What drove you towards the Model A hobby?

[Barry in St.Paul]

My dad had several old cars up on the farm, including a '26 T and '29 A Roadster he restored in the '70s. He and Mom were charter members of the Vintage Car Club in Alexandria, MN, and not too many summer weekends went by without a club activity or a local town's parade. (I grew to HATE driving politicians around, though the various "Queens" and "Princesses" weren't a bad duty! :-) As part of the '29 roadster restoration he accumulated a running "doodle-bug" chassis, literally just a chassis with a cowl, a bus seat welded on the frame and a Briggs&Stratton gas tank mounted on a stick (because cowl gas tank rusted through) and tractor hitch welded on the back. One day in 9th grade, I was looking at that jalopy sitting next to his shiny 'new' '29 roadster, and thought "I can do that!". I got the bright idea in my head that I would restore it that summer, in time to pull the float for my 10th grade Homecoming parade. :-) I recall my Dad's response was "go ahead, that will last you about two weeks, but anything you do to clean it up will make it worth a little more when I sell it".... which made me mad. We had nothing besides 'farm tools', so I wirebrushed by hand, etc.. I'd get frustrated over the summer and say "I'm done!", to which Dad would reply "I figured you'd quit!", which made me mad and sent me right back out to the old garage to dig in again. When he realized I was serious about it, he became very supportive. The turning point was when another friend of his drove on the farm one morning, and just happened to have two '30 coupe bodies in the back of his pickup/trailer, which was exactly what I wanted to build (the chassis/engine was a mid-30). Dad agreed to buy them, and we never looked back again. That was 1980, and I finished the mechanical part of the restoration in summer of 1982, then did the autobody work at a car-club member's bodyshop that summer, and before and after school by senior year. I drove it home with fresh paint the day I graduated from high school in 1983. I'll never forget my first car show, when I came up behind my dad while he was talking to one of his buddies, and overheard him say, 'yeah, that's my BOY'S car, isn't it beautiful?!" Proudest moment of my life. Fast-forward 20 years, to 2000. My niece wanted one of the old cars to drive away from her wedding in Mpls/St.Paul, so I agreed to drive my coupe down for it (3 hour drive). That was July, and in August, my shop blew down on top of it (96mph winds), and the car was the only thing holding the roof up. Crushed in the back, skewed the rumble seat about an inch, dents every 16" (every joist left its mark!). Took three years before I could bear to do anything with it, but in 2003 my then-7 yr old son seemed interested in helping, so I decided to a frame-off re-restoration and "do it right". This January, I took it home from the paint booth once again, and just re-installed the engine last weekend (after pulling it for some vibration issues with 200 miles on it). So, after 10 years, it is finally "done" once again! :-) If I ever figure out how to post pictures, I'll post a before-and-after on here sometime. In hindsight, it is the one thing my Dad and I truly shared, different from any of my four siblings, and I still go up to the farm and take care of his other cars, some of which I am gradually "purchasing", including the '28 Studebaker President and '53 Buick Super V8 convertible. And my now-14yr old son recently rebuilt Dad's '26 Model-T engine (w/ some help), as he thought it was just terrible how we all "neglected" the poor Model-T. (it is one car I never had much interest in, and to me, just isn't much fun to drive!). While he is now less-interested in cars and more interested in other things, I hope that our experiences the last few years will at least make my '30 coupe a treasured heirloom that is passed down to one of my grandchildren and keep the connection going that started back in 1980 with MY dad! What a great hobby!
By the way, this is a good opportunity to say THANKS to all you FordBarners, for countless questions answered, both directly and from archive searches! I can't count the number of improvements and corrections I've been able to make on things I never even considered or knew about the first time around, doing it 100% "solo". It is like having a hundred co-restorers at your beck & call, whenever you need a hand. Much appreciated!!