tell a Model A related story

[woofa.express]

I haven’t written for quite a while but will be starting in about a week or 10 days. I have enjoyed reading of other owners stories so I do hope they and others continue. This thread is not the sole property of Gary’s. And a special hello to my friend Jim Brierley.
Some time ago I asked of anyone would like of copy of my aeroplane stories now turned into a monthly small magazine, about 6 or 7 pages. I didn’t act or respond to those who responded and I offer my apologies. I find some aspects of the internet most difficult and that being the case with Gmail because it is new to me. I have no interest in the tech and procedure aspects of the internet. I have more interest in watching the grass grow. I made a dedicated page to this magazine which I have named Tocumwal Flyers and Friends. If any reader would like a copy do email me on
[email protected]

[woofa.express]

A story from my publication: Tocumwal Flyers and Friends. Travel.

Patsy and I took a 5 day cruise from Hong Kong to Viet Nam and return. This story is about Ha Long Bay. What a frightening sight
This had daily stops at ports enroute, which I enjoy. The passengers were mostly Asian with about 30 Caucasian and 2 of which were Australians. We met for drinks and dinner each night and that was enjoyable. Another cruise we took later was a cruise departing Vancouver to Alaska. Passengers numbered about 4,500 and whilst we enjoyed the company of other passengers we were lucky if we ever saw any of them again.
Now back to Ha Long. It was at daybreak I awoke and looked out the port hole to find big rocks, maybe about 50 feet high above the water line on the starboard side. Then more big rocks. My mind immediately took me to the Concordia disaster at Giglio Island. Twenty eight died, the recovery cost some 2 billion and then the hull was turned into razor blades or something similar. I then realised we were traveling on the same cruise line; The Costa Line. Gosh. Then I thought about the discounted fares we paid. Gosh again. Think I had better wake Patsy and have her dress in suitable clothing and be ready for an “Abandon Ship” announcement. Well I’m still here, obviously, so all ended well. Ha Long harbour was most spectacular and, in my opinion one of the natural wonders of the world.
Also worth a mention was Danang. The French influence in the buildings and the left over Nissan hut type hangers of the Vietnam war. and so was the old town with French influence particularly in the buildings. The old Nissan Hut hangers remaining from the war. My ag pilot friend from Williams in Northern California Bob Caldwell would have operated out of their when he flew helicopters during that war. Two other things of note was a taxi fare cost 1 million dong plus I was required to purchase fuel shortly after departing the Wharfe and a haircut 150,000. The tour guide was named “Rick” and I’m he learned this trade of extraction from American service men during the Vietnam war.
[/SIZE]

[Jim Brierley]

Gary, We love to travel too, it is interesting and very educational, it opens your eyes to many things, customs, etc. that one would never otherwise think of. I'm glad that you are still alive and kicking!

[woofa.express]

I enjoy hearing from you Jim. I read the first chapter of your book to some of my grandkids recently. It's good that they hear life in earlier times was not a bed of roses. It did them good to know. Hope you enjoy my travel story which continues. cheers, g

[woofa.express]

Travel. We stumbled upon an aqueduct and what a sight.
What an unusual sight. Whilst driving around Wales I spotted this high bridge and assumed it was a railway. To my surprise I saw a boat crossing it. A boat? Well I figured it needed investigating and what did I find; a treasure, an aqueduct. I had never before seen one and didn’t expect what I saw. By chance it was the highest aqueduct in the UK being 126 feet from the lowest part of the gully being the river of course. Boat cannels in the UK were made to transport crockery because, obviously, because it would reach its destination intact. Today these channels and boats are tourist attractions and one can hire them for leisure. The pictures are the duct, the terminal, and our house hostess all dressed up in Welsh costume with my sister in law Brenda and wife Patsy. Now some facts and pictures about the duct, some of which are sourced from the internet.
Located at Froncysylite, Wrexham, it crosses the River Dee, opened in 1805 following a 10 year build. Has 18 spans. Cost £47,000. Adjusted for inflation this is equivalent to no more than £4,820,000 in 2023. Designed by a bloke by the name of Thomas Telford who went on to design many British structures of renown.

