Celebrity Owners of the New Ford

[al's28/33]

I know the FIRST "A" went to Thomas Edison, Mary Pickford had a sport coupe, Cecil B. DeMille had a tudor....is there a list or picture records of famous celebrities from the early days showing off their new Model "A" wheels ????

[John Butts in CT]

Good question! FDR owned at least one, and was photographed with 1-2 others. Add Hollywood stars Emil Jannings and Sir Harry Lauder. David Rockefeller had a '31 Standard Phaeton, which he sold to his brother Nelson in 1933. Averell Harriman owned a '29 phaeton. the heavyweight champ Primo Carnera owned a sedan. Others?

[Glenn of northport]

Douglas Fairbanks JRhad a28,Dolores Del REO had a 28 sport coupe.

[WTSHNN]

Joan Crawford


-Tim

[WTSHNN]

Mary Pickford



-Tim

[WTSHNN]

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FDR



-Tim

[WTSHNN]

Edison and his Tudor (taken from Vintage Ford Facts)



-Tim

[WTSHNN]

Robert Pershing Wadlow...

[clo2jim]

Don't forget Andy Griffith

[LukeDahlinger]

James Couzens, former Ford employee and confidant of Henry Ford later to become Mayor of Detroit & US Senator was given a Sport Coupe by Henry Ford.

This car was serial number 35- the same serial number of Couzens' first Ford back in 1903.

I had a picture of him & the car somewhere but I can't find it.

[ctlikon0712]

My mother inlaw grew up in Warm Springs Ga. 2 years ago we toured the Little White House there where FDR had his Polio Therapy center. A very nice and educational place.

[Chris Haynes]

Originally Posted by John Duden

notice the heavy braces on his legs! he NEVER gave up when he came down with polio

Now it has come to light that he did not have polio. Polio originally was called Infantile Paralysis because it affected children. My father had it when he was a child. FDR was an adult when he contracted Guillain-Barre disease with symptoms similar to polio, but also has different symptoms.

[Tudortomnz]

Janet Gaynor- the 'It Girl' of 1928!
This photo bugged me for years ; who was she & what was she doing on the Detroit assembly line in a RHD Tudor?
I think Bruce Lancaster recognised her & she appears to have been an endorsee for Ford cars in that era as well as an actress.
The car was probably one of the first RHD's which were sent off for displays outside the US.

[WTSHNN]

Originally Posted by Jeff/Illinois

Interesting pictures! Thanks!

That one of Mr. Wadlow almost looks like it was a trick shot,,,he'd had to have been ten feet tall to tower over that Model A like that!! Maybe more??
[/B]

He was 8 feet 11 inches.

-Tim

[WTSHNN]

Found this picture recently...
-Tim

[Chris H]

Hi All:
Robert Wadlow was also known as the Alton Giant, from Alton, Ill. He was 8'-11" tall and weighed 439 lbs. That photo was no trick shot. People that I know that knew him say he was one of the nicest guys around. He died from an infection at the age of 22 in 1940. He still has family in the Alton area. For more information just "Google" him.

Chris

[Jim Mason]

Originally Posted by Tudortomnz

Janet Gaynor- the 'It Girl' of 1928!

It might be Janet Gaynor, but the 'it' girl was Clara Bow...

[jrapose]

Tito Jackson has a cabrolet... I was working at vintage ford, a man drove up in a limo and got out, went to the back and put on his coverallls...then came into the shop...Hank the owner introduced us....Tito worked with me that afternoon, I found him a very nice person...someone I could be friends with...not at all star struck..a real down home person... nice guy.

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Originally Posted by fordgarage

Who is Tito Jackson?

I believe he was the late Michael's brother and also sang with the rest of the family (Jackson 5)?

[jrapose]

Yes that is he...actually a very nice guy....especially coming from such a strange family... has a nice cabriolet. Also likes to work on it himself..

