tell a Model A related story

[woofa.express]

Post script to 1156.
To follow on from story number 1156.
Well that mad dog bit the wiper snipper. He laid quiet for some time afterwards. I did say if he was to show improved IQ I’d upgrade his statis and write his name on the ride on mower, but with his stupidity I have now decided to write it on the wheel barrow in lieu of. And will do so with chalk which will enable me to remove it in the event of any more stupid behaviour and then I will name a shovel in his honour.

[woofa.express]

Becoming trapped.

When I was younger my job was aerial mustering wild cattle in the Kimberly of WA as well as NT. Traditionary mustering had been done by mustering teams on horseback and much still is of course. Another method was to trap cattle. This needed a water hole in a creek which had dried. The water hole could be fenced off with a one way push gate to allow the bovines to enter and likewise a one way push gate to exit. When cattle became comfortable with this system the exit gate would be closed and bingo you had a compound with trapped cattle.
For more than a year now Australian residence have been restricted in travel in an endeavour to limit the spread of covid. People have become caught away from home and overseas. Opinion has been mixed on these two things: limiting personal freedoms and whether it will be successful preventing the spread of covid.
To go shopping in NSW where I live I need to wear a mask and to attend a restaurant or other public gathering place one needs to not only wear a mask but show proof of double vaccination. I have this on paper but it can be acquired on a telephone. I’m not going there because I don’t intend to carry a telephone nor do I wish to learn these new methods of the modern world. I am currently occupied planting daisies in my yard which is considerably more important to me and definitely more rewarding.
Several large supermarket chains and other retailers have asked that payment be made by credit card so their staff don’t need to handle cash money. Not going there either.
Where are we going as a nation? Well I know where. It’s leading to more public exposure of personal information followed by more government intrusion into our lives with the biggest intrusion being the monitoring our money; a cashless society (most of us expected this would come). This will allow them, the government to collect more money which only gives them more to trash. And where is the government going? Already and for some time now government has being directed by the UN on what we can do and cannot do, as indeed Britain was directed by Brussels. Our government is suffering the Oliver syndrome- I want more. (without the please sir). And that won’t stop and especially now.
So where are we, citizens of this country headed? Where do you think we are headed? If you are uncertain read paragraph one again.

[woofa.express]

I wrote this for another thread but I have decided to include it in this thread as well. That will keep track of them so when the summer gets too hot or winter too cold and I choose to stay indoors I will compile them all into a book.

Our new John Deere. New to us that is.

I remember the financial struggle my parents endured when I was a kid. We had a dairy farm which was largely pretty rough and low lying- wet. To bring this country into production Dad and his neighbour- brother purchased an international tractor, a TD6, with track traction not wheels. A four-cylinder diesel with a petrol start. When I was about 12 I took lunch to Dad who was working this tractor. I asked if I could drive it whilst he ate and he agreed. He watched me, I felt most grown up and important. I must have handled it okay because after eating he walked home and left me to it. That was such a big tractor, so I thought, and my ego was now even bigger.
Sometime later I remember Dad cursing a fuel company and the supplier for increasing the price of petrol from 5 pence an imperial gallon to 7 pence. It was going to present us with some financial hardship he said. Our family motorcar was an English Austin40. It was old and very rusted in the mudguards probably because it had driven through so much cow shit. We had run Farmall A tractors but we must have sold them and I remember we had replaced them with a diesel powered David Brown. A British tractor purchased because the manufacturer financed it with an interest rate lower than that of its competitors.
One day Dad appeared with a John Deere- 2-cylinder petrol tractor but designed to burn kerosene. It had crop front wheels and a flywheel to pull through to crank it. It also had a hand clutch- push to engage. I remember asking Dad why he bought such an unusual tractor with this funny engine. Son, he said, if I was to get a visit from a government excise officer how would I explain we burned petrol when we had only diesel powered tractors. The petrol was of course burned in our personal motorcar- the Austin 40. He said he could tell the excise man that this John Deere is pretty thirsty. He further said, son, you must always tell the truth but if you are dealing with the government it is quite okay to lie, after all they lie to us every day. I have applied that through my life when necessary and further more passed it on to my kids.
As a foot note I remember Dad driving the John Deere into the milking shed holding yard then through the yard rails. He was confused. The TD6, with which he was most familiar with had a clutch which was push to disengage and this John Deere had a pull to disengage. Well he was endeavouring to stop but was infact pushing instead of pulling.
When I drove this John Deere on a good road I’d tie a piece of twine to the governor and pull. Dad didn’t know this. It was so fast it was abit frightening, like quite abit. With the row cropping front wheels it would have rolled so easily had I given the steering a jerk but I was most careful- always. Another thing that frightened me at this speed was this massive fly wheel in front and a little to the left. I’d move my seated position to the right or stand up. I could have been well described as a careful but a speed obsessed delinquent. Today called a hoon.
Pictures from the internet.

