Model A owners show off their classic loves
Venerable vehicles from as far away as Norway and Australia converge on Ford club convention
Henry's Ford's Model A is one of the world's most enduring vehicles.
Hundreds of Ford Model A cars and trucks converged on Vancouver this past week.
Almost
450 owners came from as far away as Norway, Australia, New Zealand,
Mexico and from all over the U.S. Many of these venerable vehicles, all
more than 80 years old, were driven to Model A Ford Club of America's
2010 convention, which was hosted by Vancouver's Lions Gate Model A
Club.
Among the more than 250 Model A Fords of all body styles
taking part in the gathering was a 1929 Model A Snowbird which is an
early snowmobile owned by Ross MacLeod, of Abbotsford.
Driving a
Ford Model A is nothing new for retired diesel mechanic Jim Wong. The
Burnaby resident drives his Niagara blue 1928 Model A, two-door sedan
every day. Wong completed a four-year-long restoration of the car in
1998 and since then has driven it almost 42,000 kilometres, to
destinations as far away as California.
"It's quite reliable and
I have no problem driving at 45 to 50 miles per hour," Wong says. "The
main thing is to drive the car and enjoy it."
On summer days, the old car enthusiast volunteers his car to take visitors around the Burnaby Museum.
Driving
a Model A roadster is also a passion for retired baker Jim Bennett. The
Vancouver resident is very popular with his grandchildren, taking them
for rides in his very red modified 1929 Ford with the top down and the
rumble seat up. His car has the original look but has been highly
modified with Chevrolet V8 power and many creature comforts. He
purchased his car from a Vancouver Island restorer.
A very rare
1928 Ford Model A Special Coupe pulling a matching trailer is a regular
at Vancouver-area classic car shows. Owner Joe Gulbransen, of Delta,
did much of the work on this car himself. Power comes from a 350 cubic
inch Chevrolet V8 engine and the car and trailer are painted Corvette
yellow.
Nearly five million Ford Model A vehicles were produced
from the fall of 1927 through 1931 as Henry Ford's second mass-produced
automobile, which followed the famous Model T manufactured and sold
over an eighteen-year period.
Prices ranged from just $385 for
the roadster to $1,400 for a top-of-the-line town car. It was available
in a wide variety of standard and deluxe models including roadster,
business and sport coupes, convertible cabriolet, phaeton, two-and
four-door sedans, two-door Victoria, station wagon, taxi cab, pickup
and commercial truck.
These cars were all powered by a 201-cubic
inch four-cylinder engine producing 40 horsepower. The Model A was the
first Ford car to use the standard set of driver controls with
side-by-side clutch, brake and accelerator pedals and a floor mounted
three-speed gearshift.
North Vancouver's Bart Nygard has had a
long history with Model A Fords. He attended the Model A convention in
a 1930 standard roadster that he bought in California after spotting it
for sale on eBay. It is the same as the battered roadster he and his
brother shared in the mid 1940s.
"Back then, you could buy any
Model A for a hundred dollars," the 80-year-old recalls. "That car was
a real beater and I'm sure we didn't pay nearly that amount for it."
The brothers, who lived on a 10-acre farm above the Lougheed and
Brunette intersection in Coquitlam, patched the car up and kept it
together with baling wire. "We drove it everywhere," Nygard says.
The
standard roadster he owns today is a typical Model A Ford in all black
with a straw coloured stripe. The standard has a rear mounted spare
instead of fender-mounted spares offered in the deluxe model. Nygard's
Model A roadster is complete down to the Ford tools and jack. It's very
reliable and the perfectly restored car is definitely a step up from
the battered and bruised Model A roadster he and his brother purchased
more than six decades ago.
Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and partner in Peak Communicators, a Vancouver-based public relations company.
|
|
