Technical Almost 100 Years Later, and No Reproduction Model A Dash/Gas Tank...

Why? The market is flooded with cheap Chinese reproductions for everything (including gas tanks for everything), but no one is reproducing the dash/gas tank for all Model A's. I figured we would have had one by now. It would make life much easier. I don't want to restore an original where I face destroying my engine if the fuel filter (cheap Chinese junk) gives way.

I don't know. Maybe I'm in the minority. Does anybody else wonder why we don't have a reproduction tank yet?

 

Yep, it's time for a cheap Chinese piece of junk to come on the market!

 

Exactly!

 

Wouldn't fit anyway . Leaks , metric threads etc

 

Still better than rust...

 

If you take a good look at Model A gas tank's, they are fairly complex to build, especially the '28-'29. It was OK for Ford to tool up because he built over 5 million of them. A small production run wouldn't be very cost effective. I once read that the gas tank was the most expensive part to fabricate on the entire Model A.

 

I think I would have trouble trusting some crappy Chinese container full of fuel sitting over my lap

 

I was thinking about that earlier. Edsel Ford designed the Model A, and he designed it in such a way that a Model A will only work with a Model A (unless its heavily modified). They sold millions of Model As, but Henry killed them after only 4 years of production.

The V8 Fords from 1932-48 became more interchange-friendly. You can take a 59A and install it into a stock 32 Ford chassis with the right parts. Bolts right in.

It's kind of funny if you think about it. The Model T was produced from 1908-1927. Henry "gives the keys" to Edsel and cuts production quicker than any other time in the history of Ford up to that point. Complicated family...

 

It's pretty clear that Henry didn't trust and didn't like Edsel-or pretty much anyone else for that matter. Henry only killed the T when he was lsing ground to Chevrolet and others, same with the Model A. The reason there's no repro gas tank for the A is a simple one: the cost of manufacture is too great for the expected Return on Investment. There is not enough demand to warrant the cost of reproduction and you'd likely also need to get a license from ford, adding to the expense.

 

Plastics. Think I heard that in a movie once

 

The market for restored model As is dying with the men who remember them as used Stickers. I would be surprised to see any new products engineered, as there is not enough volume to make it worthwhile . The pandemic changed a lot of things

 

Yeah, maybe there's more concern about liability with making and selling this sort of a tank.
Was the tank / cowl ever sold by Ford as a service part?

 

Truck64

"The Graduate"

 

And here I thought the Moon style and the 32 Ford style were considered proper replacement for a A model tank. No other designs needed....

 

You could try putting your skin in the game.

 

I like the 32 Ford gas tank. I just don't like what I would have to do to an original Model A frame in order to make it work. I've got a near perfect original frame that my buddy, kidcampbell71, brought me a few years back. I don't want to cut it up.

There are no really good solutions as to a replacement tank for the Model A. I mean they all work, but I'm looking at twenty years down the line.

The only real solution is a 32 Ford tank because replacements (more than likely) will still be made. I'm probably going to have to go with a different frame if I go with a 32 Ford gas tank.

I'll end up going with the Boling Brothers frame since it will be easier to mount the 32 Ford rear frame rails to this frame:


Instead of to this frame (not my frame):

 

Ford built almost 5 million Model A's verse's 275,ooo Deuces, with as many Model A's still out there there has to be thousands of good tanks left, they were well built.

I have been able to locate a lot of good 32 tanks and a lot of tanks that need work, as luck would have it we have a great old school radiator shop here in town that knows what he is doing and has repaired a lot of gas tanks for local restorers and hot rodders.

I would think that the demand for a original Model A gas tank has not been enough for any manufacture to start reproducing it. HRP

 

Thank goodness for "Luke".

 

IIRC, there were 1930-31 reproduction gas tanks advertised in Hemmings back in the early 1960's.

 

Faux pas on my part, it should have said luck not luke. HRP

 

That's awesome! Imagine how much one of those would sell for if you could prove it was one of theirs. I dig it.

 

Luck is fickle, but you can always count on Luke.

 

if there was an A gas tank made it would be like every other repop body panel and not fit for shit. why would anyone want that?

 

Just as Hotrod primer mention, about 5 million model A’s built, and a lot around along with parts. A lot of hot rods cut the tank out. The demand isn’t there to reproduce, in fact I have a really nice 30-31 one sitting here. Brookville makes just the upper part. To repro a full tank with dash, I’m guessing they’d retail for at least $1,200 due to the complexity.

 

Yeah but then we could bitch about the price of repro parts!

 

I'm dumb enough to pay it too...

 

i would be interested in knowing how you destroy a engine with a pluged fuel filter and then crud would plug a carb and the worst i've ever seen is motor starves for fuel and won't start, nothin a good carb rebuild and fresh filter wouldn't fix but no destroyed engine

 

I can do it. Don't ask me how, but I can do it...