Hot Rods Drug home a 1930 A coupe yesterday

I have been watching Model A coupes that are for sale for about a year. All were either not to my liking or more than I would be willing to pay. Then one appears on FB Marketplace that seems perfect for me. Old restoration that has been sitting since 1996, looks good in the pictures. has a title, blah blah. So yesterday my wife and I drove to the boon-docks of Peoria, Illinois and bought this 1930 A coupe. We left at 8 AM in the morning and got back last night at 9 PM. I unloaded it this morning and have not even given it a real good look over. But so far I am super impressed with how nice the sheet metal is. Interior is all there but has been eaten to shreds by the mice. Engine turns over but no spark since I got no keys with the car. Its a project...just what I wanted. Very well could be my last one! (The "happy"guy in the one photo is the gent who sold me the coupe!

 

Ooh nice! Looks like a great find

 

Man that is nice. HRP

 

I keep hearing that....blah, blah, blah....the last one....around my place too. Looks like a good one Paul!

 

...nice

 

Nice looking Coupe. Looking forward to reading more and seeing more photos. Have fun with her!

 

Looks like a nice coupe congratulations whats the plans?

 

Clean looking coupe, Enjoy!

 

Hi Charlie! Yeah same old story. The bottom line is I am still interested in hot rods but unsure if I still have enough gas in the tank to build another one. I figure if I start it and never finish it, who cares? I tell my wife when ever I buy something questionable..."it will go great at my estate sale!"

 

Nice car, good score!

 

So just what age is it you are that you've determined it's time for "just one more"? I don't hang out at bars anymore but when I did and someone said "just one more" it usually took till closing time.....I think.

Nice A Coupe, by the way. I wish now I had started with a nicer, maybe old restoration like you did rather than the supposed-to-be survivor that turned out to be a cobbled together mess. What's the plan for it?

Lynn

 

I am not 100% sure at this point. I have ideas. The plan I like the best so far is to buy a new rolling chassis from Jack Strunk and put this body on the Strunk chassis just as it is. I would use one of my 327 Chevy builds. I definitely have to have the top chopped also. Beyond that I really dont know. I know the look I like. I like tradition 50s style with fenders.
I spent the day today tearing out the entire upholstery, everything. All I have left to remove is the seat frame. I wanted to see the inside of the cowl and trunk area so I tore out all of it. I also wanted to get rid of the critter droppings smell. I found a critter nest of all times. It would be a county-fair winner if there was such a category. The smell is improved now that all but the seat frame is out of the car. The body is amazing. No replacement panels in the cowl, floor, trunk, wheel well, doors, no where. I knew it was good but not this good!. Here are a few more pictures I took today.

 

Battery relocated to the firewall for a hydraulic brake install or just easier to get to?

 

Great looking car .... Will make a great hot rod.... .. I've got 3 of those might be my last projects going now.... Lol

 

Must have been for convenience, one of the few negative things about this coupe. But easy to fix.

 

Nice!!!

 

I
Am
Damn
Jealous
Just saying...
r


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Seriously thinking about making this car a "banger". Will know more later today as I try to get the original engine running. It does crank so that is a start. I do have a couple questions I am hoping others on the HAMB can provide some insight for. I was thinking a dropped axle front but keeping the stock wishbone. Is that possible? I am okay with going to hydraulic brakes and I know that requires later backing plates and spindles. I am okay with that too. But what about the steering box. Will that require a replacement? I am fine with drag-link steering. Maybe I need an F-1 box? Just needs someone who has done this upgrade to tell me what I need to do so that I dont have to figure it out piece by piece. I may not have enough time to do that! At my age (74) I need to work quickly and deliberately.

 

Wow, glad you finally found a coupe for reasonable $ that's in real good condition. Even better than you thought. That's great.

74? I'm 63. You're an inspiration. Making me feel like a wimp for my moaning and groaning LOL. I like the quickly and deliberately approach. LOL.

Go like crazy, corncob!
Well, we are allowed breaks.
[emoji16]

 

If you have your axle dropped it would be easy to do with the stock bones...other axles may have a different spread in the wish bone..check out sids axles..really nice find

 

Thanks Rick!

 

Congrats on the new Model A! Looks like a fine start to a new project. @drdave has a thread about his Model, from dropping the front and rear to upholstery. There might be some helpful stuff there
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/drdave-accidentally-buys-a-model-a-now-what.1111340/

 

I'm working on a 29 now, it too is an old restoration but someone added juice brakes to it some years ago, 40 Ford and the spindles look A to me, and I just went thru and freshened them up, who ever did it made a pretty nice set up for the master cyl, leaving the stock pedal they welded another lever to the bottom of it and made a a small bracket for the 3 bolt master off of the torque tube collar and ran a brace from the bell housing to the edge of the bracket, it took up half the battery box and they had one looks just like yours on the firewall also I made a small strap bracket for an optima in the same place the orginal would have gone and it all fits pretty nice, I have pictures I just need to load them in my computer.

 

Just out of curiosity, with regards to the Seller's attitude, did he care what you were going to do with the car? Some are not keen on letting such a nice car falling into the hands of rodders.

 

Looks like a darn good car. Keep us posted on your plans.

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nice find .i hope you get it running and clean it up a bit fix the seat and enjoy as it is.drive it

 

Wow what a nice solid car.
Great find. Good for you!!

 

Congratulations.

 

Desmo, would love to see pictures of your master cylinder install! As far as the previous owner....I gathered from talking with him that he did not care. He was NOT a car enthusiast at all. He told me he had bought the car in 2014 at his neighbors estate sale and only bought it at the urging of his neighborhood friends. ( It had been sitting in the barn where he bought it for over 30 years) It still had pigeon poop on it from when he bought it in the neighbors barn. He was actually very glad to see it gone. There were two reasons I got it at a good price...#1 the seller just wanted his purchase price back, and #2 the seller had his nephew post the car for sale on FB Marketplace since he did not even own a computer. For some reason the nephew listed the car as a 1930 Ford stationwagon/van. After it being for sale for over a week I was the first person willing to go look at the car.

 

They way you are tearing into that thing sounds to me like you have a few more hot rods in you! I love the idea of keeping it a banger. That way you can have fun at any budget level.