Daily driving suggestions.

[Smooth_One]

Originally Posted by iverson

I might have missed it but did anyone say fire extinguisher? anything other problems are minor

Oh yes I've had one in my car since I brought it home!

[Special Coupe Frank]

Originally Posted by 1crosscut

Since it is only 4 miles to work you will not be getting the engine up to full temperature. I would suggest at least twice a week go for longer drives to warm the engine thoroughly and/or change the oil a bit more often.

Here-here !

You want to get the engine up to full operating temperature, and KEEP IT THERE, for at least 20 minutes once or twice a week. This helps "boil" condensation and unburned fuel blow-by out of the oil. Also the exhaust system.

If you do a mostly short-trip driving, I would also suggest installing a 160* thermostat in the upper radiator hose. This will help get your engine to operating temperature quicker, and make for happier running / longer life.

SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) defines "short trip driving" ( where the engine never reaches operating temperature, or doesn't stay there for at least ten minutes or more ) as "severe service" when it comes to oil change intervals.

[Special Coupe Frank]

Would also highly recommend an LED strip-light, such as the one from "Logo-lites" (?, "Brakeliter"?), mounted in the rear window. It is an LED array about 1 inch high by about 12 inches long.

It is fairly unobtrusive when not lit, and can be attached in a non-damaging manner to the car ( I made some clips there are secured by the interior garnish moulding.).

This unit can be wired to function as full-width stop, or Left-half / Right-half turn / Full width stop, depending on how your vehicle is set-up.

The advantage is that mounting in the rear window puts the bright LEDs right up in the sight-line of most modern drivers. It's hard to ignore.

Even if you brighten the OEM stop/tail light with LEDs, their small size and low placement may be not noticeable to modern (distracted) drivers.

[Smooth_One]

Originally Posted by Chippy Minton

I'd worry more about the weekends than the commute. Has anybody mentioned a mobile phone and a credit card?

I have both of those. lol

[Smooth_One]

Originally Posted by Karl

I've driven my model A to work probably an average of 2 days per week the last 10 years. On the days I don't drive that I often take my 1913 Model T or the 1910 Hupmobile or in the last year the 1934 Ford V8. In fact I use my work car so infrequently my accountant has advised my business to sell the car out of my business as there is no tax advantage in the business owning it.

My cars are all stock and well serviced. The only tools I carry is the original tool kit . I carry no spares at all (but have them at home) . My commute is about 4 miles as well. If I took only half of what some people here consider essential I would have to fit a tow bar and buy a trailer !!

In the ten years I have had one flat battery (left the light switch on) and I crank started it and one ammeter failure (bypassed it by attaching its wires to one terminal) . In the Hupmobile I sheared off the magneto drive and all the spares in the world would not have got me going that day ! I rang my wife and she towed me home I hopped in the Model A and drove to work and was still on time.

Model A's and in fact all early fords are well built and reliable if serviced and looked after. With a four mile daily commute what spares would they have carried in 1930 ? -Your car should be at least as good as it was in 1930 and probably more reliable with modern oils and gas.

Stop worrying drive it and enjoy!

Thanks! I will enjoy it! You have quite a list of awesome cars sir!
There is what looks like a early 20s model T roadster in my town that has sat in the same exact spot under some guys carport for about 15 or 20 years now and one day I am going to go by when I get my car finished and offer him some money for it.

[ronn]

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The guys only talking about a four mile trip!


I agree- just wing it! and...........
get yourself the basic triple A policy in case you ever need a tow. around 60.

[C26Pinelake]

Originally Posted by ronn

The guys only talking about a four mile trip!


I agree- just wing it! and...........
get yourself the basic triple A policy in case you ever need a tow. around 60.

I totally agree. For a four mile trip many of the suggestions are very excessive. I was expecting to see, lease a tow truck and put it on standby. It's four miles, get on with it. Wayne

[Brianfrench65]

Originally Posted by 1930 coupe

It is very dangerous to stop on the side of the road. If I cannot get it going in 15 minutes I call the wife and have her bring the tow bar. After I get it home and it cools down I work on it.
My car is bone stock and I have only had to pull it home one time in 45 years.

That is an interesting tow bar. Did you build it? How does it attach to the A?

Thank You;

[Brianfrench65]

Thank you very much! This sounds easy enough.

Thank You Very Much;

[coupe1942]

The tools you will need will always be the very ones you left on that workbench in your garage.

I drove the wheels off my '30 tudor as a daily driver and work vehicle for years before selling it. I didn't treat it as a trailer queen, nor did I shelter it from the elements. I pretty well drove it just as the originals were sold from the dealerships and meant to be driven. I drove it in Owensboro, KY, Iowa Park, Tx and Arlington, Tx so I pretty well had all seasons covered and found some uniqueness to driving in the 4' snow in Owensboro in the dead of winger vs the hotter 'n hell summer temps in the Wichita Falls area.

I ran out of gas a few times, but there was always some good soul who came by an helped, most often because they spotted the unique auto and really just anted to be around it. No other major break downs to speak of for me, but I did have a fuse blow out a few times on the starter to it. I was lucky I suppose. A funny experience, but a brow shorts moment, was when I had stuffed a shop rag into the hold on the cowl for that manifold heater to be inserted. It was winter and I didn't have the manifold heater, so I stuffed that red rag in the hole to block the air there. Later I was driving to work when I noticed smoke billowing out under the dash and gas tank like a run away
bar-be-que smoker. A corner of that rag had touched the muffler and caught on fire. I was all over the road in trying to stop out that fire with my leg extended across the seat and trying to stop the vehicle at the same time. Stupid human trick #4,501 for me, but I did get it out and only had a brown shorts moment from the experience and not a Darwin award in killing myself.

