1930 FORD MODEL A

When my father was in high school, he purchased a 1930 Model-A Tudor Sedan. He was the second owner. In about 1966, it was stored in a neighbor's garage and it sat there until the spring of 1999. At that time, I rescued it and added it to my collection of things to build before I die.

March 2001

When I ran out of money and space to continue work on my airplane projects, I started work on the Model-A. Not bad shape for a free car to me! No body rust and just needed to be washed, but... I... can't... stop... Must.... take... apart... Urge... too... great.

My first goal was to strip it down and see if the engine was in good shape. If it was, I wanted to see if it would start. (Actually, my helper here did all the work).

April 2001

Broke four head bolts, three required to be drilled out. I fixed that after a month of Sundays. Cleaned the carbon off and unstuck one valve. I ordered almost all the parts required for the spark. Got a new battery and ground cable and made a temporary setup. After monkeying around for about 30 minutes (Damn Craig, I thought YOU torqued the head down) it started after 34 years.

May-July 2001

Stripped it down to bare frame and started sandblasting. Just put those parts anywhere, I'll find 'em later. And who the heck painted the engine ORANGE?!

I Sandblasted the frame and rear axle assembly on what seemed the hottest day of the year.

August 2001

I built a sandblasting cabinet out of particle board for under $70 (got tired of sand on the back of my neck). It's got a hinged top and a Plexiglass window.

What I did after this photo was taken was to drill a hole in the bottom and let the sand pour into a bucket. I also drilled two holes in the side for the air hose and sand pick-up hose. The sand pick-up goes into a second bucket with a screen over the top held on by a bungie cord. When that runs out of sand, I pour the sand from the first bucket into the second and screen all the junk out. Works well.

I also drilled a hole for the shop-vac hose and connected it. The shop-vac doesn't have a filter on because it clogs quickly. It's and old shop-vac so I'm not concerned about the dust damaging the fan. A second hose exhausts the shop-vac to the outside.

Nice and big on the inside: 48"W x 30"D x 24"H. Just don't drop anything in, It's impossible to reach the bottom without climbing in.

WARNING - sandblasting generates dust that is too small for your lungs to cough up, similar to asbestos. The name for this is Silicosis and it will slowly KILL YOU. A dust mask doesn't help and neither will your painting mask (read the labels, Not For Sandblasting). If you sandblast and have any tell-tale dust in your nose, STOP and add more dust collection. You also don't want that dust in your shop. If you're working on large parts outside,get a fresh air mask.

Craig painting the frame... I mixed the paint and plugged in the hose and noticed Craig standing there, smile on his face, fists clenched in anticipation, and bouncing on his toes. I asked "Criag, do you want to paint a little?" and never got the gun back. (He hadn't shot paint since he rebuilt a '69 Mustang a few years ago.)

October 2001

Work wherever you can find the space. On a nice day, outdoors isn't too bad. This is a picture of my house in Murphysboro, about 20 miles from the garage where I keep the rest of the car... what a pain.

I achieved a painting Zen that day, I found that perfect match between the consistancy of the paint, the pressure to the gun, and the adjustments of the fan and feed. Now I know what Craig was feeling.

(The other wheel isn't finished, just the spokes have paint)

Some parts were severly pitted. The wheels are about as bad as the strut shown here, which bothers me. Everyone sees the body and the wheels and I would like to put on a good showing. Maybe I'll have them powder coated after the car is finished.

AUGUST 2003

My wife and I had our second son, we moved, I had to build a new garage, and do some major remodeling on the house. I haven't taken a lot of pictures during the year.

SEPTEMBER 2003

The body and remaining parts get moved over to the new garage.

SEPTEMBER 2004

My aunt and uncle have a farm outside of town that had an empty barn. I moved the running gear out there to free up some space in my garage.

Who doesn't like taking the running gear around for a ride?!

MARCH 2007

After being stored in my garage and my uncle's barn for too long, the body and running gear get moved again. This time to the new workshop.

JUNE 2007

With the body and running gear in the same workshop, I finished the front fenders and running boards and put them on the frame.

JULY 2007

Now to work a little on the body.

Before:

OCTOBER 2007

After:

Hang in there... After six and a half years, the frame was rolled under and the body and the two were again one. (And I'll be damned if I didn't take a picture of it!)

AUGUST 2008

After sitting in my shop for months collecting dust, I decided to paint the gas tank, install it and get the car running again. I've had boxes of parts that have just been sitting on a shelf, so I set aside one Saturday to bolt on as much as I could. This included all the parts to redo the fuel system, new wiring, a new dashboard, etc.

I got it going and drove the block over to the car wash to knock off the dust. I took my boys and their friend with me; they had a blast.