Spring has arrived in Canada’s Capital – Ottawa, Ontario. Although the naysayers may object, the sighting of this 1931 Model A Ford at a Tim Horton’s on Innes Road near Hwy. 417 confirms the fact. Indisputable.
This example sports Ontario historic plates and has had some electrical enhancements like the CHMSL and a string of running lights mounted below the trunk. Yes, a trunk. That strapped, removable appendage seen here that is still used as a term of reference denoting the back end of cars today. The circuitry upgrades are nicely integrated into the design.
The vehicle is guarded by the endangered Eastern Ontario Toucan. The toucan’s bill is useful as a feeding tool. The birds use them to reach fruit on branches that are too small to support their weight, and also to skin their pickings. In addition to fruit, they eat insects and are prone to nip at the protruding fingers of Model A admirers. Look; but don’t touch!
1931 was the last year of production of the venerable “A” – the car that pulled the Ford Motor Company from the brink of bankruptcy. Over 4.3 million A’s were built from 1927-31. Final MY production ended on August 31, 1931 with 626,579 Model A’s manufactured.
This bounder is a member of the Canada’s Capital A’s automobile collector’s club. More fine examples can be found here, A!
The last car my dad bought was a 1936 Ford “Coach.” I was trying to explain to an older car buff what that was, and I should have referenced cars such as this one: the earlier 4-door with no attached trunk. The back seat room was wonderfully large, and if you wanted a trunk you went out and bought one plus the base (bolted to the car’s frame) to set it on. Or it may have been an available accessory from the factory; I don’t know because I’m not quite that old.
FWIW the one we had was in better condition than the ’46 it replaced, and Dad bought it from an old carpenter for $25 ca. 1957.
Now, there are aftermarket hitch-mounted cargo carriers for SUVs. Nothing new under the sun.
The “coach” terminology survived for many years in Canada as a description for a two-door sedan. I’ve seen used car ads up to the mid-sixties still using the term. This is from 1961…
A while back, while I was getting my oil changed at a Ford dealer, I was flipping though an antiques magazine in the waiting room, which had an article about toy Model Ts. The article referenced a toy Model T sedan, and the author said something like “even though it was called a sedan, it was more like what we would think of as a station wagon”. I assume that they were saying that based on the exterior shape of the body, and had no knowledge of how the interior was configured. These care were obviously nothing like a station wagon on the inside, with no cargo area behind the rear seat. They were exactly what they were called, sedans, just with no trunk.
This history also explains why sedan deliveries were known by that name, even though in their later years (1950s) they had nothing to do with sedans. In their 1920s origins, they were based on two-door sedans, but with a cargo area instead of a back seat, no rear side windows, and doors instead of a conventional sedan rear panel. At the time, sedan deliveries had nothing to do with station wagons, which were typically coach-built vehicles (not from the factory) with wood bodies riding on a stretched wheelbase. Over time, as sedans grew trunks, as station wagons became factory body styles, and as station wagons went to steel construction, sedan deliveries came to be much more closely related to two-door wagons than to two-door sedans. But the sedan delivery name persisted.
FWIW ;
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Ford called these ForDor Sedan .
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‘A’ Model Fords are fun and good daily drivers too ~ I’ve had four of them , drove then hard and loved them .
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-Nate
And the two-door sedans were called “Tudor.” Ford used the Fordor and Tudor names through at least the mid-’50s, but I’m not sure when they stopped entirely.
It just occurred to me that “Coach” was not a designation from Ford, but from the state of Illinois! The car’s license information had to include the body style, and that was apparently the official designation for a four-door car with no attached trunk … because the registration slip was (I’m pretty sure) where I read it.
Someone somewhere surely has compiled a gallery of all the car body styles since the late 1800s with all the names applied to each. If not, maybe by the time I get old enough and foolish enough it can be my project down at the nursing home …
Can’t resist: “Model Eh” LOL! BTW: Chevy used the term “coach” usually to denote a two door sedan. Fords “TuDor” and “FORDor” names were clever though.
At Chevrolet in the ’20s/’30s/pre WWII:
Coach = 2-door sedan with no built-in trunk
Sedan = 4-door sedan with no built-in trunk
Town Sedan = 2-door sedan with trunk
Sport Sedan = 4-door sedan with trunk
The Town Sedan was first produced as a 1933 model, the Sport Sedan as a 1934. Production of the trunked models first exceeded the trunkless models in 1936. 1937 was the last year the trunkless models sold in significant numbers, although they continued to exist until 1939.
