Model As, Built During a Very Difficult Time
 

I recently picked up a book entitled "Children of the Dust Bowl" by Jerry Stanley, copyright 1992. It has pictures of 1920s and 1930s cars going from Oklahoma to southern California. The families are looking for work and a new life in the rich farm belt of California. No jobs, no food, dirty cloths, no indoor plumbing during the trip (it lasted 3-4 months), no motels, no schools, sickness in the camps and no AC. It was often up to 120F in the desert. All their possessions are tied to their cars. Three or four children in the back seat. There is one picture of a sedan with a goat in a wooden crate fastened to the running board. The goat is the only one who looks happy! Any money that is available is spent on gas and oil and car repairs. The cars are held together by a thread, a very worn one and then they had to face the Rocky Mountains with mechanical brakes, bad tires and leaky radiators.

So the next time you are trying to decide how much of a shine there should be on your firewall, you might give a thought to the misery that your car was a part of when it was used for every day transportation. Ed

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As I was pulling the parts off my sedan I was wondering about the stories that could be told by the car. Why the engine was only bolted to the tranny by a hand full of bolts. Why was it parked in the first place. How long ago were the crude looking welds made on the fenders and firewall.

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I love the history and the stories behind these old cars - I hope future generations have as much love for them.

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If you haven't ever read The Grapes of Wrath I strongly recommend you find a copy.

There is one chapter in which the Joads struggle to fix bad piston in their Nash and Steinbeck goes into great detail about how they fixed it on the side of the road with only basic hand tools.

-Tim

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Bobby G, I don't know how much you know or have heard about the "Dust Bowl" of the midwest in the "Dirty Thirties", But It was about as bad as it can get. Previously fairly prosperous farmers got a double hit. First the depression, then the Drought and the winds blowing away the topsoil. The dust got in everywhere! House, cars, engines. Research has shown that the farmers unknowingly caused some of the problems by cutting treelines at the edge of their fields and deep plowing. Both contributed to the damage when the soil blew away. This caused a great migration west, mainly to California where the influx was treated as a scourge. The Book,The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, although mainly true, is regarded as greatly slanted and was propaganda for Roosevelt's "New Deal" programs. Especially the movie. Well worth seeing, though !
Terry

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Herewith a thumbnail sketch of what life was like during the production of the Model A (October 1927 thru March 1932) admittedly leaving out many important aspects of life in the US during this time (e.g., the dust bowl, etc.):

Population & Demographics: The US population was 123,202,660 (1930); today it is estimated to be 2-1/2 times as large (316,057,000). The average life expectancy in 1927 was 59 years (men) and 62 years (women); today it is 76 years (men) and 81 years (women).

Entertainment: The Jazz Singer – popularly regarded as the first talking motion picture – had just opened in 1927 and the Academy Awards presentation started in 1929. Mickey Mouse first appeared in 1928 and Popeye appeared in 1929.

Science & Industry: The first car radio was introduced by Motorola in 1929. The Chrysler Building was completed in 1930 and in 1931 the Empire State Building was completed and work started on Boulder (Hoover) Dam.

Politics: Women had received the right to vote in national elections in 1919; Calvin Coolidge was president in 1927 and Herbert Hoover in 1931.

Aviation: In 1927 Charles Lindberg had just completed his solo flight across the Atlantic (followed by Amelia Earhart in 1928) and in 1929 the Graf Zeppelin completed the first round-the-world flight. By comparison, design work on the B-17 bomber started in 1933, with a first flight in 1935.

Culture: Work had just begun on Mount Rushmore (1927). Heavy rains caused the Mississippi River to break its levee system in 145 locations, causing the Great Mississippi Flood of April 1927 that affected some 700,000 people and flooded 27,000 square miles, including parts of Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and 14% of the state of Arkansas. In 1931 the Star Spangled Banner became the US national anthem. Prohibition (1920-1933) was in place.

Medicine: Penicillin was invented by Alexander Fleming in 1928 and polio was still a wide-spread summer health threat (the iron lung was invented in 1928).

Economics: The Dow Jones Industrial Average was about 200 at the beginning of 1928, peaking at just over 381 in 1929 before plunging to about 86 in March of 1932; today it is approaching 15,600. 1350 banks failed in 1930; another 2500 failed in 1931. In 1930 (in un-inflated dollars) the average new house cost $7145 (down to $6790 in 1931); average rent was $15/month (up to $18 in 1931), average wages were $1970/year (down to $1850 in 1931), gas cost $0.10/gallon, bread cost $0.09/loaf and ground meat was $0.13/lb. In 1931 the unemployment rate was 16.3%.

