Gas cap mystery

[jquinlan]

I recently bought another Model A Fordor and found something strange about it's gas cap. When we took it for a test drive, it ran rough and he said it probably had older gas so we went to a gas station and added gas. He then started it and I adjusted the gav slightly and the car then ran fine.

After bringing it home, the first time I opened the gas cap I noticed two giant gaskets which I thought were odd. I removed the gaskets and took it for a drive and it ran absolutely terrible. When I got home I examined the gas cap and noticed someone had soldered the hole shut for some strange reason. (Item#1 in the attachment). It should look like picture#2 which is from my 28 truck.

I think they were using those gaskets as a spacer so air could get in and not create a vacuum. Once I removed the gaskets the car was absolutely starved for gas and ran terrible. The fix is obvious, I just need a correct gas cap.

So my question is why oh why would someone solder the hole shut on a gas cap. Seems weird to me.