Model "A" Sabotage of Yesteryear

[ericr]

I have another anecdote from the old days, perhaps a more believable story than my last one which met with widespread disbelief LOL. Years ago an old timer told me that he had had a Model "A" coupe in the '30s and parked it while he went hunting, unauthorized, on some farmer's property. Subsequently (I don't know when) the car mysteriously conked out. It turned out the farmer had removed the gas cap and stuffed in pages from a Sears and Roebuck or similar catalog, which eventually dissolved in the gas tank and clogged the fuel system. I think he said it got into the jets but I'm not sure about that, I know he said it was a headache to deal with.

[[email protected]]

On the 28-9's all you had to do was switch around the radiator cap with the gas cap. You could only go so far before there was a vacuum in the gas tank and the engine would be starved of fuel. Guys would be off the side of the road with a dead engine scratching their heads on what the problem was. Easy practical joke often done.

[james hitchcock]

I can remember my uncle saying when he worked at a gas station in the 40's saying that he once got side tracked and put water in the gas tank of a Model A. I wonder if it only happened once ?

[Richard Wilson]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

On the 28-9's all you had to do was switch around the radiator cap with the gas cap. You could only go so far before there was a vacuum in the gas tank and the engine would be starved of fuel. Guys would be off the side of the road with a dead engine scratching their heads on what the problem was. Easy practical joke often done.

Swapping 28-29 caps is still being played. While not politically correct, pouring a quart of oil on the ground under a friend's NEW rebuilt engine while on a tour will sure cause some excitement when he comes out, sees the oil spill, and thinks all of the rear main babbit has fallen out of his new rebuilt motor. On an overnight tour, after a man went to bed for the night, someone moved his Model A just two spaces down from where it was parked and had a car cover put over it. The next morning the man came out and he thought his car had been ''stolen". Boy he was MAD for several weeks over that one. Never did think it was funny. Then there is putting a couple drops of dish washing soap in a guys radiator and watch it foam over all the way back home and the man thinking he had a blown head gasket. Sure smelled good. Of course I have not personally participated in any of these tricks.

[roadster31]

A friend of mine from far northern Minnesota was one of nine children of a pulp-wood cutter. the family had a very cranky old man for a neighbor that always tried to make their lives misrable, so the boys made him a chocolate cake with Ex-lax in the frosting. When he was in the "out-house" they pushed his Model A Tudor in the swamp -- they think it's still there! The oil under the model A is a good one I've had "friends" do that to my Harley several times. I have heard of kids rigging a Model T coil so that anyone comes to the "A" to talk they get quite a shock when they touch the car, I don't know if that really works but it sounds good. EL

[Richard in NC]

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One of my very good friends (deceased now) told me that when he was a youngster that they would lift one rear wheel of a T model and set it in a watermellon rind. If the tire is about slick, the car will not move out of it's tracks. He said that was a favorite thing to do at gaterings like church socials, etc.

[Wuudie]

I had friends 20 years ago, they lifted the rear end of my car- just enough to fit cindar blocks under it so my tires were off the ground a hair. I jumped in went from reverse to drive- car wouldn't move.

[Frank Miller]

Putting the transfer case in neutral will leave some 4wd owners bewildered. I remember when the gold wings first came out with the radiator and someone put water under one. But they did not have any water and just used what was handy, if you catch my drift. Guy went right home to investigate the problem.

[MrTube]

How about the old tying a cable around the differential and anchoring it to something really solid with plenty of slack in the cable? Or is that only on Leave it to Beaver and American Graffiti? Seems like it would certainly work.

Of course, its more than a practical joke in my opinion.......

[5window]

When I was in college I had a Triumph Spitfire sports car. One day I came out and it was gone! My dorm mates had just picked it up and carried it off around the building. Haha.

[Frank Miller]

Bacon hidden on the exhaust pipe will smell like breakfast cooking at first but will eventually turn rancid.

[Richard Wilson]

Originally Posted by 5window

When I was in college I had a Triumph Spitfire sports car. One day I came out and it was gone! My dorm mates had just picked it up and carried it off around the building. Haha.

