MEMBER'S STORIES
This page is dedicated to stories submitted by the members.
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1929 Station Wagon restored by Ben Staub Sr. (One of the Dayton-Buckeye Model A Ford club founders) parked in front of Henry Ford's home in Dearborn Michigan.
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Member Marty Hanshew at the Henry Ford Old Car Festival 9-7-2024. Marty is inspecting a 1908 Northern Model C automobile made in Richmond, IN which was brought to the Old Car Festival by Jerry and Kim Kramer of Richmond.
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Don Worley 2024 Outstanding Member of the Year.
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Don Worley and Greta.
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Prenger Family 1930 Ford AA Wayne Body School Bus
This 1930 Ford Model AA Bus, manufactured in Richmond, Indiana, was restored by Will & Carol Prenger, which were long-time members of the Dayton Buckeye Model A Ford Club. The bus was passed down to Will's daughter and son-in-law, Cindy & Pat Heitkamp. Will passed away in 2019.
In 1990, a section of the east bank of Grand Lake St. Marys (Saint Marys, Ohio), known as “Slim’s” was being cleaned when the body of an old school bus was found inside an old fishing shack along the lake. It had no floor, back door, windows, or chassis, just a shell.
One of the buses panels revealed it was the #3 bus used in Spencerville, Ohio, with a listed capacity of 40 people. The remains of the seats indicated there were bench seats running horizontally under the windows.
Will started working on the bus in 1995. He had a chassis with a long bed, but no pictures or specs to work from, so had to improvise. Once getting it restored enough to drive, he realized it was too tall to get out of the garage which required some disassembly and adjustments.
Will’s granddaughter wanted to use the bus for her wedding, which was an inspiration in completing the restoration. It was completed in time for her to use for her wedding in 1999.
This bus was used in the Buckeye Bank Robbery Film produced by the Dayton Buckeye Model A Ford Club.
In 1990, a section of the east bank of Grand Lake St. Marys (Saint Marys, Ohio), known as “Slim’s” was being cleaned when the body of an old school bus was found inside an old fishing shack along the lake. It had no floor, back door, windows, or chassis, just a shell.
One of the buses panels revealed it was the #3 bus used in Spencerville, Ohio, with a listed capacity of 40 people. The remains of the seats indicated there were bench seats running horizontally under the windows.
Will started working on the bus in 1995. He had a chassis with a long bed, but no pictures or specs to work from, so had to improvise. Once getting it restored enough to drive, he realized it was too tall to get out of the garage which required some disassembly and adjustments.
Will’s granddaughter wanted to use the bus for her wedding, which was an inspiration in completing the restoration. It was completed in time for her to use for her wedding in 1999.
This bus was used in the Buckeye Bank Robbery Film produced by the Dayton Buckeye Model A Ford Club.
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Thelonius Andrew Bones
By Joe Ayres - Member Since 1996
Fall, 1969. I had just come past where they had taken out the artichoke fields to build housing plats, and I made the final decision that I was going to go back East. I had been living in California for about 4 years, missed the seasons, and was wearily watching the population explosion around me. I decided that what I needed was an old truck. I had come to California on my motorcycle, and I now had way too much stuff to pack it all on the back of the bike. Heavy stuff, like expensive tools.
So, I started asking around for an old truck. The first truck I looked at was a 1948 Ford 1/2-ton flathead V8, sitting in a field up to its hubcaps in weeds, rusting away. I decided not. I asked those guys if they knew of another one, and they gave me the name of a guy that knew a guy that had a really old truck. I tried to call him, did the phone run around thing for an hour, and finally got through. He didn't own the truck himself, but said it had been in Hemmings Motor News, but was not in the newest issue, and went into the bathroom to get the old copy with the phone number.
I called the number and asked if he still had the truck and was it still $125.00? He said yes, and told me how to get there, ("Do you know the way to San Jose?"). When I got there, he told me not to mention that I might be buying the truck to his wife, as she wanted him to restore it. He was on number seven of nine and didn't want to do another one. He took me down to the barn at the bottom of the hill to see the truck.
I had been a mechanic for fifteen years but had never seen a Model A before. Actually, it was an AA, a flatbed. He had purchased it a few years before to haul building materials to the top of the mountain to build his house and hadn't used it much since. Most of the tires were flat, it was painted with white house paint with a brush, the left fender was brush painted black, and the right fender was red, and bent down almost to the tire. The wood of the bed was original, no side racks. The rest was rust.
I went back home. Two weeks later it was still calling me: "Save me... save me..." I gave in. After all, it was only 125 bucks. I went back out there with an electric windshield wiper motor and wiper, filled the gas tank with gas (first mistake), pumped up the tires, and headed for home. It went down the hill fine. At the bottom it ran out of gas.
I had put in 5 gallons! I found that the fuel line was clogged with rust from the tank. I blew it out with the tire pump, climbed back in and went another 1/4 mile. Ran out of gas and boiled over. Pumped gas line, filled radiator, went 1/4 mile, ran out of gas. Pump. 1/2 mile. Boiled and stopped again. It only went 25 miles an hour. It was going to be a long, long trip back East!
I stopped at Pete Termino's Orchard and Model A parts graveyard. He came out and tried to open the hood, went back, got a can of motor oil, and poured it down the middle of the hood, saying "You gotta teach these kids everything...!" (Rusted hinge, bending the hood when opening it.) After some fiddling, he had it running much better, gave me a very short quick lesson in Model A tuning, and told me the history of the truck.