[John LaVoy]

I remember seeing pictures of Hubert Humphrey, our Vice President, with a Model A. It would be interesting to see if we could trace down one of these cars and have it at the new Model A Museum that will be opening May 18th 2013.

[CHuDWah]

Originally Posted by John Duden

notice the heavy braces on his legs! he NEVER gave up when he came down with polio

He mostly got around in a wheelchair as he could walk only with great difficulty even with braces and crutches. He seldom, if ever, allowed himself to be photographed or seen in public in it. He felt it would make him appear weak, thereby diminishing people's confidence in the president when they needed it most during the Depression and WW2. The press was pretty cooperative in that regard - doubt they would be today.

Originally Posted by ctlikon0712

2 years ago we toured the Little White House there where FDR had his Polio Therapy center.

Not Model A, but they have his 38 convertible sedan with hand controls there.

[LukeDahlinger]

Not to derail the thread, but FDR's Warm Springs, GA center was funded in part by frequent donations from Edsel & Eleanor Ford- who were personal friends with FDR. Henry Ford hated that Edsel was close friends with FDR, same with many of Edsel's "stiffneck SOB's he calls friends"(Henry Ford's words not mine.)

/thread derail

[WTSHNN]

Some FDR shots..







-Tim

[painterrick]

Don't forget Will Rogers He was presented with a Tudor by Edsel Ford He was quoted to say"Henry Ford has done more to change the lives and customs of this country than all the presidents ever elected.He started half of the world cranking,and the other half dodging"

[swo4rd]

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Hubert Humphrey had a phaeton and there was another phaeton on the Walton's...

[raprice]

I believe that Will Rogers owned one of the first Model As.

Rog

[WTSHNN]

Originally Posted by swo4rd

Hubert Humphrey had a phaeton

There are some pictures of him and his cars posted here...
http://fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=79625

-Tim

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

FDR was my hero, I had Polio in 1937, several surgeries, and wore braces as a kid. After gettin' old, I wear braces AGAIN, but I can still drive Model A's, thankfully!! I've built some hand controls for folks in the past, very rewarding! I added a small Bendix Hydrovac unit to the hydraulic operated clutch on a '62 Jaguar XKE for a guy that had a weak left leg. That was before they put automatics in the XKE. Bill W.

[Barney]

Hi, don't forget John-Boy Waltons Model A. Oh, sorry i forget this guy is not real.

Nevertheless, this series is not entirely innocent of my preference. When I was a child ran the series. And I loved the cars.

Greetings
Barney

[WTSHNN]

-Tim

[DougVieyra]

Tudortomnz-
"Janet Gaynor- the 'It Girl' of 1928!
This photo bugged me for years ; who was she & what was she doing on the Detroit assembly line ?"
__________________________________________________ ______

Clara Bow was the original 'IT' Girl. So dubbed from her starring role in the 1927 Silent Movie "The IT Girl". The next year she starred, along with Buddy Rogers, in the 1928 Block Buster "WINGS', which won BEST PICTURE in the first year of the Academy Awards. Clara Bow was a TOP star during the late twenties, along with another great actress of the Silent Screen, Janet Gaynor. Both of these two great Silent Movie stars (along with a great many others) slowly declined with the advent of TALKING PICTURES, ushered in by Warner Brother's first talkie, THE JAZZ SINGER, with Al Jolson, released in 1928. Talkies made the transition during 1929 and dominated by 1930.

Henry Ford was well-recognized as one of the first automobile companies to squeeze as much FREE publicity as possible out of the national media. One way to do that was to get the icons of the time - Movie Stars - to endorse his NEW FORD. And he was superb at it.

[Tiny]

Originally Posted by WTSHNN

-Tim

Tim
Thats great two of my favorites Model A's and fried chicken if he only had a beer in his hand

[P.S.]

Originally Posted by Tiny

Tim
Thats great two of my favorites Model A's and fried chicken if he only had a beer in his hand

Here is another shot of Harlan Sanders with his 30 or 31 Model A coupe.

