GTP Cool Wall: Ford Model A. Voting Open!

[Joey D]

.: 1927-1931 Model A Ford suggested by Nicksfix :.

Information:

4,849,340 made.
Prices for the Model A ranged from US $385 for a roadster to $1400 for the top-of-the-line Town Car.
The engine was a water-cooled L-head 4-cylinder with a displacement of 201 cubic inches (3.3 L) producing 40 hp.
The Model A came in a wide variety of styles: Coupe (Standard and Deluxe), Business Coupe, Sport Coupe, Roadster Coupe (Standard and Deluxe), Convertible Cabriolet, Convertible Sedan, Phaeton (Standard and Deluxe), Tudor (Standard and Deluxe), Town Car, Fordor (2-window) (Standard and Deluxe), Fordor (3-window) (Standard and Deluxe), Victoria, Station Wagon, Taxicab, Truck, and Commercial.
Wheelbase 103.5
Length 165 in.
Width 67 in.
Curb weight 2265 lbs.

 

[CarBastard]

See: My "Cool Wall" rules: Cons Section: Rule 11.

Automatically, Seriously Uncool 👎👎👎.

 

[homeforsummer]

The A in the picture above? Uncool, I'm afraid, and I've voted that way as we're debating the production car. Classic cars are cool, but vintage cars are misunderstood enough not to be - typically only appreciated, and therefore driven, by old fogies.

However, given its potential as a hot rod...

...it's Sub Zero for me, as 'rods are automotive works of art. Typically appreciated and driven by anyone with an eye for automotive beauty and big engines.

 

[Jetboy.]

There are barely soft spots in my heart for any 1930's creation, since well over 95% showed no imagination as far as design is concerned. Later versions of this usually get chopped dropped and stuffed with a chevrolet 350ci engine and almost always painted red. I've tired of these before they ever had a chance to like them. Finally, what's special about the Model A? It wasn't supercharged, it wasn't limited run, there was nothing to set it apart from the other 117 independant automakers out there (Save, you know, for Dusenberg, Mercedes, Bently, Alfa Romeo..)


You might as well ask me to grade a Jelly Bean Taurus. 👎


Seriously Uncool.



Cheers,
Jetboy

 

[Giancarlo]

The A in the picture above? Uncool, I'm afraid, and I've voted that way as we're debating the production car. Classic cars are cool, but vintage cars are misunderstood enough not to be - typically only appreciated, and therefore driven, by old fogies.

However, given its potential as a hot rod...

...it's Sub Zero for me, as 'rods are automotive works of art. Typically appreciated and driven by anyone with an eye for automotive beauty and big engines.

I actually feel the exact opposite.

 

[LSX]

Cool IMO. Look at all the different trims it was available in. If your lucky enough to own one, in good condition, your going to be about the only one driving it around. Or if you buy a restored hot rod, you still have a cool car. Not something to drive to work, but great for tooling around on the weekend.

 

[Northstar]

Cool, it basically laid the foundation for the US Auto industry.

Edit did they have superchargers in the 20's?

Jetboy your reasons are fairly flawed.

 

[SRV2LOW4ME]

Archie loves this car, but he's ginger, and that makes this car not cool. Stay out of Riverdale!

 

[CarBastard]

Edit did they have superchargers in the 20's?

Joey your reasons are fairly flawed.

The first functional supercharger can be attributed to German engineer Gottlieb Daimler, who received a German patent for supercharging an internal combustion engine in 1885. Louis Renault patented a centrifugal supercharger in France in 1902. An early supercharged race car was built by Lee Chadwick of Pottstown, Pennsylvania in 1908, which, it was reported, reached a speed of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).

They were, but as far as i know they weren't widely used. Still, to support Jetboy's point, Duesenberg's of the time had DOHC, 4 Valves/Cylinder engines.

 

[Joey D]

Joey your reasons are fairly flawed.

I haven't posted any reasonings about this car, how can they be flawed?

 

[the_fatadder]

uncool for me,
Nothing special about it to me (although it can clearly be made into quite a cool hot rod, thats not what we are voting on...)

The Model A is from a period from which very few cars manage to be cool today, (Off the top of my head the Bentley Blower would be the only cool car from the 20s I can think of, though I suspect that there are probably a couple of other European cars that would come close.)

 

[homeforsummer]

I actually feel the exact opposite.

Not a hot rod fan then? I do like some vintage cars (the two that immediately spring to mind are Austin 7 Ulsters and the Citroen 15CV or "Traction Avant") but apart from commercial success nothing really stands out about the A for me.

 

[Northstar]

I haven't posted any reasonings about this car, how can they be flawed?

I'm an idiot and put the wrong name that's why.

 

[Jetboy.]

I'm an idiot and put the wrong name that's why.