It had been ordered by the Postal Service as a box truck, but when it came in, the Post Office didn't need it, so the box was taken off and a flatbed was put on, with supports under the bed for the rear fenders (long since rusted away) which explains the long running boards and the stub of a side mount on the right side. The original owner was a welder, who had asked Pete to sell it for him when he became too old to drive anymore. Pete had hooked him up with the man I got it from. Pete said the center main was out (which I knew) and to bring the engine in and we'd take it over to Scotty, who could rebuild it.
It took the rest of the day until dark to go to the bottom of the hill going up to Skyline Drive, where I discovered there was a hole rusted through the lower radiator tube, which was why it was running out of water so often. I took the tube off, left the truck in a gas station, (no lights, dark out) and went home. It had taken me all day to go less than 30 miles, boiling over and pumping the gas line every 1/4 to 1/2 mile.
In the morning, I took the soldered-up tube back down the hill, put it on, and amazingly enough it made it all the way to the top without running out of gas again. At the top of the hill the clutch linkage broke. I drove it down the hill anyway. When I got it to the house near La Honda, I had to start it in gear to get it backed into the barn and shut it off quickly so I didn't go through the back wall.
I started to take it apart. I took the motor out and measured it. The pistons measured 0.100 over, and the block measured 0.125 over. Loose! The center main bearing was mostly in the oil pan, broken in many pieces. I took the motor parts to Scotty, a retired carpenter who had apprenticed with a blacksmith when he was a kid and had saved the old tools. He replaced the block with one that was only .040 over, poured new bearings, decked the block and the head, and put in new valves, springs and valve guides.
The more parts I took off, the more rust I found, so I kept taking parts off. I started out putting all of the bolts into sandwich bags and writing down the ones that were broken or missing. When I got it all apart, I asked a friend of mine with a pickup truck to rent a sandblaster in the city, bring it down and help me sandblast the parts. The sandblaster he got was big enough to do the Golden Gate Bridge! It blew the doors across the yard, and there was no way it could be used with the little pieces. We sand blasted the big pieces and painted them right away (outside) with red oxide primer. The little pieces had to be cleaned by hand in a washtub filled with kerosene and a wire brush. That took 3 long cold rainy California winter months.
When I got the rear end apart, I noticed wear on the housings where the wheel bearings rode, and the gears were trashed. I went to Pete Termino's Junk Yard again, took apart 9 rear ends looking for better housings and a different gear set. No better housings, but I did find a gear set that was a higher ratio, and teeth on the gears. The rear axle seals were the most trouble to find, which I finally did in Oregon, where I found some NOS parts. I got two sets and still have the second set. They are leather.
When it came to paint, I got an old refrigerator motor and a 20-gallon butane tank and made a compressor. I bought a cheap Sears spray gun, and many gallons of Ditzler paint. I was told to use lacquer, so I did. I had to heat up the garage I was to paint in with an old coal stove, heating it up at night and making sure the coals were dead before I started painting in the morning. I could paint for about 8 to 10 minutes before the pressure would drop too much and then go outside and wait 20 minutes for the compressor and breathe. A poor man has poor man's ways.
I discovered a piece that had the original paint color, called by Ditzler "Vagabond Green" The fenders and frame had been black. It was good going over all the little parts those 3 months, because I got to decide which color to paint each part (and try to figure out where they all would go...!). As I painted, I had to decide what color to paint each piece. I found two little pieces that looked like chassis pieces, so I painted them black. I have never found out where they go.
When I was cleaning the dashboard (gas tank), I found a decal under the paint. I sanded very carefully so I could read it. It said Town Motors, Redwood City. I called them and asked if they still had any of those decals and was told that they hadn't had any in years, but there was an old guy out back washing cars that had worked there back then. He remembered those trucks and verified what Pete had said about them coming from the Post Office. He also remembered the decals. I would have loved to have found a new one.
It took me 3 weeks soaking the key in penetrant to get the ignition key out of the switch. There were no door locks. There was a rubber plug in the right door where the lock should go, and the left door lock had never been used. (I was glad I had the door open when I tried to lock it, as I had to take the lock apart to get it unlocked again.)
I took the brake drums and shoes (full of grease) to a place in Oakland that did truck brakes and asked the man there if he could do these. He said "Sure, what kind of lining do you want?" I asked, "What's that that's on there?" He said, "That's called Scandinavian Woven Lining." I asked if that was any good. He asked how old it was. I said I had no idea. He asked the year of the truck, and when I told him 1929, he said it was the original stuff. He said the drums were made of steel instead of iron, so they would have to be ground out instead of turned, and he would put original type linings on. I asked if he could compensate for the drum diameter without having the backing plates, and he said sure. When I went to put the drums on, they didn't fit on. I discovered that I didn't have the adjusters backed out all of the way. When I got them all the way out, the drums fit perfectly. I have only adjusted the brakes twice since then. It stops pretty well for mechanical brakes.
I took the speedometer to a place called Vern's Speedometer Shop on Market St. in San Francisco. I asked Vern if he could fix it. He just stared at it for a long time. I began to wonder if he had heard me. I asked again. He said "It's been too long; it's been too long..." He said it might take a week or two before he could get it done. I said that was fine, the rest of the truck was still apart. He called 3 days later and said "Yer speedometer is ready." When he handed it to me, he also handed me my old parts. The only thing he used from my old speedometer was the number wheels. The rest was all NOS Ford parts. The bill was $10, and he wouldn't take more. He said it had been too long, that he had started out on those, and missed them. It had been a pleasure to work on one again.