[mrraford]

Will Rogers had a tudor I believe. There is a nice picture out there with him driving and Wiley Post in the passenger seat.

[31 Model A]

Originally Posted by WTSHNN

-Tim

Col Sanders was on a promotional trip to Hawaii in 1969, can't remember the exact month, he ran into a GI on R&R from Nam and spending it with his family. Back then we could use our 'out of country R&R' and go to Hawaii to spend that one week with the family who would fly in also. After this guy returned to Nam, he was dispatched to the local airstrip to pick up a plane load of KFC dinners for his company, compliments of Col Harland Sanders.
This was reported in the Pacific Stars and Stripes and AFRTSVietnam

[Synchro909]

One more family not yet mentioned - The Beverley Hillbillies!!!
Laurel and Hardy too - or was that a T.

[Neil Mylar LakewoodCA]

Remember this 1950's family?

[WTSHNN]

[700rpm]

I seem to remember that either the cabriolet or the roadster that FDR owned was crashed by one of his employees, and I think it was on his private property. Anybody else ever hear that story?

[C26Pinelake]

Originally Posted by 700rpm

I seem to remember that either the cabriolet or the roadster that FDR owned was crashed by one of his employees, and I think it was on his private property. Anybody else ever hear that story?

I love your stories ! Where did you ever hear this one? Wayne

[blgitn]

Originally Posted by tiny

tim
thats great two of my favorites model a's and fried chicken if he only had a beer in his hand

amen!!!

[pooch]

Originally Posted by Barney

Hi, don't forget John-Boy Waltons Model A. Oh, sorry i forget this guy is not real.

Nevertheless, this series is not entirely innocent of my preference. When I was a child ran the series. And I loved the cars.

Greetings
Barney

I was a big fan of that series.

In the episode, the coupe was owned by a dead son of a local guy.

The father was grieving for a long time, used to take it for a wash down by the river every week, whether it needed it or not and polished it and put it back in the barn.

John Boy did a barter to fix the guy's house after a storm in exchange for the car.

Very strange that the paint would have been perfect,I seem to remember it was dark blue, but John Boy had it repainted in cream just for the heck of it.

And all this in the depression when he had no money.

Another funny thing was all John Boy had to do was supply some lumber and work for about 2 weeks on the guy's house.

The car at that time would have been worth far more than a 17 year working for 2 weeks and some of Dad/s lumber.

[ronn]

Maybe he smacked his head getting into that Coupe and that started it all!


Ive heard of "four banger" but didnt realize the term "head banger" came from the ole colonel himself!

[Chuck Dempsey]

If we are talking fiction too, don't forget Andy Hardy knew a good car when he saw one. Here he is after his custom paint job, and Judy Garland admiring the 'before' version....

[frank mcdaniels]

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I remember as a young boy in the 60s reading an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune about our own Hubert Humphry and his Model A tudor sedan. I always liked him after that, thinking if that was what he liked driving he must be a pretty cool guy. Frank

[WTSHNN]

Originally Posted by forever4

Andy Griffith and Jerry Lewis also

That's right. I think The Restorer did an article about his collection years back.




-Tim

[Brad in Germany]

Prince Michael (Mihai) of Romania owned a 1930 Ford Model A Cabriolet:

According to the citation on the back of this press photo:
"Proud of His New Toy
Like other boys of his age, Michael, son of King Carol of Rumania, is particularly fond of mechanical toys but now a brand new American-built automobile has superseded the toy automobile formerly driven by young Michael whose father succeeded him on the thrown. Michael and his father, with Michael driving, are often seen together in this automobile around the palace grounds in Bucharest. Associated Press Photo, 12/4/30"




Fordially,
Brad in Maryland

Note: The old English spelling of the country name was "Rumania" which was phased out around 1975 in favor of using the more modern spelling "Romania".

[WTSHNN]

Jackson Pollock...





-Tim