__________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

[JohnCab68c]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

My 50 year Model A adventure – Part 3….
Well it turned out finding a Cabriolet just wasn’t that easy…. Oh I found a few in Hemmings, they were already restored, too expensive and too many States away. I ended up finding some pieces and parts, basically a rusty cowl section and rear quarter panels. I think I paid about $150 or so. I mean, how hard could it be to find top folding hardware, landau irons, a set of doors, and all of the other Cabriolet specific parts needed to finish it? Okay, I was desperate and it didn’t really cost me much. I was able to unload what I had collected for about what I had in it. At that point I was beginning to think a Cabriolet was just not going to happen.
To be continued.....

[JohnCab68c]

My 50 year Model A adventure – Part 4….
Sometime in late 1974 or early 75 I wandered in to Mal’s admiring his collection of cars, mostly Model A’s and in particular the Bronson Yellow (or actually Cigarette Crème in 1929) Cabriolet that I coveted. Mal mentioned that there was a Cabriolet advertised in the current Restorer Magazine. He pulled out a copy and opened it to the page. There it was, a 1930 Cabriolet; complete, new wood, restoration started but lots of loose parts… $1,500. Something I could actually afford. I called the owner Gale Garrett (don’t know how I remember his name, but I do). He told me he was moving and had to sell the car. The car was in San Gabriel a six or seven hour drive one way…. A flight out of Oakland was cheap less than $30 as I recall. I went down with every intention of buying it, but I wanted to see it first. The body was on the chassis and knowing what I know now it was a really solid car. Gale pointed out how well the doors closed and described the time he spent aligning everything. I ended up paying $1,250. Within a week I had the Cabriolet in my garage with boxes of pieces and parts stacked everywhere. That’s when it dawned on my that I didn’t have a clue as to how to put this thing together, much less paint, body work, top, interior, etc….
To be continued

[JohnCab68c]

My 50 year Model A adventure – Part 5….
With the Model A I wanted so badly sitting safely in my garage albeit mostly in pieces I was satisfied that I had what I wanted…. Only problem, how do I finish it. Another trips to Mal’s in Martinez. Mal told me of a young guy by the name of Tom. He was a year or two younger than me and had been working on Model A’s since he was a kid. Mal provided me with Tom’s phone number and I contacted him. Upon meeting him I was a bit skeptical, clean cut, just starting college, and very young looking… how could he possibly have any experience. Well it turns out he had in fact, been restoring cars with his dad since his early teens. Mal had seen Tom’s work and vouched for the fact that he could do it all… mechanical, body work, paint, etc. Tom came to my house and looked at my partial basket case Cabriolet….. He explained that since he was going to college, he would have to fit the work in as time allowed and that it might take four to six months to complete. We agreed that as long as he I could live with a six month time frame he would do the entire job for $2,500! That price did not include the material cost of top and interior and possibly chrome / brightwork. Just to put that in perspective a rebuilt engine from Cal’s machine was about $300 at that time.
So… what could possibly go wrong?
To be continued

[JohnCab68c]

My 50 year Model A adventure – Part 6….
The next part of the story happened in the fall or early winter of 1974. For some reason there was a significant delay in Tom starting work on the Cabriolet. Weeks stretched into months and at some point I got frustrated, looking back, and in Tom’s defense, he was just beginning college and knowing Tom as I ultimately did, he was probably taking a maximum class load and just didn’t have time to start a car project….. anyway, for whatever reason, word got out that there was a guy in Benicia (me), that had a Cabriolet for sale. Out of the blue, a man from Santa Cruz found me. It remains a complete mystery to me how he heard about my Model A and otherwise ended up on my front porch… no phone call or other communication.
I think the conversation was something like this….
Him – “I heard you have a Cabriolet for sale, how much do you want for it?”
Me – totally dumbfounded, and not really wanting to sell my Cabriolet I figured I would give him a price that would make him run away and never come back…. “I would probably sell it for $2,000”……. which was quite a bit of money for a basket case Model A at that time….
Before I could blink an eye he pulled forty, fifty dollar bills out of his pocket and handed it to me. He asked me to get everything together and he would return in a week or so to pick everything up. As I recall he only saw the Cabriolet sitting on the chassis from the street. In hind site I believe he would have given $3,000 or more. It tuned out he was purchasing the car to restore it for someone else. Anyway…. There went the car of my dreams….. What do I do next?