The top of the truck was cloth, and pretty well rotted. Even the wood frame was bad. I put the whole cab onto a borrowed pickup, took it to San Francisco State College theatre department property shop, and did the best I could to copy the top wood. I didn't have oak, so I used pine. I covered the top with a sheet of 1/8th inch plywood instead of the cloth because I knew I was going to set stuff on that roof, and it would go through. I covered the wood with cloth to give it a cloth look, and poured paint into it to help it not leak.
As I started to collect parts to put it back together, I took my list of broken bolts and missing parts to Pete's Junk Yard. I asked if I could take parts off of his old trucks in return for keeping the bolts. He agreed. I found a couple of taillights and some side racks, and two hand winches out in the yard. When I got inside to pay up, he said he had been saving the side racks for a truck he was doing, but I said I already had them, and I needed them now. He let me have them. I was even able to save most of the original carriage bolts when I replaced the wood.
When I put the truck back together, I never had to lie on the floor. I put the axles together first, then put the springs on, and then the frame. When it came time to put the cab on, I went around the neighborhood and collected people to help. I ended up with four housewives and a 15-year-old kid. We lifted the cab and set it behind the motor on the frame. I got 6 people on a weekend to put the bed back on. By then I could drive the frame closer to the bed.
It had taken me more than 9 months, and I was out of money. I borrowed $100 from my brother to buy used tires and spent 3 days hammering them off the rims. One had a big break through the sidewall, which I fixed with an old innertube rubber homemade boot. Every time I parked the truck somewhere on my way across the country, someone would tell me that I was about to blow a tire and point to that tire. All the other tires blew, but that one held.
I decided the name of the truck should be Thelonius Andrew Bones. T.A. Bones for short. It's been referred to as Mr. Bones, or just "Bones" ever since.
As I started driving it, I noticed it boiled over a lot. I just assumed it was the nature of the beast. The first time I drove it into the City (San Francisco), the electric wiper motor shutoff shorted out, and I had gasoline steam from the ammeter wires under the tank. There was no fuse, so I had to jump out and cut the main wire with a pocketknife. Luckily it didn't blow up. I had to re-wire it right there in the right lane of a 4-lane highway in rush hour traffic.
I went into the City and worked on cars over the winter to earn money to get across the country, loaded up my stuff in late June, and headed out. It boiled over way too often. I stopped at Pete's Graveyard again and asked what I needed to do. He said my radiator was bad and let me work picking peaches to pay for a replacement. It was homemade, looked funky, and worked much better.
It took me a week and a half to get to New Mexico, driving 12 to 14 hours a day at 38 miles an hour. I lost the generator cutout and water pump in Phoenix. I was able to order the parts from Tucson and have them sent up by Greyhound. In New Mexico the generator failed. I was told that I wouldn't be able to get that two-piece rear bearing to rebuild my old one. I found a guy that had one, but it didn't work. He knew a guy that had a sawmill using an "A" engine for the blade. The generator on that engine worked, but the guy didn't use it. He charged his battery with a battery charger and only used the generator to make the fan belt work, so we traded. I got the two-piece bearing a couple of years ago, bought new field windings and fixed my old generator. I had burned it up by having the third brush set too high.
I stayed in New Mexico for about 4 months, earning money in a garage for half of the labor charge. The first job I did was to replace a motor in a Chevrolet pickup. He got $30. I got half. It took me a while to earn the $100 I needed to get back East. I helped build a log cabin in exchange for a place to stay, and we used the truck to haul logs and lumber.
When I got ready to move on in late October, I changed the oil and got big chunks of babbitt. I pulled the pan and found that the rear main had failed. I pulled the engine out, and took it to Albuquerque and had new mains put in.
When I started out after putting the engine back in, I had a knock. I had the main bearings replaced without taking the head off and had adjusted the rod bearings myself for the first time. Believing that I had done it wrong, I did it again on the side of the road. After about 6 attempts, I still had the knock. I would ask old timers to listen to it, and was told by one old gentleman, "Yep, that's a rod alright. You could wrap the crank with bacon rind, which should get you about 100 miles. You could use a leather belt, but that is only good for about 50 miles. Bacon rind is better. Gets fat in the motor but lasts longer."
I decided against bacon and in frustration pulled into a Ford dealership service lane in Dodge City. When I got out, I asked where "the old dude" was. I was told to take this street here to that one there (red brick) and so on. A grease monkey volunteered to take me there after work and put me up for the night. The old Dude asked me the story of the engine, went for a ride with me, and told me my pistons were hitting the head. When the mains were replaced by Scotty, compensation in the center line of the crank bearings had been made for having shaved the head. When I had the bearings replaced in New Mexico that out of center compensation was lost. Carbon buildup on the pistons was hitting the head.
He let me bring the truck inside (it was snowing out!) and take the head off. Sure enough! He said I had two choices, put in two head gaskets, or have his brother mill out the combustion chambers. I opted for the latter. He put the head on a mill and took about .020" out.
Everyone but the boss was at lunch when I finished putting the head back on. When I asked what the bill was, he called his brother at a diner and asked him. After a bunch of "yep" and "okay" responses, he said "Ten dollars" and would not take more.
