tell a Model A related story

[baba]

I was driving my 1929 coupe behind a city bus in 1952. The bus stoopped and my slow reaction caused me to hit the back of the bus (I will not blame the brakes) and much to my surprise, I bounced off the bus. I waited, assuming the bus driver would be getting out, but he continued to pick up passengers and continued on his way, apparently did not even notice the collision. I got home, examined the bumper and could see no damage. Imagine doing that with todays plastic coated crap?

[woofa.express]

Hi Baba. Just lift the bonnet of a modern motorcar and look at the engine. It will be concealed beneath a mass of plastic components as well as a plastic cover. Now check beneath the engine cowls in your A to compare. You must ask yourself "have we advanced in more than 90 years?"

[woofa.express]

I came away quite discouraged.

My Tourer that I named Olive was my first of 3 Model A’s. A farmer had owned it and his kids and most of the local community had learned to drive in it. Olive, in her life prior to Gary had not been greatly cared for and what is known as a paddock basher. I paid some two grand for her and she ended up a most expensive rebuild, but she does look good and she drives well. I had her painted “Arabian Sand” and discovered only recently that was the colour of the very first Model A that came off the assembly line in Oct 1927. The date will contradict what is recorded in history which was 1928 to 1931. That first vehicle was a pre assembly test case.
As I said Olive drives well. The running gear was restored and re-assembled by our club member Henry Matheson. The humungous expense mentioned above was no criticism on Henry. He later told me it was less expensive to purchase a restored vehicle and yes that is correct. Another finding I made was to join a Model A club and members will gladly help with good advise and in making a selection.
Well I’ve got off the subject haven’t I?
In Tocumwal lived an old time mechanic who had restored many motorcars and motorbikes. He was considered quite an authority and deservedly so. And I couldn’t wait to show him Olive. He made a harsh judgement on her. Just one criticism I recall was the door cards were sown in the wrong direction. It should have been done in a clockwise direction (or VV, I don’t remember) starting at the door handle. He was most critical and I came away quite depressed. I don’t dislike him for that but I never rushed to show him any other vintages I acquired.
The most important thing. He may not have liked Olive but I do.

[mercman from oz]

1928 Ford Model A Tourer "Olive" - woofa.express

[woofa.express]

I wrote this story to post in my local antique car club news letter. You might find it interesting. hope so.

Hearing Kal Baxter’s talk on the bombing of Broome WA during WW2 bought back my memories of my flying career in the late 60’s. Memories of times when I had spent time in that small town. It was built substantially of corrugated iron and supported a large Asian (mostly Malaysian) population. An outdoor movie theatre, two hotels; the Roebuck and Continental. I used to stay in the Continental which was made of ripple iron. The Roebuck was timber. Also a large cemetery with many Asian tenants (again mainly Malaysians) who died from the bends when diving for pearl in the waters south of Roebuck bay and along the 90-mile beach. This beach was renamed the 80-mile beach after the second world war to avoid confusion with part of the Victorian coast bearing the same name. The locals still called it the 90-mile beach and that’s how I remember it. I once saw what I reckoned may have been 100 pearling ruggers departing Roebuck Bay and I hear there is only 1 left today and that is a tourist attraction.
On one bombing raid the Japanese attacked 15 Dornier flying boats in the bay that had stopped to refuel. On board were refuges and all were killed. I was told of one pilot who walked out of the hotel and saw this drew his revolver and suicided. Some airframe and engine components could be seen at low tide. A tide which has a 32 foot range between high and low.
From the internet- On Tuesday 3 March, 1942 Broome experienced the first of four Japanese air raids it would face during the Second World War. During the raid 24 aircraft were destroyed, including 15 flying boats that were sitting in the bay having stopped in Broome to refuel.
While the death toll remains unknown, it is believed that at least 89 people died during the raid, including American, British, Dutch, Indian and Japanese military personnel and civilians.
Many of those 89 were refuges, mainly Dutch, that had remained on the aeroplanes at the time of this attack.
The little old tin town of Broome as I used to know it has long gone. It is now a very expensive and up-market town which was changed under the direction of an Englishman; Lord McAlpine. Some think of it as a great step forward and some as the destruction of a unique quaint little town. I, the writer, think of it as the latter. Likewise for Port Douglass in far north Queensland destroyed by Christopher Skase and the town of 1770 destroyed by Paul Hogan and his buddie strop. These distinctive and unique places were tuned into urban type environments with expensive houses and resorts where only the wealthy can now afford to holiday or live.
Next newsletter I will speak of other unusual features of Broome and the Kimberly coast. A village built especially to monitor the nuclear armed Blue Streak missile testing, the coast where local natives and Sydney protesters stopped Woodside building a gas terminal, Beagle Bay mission, Cape Leveque lighthouse, the iron ore islands, the coast line from Derby to Wyndham including Kalumburu mission. All too much for this one story.