[woofa.express]

TV nil, Internet documentaries and history-100.

A documentary on YouTube had just finished and I accepted a random suggestion on an aeroplane builder replicating too perfection, WW1 aeroplanes. A fly past shown represented nine full size flying models shown in the picture below.
I went to the internet to find this link but was unsuccessful on that specific documentary however there is pages on this man. His name is Peter Jackson: a New Zealander. He has more than replica aeroplane building as his claim to fame, the other being a movie director and it seems like a successful one too. Twenty six in all movies according to Wikipedia. Many well known but undoubtably the most widely acknowledged is the Lord of the Rings. From his picture also at the bottom of this story you will see he even looks like a hobbit. He also won an academy for best picture. But it is the aeroplanes I wish to write of.
But there is just so much. I wasn't able to find the documentary I watched. I am just awe stuck by the magnitude of what he has built so I am going to leave it you, the reader, to look him up on Google. You will probably be directed to his movies but you will find your way to the aeroplane segment.
Since writing the above I’ve gone back to TV internet and found the link- its below. Do check it out, you will be amazed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gmZ9X9Aplk

[woofa.express]

Fugs. Won’t learn, he did it again.

He bit the chain saw, that quietened him down for about half hour and he was dark on me as if I had caused his pain.
This follows story number 1162 which I wrote about a week ago.
Silly Fugs now has a broken canine tooth on the right-hand side of his cake hole.
The picture is of Fugs in the fridge, his home. It was winter when this shot was taken. He needed to feel assured he was to be let off the chain before he climbed out and faced the cold morning. Cold is less than 10 degrees Celsius.

[Oldman Freeman]

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My first Model A story goes back to 1948. I was an infant. My folks lived in Mount Shasta California. My dad was in San Diego for his periodic, post-war activities with the US Navy. Mom was driving their 1930 coupe down to pick him up. She and I covered a lot of miles together. Periodically, she stopped along the road to feed me. As we sat along the highway with the right side of the hood up, a California Highway Patrolman stopped to check on us. My mom assured him that everything was just fine and showed him my bottle of milk lying on the exhaust manifold to warm up. He was impressed with her ingenuity and wished us well. My mom is now 96 and sleeps one flight up from that '30 coupe but she no longer uses it to heat my bottle!

If you want to learn more, check out the website I built for my Model A. https://modeladelivery.com/?fbclid=I...Yx_RrwdhYQGx7c

It begins with a photo of Dad and the couple before I was born.

[woofa.express]

Originally Posted by Oldman Freeman

My first Model A story goes back to 1948. I was an infant. My folks lived in Mount Shasta California. My dad was in San Diego for his periodic, post-war activities with the US Navy. Mom was driving their 1930 coupe down to pick him up. She and I covered a lot of miles together. Periodically, she stopped along the road to feed me. As we sat along the highway with the right side of the hood up, a California Highway Patrolman stopped to check on us. My mom assured him that everything was just fine and showed him my bottle of milk lying on the exhaust manifold to warm up. He was impressed with her ingenuity and wished us well. My mom is now 96 and sleeps one flight up from that '30 coupe but she no longer uses it to heat my bottle!

If you want to learn more, check out the website I built for my Model A. https://modeladelivery.com/?fbclid=I...Yx_RrwdhYQGx7c

It begins with a photo of Dad and the couple before I was born.

that's a pretty slick motorcar Mr Freeman. However I might point out what is wrong with it. -----It is parked in your shed and not mine.
What is with the sign on the front bumper "DESPERATE"?
And what is up with those inner tube valve covers?
Cheers, gary

[Oldman Freeman]

The "Desperate" sign on the front of the coupe was part of a Lobby card for a theater. My dad worked at the theater in Dunsmuir CA when he was in highschool.

The valve stem covers are what was on the truck when it was new.

As far as moving it to your shed...make me an offer!

[woofa.express]

[QUOTE=Oldman Freeman;2076414]The "Desperate" sign on the front of the coupe was part of a Lobby card for a theater. My dad worked at the theater in Dunsmuir CA when he was in highschool.

The valve stem covers are what was on the truck when it was new.

As far as moving it to your shed...make me an offer! ReplyYou couldn't, it's been in your family since new. It would be comparable to shooting your favourite dog for no reason at all.

[woofa.express]

I entered my Tourer in the Victorian Model A Club online judging competition. Victoria is a state in Australia. It is now going to included in their 2022 calendar. This is a rundown on this motorcar below.