Somewhere in Kansas I had help from a farmer with a vice in replacing the bushings in the distributor. When I got somewhere South of Chicago, it was well below freezing. No heater. I had on a WWII sheepskin flight suit and was scraping the inside of the windshield of ice from my breathing. I couldn't even get out of the cab when I stopped. I was too stiff. I had to fall out and get up from the ground.
It had taken me another week and a half to get to Ann Arbor Michigan to my brother's house. I had only drove all night twice, and both times the lights went out by morning. I had been afraid to set that third brush up again, so the battery wasn't keeping up. In the spring I drove to Yellow Springs, Ohio.
A few years later I drove it to near State College, Pennsylvania pulling a big trailer full of tools, and other heavy stuff. On that big hill going up to the summit on US22, my girlfriend and I had to get out to push as I was losing rpm in compound low gear! Just taking our weight out was enough that it kept going up that hill! I also had trouble with vapor lock. I tried all the usual things; close pins and tin foil on the fuel line, etc., but nothing worked. I ended up taping a piece of hose to the window post, tied a red shop rag around the carburetor, and poured water into the hose from the cab to cool the carb when the vapor lock hit. That worked!
One of the greatest things about this truck is that there are a lot of people that know about them. I have learned some of those tricks in the 40 years I have owned it. I rebuilt the engine a few years back. It now has over 22,000 miles on it. It still runs fine. It sits a lot, and I use the back for a storage table, but every once in a while, I need to move something really heavy.......
So, I started asking around for an old truck. The first truck I looked at was a 1948 Ford 1/2-ton flathead V8, sitting in a field up to its hubcaps in weeds, rusting away. I decided not. I asked those guys if they knew of another one, and they gave me the name of a guy that knew a guy that had a really old truck. I tried to call him, did the phone run around thing for an hour, and finally got through. He didn't own the truck himself, but said it had been in Hemmings Motor News, but was not in the newest issue, and went into the bathroom to get the old copy with the phone number.
I called the number and asked if he still had the truck and was it still $125.00? He said yes, and told me how to get there, ("Do you know the way to San Jose?"). When I got there, he told me not to mention that I might be buying the truck to his wife, as she wanted him to restore it. He was on number seven of nine and didn't want to do another one. He took me down to the barn at the bottom of the hill to see the truck.
I had been a mechanic for fifteen years but had never seen a Model A before. Actually, it was an AA, a flatbed. He had purchased it a few years before to haul building materials to the top of the mountain to build his house and hadn't used it much since. Most of the tires were flat, it was painted with white house paint with a brush, the left fender was brush painted black, and the right fender was red, and bent down almost to the tire. The wood of the bed was original, no side racks. The rest was rust.
I went back home. Two weeks later it was still calling me: "Save me... save me..." I gave in. After all, it was only 125 bucks. I went back out there with an electric windshield wiper motor and wiper, filled the gas tank with gas (first mistake), pumped up the tires, and headed for home. It went down the hill fine. At the bottom it ran out of gas.
I had put in 5 gallons! I found that the fuel line was clogged with rust from the tank. I blew it out with the tire pump, climbed back in and went another 1/4 mile. Ran out of gas and boiled over. Pumped gas line, filled radiator, went 1/4 mile, ran out of gas. Pump. 1/2 mile. Boiled and stopped again. It only went 25 miles an hour. It was going to be a long, long trip back East!
I stopped at Pete Termino's Orchard and Model A parts graveyard. He came out and tried to open the hood, went back, got a can of motor oil, and poured it down the middle of the hood, saying "You gotta teach these kids everything...!" (Rusted hinge, bending the hood when opening it.) After some fiddling, he had it running much better, gave me a very short quick lesson in Model A tuning, and told me the history of the truck.
It had been ordered by the Postal Service as a box truck, but when it came in, the Post Office didn't need it, so the box was taken off and a flatbed was put on, with supports under the bed for the rear fenders (long since rusted away) which explains the long running boards and the stub of a side mount on the right side. The original owner was a welder, who had asked Pete to sell it for him when he became too old to drive anymore. Pete had hooked him up with the man I got it from. Pete said the center main was out (which I knew) and to bring the engine in and we'd take it over to Scotty, who could rebuild it.
It took the rest of the day until dark to go to the bottom of the hill going up to Skyline Drive, where I discovered there was a hole rusted through the lower radiator tube, which was why it was running out of water so often. I took the tube off, left the truck in a gas station, (no lights, dark out) and went home. It had taken me all day to go less than 30 miles, boiling over and pumping the gas line every 1/4 to 1/2 mile.
In the morning, I took the soldered-up tube back down the hill, put it on, and amazingly enough it made it all the way to the top without running out of gas again. At the top of the hill the clutch linkage broke. I drove it down the hill anyway. When I got it to the house near La Honda, I had to start it in gear to get it backed into the barn and shut it off quickly so I didn't go through the back wall.
I started to take it apart. I took the motor out and measured it. The pistons measured 0.100 over, and the block measured 0.125 over. Loose! The center main bearing was mostly in the oil pan, broken in many pieces. I took the motor parts to Scotty, a retired carpenter who had apprenticed with a blacksmith when he was a kid and had saved the old tools. He replaced the block with one that was only .040 over, poured new bearings, decked the block and the head, and put in new valves, springs and valve guides.