[JohnCab68c]

My 50 year Model A adventure – Part 7….
So my Cabriolet dreams were in the rear view mirror, I was kicking myself. I informed Tom and I think he breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn’t given up on my Model A dream but knew I would need to expand my search to include other, less rare body styles. Over the next few months I looked at several Coupes and a Tudor but nothing really appealed to me, I was still pining over the Cabriolet.
Fate steps in to ease my pain.
To be continued

[JohnCab68c]

My 50 year Model A adventure – Part 8…. (Flash back to Spring / Summer 1974)
I left a small but important part of my story out…. These events were coincident with Part 1.
Shortly after I acquired my first Model A Coupe I saw a 1929 Roadster sitting in front of Tommy Lavezzo’s house, I really liked it! Tommy was a friend, former employer, and coworker who used to own a local service station. Tommy informed me that he was working on it for the owner, Alfred “Stubby” Johnson. Stubby was getting up in years and wanted to drive it in local parades etc. The Roadster was fitted with U shaped racks on the passenger side fenders. Stubby owned a local hardware and building supply. In its working life the Model A was used to deliver small loads of pipe and lumber around town. I reached out to Stubby and was informed in no uncertain terms that the Model A was not for sale. It turns out Stubby was the original owner and had a strong attachment to the car.
Although I was infatuated with the Roadster I understood clearly it was not for sale, at that point I moved on to my search for the Cabriolet as described in Part 3 of my adventure…..

[Jim Brierley]

Woofa, I enjoyed your story on the aqueduct, as I enjoy all of your writings. Kathy and I toured England, Ireland and Scotland back in 2012 (?) We stopped someplace in England and rode a 'lift' that was part of the canal system in use many years before. The lift was originally used to lift boats from one canal to another, sort of like a freeway interchange for boats. The lift was maybe 35-40 feet high. It was one of many interesting things that we saw/did on that trip. We've toured many places overseas, always renting a car and going our own way. Now, at my age, we probably can't even rent a car? That's OK, we have lots of great memories!

p.s. I enjoyed JonhnCab's tale too!

[JohnCab68c]

My 50 year Model A adventure – Part 9 (continued from Part 7)….
As mentioned in Part 7, I had a lapse of common sense and inadvertently sold the Cabriolet I had so desperately desired. The Cabriolet was the “the one that got away” or actually, “the first one that got away”…..
Fast forward a few months…. Sadly (and I genuinely mean that) Stubby, the owner of the 1929 Roadster passed away. Well, I didn’t want to be a vulture but it was eating at me…. How long should I wait before approaching Stubby’s widow. It turns out I didn’t have to wait too long. My boss, Larry, was friends with Stubby. Larry asked me one morning before work if I was still interested in Stubby’s Roadster… “Absolutely!” Larry told me Mrs. Johnson was ready to sell the car. After a phone call and short back and forth on price we settled on $1,500. I contacted Tom, the young man that had agreed to restore the Cabriolet, and he was ready to start any time. With that I picked the Roadster up from Mrs. Johnson and towed it to Napa where the restoration would take place. With the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, the restoration was a huge mistake. Oh… the car came out absolutely beautiful. Bright shiny black lacquer paint job, new engine, brightwork, everything was perfect. But to be honest, it didn’t need restoration. The car had always been garaged and Stubby took excellent care of it, even during its working life. There were no signs of damage anywhere and it had been parked since the 1950s. Better yet I was the second owner! The car had the lovely patina that only comes with age. The original interior was still intact, I believe at some point the top had probably been replace but other than that it was completely original. It even had the gas ration sticker from the WWII years.
To be continued…..