The Olive Story

I’ve always been in love with the Model A. I disliked school and envied the boys who had left and drove this once family car but now superseded. They all seemed to be enjoying their freedom and this, the A, their first motorcar. The oogah horn appealed to me and so did transporting your buddies in the boot. This all seemed fun but being at school was not.
It was 1987 when I bought my first A. I say bought but infact picked it up from a paddock near Deniliquin and agreed to pay the owner when I had the money. It was in a terrible state of decay, both mechanically and body. My wife was hostile at me because we were financially impoverished and she didn’t know how we were going to pay for this “bucket of rust and rubbish”.
I have little mechanical skill or desire to work with spanners and grease so I hired professionals to restore it. The running gear was rebuilt by Henry Matheson of Finley N.S.W. and engine rebuilt by well-known engineer at Dookie Vic, Bruce Feldtmann. Both done well.
I still love Model A’s. Great to drive and I get a warm feeling simply to look at them. I love their simplicity whereas the complexity of the modern motorcar worries me. This Tourer had been originally sold by Bayford in 1928 and purchased by Annie Brereton for 285 pounds. I have no knowledge of interim owners except the farmer near Deniliquin who thought I was nuts for buying it. It is named and known as “Olive” and the reason should be obvious. The picture is taken at Tocumwal on the bank of the Murray River. The structure in the background is the rail bridge and formally the rail/road bridge and was first commissioned in 1892. We still get a train each day, terminating here in Tocumwal and departing with farm product.

I seem unable to upload the picture so I will email to my buddy Merc man and ask him to do so for me.

[mercman from oz]

This follows the previous story, number 1171

[Jim Brierley]

re: Post script to 1156. Your mad dog FUGS can't be too stupid, he has free room and board, and meals every day. Wish I could say that!

[History]

Originally Posted by Jim Brierley

re: Post script to 1156. Your mad dog FUGS can't be too stupid, he has free room and board, and meals every day. Wish I could say that!

Jim, go rob a bank and make sure you throw your hands up and surrender after they hand over the money. Your wish will be granted and you will indeed be able to say that. PM me for more life goals.

[woofa.express]

Originally Posted by Jim Brierley
re: Post script to 1156. Your mad dog FUGS can't be too stupid, he has free room and board, and meals every day. Wish I could say that!

And from “History”
Jim, go rob a bank and make sure you throw your hands up and surrender after they hand over the money. Your wish will be granted and you will indeed be able to say that.

And in response to both Jim and History-
My friend Mark speaks with pride of his Grand Uncle whom he admired for his initiative and resourcefulness. Grand uncle was quite impoverished and as winter was approaching and the warm nights began to cool he figured there was one way of staying warm and getting three meals each day. He ran naked through the Melbourne library. Yes, both his aspirations were achieved. He was given both wishes.

Secondly and unrelated to all of above Mark’s Brother-in-Law has plenty of money and purchased a very expensive and up market electric motorcar. He was told it would deliver 600km (360 miles) with a fully charged battery. However it delivered only160km (96 miles) and less while using the aircon. He was possibly experiencing the Walter Mitty syndrome and believed he was driving at Le mans not Melbourne. And granted it was urban driving where energy burn is considerably higher than highway driving. It would have been much cheaper for him to take a taxi and even cheaper if he had purchased a conventual petroleum burning motorcar.

[woofa.express]

I just love Simplicity.

Readers of my little stories will know I like American motorcars and machinery because of their simplicity. Yesteryear in business I had machinery, procedures and book work as simple as one could have possibly have made it. I was able to do more work per aeroplane than any of my competitors. One client once told me he paid me first each month because my invoices were the easiest to follow of all his suppliers. You’ve got the point haven’t you?
Eighteen months ago I purchased a used VW Tiggy motorcar. Diesel, which I prefer. It’s an all-wheel drive. I did enquire about previous accidents and was assured nil. However that was a lie. I found a receipt to the contrary. Since then I have spent $7k on front end mechanical rebuilds and now the transmission needs overhaul. I can’t wait to dispose of it and do what my philosophy has always been. Purchase a simple motorcar. Radiator, engine, transmission, drive shaft and diff all in line. That will be, of course a rear wheel drive.
I remember a curious bystander asking about my A. After a good look over it including checking out the engine compartment he looked at me and said “where have we gone wrong?”

I purchased a new electric motor for my garage roll door. The remote has so many features I have not succeeded in programming it so we continue to raise and lower it by hand. I ask only two functions of it. Yes raise and lower. Becoming a hermit and living in a remote location, especially without media is becoming more and more attractive.

I am spending time with my son. He is a pilot whose employer requires pilots to have a simulator check each six months. Maybe all airlines have the same requirement, I don’t know. Well he returns to his home, following his sim check- this is yesterday, he is saying he can’t understand why the French make simple procedures so complex. He has spent most of his life flying American aeroplanes which he much prefers because they are so much simpler. It seems this requirement for simplicity runs in our family. And for good reason.