The more parts I took off, the more rust I found, so I kept taking parts off. I started out putting all of the bolts into sandwich bags and writing down the ones that were broken or missing. When I got it all apart, I asked a friend of mine with a pickup truck to rent a sandblaster in the city, bring it down and help me sandblast the parts. The sandblaster he got was big enough to do the Golden Gate Bridge! It blew the doors across the yard, and there was no way it could be used with the little pieces. We sand blasted the big pieces and painted them right away (outside) with red oxide primer. The little pieces had to be cleaned by hand in a washtub filled with kerosene and a wire brush. That took 3 long cold rainy California winter months.
When I got the rear end apart, I noticed wear on the housings where the wheel bearings rode, and the gears were trashed. I went to Pete Termino's Junk Yard again, took apart 9 rear ends looking for better housings and a different gear set. No better housings, but I did find a gear set that was a higher ratio, and teeth on the gears. The rear axle seals were the most trouble to find, which I finally did in Oregon, where I found some NOS parts. I got two sets and still have the second set. They are leather.
When it came to paint, I got an old refrigerator motor and a 20-gallon butane tank and made a compressor. I bought a cheap Sears spray gun, and many gallons of Ditzler paint. I was told to use lacquer, so I did. I had to heat up the garage I was to paint in with an old coal stove, heating it up at night and making sure the coals were dead before I started painting in the morning. I could paint for about 8 to 10 minutes before the pressure would drop too much and then go outside and wait 20 minutes for the compressor and breathe. A poor man has poor man's ways.
I discovered a piece that had the original paint color, called by Ditzler "Vagabond Green" The fenders and frame had been black. It was good going over all the little parts those 3 months, because I got to decide which color to paint each part (and try to figure out where they all would go...!). As I painted, I had to decide what color to paint each piece. I found two little pieces that looked like chassis pieces, so I painted them black. I have never found out where they go.
When I was cleaning the dashboard (gas tank), I found a decal under the paint. I sanded very carefully so I could read it. It said Town Motors, Redwood City. I called them and asked if they still had any of those decals and was told that they hadn't had any in years, but there was an old guy out back washing cars that had worked there back then. He remembered those trucks and verified what Pete had said about them coming from the Post Office. He also remembered the decals. I would have loved to have found a new one.
It took me 3 weeks soaking the key in penetrant to get the ignition key out of the switch. There were no door locks. There was a rubber plug in the right door where the lock should go, and the left door lock had never been used. (I was glad I had the door open when I tried to lock it, as I had to take the lock apart to get it unlocked again.)
I took the brake drums and shoes (full of grease) to a place in Oakland that did truck brakes and asked the man there if he could do these. He said "Sure, what kind of lining do you want?" I asked, "What's that that's on there?" He said, "That's called Scandinavian Woven Lining." I asked if that was any good. He asked how old it was. I said I had no idea. He asked the year of the truck, and when I told him 1929, he said it was the original stuff. He said the drums were made of steel instead of iron, so they would have to be ground out instead of turned, and he would put original type linings on. I asked if he could compensate for the drum diameter without having the backing plates, and he said sure. When I went to put the drums on, they didn't fit on. I discovered that I didn't have the adjusters backed out all of the way. When I got them all the way out, the drums fit perfectly. I have only adjusted the brakes twice since then. It stops pretty well for mechanical brakes.
I took the speedometer to a place called Vern's Speedometer Shop on Market St. in San Francisco. I asked Vern if he could fix it. He just stared at it for a long time. I began to wonder if he had heard me. I asked again. He said "It's been too long; it's been too long..." He said it might take a week or two before he could get it done. I said that was fine, the rest of the truck was still apart. He called 3 days later and said "Yer speedometer is ready." When he handed it to me, he also handed me my old parts. The only thing he used from my old speedometer was the number wheels. The rest was all NOS Ford parts. The bill was $10, and he wouldn't take more. He said it had been too long, that he had started out on those, and missed them. It had been a pleasure to work on one again.
The top of the truck was cloth, and pretty well rotted. Even the wood frame was bad. I put the whole cab onto a borrowed pickup, took it to San Francisco State College theatre department property shop, and did the best I could to copy the top wood. I didn't have oak, so I used pine. I covered the top with a sheet of 1/8th inch plywood instead of the cloth because I knew I was going to set stuff on that roof, and it would go through. I covered the wood with cloth to give it a cloth look, and poured paint into it to help it not leak.
As I started to collect parts to put it back together, I took my list of broken bolts and missing parts to Pete's Junk Yard. I asked if I could take parts off of his old trucks in return for keeping the bolts. He agreed. I found a couple of taillights and some side racks, and two hand winches out in the yard. When I got inside to pay up, he said he had been saving the side racks for a truck he was doing, but I said I already had them, and I needed them now. He let me have them. I was even able to save most of the original carriage bolts when I replaced the wood.
When I put the truck back together, I never had to lie on the floor. I put the axles together first, then put the springs on, and then the frame. When it came time to put the cab on, I went around the neighborhood and collected people to help. I ended up with four housewives and a 15-year-old kid. We lifted the cab and set it behind the motor on the frame. I got 6 people on a weekend to put the bed back on. By then I could drive the frame closer to the bed.
It had taken me more than 9 months, and I was out of money. I borrowed $100 from my brother to buy used tires and spent 3 days hammering them off the rims. One had a big break through the sidewall, which I fixed with an old innertube rubber homemade boot. Every time I parked the truck somewhere on my way across the country, someone would tell me that I was about to blow a tire and point to that tire. All the other tires blew, but that one held.
I decided the name of the truck should be Thelonius Andrew Bones. T.A. Bones for short. It's been referred to as Mr. Bones, or just "Bones" ever since.
