Old Car Festival

The Old Car Festival is coming up this weekend at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. For as long as I've had the panel truck, the past two or three years, I've been signed up to show it at Greenfield Village. Every year something happens to thwart my intentions. Most often it's that I have books due in September, and I am spending every waking hour writing.

This year is different... hopefully. This summer we worked on the steering, and it seems to be fine. The gas gauge no longer leaks (at least I think it's fixed—still need to fill er up to make sure). And I changed out the battery for a new one. We started it up last weekend and took it out for a little pampering at the car wash.

On Labor Day morning, however, my dad and I were taking it to my uncle's garage so that we could caravan over to Dearborn on Saturday morning with other drivers. About fifteen miles into the trip, the car stalls on the expressway. We ended up getting it towed to the aforementioned garage, and I've been told it's whatever might be wrong is an easy fix and the truck will be ready for Saturday.

Today my dad and uncle swapped out the distributor and put in a new condenser. It kills me to be here at work and not helping, but hopefully I can glean some info about the process and add it to my inventory of "stuff I know about Model A's."

One Truck's Pedigree, Part 1

The story of my 1931 Model A panel truck begins in Dearborn, Michigan, at Henry Ford's expansive River Rouge complex.

Construction on River Rouge began in 1917 and was completed in 1928. Building B (the Dearborn Assembly Plant) was used to build boats during WWI. The first automobile built here was the Model A in 1927. (The Model T was made in Ford's Highland Park plant.)

It was purchased by a plumber from Detroit at the Robert W. Ford's dealership at 13471 Michigan Avenue. The plumber was my grandmother's uncle, Tom. From the original catalog that came with the truck I gather he must have debated between the "Model A Panel Delivery" and the "Model A De Luxe Delivery." These two trucks are found, respectively, on pages 14 and 15 along with notes in scratched in pencil. The De Luxe, it seems, was going to cost him around $655. The panel truck was $590, but from the notes, it looks like he got it down to $525. He also annotated the measurements, possibly considering plumbing tools and odd supplies as he jotted down numbers.

Whether or not the final decision came down to dollars and sense, or a careful weighing of the practicalities of each vehicle, can't be known for certain, but in the end the panel delivery won the day.

The Model A panel truck has been in my family for years. Here it is before Grandpa had it all restored nice in the 80s. My sister and I are sitting on the fenders.