 Model T that had sat since 1957. Car was on cinder blocks in a nice dry Texas Barn. For years the old man wouldn’t let it go, always the same thing about restoring it. Only a few people even knew about it. Old man eventually passed on as well as most of the folks that knew about the car. His estate also had a very nice 69 T-Bird and 1931 Model A. Basically same story, old man just could let them go.

[700rpm]

The college girl is a very sad story, I’m sorry to say.

[ModelA29]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Originally Posted by oldspert

Owner will not sell, is going to restore it "someday"

Yes - It's not abandoned - owner exactly where he parked it 30 years ago.

[tin man]

a few hours of metal work required there.

[ModelA29]

Originally Posted by Marshall V. Daut

"$45 was a lot of food in the 30s."

True. But after a week or two, that $45 worth of food would be history. The same $45 put instead towards upgrading to a DeLuxe Roadster over a Standard Roadster would still be present until the car was sold way down the road.

I doubt a used car buyer during the depression would care if it was a Deluxe. In the late 30s cars looked different and I doubt the deluxe package would have helped you sell that slow old car with running boards. In the war years you bought any car available for a premium. I'd wager it wasn't until the 1960s when a deluxe started bringing a little extra. Even then was there a way to tell if it was a factory deluxe or something the owner created.