As I started driving it, I noticed it boiled over a lot. I just assumed it was the nature of the beast. The first time I drove it into the City (San Francisco), the electric wiper motor shutoff shorted out, and I had gasoline steam from the ammeter wires under the tank. There was no fuse, so I had to jump out and cut the main wire with a pocketknife. Luckily it didn't blow up. I had to re-wire it right there in the right lane of a 4-lane highway in rush hour traffic.
I went into the City and worked on cars over the winter to earn money to get across the country, loaded up my stuff in late June, and headed out. It boiled over way too often. I stopped at Pete's Graveyard again and asked what I needed to do. He said my radiator was bad and let me work picking peaches to pay for a replacement. It was homemade, looked funky, and worked much better.
It took me a week and a half to get to New Mexico, driving 12 to 14 hours a day at 38 miles an hour. I lost the generator cutout and water pump in Phoenix. I was able to order the parts from Tucson and have them sent up by Greyhound. In New Mexico the generator failed. I was told that I wouldn't be able to get that two-piece rear bearing to rebuild my old one. I found a guy that had one, but it didn't work. He knew a guy that had a sawmill using an "A" engine for the blade. The generator on that engine worked, but the guy didn't use it. He charged his battery with a battery charger and only used the generator to make the fan belt work, so we traded. I got the two-piece bearing a couple of years ago, bought new field windings and fixed my old generator. I had burned it up by having the third brush set too high.
I stayed in New Mexico for about 4 months, earning money in a garage for half of the labor charge. The first job I did was to replace a motor in a Chevrolet pickup. He got $30. I got half. It took me a while to earn the $100 I needed to get back East. I helped build a log cabin in exchange for a place to stay, and we used the truck to haul logs and lumber.
When I got ready to move on in late October, I changed the oil and got big chunks of babbitt. I pulled the pan and found that the rear main had failed. I pulled the engine out, and took it to Albuquerque and had new mains put in.
When I started out after putting the engine back in, I had a knock. I had the main bearings replaced without taking the head off and had adjusted the rod bearings myself for the first time. Believing that I had done it wrong, I did it again on the side of the road. After about 6 attempts, I still had the knock. I would ask old timers to listen to it, and was told by one old gentleman, "Yep, that's a rod alright. You could wrap the crank with bacon rind, which should get you about 100 miles. You could use a leather belt, but that is only good for about 50 miles. Bacon rind is better. Gets fat in the motor but lasts longer."
I decided against bacon and in frustration pulled into a Ford dealership service lane in Dodge City. When I got out, I asked where "the old dude" was. I was told to take this street here to that one there (red brick) and so on. A grease monkey volunteered to take me there after work and put me up for the night. The old Dude asked me the story of the engine, went for a ride with me, and told me my pistons were hitting the head. When the mains were replaced by Scotty, compensation in the center line of the crank bearings had been made for having shaved the head. When I had the bearings replaced in New Mexico that out of center compensation was lost. Carbon buildup on the pistons was hitting the head.
He let me bring the truck inside (it was snowing out!) and take the head off. Sure enough! He said I had two choices, put in two head gaskets, or have his brother mill out the combustion chambers. I opted for the latter. He put the head on a mill and took about .020" out.
Everyone but the boss was at lunch when I finished putting the head back on. When I asked what the bill was, he called his brother at a diner and asked him. After a bunch of "yep" and "okay" responses, he said "Ten dollars" and would not take more.
Somewhere in Kansas I had help from a farmer with a vice in replacing the bushings in the distributor. When I got somewhere South of Chicago, it was well below freezing. No heater. I had on a WWII sheepskin flight suit and was scraping the inside of the windshield of ice from my breathing. I couldn't even get out of the cab when I stopped. I was too stiff. I had to fall out and get up from the ground.
It had taken me another week and a half to get to Ann Arbor Michigan to my brother's house. I had only drove all night twice, and both times the lights went out by morning. I had been afraid to set that third brush up again, so the battery wasn't keeping up. In the spring I drove to Yellow Springs, Ohio.
A few years later I drove it to near State College, Pennsylvania pulling a big trailer full of tools, and other heavy stuff. On that big hill going up to the summit on US22, my girlfriend and I had to get out to push as I was losing rpm in compound low gear! Just taking our weight out was enough that it kept going up that hill! I also had trouble with vapor lock. I tried all the usual things; close pins and tin foil on the fuel line, etc., but nothing worked. I ended up taping a piece of hose to the window post, tied a red shop rag around the carburetor, and poured water into the hose from the cab to cool the carb when the vapor lock hit. That worked!
One of the greatest things about this truck is that there are a lot of people that know about them. I have learned some of those tricks in the 40 years I have owned it. I rebuilt the engine a few years back. It now has over 22,000 miles on it. It still runs fine. It sits a lot, and I use the back for a storage table, but every once in a while, I need to move something really heavy.......
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My Journey into the World of Model As
By Charles Powell - Member since 2023
Deciding on a Model A Ford
In early 2023 we were driving on Route 29 towards Urbana. Just before reaching Ludlow Road, I seen a vintage car for sale sitting in someone’s front yard. Never being interested in cars, I had no idea what type of car it was but have aways loved the look of this particular style. I assumed it was a Model T or Model A, but again, didn’t know much about either one to be certain. The big, curved fenders, long running boards, the similarities to the old horse and carriages they were replacing, and the fact that they are still around and running almost 100 years later fascinated me. At that moment I decided I was going to look into the possibilities of getting one of these iconic pieces of history. And this is what started me on my Model A Ford journey.