Any rate, the best thing to worry over in using a Model A for a daily driver is the other guy. Lights or no lights, you really have to do defensive driving at all times to remain safe. Not everyone behind you will respect the idea that it is a vintage car or that it does not do the super slabs at 90 miles per hour. Not everyone is attentive and not everyone is always in a "take it easy" mode as they drive. Give the other fellow room to act the fool and never let someone else rush you into making a turn or a stop any quicker than you really should. Side roads are not always any safer, but look out for the other guy no matter what type of road your traveling on. Speed is not your friend in going to work or just driving it as a daily driver about town.

Me, I ran into problems in using it to go to work as I always had a delay if I stopped. People wanted photos or wanted to ask questions or wanted to make comments. I got called outside by folk to chat about it and sometimes even my staff pulled me out to show the car off to their friends or ask about it. That didn't always make my boss happy and when I became a school nurse in Arlington, I simply couldn't drive it to the elementary school I worked at, as the kids would have been all over it and at all times of the day. I made that mistake in taking my sidecar rig to school a couple of times and it was hectic in just keeping the kids away from it.

I suppose I can lie or stretch the truth when I get my '30 pickup running again and try to drive on my insurance policy and vintage tags which really say I can only take it to shows, parades and ice cream parlors. Not sure I want to do that though, but it is not my main daily driver these days like my ole tudor was.

Oh, well, interesting to see what others can't live without in using their A as a daily driver. I had a 12 mile run to work each day and I learned to never take off fast (and I mean even a slow fast speed) with ice on the road and stopped at a red light. The tail will pass your front end if you speed off like a bat out of hell in ice. Torque is an interesting item. :-)

It was funny in Owensboro, Ky, as I got to work every single day in the dead of winter and in snow as high as a foot in my '30 tudor, but a lot of folk, even with 4 wheel drive vehicles, could not get past their front driveways. Sure wish I had a manifold heater back then though. That little upside down moon shaped area that my 6" windshield wiper always slung the ice from side to side on in clearing was always a challenge to see out of when driving.

Good luck to you in what you decide to do and what all you find necessary to make it a more dependable vehicle as a daily driver. Lots of interesting thoughts and opinions here. I guess I am just a minimalist, but my times in running out of gas were some of the fondest memories of my old '30 tudor I had. Nice folk always came to the rescue.

[katy]

[QUOTEThat is an interesting tow bar. Did you build it? How does it attach to the A?][/QUOTE]

Years ago a friend had a tow bar that clamped onto the front bumper bars. We used it for pulling quite a few cars, including Model As, worked slick.

[1928Pickuppain]

As some one who drove there model A as there daily driver and only car for 4 years though hot summer days and New England blizzards putting about 150 miles a day on it I have some good insite on this topic. The reality is most of you who break down do so because your cars just aren't driven enough the more you drive an A the stronger and more reliable it gets once you dive the bugs out of it (the bugs the ocational trip doesn't shake loose) they really are bullet proof. My biggest break down was I had a water pump seize up on me once on a 3800 mile road trip; and believe me my truck was far from being in mint condition.

I recommend a good set of tires. And extra point plate all set up and an extra condenser.
Rainx is good and don't forget to use your hand signals turning. Adding the second tail light helps incase a cop with no knowledge of older cars stops you. All these modern things like led lights and lap belts just give you a feeling of being better of but really aren't. Cops have both bright blue lights and they still end up road kill during a tragic stop. And in regard to the 6vt system, iv had plenty of alternators let me down dead on side of road. It those old gens go out slowley and tell you there going. You'll I find in our As the 6 by system works just fine if it doesn't it's becouse your car has a problem. My repop aluminum nitrate reflectors with original incandescent bulbs and reflectors work the balls on 6vt much brighter than my 12v salvaina sealed beams in my Jeep Wrangler that are (also relayed)

Drive it and have fun and remember if something on the car is not up to par it's not cuz the system isent good it's because your cars not right. My model A was the most reliable car I've ever had oh btw keep a pair of nilon stockings in your car in case you ever lose a fan belt or water pump tie from crank to gen and go. The water pump realy Isn't needed when driving only sitting at red lights on hot days. And one piece of information that was given to me by Keith True on here) that has never let me down (99% of all carberator problems are electrical) i.e. Always ignition and wireing not carb so as soon as you start thing carb just push carb out of your mind. Have fun good luck don't listen to crazy naysayers saying you need every mod in the book and a trailer of spair parts.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Be sure to carry "SNAKE OIL" with your spares!--It comes in a corked bottle--NEVER know when you'll encounter a SNAKE!!
Bill Prepared

[Floats]

Hi Smoothy,
I used a large screw driver to bend the clamp a little. The armor cable id still in position, but just finger tight. It looks original, but you can pull it clear if need be.
Enjoy your car.

[Redbird]

I added a "slow moving vehicle sign" to the back of mine for a little added protection that stands out visually. Other cars can come up on you real fast.

[Mike V. Florida]

I like hearing about those who plan or use their car often.

[Mike V. Florida]

Originally Posted by TerryH

The driving to work insurance can be a big deal, as a lot of "antique car" policy's do not allow it. My personal recommendation, besides adding LED tail lights, is to also have the right side second tail light, along with working turn signals. I also have quartz halogen headlights and really like them.

Print out some cards with the local club/national clubs information and if there is a problem you can say you were on a membership drive for the club, a club event!

[29Cabriolet]

Originally Posted by H. L. Chauvin

. . . .10. Small folding female umbrella;. . . .

How does one tell a female umbrella from a male umbrella???