[JohnCab68c]

My 50 year Model A adventure – Part 10
Well I had the second Model A of my dreams, a 1929 Roadster, unrestored original condition purchased from the original owner in my hometown. The car had a lot of character and personality just the way it sat. I even got a pile of registration tags and the original 1929 license plate! Wow. My restoration guy Tom completed the work sometime in late 1975 or early 76. I loved that car and it became my daily driver, weather permitting of course. I won’t go into details at this point but will just plead temporary insanity….. I sold the car in summer of 1977 for $6,500….. The second one that got away. A gentleman from Concord, CA, Jerry Van Dyke (not the movie star) bought it. Many years later I ran into Mickey Himsl, a friend of Jerry’s. While talking cars we somehow made the connection that I had owned Jerry’s Roadster. Mickey told me he and Jerry had a lot of fun cruising in that car.
To be continued.....

[JohnCab68c]

My 50 year Model A adventure – Part 11
From 1977 through 1983 I went without a Model A…. Just one year into our marriage, December 1983 to be exact, my wonderful wife Claire bought me the third Model A of my dreams…. A 1931 Slant Windshield Cabriolet (68C)! We named her Mollie’O after Claire’s mom. An inheritance from Mollie’O made the purchase possible. She was unrestored but complete and running. I drove her about two years before beginning the restoration, which took about five or six years. There were times I thought I would never be able to drive her again! Two kids, school, work, remodeling a house for a growing family, etc…. But the time spent working on Mollie’O during restoration was priceless. Friends would come by to help. Best of all, my son and daughter got their hands dirty.
It took forever to cut the sills, door posts, cross members, etc. Lots of time spent on the band saw and radial arm saw cutting doug fir mockup door posts before making the cuts on the expensive and very hard oak. The center top bow was a real challenge.
In late 1991 through early 92 reassembly was completed. In the spring of 1992 Mollie’O was finished. A friend, and co-worker Bernie did the body work and paint. Against Claire’s wishes of keeping the original Blue color I went with Bronson Yellow and Seal Brown.
The best part is…. I actually managed to keep this one. I taught both my Son and Daughter how to drive it and I look forward to teaching my two granddaughters.
I have since owned several other Model A’s; a 1930 Roadster Pickup, 1930 Town Sedan, and my current project a 1931 Vicky.
That’s it… My Model A Story as of September 23, 2024… But like all of us Model A Folks…
To Be Continued!

[Fullraceflathead]

We have to remember to enjoy our model A.'s owning them and driving them because our time with them is very short we're not gonna live forever but our model A. is may live another hundred years who knows so enjoy them at every opportunity!!!

[woofa.express]

ting) before I can do that. This thread seems like the perfect opportunity. I plan to post my Model A life story to date in several bite sized installments, which will allow me to build up my inventory of posts. Please forgive my rambling style of story telling…..


I have since owned several other Model A’s; a 1930 Roadster Pickup, 1930 Town Sedan, and my current project a 1931 Vicky.
That’s it… My Model A Story as of September 23, 2024… But like all of us Model A Folks…
To Be Continued![/QUOTE]

Post some pictures JohnCab68c for reader review. Liked your stories.
Woofa.Express.

[woofa.express]

from my Tocumwal Flyers short monthly magazine. Contribution by my friend Ann.

Travel. It was in 2019 while touring with a group around the Uk we arrived at the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland. This amazing piece of engineering is the one and only rotating boat lift in the world. It connects the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal in a half turn that takes only 5 minutes. It was a highlight of the tour to actually be taken up to the top canal and the great view before being returning to ground level.

[mercman from oz]

Falkirk Wheel in Scotland

[mercman from oz]

The "Woofa Express"