After some investigation, and not getting a detailed look at the car in passing, I assumed it was probably either a Tudor (2 door) or Fordor (4 door) Model A Ford. After more investigation into Model Ts and As, and the different models and styles in which they came, I decided the Model A Fordor was the car for me. With the Model T’s top speed of 35 mph, I figured that was not going to be a good car to drive around on roads where the speed limits exceeded its top speed. Another deciding factor was in having 4 doors instead of 2, making it easier for those riding in the back seat to get in and out of, especially for my parents.
Joining a Club
Informing my family that I was thinking about getting a Model A Ford, my niece’s husband, told me I should contact his uncle, Marty Hanshew. He said Marty has had a Model A Ford since as far back as he could remember and has severed as president in the Model A Ford Club in Englewood in the past.
The last week of June 2023, I called Marty who gave me a plethora of information on Model As, and the Dayton Buckeye Model A Ford club which he was a member of. I mentioned to him that I wasn’t a “motorhead”, wasn’t a car show person, and was looking for a car I could actually drive and not just one that sat in the garage. He informed me the club goes on tours and they drive their cars all the time. He said last year he drove over 2,000 miles. During the conversation, he invited me to the club’s next meeting which was July 5th, 2023.
On Wednesday, July 5th, I drove to Englewood’s City Hall building where the club has their monthly meetings. This is when I met Marty in person for the first time. During the meeting I introduced myself and stated I have never touched, sat in, nor I have I ridden in a Model A and that I would appreciate anyone who would have time to let me see theirs and pass along some knowledge. I also mentioned I was interested in getting a Model A Ford Fordor. After the meeting, club member Danny Dunham approached me and said he had a Fordor as well as a couple other Model As. He said he loves to talk about them and loves taking people rides. We exchanged numbers, and during a phone call, set-up a time on Saturday, June 8th to meet at his house. Danny was correct. He loves these cars. His excitement and passion showed as he talked about the cars and gave us a ride in two of his 3 Model As’, as well as a ride in one of his two Model T’s.
My First Model A Ford
Now I was hooked on Model As and started looking for a Model A of my own. Danny said he would go with me to check it out if I found one I was interested in. I found a Fordor on Facebook Market Place. When contacting the owner, I informed him I just recently joined a Model A Ford Club and was wanting to bring someone along from the club to check it out. After he asked what club, I found out he was also a member of the club and knew Danny. Danny met us at his house on Saturday, July 15th. The car was in great shape under the hood and inside but was in need of a paint job. Unfortunately, we couldn’t agree on price.
I found another Fodor on FB Market Place located near Fort Wayne, Indian which Jennifer and I went to look at on Sunday July 23rd, 2023. I noticed it had replacement fiberglass fenders (not metal), and when the guy tried to start it, gas poured out of the carburetor on to the floor. He said he had bought from a friend who was in poor health and need the money, so really knew nothing about the car. I decided this was not the one for me.
From the first time I seen it, my thoughts kept going back to the 1st car, wishing it was in my budgeted price range. During the last week of July, Danny forwarded me a text from the member wanting him to let me know he would take less for the car. I contacted him thanking him for thinking of me but told him it was still more than I had budgeted. After a little more negotiation, we settled on a price we could both live with.
Monday, July 31st, 2023, we went to pay for the car and to get the title notarized. The plan was to meet Danny at the seller's house on Saturday and Danny would drive it my house since I have never driven or even started a Model A. I knew the concept on how to start it and drive it by watching Danny (once), and watching videos on YouTube, but haven’t done either one myself. Once the paperwork was done, he asked if I was going to drive it home. Afraid of stalling it and not being able to start it again, or just having troubles in general driving it, I said “I wasn’t planning on it”. I stated, “I don’t know how to drive it”, He said, “It’s easy, I’ll show you”. “I don’t know how to start it if it stalls”. He replied, “I’ll show you”. “I don’t have a license plate”. He stated, “Just use mine”. “But then I’ll have to bring it back to you”. He answered, “Just toss them, I won’t need them anymore”. “I don’t have insurance”. He said, “It is covered under mine”. After having an answer for every excuse I could think of, I found myself following Jennifer on the 60+ mile journey of back roads home in what is now my 1931 Model A Fordor Town Sedan.
President of the Club
Sunday November 3rd, 2024, was our annual club Swap Meet at the Troy Fairgrounds. Jennifer and I arrived at 6:00 am so I could help sell tickets for anyone who decided to show up before the actual start time. While talking with one of the club members, he asked what I thought about being president of the club in 2025. Being in the club for less than a year and a half, I wasn’t prepared for that question or how to answer. I told him I didn’t think I was qualified with the little I know about Model As, the club or its members. He explained why he thought I would do well, and we left it with a “let me think about it”. On Monday, the following day, I contacted him and said I would accept if nominated. On Tuesday November 5th, during our club meeting, it was announced that I had been nominated to be president. December 3rd, during the club meeting, I was voted in as the Club President for 2025. I was very apprehensive at first, but with the support and backing on the members, everything has worked out well….. I hope.