Back in the late 60's one of the high school cheerleaders found her VW beetle setting on top of a dumpster after school. I bet we ,the entire football team, must have run an extra 100 miles in laps the next week after practice.

[[email protected]]

My cheerleader sister in HS had the football team prank her when she found the family's 65 Studebaker Lark parked exactly between the goal post on the football field. The team literally picked up the car, walked it over and placed it between the poles length wise. No way could it have been driven out of there so she had to round out the guys who then bounced it out of there.

[Dune Country]

I used to have a diesel dumptruck, it would just randomly die, pull over and it would start up. This went on for almost a year. Drove me absoulty nuts. One Saturday I was at my partners yard and he said,"why don't you check the tanks for... sure enough I found that "somebody" had filled a ziplock bag with oil and dropped it in the tank, it would roll around and every now and then plug the pickup tube. Still mad about that one!!!!

[Sparky]

Originally Posted by MrTube

How about the old tying a cable around the differential and anchoring it to something really solid with plenty of slack in the cable? Or is that only on Leave it to Beaver and American Graffiti? Seems like it would certainly work.

Of course, its more than a practical joke in my opinion.......

The "Mythbusters" show tested that one. As I recall the chain or cable would always break unless the structure of the rear suspension was intentionally weakened.

[Huckster Dave]

This predates the Model A but I found it humorous. Related to me by my Grandmother. Seems that my Great Grandfather (storekeeper in Ithaca, Michigan) purchased a new spring seat for his wagon. At the same time so did the old Bachelor and the bottom of the hill and these seats were identical. Halloween nite not seeing any lights on in GGF's house the bach went up the hill got my gg-dads seat climbed a tall oak tree with that seat and tied it in the upper branches. What he did not know was that gramps was in his chair watching the whole thing. After a few hours when the kids were home and gramps was sure the bach was in bed down the hill he went and removed the baches seat, returned home and placed it on his own wagon.

The old Bachelor was not a happy person but could say nothing only climb the tree in order to have a new spring seat.

[Richard Wilson]

Originally Posted by Dune Country

I used to have a diesel dumptruck, it would just randomly die, pull over and it would start up. This went on for almost a year. Drove me absoulty nuts. One Saturday I was at my partners yard and he said,"why don't you check the tanks for... sure enough I found that "somebody" had filled a ziplock bag with oil and dropped it in the tank, it would roll around and every now and then plug the pickup tube. Still mad about that one!!!!

My little brother put a golf ball in dad's Model A gas tank when we were kids and it would plug the outlet sometimes. Took awhile for him to figure that one out. I think all four of us kids got a whipping over that one.

[Tom Wesenberg]

About 14 years ago when I was working at the junk yard, one of the guys ran a wire from a spark plug to just under the driver's seat covering. The next morning the kid that drove the truck said something must be wrong because he keeps getting shocks. After he found out what happened, he told his wife. I guess she had no sense of humor and told him it could make him sterile. He quit a few days later.

[MrTube]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

About 14 years ago when I was working at the junk yard, one of the guys ran a wire from a spark plug to just under the driver's seat covering. The next morning the kid that drove the truck said something must be wrong because he keeps getting shocks. After he found out what happened, he told his wife. I guess she had no sense of humor and told him it could make him sterile. He quit a few days later.

He quit his job because his wife scared him?

Don't need him at a junk yard.

[desotoguy]

I remember my dad telling this one. In the early 60's while working in a textile mill, the department employees would take a break together. One of the guys tells that he is about to trade for a new Chevy pickup truck and did so. It happens that he lived next door to a fellow employee. Seams that for the first few months the neighbor was sneaking over at night and pouring an extra gallon or two into the tank of the new truck. Naturally the owner was quite pleased with the excellent mileage he was getting and expressed this fact at the break room table. OK, the neighbor quit adding gas and the old guy got quite upset with the drop in mileage taking the truck back to the dealer numerious times to find the problem, nothing was found. From what I remember the group let him talk about the situation for some time until telling him the truth. Remember gas was only 30 cent per gallon back then.