[woofa.express]

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Looking towards the very near future.

I see on YouTube how more and more technology is finding its way into our lives. On your command the rubbish bin in your kitchen will lift it’s lid. Likewise for the toilet seat lid.
Your telephone will communicate with your refrigerator, your home heating, your cooling system and audio system. Also our cleaver watch which advises your blood pressure and heart pulse. For the girls a devise that is inserted in the vagina will track your fertile periods and other functions. This will be held by the cloud and harvested and be provided to such commercial businesses as medical retailers or gynaecologists. Buying larger clothing will notify Jenny and other weight loss retailers. That is providing they all pay the contractor for this information of course. Collectors, harvesters and buyers. I read Trojan horse. Do you?
There has for decades been competition between government and media to influence and control us. Now add Facebook and Amazon. I’m sure there are others too. I read that social media is more dangerous than Kim Jong-un otherwise known as the Little Rocket Man.
We have gone through several industrial revolutions. Energy with coal, petroleum and atomic. Machinery, transportation and space exploration. Sputnik (in 1957 that is 65 years ago. It was less than 100 years ago the Model T was on the assembly line). Transistors, printed circuit boards, computers. Robots on assembly lines.
But the biggest one is yet to come. Artificial intelligence. I already speak to my laptop (mainly because I don’t spell well) and it answers me too. But stand alone thinking computers are now very close. eg. Driverless motorcars. You farmers may think AI is artificial insemination, but no. It’s artificial intelligence. In a decade you’ll know all about it because it will affect us all. How many of us will have no job. Maybe your? Very few of us will be relaxing at the beach, under a palm tree being served cool drinks with umbrellas poking out the top of the glass.
At least two smart blokes saw this coming and I quote below. I didn't know either but wish that I had.
1. I fear the day that technology will pass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.
2. The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.
The above are quotes from the by the world’s most renowned and celebrated scientists whose pictures appear below. Albert and Stephan.

[mercman from oz]

In support of non mechanical folks owning a Model A.
This is a follow on from my article number16 in this thread. It is in support of others like myself who have no or little mechanical skill. I shan’t repeat my point of view I made in 16 but here is another reason to support my thoughts and position.
I lend my A’s to any person or body who so asks to use it. Mostly wedding parties for the bride to travel to the church and for the newly weds to travel to the reception. For Santa to visit the kids or for the curiosity or pleasure of any individual. Some are concerned they may scratch or damage it. I assure them it was a heap of shit when I purchased it and any damage is repairable. It was also the first motorcar many drove. Crunching gears was a common practise and the motorcar has become quite accustomed to that. It gives many people considerable pleasure to drive it and return it. I am generous and not protective. At motorcar displays many vehicles have a notice which invites onlookers to look at and enjoy but not touch. I invite people to look and handle. Put finger prints all over. Or to lift the bonnet and view the engine.
Now, because I am only a mechanics bootlace should I be deprived from owning this old girl with which I am besotted?

[woofa.express]

Elon Musk manufactures Electric Motorcars. Right?

He calls them “Tesla”, yes? Well where did the name come from? Let me tell you.
A gentleman named Nickola Tesla who was born in 1886 in what is now Croatia, immigrated to America in 1884 and died in New York in 1943. Partly educated at Graz uni in Smiljan, Austria. I say partly because he was a dropout and later educated at the uni of Prague.
And I quote from Wikipedia- Serbian American inventor and engineer who discovered and patented the rotating magnetic field, the basis of most alternating-current machinery. He also developed the three-phase system of electric power transmission. He immigrated to the United States in 1884 and sold the patent rights to his system of alternating-current dynamos, transformers, and motors to George Westinghouse. In 1891 he invented the Tesla coil, an induction coil widely used in radio technology.
Tesla arrived in America with 4c in his pocket and because he was continually in need of money he sold his patients. His life and inventions are interesting and you can read them in Wikipedia.
An intellectual said the following which well fits Mr Tesla. Who was this fellow?
"It gives me great pleasure indeed to see the stubbornness of an incorrigible nonconformist warmly acclaimed."
A person whose behavior or views do not conform to prevailing ideas or practices. That's the definition of a nonconformist. And in today's world of marketing another word bandied about is "disruption." Be a disruptor. Be a nonconformist. Challenge traditional ways and means.
If you didn’t guess, let me tell you. It was Albert. And the second shot is Nickola Tesla of course