In early 2023 we were driving on Route 29 towards Urbana. Just before reaching Ludlow Road, I seen a vintage car for sale sitting in someone’s front yard. Never being interested in cars, I had no idea what type of car it was but have aways loved the look of this particular style. I assumed it was a Model T or Model A, but again, didn’t know much about either one to be certain. The big, curved fenders, long running boards, the similarities to the old horse and carriages they were replacing, and the fact that they are still around and running almost 100 years later fascinated me. At that moment I decided I was going to look into the possibilities of getting one of these iconic pieces of history. And this is what started me on my Model A Ford journey.
After some investigation, and not getting a detailed look at the car in passing, I assumed it was probably either a Tudor (2 door) or Fordor (4 door) Model A Ford. After more investigation into Model Ts and As, and the different models and styles in which they came, I decided the Model A Fordor was the car for me. With the Model T’s top speed of 35 mph, I figured that was not going to be a good car to drive around on roads where the speed limits exceeded its top speed. Another deciding factor was in having 4 doors instead of 2, making it easier for those riding in the back seat to get in and out of, especially for my parents.
Joining a Club
Informing my family that I was thinking about getting a Model A Ford, my niece’s husband, told me I should contact his uncle, Marty Hanshew. He said Marty has had a Model A Ford since as far back as he could remember and has severed as president in the Model A Ford Club in Englewood in the past.
The last week of June 2023, I called Marty who gave me a plethora of information on Model As, and the Dayton Buckeye Model A Ford club which he was a member of. I mentioned to him that I wasn’t a “motorhead”, wasn’t a car show person, and was looking for a car I could actually drive and not just one that sat in the garage. He informed me the club goes on tours and they drive their cars all the time. He said last year he drove over 2,000 miles. During the conversation, he invited me to the club’s next meeting which was July 5th, 2023.
On Wednesday, July 5th, I drove to Englewood’s City Hall building where the club has their monthly meetings. This is when I met Marty in person for the first time. During the meeting I introduced myself and stated I have never touched, sat in, nor I have I ridden in a Model A and that I would appreciate anyone who would have time to let me see theirs and pass along some knowledge. I also mentioned I was interested in getting a Model A Ford Fordor. After the meeting, club member Danny Dunham approached me and said he had a Fordor as well as a couple other Model As. He said he loves to talk about them and loves taking people rides. We exchanged numbers, and during a phone call, set-up a time on Saturday, June 8th to meet at his house. Danny was correct. He loves these cars. His excitement and passion showed as he talked about the cars and gave us a ride in two of his 3 Model As’, as well as a ride in one of his two Model T’s.
My First Model A Ford
Now I was hooked on Model As and started looking for a Model A of my own. Danny said he would go with me to check it out if I found one I was interested in. I found a Fordor on Facebook Market Place. When contacting the owner, I informed him I just recently joined a Model A Ford Club and was wanting to bring someone along from the club to check it out. After he asked what club, I found out he was also a member of the club and knew Danny. Danny met us at his house on Saturday, July 15th. The car was in great shape under the hood and inside but was in need of a paint job. Unfortunately, we couldn’t agree on price.
I found another Fodor on FB Market Place located near Fort Wayne, Indian which Jennifer and I went to look at on Sunday July 23rd, 2023. I noticed it had replacement fiberglass fenders (not metal), and when the guy tried to start it, gas poured out of the carburetor on to the floor. He said he had bought from a friend who was in poor health and need the money, so really knew nothing about the car. I decided this was not the one for me.
From the first time I seen it, my thoughts kept going back to the 1st car, wishing it was in my budgeted price range. During the last week of July, Danny forwarded me a text from the member wanting him to let me know he would take less for the car. I contacted him thanking him for thinking of me but told him it was still more than I had budgeted. After a little more negotiation, we settled on a price we could both live with.
Monday, July 31st, 2023, we went to pay for the car and to get the title notarized. The plan was to meet Danny at the seller's house on Saturday and Danny would drive it my house since I have never driven or even started a Model A. I knew the concept on how to start it and drive it by watching Danny (once), and watching videos on YouTube, but haven’t done either one myself. Once the paperwork was done, he asked if I was going to drive it home. Afraid of stalling it and not being able to start it again, or just having troubles in general driving it, I said “I wasn’t planning on it”. I stated, “I don’t know how to drive it”, He said, “It’s easy, I’ll show you”. “I don’t know how to start it if it stalls”. He replied, “I’ll show you”. “I don’t have a license plate”. He stated, “Just use mine”. “But then I’ll have to bring it back to you”. He answered, “Just toss them, I won’t need them anymore”. “I don’t have insurance”. He said, “It is covered under mine”. After having an answer for every excuse I could think of, I found myself following Jennifer on the 60+ mile journey of back roads home in what is now my 1931 Model A Fordor Town Sedan.
President of the Club
Sunday November 3rd, 2024, was our annual club Swap Meet at the Troy Fairgrounds. Jennifer and I arrived at 6:00 am so I could help sell tickets for anyone who decided to show up before the actual start time. While talking with one of the club members, he asked what I thought about being president of the club in 2025. Being in the club for less than a year and a half, I wasn’t prepared for that question or how to answer. I told him I didn’t think I was qualified with the little I know about Model As, the club or its members. He explained why he thought I would do well, and we left it with a “let me think about it”. On Monday, the following day, I contacted him and said I would accept if nominated. On Tuesday November 5th, during our club meeting, it was announced that I had been nominated to be president. December 3rd, during the club meeting, I was voted in as the Club President for 2025. I was very apprehensive at first, but with the support and backing on the members, everything has worked out well….. I hope.
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