I wondered if you meant me. Possibly flawed, but I feel them true. I feel hardly any passion for pre-war vehicles. What's the common theme. Quick! Picture a car from the 20's/30's. What's the first pick going to be? A '32 3-Window, a '23 T-bucket with a Chevrolet engine, a blazing red '41 Willy's Coupe? It's not just the car's that lacked imagination, but also the people who keep them today. Why can't people go outside of the box? I want to see an Oakland or a '37 Dodge Brothers Pickup. Going back the the car, (Since it's my real grading point, not the people who own it) I feel it is but the Model T's leftover fluff that was designed to carry Ford through the depression. There's hardly anything special about it, just mainstream transportation.

Post '47, you have my attention. It's where design people like Harley Earl came into play, innovation such as the Cadillac's 312 V8, the Hemi put into the mainstream, .. (Not that Hemisperical heads didn't exist before Chrysler..), etc.


Cheers,
Jetboy

 

[Jim Prower]

I...really don't know.

I want to vote it cool...but it doesn't have the quirky, almost alien driving characteristics of the Model T...instead driving a bit like a big OTR Truck. You accelerate...clutch in...wait for the big flywheel to spin down...then clunk into gear, hopefully with minimal grinding.

and it's not that bad, really, even with 40 horsepower, no power assist, no seatbelts, and rear-only drum brakes...I would remark that it sounded less like a tractor and more like a normal car compared to a "T."

Thing is, the damn thing turns heads as well as many Exotics. I'd put it at a Dodge Viper on the headturn scale. Everyone loves the oldtimers. Who cares if it has (REAL) buggy springs (Gramps' had a modern shock conversion) and four speeds grabbed from an eighteen wheeler? See that kid in the back of the Buick LeSabre? He just smiled and waved at me. I returned the favor. He thinks I'm pretty cool.

My grandpa had one of these cars, a '31 Tudor, which he sold because it really wasn't as good for Touring as the '51 Chrysler Windsor he later bought. I drove it when he had it...I really liked the old sonuvagun.

We're car enthusiasts in the modern day, though. We like fast things, not old things. I've noticed that anything made before 1950 tends to get the cold shoulder 'round here, unless it was a rare vehicle made with the utmost of snobby European craftsmanship. Or American, for that matter.

Give me the cars farmer joe used to drive. The cars that Sam the factory worker built, then bought. The cars that, 10 years later, were bought by some kid and turned into a speedster, where he'd practice the skills he'd later use on the racetrack. The cars of the common man. Then add 50 years or more.

The old car, like the fine wine, gets better with age.

cool.

 

[Nicksfix]

I have a friend who's Dad owns one of these cars and this thing is a real treat to ride in.A serious lack of power going on here (what else would you expect from a late 20's Model A ). The thing is when people pass you,you don't get flipped the bird for going so slow,instead you recieve a friendly wave and a thumbs up,the "cool car" being shouted out to you.Oh yeah,and they don't stop the greatest either ,add to the matter,they don't ride the greatest.There's something about vintage cars that just make them cool,irreguardless of the driveability factor,they are attention getters for sure.I can not go so far as to call it sub-zero,but they are cool.Sub-zero ratings would be in the form of what Homeforsummer posted up,something that has been street rodded.

 

[homeforsummer]

I...really don't know.

I want to vote it cool...but it doesn't have the quirky, almost alien driving characteristics of the Model T...instead driving a bit like a big OTR Truck. You accelerate...clutch in...wait for the big flywheel to spin down...then clunk into gear, hopefully with minimal grinding.

and it's not that bad, really, even with 40 horsepower, no power assist, no seatbelts, and rear-only drum brakes...I would remark that it sounded less like a tractor and more like a normal car compared to a "T."

Thing is, the damn thing turns heads as well as many Exotics. I'd put it at a Dodge Viper on the headturn scale. Everyone loves the oldtimers. Who cares if it has (REAL) buggy springs (Gramps' had a modern shock conversion) and four speeds grabbed from an eighteen wheeler? See that kid in the back of the Buick LeSabre? He just smiled and waved at me. I returned the favor. He thinks I'm pretty cool.

My grandpa had one of these cars, a '31 Tudor, which he sold because it really wasn't as good for Touring as the '51 Chrysler Windsor he later bought. I drove it when he had it...I really liked the old sonuvagun.

We're car enthusiasts in the modern day, though. We like fast things, not old things. I've noticed that anything made before 1950 tends to get the cold shoulder 'round here, unless it was a rare vehicle made with the utmost of snobby European craftsmanship. Or American, for that matter.

Give me the cars farmer joe used to drive. The cars that Sam the factory worker built, then bought. The cars that, 10 years later, were bought by some kid and turned into a speedster, where he'd practice the skills he'd later use on the racetrack. The cars of the common man. Then add 50 years or more.

The old car, like the fine wine, gets better with age.

cool.

Though I disagree with your verdict, I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments 👍 Really old cars do have something very special about them. One of the cars I've probably spent more time at an event photographing than any other was a rickety racing special based on a '20s Austin 7. It was mid-engined, had a metal bucket seat, virtually no bodywork and virtually all the mechanical workings were completely exposed - brakes, leaf springs, gear linkage, engine, the lot. It looked like crap and was slow as hell by modern standards, but got more attention than the Lotus and Brabham single-seaters there that day.