As someone once said, "The good-ol' days are today."

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My Dad, Mom, brother and sister migrated out of the dust bowl in their Model A with their possessions tied on the car. They left their first born buried there as he died of dust pneumonia. Our family knew to well the effects of those times. I came along later but still remember riding in the Model A.

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[QUOTE=WTSHNN;693408]If you haven't ever read The Grapes of Wrath I strongly recommend you find a copy.

There is one chapter in which the Joads struggle to fix bad piston in their Nash and Steinbeck goes into great detail about how they fixed it on the side of the road with only basic hand tools.

-Tim[/QUOTE

If I remember correctly that chapter also mentions the smell of the grease as he was working. I remember that smell so well from my youth. Jim.T.

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Almost ashame when we restore we remove this history of the car ,the dents, rust, old repairs and the smell of old grease and age of long ago. when this is gone the next generation won't know what these cars went through.

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Terry as you rightly appreciated I knew nothing of the 'Dust Bowl' I had a totally different idea of what that meant - I appreciate what a terrible time that was for all those involved, Thank you.

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This pic says volumes about it.

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If we drive them enough we can instill a new grease smell and history.:D

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A very thought provoking thread. I read Grapes of Wrath long ago, but enjoyed it very much. A lot of good songs written about that period, too.

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My car was built, sold and driven only in CA until I got it. I am pretty sure it led an easy life, especially based on its condition.

Those were very hard times that no one now-days can really appreciate.

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I was watching a PBS special about Woody Guthrie a few months ago. One of the interesting things I learned was many of his folk songs were about his days during the dust bowl. Along with his own health problems, his music kind of died out during and after WWII. People had lived through the depression and wanted to move onto better things in th 1950's and really didn't want to remember all those hard times of the 1930's. The last thing they wanted was to hear music about it.

He didn't become popular again until the late 50's with the new folk singers looking for a mentor. The boomers at the time evidently didn't really know these songs were about those times, but applied them to their own struggles.

Looking at it from my perspective as a grandchild of the greatest generation I'm amazed at all they live through

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My father left Seminole, Oklahoma in 1935 in a 29 Chevrolet to California and made it on old Route 66. Mind you, he didn't leave because of the Dust Bowl because it was actually farther West in Oklahoma, but because Gulf Oil had depleated all the oil fields in and around Seminole. When they pulled out, they left acres and acres of land that was unusable for anything especially farming. All the stuff they pulled out of the ground besides the oil was salt water and other impurities that polluted the soil. The town of Seminole turned into a ghost town so off he went to California looking for a job picking oranges as all the ads in the magazines said to do. He got there and found there were eight people for every one job. Hoovervilles were all over the place and flooded with people. He turned around after several months and came down through the desert toward Yuma, Arizona and the only way to get into Yuma was to cross the infamous sand dunes on a one lane board road. Have picture of his 29 Chevrolet on a siding. If you met someone on that board road, the closest person to the siding had to back up to let the other person pass. He made it to Yuma then on to Phoenix and found a job there and never left the area. Hard times indeed.

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Wonder how well this roadster ran after the dust cloud passed?

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When my youngest daughter was in her last year of HS, we visited my other daughter in California. although I had been to New Mexico and Arizona a few times, It was my first trip to Ca. and we wanted to see as much as possible. So we headed up towards Bakersfield. Diane (My youngest) saw "Weedpatch" on the way, but off "the 5" We were going to see "Rim Rocks", where many a 1920-30s cowboy shoot em up was filmed. She had studied the Grapes of Wrath in school and wanted to see it. Well, It wasn't much as I recall, just a little settlement in the San Joaquin valley, but it really exists!
Terry

Re: Model As, Built During a Very Difficult Time
 

The tough people of the 30's are quite a contrast to the people today.

Marc

Re: Model As, Built During a Very Difficult Time
 

I have a few more images of Model "A's" in the depths of the Depression on another hard drive. I'll post more if this thread continues.

Thanks and a tip of the hat to Shorpy's great photo site.

In all of these images, watch for missing parts, including radiator caps, hubcaps, rear fender guards, and spare wheels. Looks like the lady in the Tudor has her family's alarm clock propped up on the dash.

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This is a Dorothea Lange image from Oklahoma, 1935. Every time I see this I hope that the family Tudor carried these girls to a kinder future.

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John Butts,
Thank you for those great pic's. the people of that time were very strong folks, but I would guess the folks before them in the covered wagons crossing this country were even tougher, ....looks like every generation is getting weaker, and I'm one of them.
don't know where it will end, but it cant be good.