A tow-hitch? Does a Model A have enough hp to pull anything?
It all depends upon gearing. The Model A engine powered an abundance of things.
A mate and I towed a 48 Chevy to his place some 15 miles with a Model A ute if you need huge HP to tow you dont know how to drive.
Precisely Bryce .
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-Nate
First and second gears are quite low on these. 40 horsepower through the right gearing can do a lot of pulling. Stopping? That is where I would have concerns in using one of these to tow anything of any real weight, unless you are in an area devoid of real traffic.
The 48 Chev was on a rope and had its own brakes the Eh pulled it fine, not fast ye understand, but there was never any doubt it could do it.
A “Model Eh” with a power “take off” should be the official car of Bob and Doug MacKenzie. Playing hockey for 20 years makes these kinds of thoughts come naturally.
In the 1960’s in New Hampshire was a nice old ‘A’ Model Ford Fordoor with a Briggs body in a shed , right rear wheel removed and a tow rope running ’round the extra bare wheel and out a trap door to haul skiers up a long slope….
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Back then this sort of thing wasn’t unusual at all .
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The rear side windows were full of water transfer decals from all over America showing where the car had gone in it’s heyday .
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Pretty stout if slow little cars ‘A’ Models were .
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-Nate
It was a hazy day to take pictures. Or was it the smoke from the Alberta fires? We had that smoke in Iowa.
Beautiful Ford.
Remember, we Canucks are in the midst of legalizing it. Just a preview of what the air will soon look like here all the time. 🙂
Cool old cars Model As, they are still common on the roads around here with a plentiful supply of parts available, When I was trailer swapping unloading most mornings would reveal a shipment of A parts ex US for the local parts dealer, it will be a sad time when they all disappear from the roads though I’m unlikely to see it.
Gorgeous old Eh. There are very few cars as beautiful inside (as in their mechanical design) as they are outside, but the A is one of them. I cannot imagine a line I would change on the styling and very little that should have been done differently mechanically, particularly when you consider the prices these sold for.
Very nice, although I’m not partial to modern looking rectangular signal lights on the front of A’s. Can’t you use the cowl lights for that?
In our area there seems to be a plethora of A’s either partially restored or older restorations coming up for sale.
I guess there’s fewer older gentlemen to take care of them. As I approach older gentleman status myself I’m more temped to preserve one of these.
Maybe they wouldn’t comply with lighting regulations, being mounted so far from the front of the vehicle? Motorcycle indicators mounted on the bumper brackets work well.
It is my firm belief that any vehicle (or other machine) whose operations are all mechanical, hydraulic or electrical (as opposed to electronic) can easily be immortal. I confidently predict that in the year 2031 there will be more 100-year-old cars in regular use than 50-year-old cars. That confidence is based on the fact that even such things as ignition switches and EFI parts for a couple of my cars have been NLA for some time, whereas any 1931 car in decent shape can be easily kept drivable by a good mechanic with a good machine shop. The one possible “out” I can see is if the growing number and sophistication of “maker” devices can eventually include duplication of small electronics.
Parts obsolescence is a big problem in defense as well, as weapons stay fielded & maintained for decades, parts have to be Mil-Spec & often made in small batches, and redesigning/recertifying newer parts is costly.
How fun it must be to be a logistics specialist: https://dap.dau.mil/acquipedia/Pages/ArticleDetails.aspx?aid=d3f23881-7a0e-4a3f-83cd-a157e5969666
Perhaps the trailer ball is also for self defense against crummy drivers?
I think it would be a real hoot to have a little Teardrop to pull behind a Model A. A car’s not supposed to pull a trailer over 55 MPH in CA anyway, which is kind of a drag (no pun intended) with a fast car. With this it’d just be part of am ordinary journey.
My dad had a Model A sedan when I was a little kid. I remember riding in it with my mom.
It might have been used to take me to the hospital when I was 4-5 to have a burst appendix removed…
I want one bad… But not prepared to make room, yet.
The Model A and other cars of its time are the first that look like actual cars to me, with sloped windshields, curved bodies, and wheels that were tucked in under the fenders.
Are those standard spare wheel covers, or an aftermarket extra?