[Fat]

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[Jake dalka]

Hello….My roadster was brought home in a friends trailer….a non running project I’d traded
a motorcycle for….after unloading the loose extra parts and getting the A out of the trailer
it became obvious it would take both adults present to push the old girl into my garage.
Another friend was called and he brought his young son with him….still near the limit of man power to manage the rise to the garage door we put the boy ( not near driving age yet )
In the drivers seat and with very little prompting from dad steered the roadster into its
stall in my shop. I enjoy my roadster but I believe I’ve got a ways to go to match the joy
and smile I saw on the boys face….hope he remembers….I know I will always.

[katy]

Originally Posted by Jake dalka

it became obvious it would take both adults present to push the old girl into my garage.

FWIW, I have a small piece of angle iron bolted to the floor of my garage that I can connect a come-along to for when I'm alone and need help getting a vehicle in. It's close to the wall so it's not in a place that it's going to get tripped on or be a nuisance.

[woofa.express]

Living amongst thieves.

It is rare that I lock doors or gates. I don’t lock motorcars and mostly leave the key in the ignition. I leave money around the house. I don’t steal from others and never think that people could or would steal from me. Yes, I’m gullible.
About 3 years back I purchased a four-wheel John Deere tractor on the internet. The price was good and my reaction was similar to a kid in a toy shop. Since I had an eBay invoice I couldn’t wait to secure the deal and I got the money to the seller as fast as possible. Well it was all phoney including the authentic looking invoice and serial number. Yes that old saying “ if it looks too good to be true: it's probably not true”. The seller was not here in Australia but most likely Nigeria. You all know the story. You’ve heard it all before.
Well here’s a new one. New to me that is. My daughter, Sarah, who we call Fifi because she was born on Bastille Day was driving home early one morning and stopped near Canberra to refuel. About five days later she went to pay wages to those who worked in her small business and found she was short of money. Thirteen thousand short. It looks most likely a solitary thief standing behind her at the service station till had an electronic reading devise on him in person. He was able to scan her credit card which she was holding in her hand. The bank issuing the credit card has recovered about ten thousand. I do hope for her they will recover the lot.
Well Gary (that’s me) has ordered some small cardboard non electrical penetrating envelopes with which to place credit cards and prevent skimming. I’ll share these with my kids and told Fifi I’d give her a couple. But she said she would put her credit card on her telephone. Well that’s all above my head and I don’t carry a telephone. I am not that important that I need to be contactable at all times plus I enjoy solitude.
The purpose of this story is to tell you or remind you that you can be skimmed with your credit card in your hand, wallet or handbag.

[woofa.express]

I’ve known Bill for more than 40 years. A farmer whose rice I sowed until he sold his farm and became a mechanic in town. He was good at both jobs.
He was a bloke I’d tend to avoid, conversation with Bill was always difficult because he was deaf. The answer he gave to most every question was a screaming “what?”.
Well Bill had a cochlear implant which gave him hearing. Not perfect hearing but with his lip reading skill allowed him to clearly understand what was being said.
Yesterday I had reason to go to his home and talk with him. His house was a quiet enviroment and he heard and understood everything I said. I discovered a man who was new to me. He had a good grasp on national and world events. He had humour that I had not known in him. I enjoyed speaking to him and came away appreciating a man I had never known.
For those who have no knowledge of a cochlear implant you can find a youtube explanation at the link below. It is two minutes long.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBi1Bij39H8

[Jim Brierley]

I’ll share these with my kids and told Fifi I’d give her a couple. But she said she would put her credit card on her telephone. Well that’s all above my head and I don’t carry a telephone. I am not that important that I need to be contactable at all times plus I enjoy solitude.
The purpose of this story is to tell you or remind you that you can be skimmed with your credit card in your hand, wallet or handbag.