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according to Dad's contemporaries, long since deceased, what made the '30s so numbing was the previous perception that we were moving into a golden era during the years '26, '27', 28, although in retrospect that belief was somewhat ill-founded; and when the downturn came, and lingered and lingered, it seemed like a bad dream.

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Tom, right you are about driving and installing new grease smell, but the history will be new along with new memories. great old pictures from everyone.

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I always liked going into my grandfather's machine shed and smelling the air filled with grease and the aroma of many different cans of oil, kerosene, etc. I haven't been able to find the same smell in any newer buildings.

Unfortunately the old farm place was sold about 6 years ago and the new owners burned every building to the ground, just to be able to plow up a few more acres.:mad:

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"By 1934, it was estimated that 100 million acres of farmland had lost all or most of the topsoil to the winds. "

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Great stories and pictures guys. I try to poke at my grand parents about the cars and depression/ dust bowl times but none are old enough to remember any major details of it. I'm only 28 and they are relatively you for grandparents. Thanks for sharing all these stories I'm really enjoying them.

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What many left behind:

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You got to admit those were and still are some tough cars. Hay they took a beaten. And I've always loved them. Simpler the better .

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Re: Model As, Built During a Very Difficult Time
 

[QUOTE=Tom Wesenberg;693767]I always liked going into my grandfather's machine shed and smelling the air filled with grease and the aroma of many different cans of oil, kerosene, etc. I haven't been able to find the same smell in any newer buildings.

In my shop I've got my unrestored '29 Chevy coach and unrestored '31
Model-A deluxe roadster. Both cars are licensed and driven and when
each time I enter the building. The "patina smell" is so great that a big smile comes over my face and I think of how lucky I am to have them.:)

Bob-A:D

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http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps7c8d85eb.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...ps14831701.jpg

-Tim

Re: Model As, Built During a Very Difficult Time
 

Bill, you must have had it as a very young infant. Could you tell us a bit about yourself? I've always enjoyed your postings and have often wished I could sit over a cup of coffee with you.

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Life in the dustbowl era was almost unthinkable today. The best book that I have read on it is "The Worst Hard Time" by Timothy Egan 2006. A lot about the cars and how they traveled in the storms.
I always wondered how they could last with no air filter.

My family left Illinois and went to California during the depression. My grandfather got a job in a movie studio. Later he moved back and started farming again. I still live on the family farm in the house built in 1868.

There is a lot of history in this country made by a lot of hard work. No iPhones in 1930.

John

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Tom, with me it was not Granpa, it was "Cousin Les's" farm. About eighty acres in Hunterdon Co. NJ. The shop was there and the smell of old oil and grease that goes up your nose and stays there was there also. When I was doing a little farming and bought my second tractor, an Intl H, the smell was on it too. Cousin Les had a 1936 JD B and a JD 60 with a side wheel, Gawd could they even build those today? I'm like hunting dog, I associate many things with their smells. Like rural poverty has a smell to it. It goes up your nose and stays there. Watching the movie "Coal Miner's Daughter" brought it all back to me.
Terry

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Did you know this: hoboes travelling around on trains used to have a way of chalking the curbs on the particular residences near the railroad yards that were generous about giving a meal to vagrants who knocked on the door. One of Dad's friends had a soft-hearted old aunt living near train tracks that had several yards of chalk marks up and down her curb stones.

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Here are some pretty well known images.

In 1939, Russell Lee, photographer with the Farm Security Administration, shadowed Elmer Thomas and his family from Muskogee, Oklahoma to California. Large images can be viewed at http://www.shorpy.com/node/1757

In 2010, the daughter of the young woman in the pickup bed reported that the family, including the dog, made it through to Bakersfield, CA. Other descendants have also posted on the Shorpy site.

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I have a friend in my town who could tell many stories about the the dust bowl.I n 1940, he & his wife drove from Oklahoma to Oregon in a 31 S/W sedan.He is 90 yrs old.while the dust bowl was going on,the same thing was going on in the prairies of Canada.He had the bed on top & the back seat filled with belongings.

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While we're on the "hard times" theme, here are two 1938 images of a '29 Business Coupe with rumble seat conversion and what seems to be a 19" wheel.

Anyway, a far cry from the advertisements of 9-10 years earlier.

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Yo, Bill Lee,
Had Polio at 2 & after numerous surgeries, body braces, etc. at Crippled Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City, I was able to learn to walk again with leg braces.
My "chassis" was like an old Model A frame that not only sagged, but looked like it had been rear ended by Chief, my Dad, drivin an "AA" dump truck loaded with gravel, when he worked for W.P.A! Bill W.