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Cliff Ramsdell · 05-31-2020, 04:18 PM

It’s 1974 and I’m a 15 year old freshman riding the bus to school. There is alway time to look out the windows and see what you can see. As fall comes to a close and the leaves fall from the trees here in New England I spot some old cars behind a garage on my route to and from school.

A couple of questions with one of the kids that get on the bus close to the cars gets me a name and off I go. The owner, George, was great and enjoyed talking about his collection of cars with an enthusiastic kid.

The 1931 AA dump truck really caught my eye and he assured me it ran well when parked years ago and could run again. A spin of the motor with the hand crank showed the motor to be free. A deal was made. I would get the truck running and in exchange he would sell it to me for $50.00.

Over the winter I collected parts I would need to make this happen. Points, cap and rotor along with a carburetor rebuild kit were available at the local parts store in Winsted and in stock. George had a new set of plugs sitting in the garage since the flood of ‘55 and gave me this for the project. I took the distributor and carburetor home and rebuilt both of them.

Back to the truck in the spring armed with my rebuilt parts, oil and fresh gas we drained the tank and filled it with gas. Installed the distributor and carburetor, plugs and a nice battery all charged by George. Back together and a bit of fiddling around and the old truck came to life.

It had a mechanical dump body that worked but the clutch was stuck and George showed me how to fix that. Face the truck up hill warmed up, push in the clutch and start the truck and jab the throttle, clutch free.

I drove the truck around his property and then we got it to our place where I drove it more in the woods and fields for the summer and fall of 1975.

February of 1976 found us moving from Connecticut to New Hampshire and the truck wasn’t making the trip with me. My boss at the garage, Al Milo, came out and towed the truck back to the Amoco station and it was sold at some time after I moved.

That’s my Model A story, my First Model A was a ‘31 AA dump truck.

Cliff Ramsdell

05-31-2020, 04:18 PM	#868
Cliff Ramsdell Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Windsor Locks, CT. Posts: 244	Re: tell a Model A related story It’s 1974 and I’m a 15 year old freshman riding the bus to school. There is alway time to look out the windows and see what you can see. As fall comes to a close and the leaves fall from the trees here in New England I spot some old cars behind a garage on my route to and from school. A couple of questions with one of the kids that get on the bus close to the cars gets me a name and off I go. The owner, George, was great and enjoyed talking about his collection of cars with an enthusiastic kid. The 1931 AA dump truck really caught my eye and he assured me it ran well when parked years ago and could run again. A spin of the motor with the hand crank showed the motor to be free. A deal was made. I would get the truck running and in exchange he would sell it to me for $50.00. Over the winter I collected parts I would need to make this happen. Points, cap and rotor along with a carburetor rebuild kit were available at the local parts store in Winsted and in stock. George had a new set of plugs sitting in the garage since the flood of ‘55 and gave me this for the project. I took the distributor and carburetor home and rebuilt both of them. Back to the truck in the spring armed with my rebuilt parts, oil and fresh gas we drained the tank and filled it with gas. Installed the distributor and carburetor, plugs and a nice battery all charged by George. Back together and a bit of fiddling around and the old truck came to life. It had a mechanical dump body that worked but the clutch was stuck and George showed me how to fix that. Face the truck up hill warmed up, push in the clutch and start the truck and jab the throttle, clutch free. I drove the truck around his property and then we got it to our place where I drove it more in the woods and fields for the summer and fall of 1975. February of 1976 found us moving from Connecticut to New Hampshire and the truck wasn’t making the trip with me. My boss at the garage, Al Milo, came out and towed the truck back to the Amoco station and it was sold at some time after I moved. That’s my Model A story, my First Model A was a ‘31 AA dump truck. Cliff Ramsdell Last edited by Cliff Ramsdell; 06-01-2020 at 04:49 PM.