You can generally rely on me to love slow and ridiculous cars though. But the Model A is still uncool to me, as it doesn't personally tug at my heart strings, and most vintage cars are misunderstood and dismissed as pointless museum pieces in the modern age.

 

[TheCracker]

It's ugly and slow and you're going to look a pillock driving around in one. Uncool.

 

[High-Test]

hfs posted a model B and not a Model A as his example. The Model B is an entirely different animal.

It was Ford's departure from the barebones and their first entry into planned obsolescence. The car represents more of a turning point for Ford than a superfantastic automobile. Edsel's constant pleading for constant revisions and upgrades were finally answered, and Ford supposedly went away from keeping one car the same way for nineteen years.

I have to say uncool, despite how pained I am to do so.

 

[Lucas]

Cool, for the fact that you can turn it into a kick-ass hot rod, along with the looks of it.

 

[Adamgp]

Cool, borderline SZ.

Successor to the Model T, which put America (and the world, for that matter) on wheels. Available in a wide range of body styles. And the L head 4 banger actually put out impressive power for the time.

 

[homeforsummer]

hfs posted a model B and not a Model A as his example. The Model B is an entirely different animal.

Really? I just typed "Ford Model A" into google and picked the first hot rod pic that came up so I assumed it was an A. Regardless, A-based Rods are cooler to me than the standard A so my point still stands.

 

[Jim Prower]

Um, question:

Currently, famous locomotive Flying Scotsman is being returned to its original 1930s appearance. Now, instead of that, would you rather see her converted into an A4 like Mallard, but with even further improvements, eschewing any idea of what she once looked like in the name of "faster?" (or, even worse, a Thompson locomotive. :<)

I think that's how a lot of people feel about Street Rods, especially those made from brass-era cars...they destroy much of the history in the name of speed. Personally, I'm a little split on the issue...I like modification, but I like preservation as well.

I suppose what I'd like to see is someone fully hop-up the 40HP four. I know they made OHV and OHC heads for it and stuff like that...Frontenac, I think was one make. However, most of the 'rods you see today are replica bodies. so...meh. I'm fine with brass-era 'rodding so long as it's (a) a '50s original, (b) was a rod project in the first place and was never finished, or, (c) didn't destroy an original body.

EDIT: ooh, look at this. Model A engine with a Riley OHV head and ITBs!

http://bp2.blogger.com/_Arul1Yi89rg/SAgq5x-NUgI/AAAAAAAAAGc/ZfLiclnZfhA/s1600-h/20.jpg

 

[opendriver]

Sub Zero. Due to its hot rod ability.

 

[homeforsummer]

I think that's how a lot of people feel about Street Rods, especially those made from brass-era cars...they destroy much of the history in the name of speed. Personally, I'm a little split on the issue...I like modification, but I like preservation as well.

Given that it's an American car that means absolutely nothing to the average Brit, I can speak from an entirely unbiased perspective. Would I want all Model As to be turned into 'Rods? Probably not, it would be a shame if all the original ones disappeared, but at the same time I can appreciate the 'Rods for their beauty, the engineering that goes into them, and the sense of fun about them. In my own little world, 'Rodding is what people do with old American cars. Just like all vintage Brit cars in my mind are raced at the Goodwood Revival.

 

[lpb-nissan-gt-r]

Its sub zero, miss my dads old one rode in it once scared me to death I think it was a replica though nice bit of kit.

 

[lpb-nissan-gt-r]

Given that it's an American car that means absolutely nothing to the average Brit, I can speak from an entirely unbiased perspective. Would I want all Model As to be turned into 'Rods? Probably not, it would be a shame if all the original ones disappeared, but at the same time I can appreciate the 'Rods for their beauty, the engineering that goes into them, and the sense of fun about them. In my own little world, 'Rodding is what people do with old American cars. Just like all vintage Brit cars in my mind are raced at the Goodwood Revival.

There is quiet a big group around hot rods in the uk search for the nsra supernationals or nationals very good shows.

 

[lpb-nissan-gt-r]

Given that it's an American car that means absolutely nothing to the average Brit, I can speak from an entirely unbiased perspective. Would I want all Model As to be turned into 'Rods? Probably not, it would be a shame if all the original ones disappeared, but at the same time I can appreciate the 'Rods for their beauty, the engineering that goes into them, and the sense of fun about them. In my own little world, 'Rodding is what people do with old American cars. Just like all vintage Brit cars in my mind are raced at the Goodwood Revival.

There is quiet a big group around hot rods in the uk search for the nsra supernationals or nationals very good shows.

sorry for double post please merge.

 

[homeforsummer]

There is quiet a big group around hot rods in the uk search for the nsra supernationals or nationals very good shows.

Yeah, I'm aware, there are a couple of very good rodding magazines too.

 

[lpb-nissan-gt-r]

Like custom car and Classic american.