Why would she want to call her credit card??? Asked be an equally ignorant old-timer

[woofa.express]

Originally Posted by Jim Brierley

I’ll share these with my kids and told Fifi I’d give her a couple. But she said she would put her credit card on her telephone. Well that’s all above my head and I don’t carry a telephone. I am not that important that I need to be contactable at all times plus I enjoy solitude.
The purpose of this story is to tell you or remind you that you can be skimmed with your credit card in your hand, wallet or handbag.

Why would she want to call her credit card??? Asked be an equally ignorant old-timer

Hi Jim. Many things today including banking, making purchases, money transfers, id, photography, listening to the radio etc etc can be done on the mobile telephone.
I use mine at times to make phone calls. I say at times because my mobile phone is frequently misplaced. And it’s difficult to find. I can’t locate it by calling it on my landline. The battery in my mobile is mostly flat.
Because you don’t know anything about these features you are not missing a thing. By using your brain and not an electronic personal thinking device you will be avoiding the potential early onset of Alzheimer’s.
The statements below are made by Einstein and Hawking respectively.
1. I fear the day that technology will pass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.
2. The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.

[woofa.express]

Space race history. A most interesting unbiased report.

We have a national broadcaster. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). They have two arms, TV and radio. The TV is held in poor regard because of their politically biased reporting but the radio arm is generally held in good regard.
The radio arm has an hour long program called conversations. Both the interviewers, one male and one female are excellent. Both do little speaking. They set the subject but at times prompt the speaker. Unlike most interviewers they don’t unmask their own thoughts and opinions.
Now to the point. A writer by the name of Stephan Walker is interviewed. Walker is British, has written many books and directed 30 movies. He speaks well and is easy to listen to. Stephan is interviewed by the ABC’s Richard Fidler.
The conversation is of the space race. The Russians launched Sputnik and it was a complete surprise to the Americans. This turned them into panic mode, outrage, humiliation and self examination. And thus the start of the space race.
The Russians had more suitable rockets to launch and deliver their bombs (atomic) which were cumbersome, unsophisticated and heavy. Ninety percent of their weight was fuel however they were more suitable to launch into space. By comparison the American rockets were much smaller to carry their more sophisticated and lighter weight bombs. The larger rockets gave Russia an advantage.
The Russians were the first to put man into space. Yuri Gagarin. They had two cosmonauts trained for this flight but settled on Gagarin because he was more handsome and personable thus easier to market if their plight (flight) was successful.
America responded by training up seven astronauts in their mercury program. The publicity earned these astronauts much publicity and wealth to the extent they purchased private jets. Russia trained twenty and kept them contained in an apartment. They had no motorcars but one had a motorbike which was confiscated. They took the bus. This was to keep them away from public attention in the event they failed. Later Russia trumpeted both success and as well as failure which they called success.
This author spoke of many hilarious events. Russia launched many dogs of which they successfully recovered only two. Gagarin stood the same chance and it was intended to place a bomb in the personal capsule in the event of a return happened to land in nasty America. They couldn’t have their technology fall into the enemy’s possession. Infact Gagarin landed in Russia but hundreds of miles from the intended site. In a potato paddock where an old lady and her grand-daughter were planting spuds. They ran. Gagarin managed to win their confidence and they provided a horse for him to ride to a nearby town where there was a telephone.
They launched dogs which were previously rounded up in in town and trained to the conditions they were expected to endure. One, on leading it to the launch pad ran off. A stray was found nearby at a canteen and within twenty minutes it became an astrodog enroute to space.
This conversation was not only humorous but it is hilarious. You will enjoy listening and can be found on the link below.

https://www.abc.net.au/radio/program...ussia/13749952

[updraught]

Thought you might like this

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/op...SHnbppPOUSvXfg

[Fomoco998]

Originally Posted by updraught

Thought you might like this

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/op...SHnbppPOUSvXfg

What a good story thanks for sharing.

[woofa.express]

I was getting quite irritable.

I’ve been dealing with Snyder’s since I bought my first Model A during the 80's. They have been the perfect supplier with both product and service. However things changed and they didn’t answer a single email order so I called them on the phone.
Don suggested I look in my email junk box and there they were. Five of them plus more from other senders. So Snyder’s, your good service still exists, I no longer feel irritable with you and tender my apologies.
The lesson for me, and I share it with you, the readers, is to keep your eye on the junk box of your emails.

[Billy 1931 Model A]

You can see the video of this lovely stunt: on YouTube, see "American Grafffiti rear axle"