[Jim Brierley]

Woofa, re: your friend Mark's uncle and his method of securing warmth and free meals: I never let anyone see me naked because the ladies laugh and the guys feel sorry for me!
In a prior posting a few comments were made about languages being different in different countries. In one you said " But beer is beer and that doesn’t change". Here in the States we often call it 'suds', sometimes we would tell out buddies to stop by for a 'cold one', but that can mean other things too, such as the gay funeral parlor owner asking his gay buddy to stop by for a cold one! There are probably more funky names but none come to mind right now. We used to call Model A's '4 barrels', until manufacturers started putting 4 barrel carbs on their engines, so we switched to 4 bangers.
When I was stationed on Benbecula, a very small island off the West coast of Scotland, I used to talk with the sergeant in charge of the (British) mess hall every evening and it often turned to language differences between the Brits and us yanks, sometimes called 'septic's' by those from 'down under'. I have many fond memories of that Summer!

[woofa.express]

Hi Jim. Why in the hell were you stationed on a tiny and cold wind-swept island in Northern Scotland? The Caribbean would have been much nicer.
It took some time for me to see the funny side of your gay undertaker joke. Not nice but funny.
If the down-under folks called you septic what names did you retaliate with?
Yes, we continue to call cylinders “barrels” and sometimes “jugs”. I hear it only when referring to cylinders on aeroplane piston engines, never heard it referring to motorcar engines.
No, like you I wouldn’t be seen naked in public. Couldn’t stand the ridicule.

[woofa.express]

This is one of my very favourite stories.
number 117 back in 2018.

During the Christmas holidays our national TV broadcaster rebroadcasts various shows that were popular throughout the year whilst many staff are on holidays. So I, like them are going to re-publish a story that is my favourite and was well received by you, the readers. It’s of a farm boy, David Link, who was ridiculed at school but went on to do remarkably well. I also publish again because I always liked this boy, now a 52 year old man.

David Link was a farm boy in the agricultural area I serviced. Ridiculed at school and named “the missing link”. When I bought a new (to me) aeroplane David would appear to check it out. He would appear again, shortly after with all the specs of the aeroplane and power plant. He was always interested in aeroplanes.
My son Dennis was in the same school year as David. When school finished and kids are seeking employment, 15 of them, according to Dennis had applied to the airforce for a job. I asked who they were. I had not seen a single one on of them on the airfield and not one was accepted to my knowledge.
David goes and gets a job as drilling assistant, a no future job. He saves his money and takes lessons flying helicopters. His successful career takes him to the Northern Territory mustering cattle. Then various jobs including in Canada. He returns to Australia and takes up an appointment with National Parks and everything is going well.
The police aviation wing wanted one extra helicopter pilot and had 74 applicants. David got that one job. Today he flys the most interesting jobs in Sydney including around big buildings in the night in the most sophisticated helicopters. And in the outback looking for lost people or marijuana crops or other roles. Still a pilot and not a policeman. Still preserving the same enthusiasm and good manners.
I admire David, this farm kid who did well. Hats off to you David.

[mercman from oz]

Reprinting a story from many moons ago. Response from readers was good then and I’ve chosen to republish for those of you who may have missed it. because I don’t have the skill to enlarge the picture I have asked my friend Merc Man to do so for me. Gary.

The 10 gallon hat man.

I noticed this vehicle driving past the Finley airport sometime in the late 80’s. It was Vic registered, which for the owner / driver was fortunate. Once he had it registered he no longer needed a further roadworthy, that is provided he does not let rego expire. He was however stopped frequently by cops to check.

The fellow, whose name I don’t recall was returning from the country music festival in Tamworth. Whilst there he entered this ute in a vehicle competition and was placed second. He did mention John Laws was the judge and thus expected a Toyota was the winner.

The vehicle was basically a Model A but many components were from other vehicles. Some later fords and I remember the Peugot was mentioned amongst others. It’s a bit like the Cadillac that Johnny Cash built from components he stole from the factory assembly line over several years. You see to climb onboard it was necessary climb over one of the spare wheels that is partly embedded in the right hand side running board. He has his hand on the small door which is about 7 inches in depth. Opening that does make it just a little easier. He entered head first. Quite a sight. And the 10 gallon hat, well it is more than 50 years since I’ve seen one and that was in the Kimberly's.

to hear Johnny Cash’s “one piece at at time”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18cW_yHo3PY

[eric12alexander]

Bought a model a about a year ago and trying to finish it before I am too old to enjoy it

I’m in my 30s I think I have enough time as long as I don’t buy more projects