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1928 Ford as Purchased
I became a Model A Ford owner quite by chance, I was working on a construction job with a superintendent who liked to tell stories about when he was young and living in Texas, he and his friends would buy Model A's and run them until something broke, then abandon the car and buy another one for $25.00 or so, and run the next one into the ground as well.
One day I mentioned to the Superintendent that I had seen an advertisement in the San Diego newspaper for a Model A Ford for sale, let's go look at it after work he said. I made arrangements to meet the owner of the car for sale at his house that evening. At this time I thought we were looking at the car for the superintendent to buy, I knew nothing about Model A Fords, except that they were old, and when guys would talk about them, they said how much fun they had driving them.
After work the superintendent and I drove to the sellers house, the superintendent looked the car over and remarked that it was in good shape, no damage and everything was there. I was in shock as it looked like a pile of junk to me. As the superintendent and I talked it over I realized he was not going to buy it, he wanted me to buy it instead. I made the owner an offer, which he accepted, and then I was the new owner of a 1928 Model A Ford in need of a lot of work.
I asked the seller if I could drive it home as I did not have a trailer, he laughed and said, I would not drive it around the block. I called a neighbor of mine who had a trailer and the next day we took it to my house.
By the next day I had removed the spark plugs, sprayed oil into each cylinder and burned up all the six volt electrical wiring, and generator with a twelve volt battery. But I was persistent, so I removed a coil from a tractor and rewired the engine with alligator clips and tape. After pouring a gallon of gas into the tank the engine started right up and ran smoothly, I drove it up and down my driveway a couple of times and was quickly hooked on this old car.
By now I had owned the car three or four days. I figured it would be ok to touch up the paint, repair the top and upholstery, and drive the car. When I checked the fluid levels I noticed that the oil level went up about the same as the water level went down. I ran the engine anyway but noticed that the oil was now white and frothy. There was water in the oil, maybe a bad head gasket ? NO, it was a cracked block from front to back inside the valve chamber. Someone had run the engine out of water and cracked the block. I pulled the engine out of the car and began several years of collecting parts that would be needed to restore the car. The car sat under a tarp for years, as the mice chewed up the remaining upholstery and peed in the pans of good parts and turned them into a rusted glob.
I soon realized that the price I paid for the car was insignificant compared to what I was about to pay to get the car in good running shape.
The car had not been damaged by an accident, only years of neglect.
This seat was trash. Luckily I was able to purchase new springs, and reuse the wood and steel frame.
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