Our Model A Ford
Our old Model A Ford and our puppy, MuttBack in 1946 right after WWII we came to Indiana to start our lives. Cars, furniture, appliances and everything was hard to get then. It was several months before we could get furniture for our apartment. I had my name on a list for a sewing machine for months before I could actually get one.
We did manage to find an old 1930-- I'm not positive about the year but it was a late 20s or early 30s-- Model A Ford so we could have transportation. It was not in good condition at all. So Ford's sister's husband said he would help Ford tear the engine apart and rebuild it. So it was a major job to get it done. They replaced all the parts possible with new ones and the old parts that had to be used were cleaned and repaired like new. When it was finished it was almost like a new car except that it was in an old 1930 body! We put in new seat covers. We also had trouble finding new tires for it. But after much searching we did finally find new tires for it.
Ford was planning a trip to Texas, since I was already there for a visit and we were planning on driving back to Fort Wayne together. So he was supposed to leave on a Saturday morning. Friday after he got off work he went out to get in the car and it was not there! It had been stolen.
So he hurriedly changed plans and rode the train to Texas. His friend, Dutch, said he would keep in contact with the police in case they found the car. So after a day or so the police did contact Dutch and said the car was found over in Defiance, Ohio, about 25 or 30 miles from Fort Wayne. So Dutch went over to Defiance to drive our car back here to Fort Wayne.
What had happened was that whoever stole the car was after only the tires so they took the new tires off and put on some old really bad tires in their place. Dutch had four blowouts in the 25 or so miles from there to here! Anyway, he did get our car back here minus the new tires. We never did know who had stolen it but I had suspicions about a couple of Ford's old friends (some friends!) who knew he had rebuilt the car and put new tires on it.
Another problem was that the car did not have a key for the ignition, it just had a button you pressed to start it. So anyone could just get in it and take off. A very bad situation.
We had that car for maybe about a year and then we bought another one, It was a 1946 Chevrolet. We thought we were rich! Probably if we had that old Model A now it would be worth quite a bit. But our luck never turns out for us to make a bit of money on something!
The car in the picture is actually our old car. The little puppy on it was also our puppy. A story about him later.
posted by kyra lafain @ 9/12/2008 12:30:00 PM
1 Comments:
What a great story! I'm just learning more interesting things about your life. Keep 'em coming!
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