Seasons

Fall is full upon us here in Michigan; summer is setting. For the me and the Model A, this means a short ride here and there when the weather dries out enough, and when I can find time away from last-minute outdoor projects and the drudgery of raking leaves. Soon I will clean out the back end of the garage, lay down a couple sheets of Visqueen, winterize the engine, and bring the battery in for winter.

It's not over for us, however. There are a lot of things I want to tinker on this winter: replace interior screws, figure out why the door handles are held on by wood screws, fidget with the instrument panel and see if I can't get the thing to sit square. There's also some funky wiring that needs to be fixed. Another project is installing seat belts and seeing if I can't find a way to secure two car seats in the back. (The risk of an accident is small, but I don't want a fender-bender sending my toddler through a windshield.)

All told, I am looking forward to having some time to prep the panel truck for spring, when we'll be back on the road again!

Classic Car Show—Greenfield Village

This year I participated in my first car show — Greenfield Village's Classic Car Festival. What a weekend! The weather was perfect, and the crowds were crazy big. I met other drivers in Madison Heights, and we drove in a caravan to the show on Saturday morning. It's about 24 miles that way, avoiding the highways, and by driving down earlier in the week, it saved me from making the Saturday morning drive a 48-mile affair.

All in all, we had a great time. My wife wasn't feeling well enough to make it, so I passed on the gas-light event in the evening. I've seen this in the past, and it's great. Once the sun goes down on Saturday, the village lights their gas street lamps. Drivers then start up their cars and drive around the dusky, lit streets. There are fireworks a bit later, and then everyone goes home.

Instead, I brought my daughter down on Sunday. Though she was chomping at the bit to ride the carousel, and had a great time at it, all she's talked about since is our ride in my uncle's 1909 Model T.

I need to work a little on my presentation. The panel truck is a great vehicle, but in the commercial category, the other trucks are much more visually interesting. I am hoping to add a photo presentation that my grandfather put together, and I have some ideas for explaining the Model A Panel Truck and its place in the Ford commercial line-up for 1931 (especially how it differs from the De Luxe Panel Truck).

The return to Madison Heights was exhausting. Aside from the sun beating down through the driver's window, the cab is a bit tight, and all that shifting begins to wear you down. I think I had to stop at nearly 25-30 lights, and at least half of those I talked with the folks in the cars around me, answering questions about the truck (Where'd you get the car? How old is it? How fast can you go?). It certainly is a nice ice breaker.

I am already looking forward to next summer, when maybe I will have a chance to tool around some local shows as well.