The "A Drive Through The USA" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Early July and it's time to celebrate our Nation's history.  That will be done nicely by a young man named Nick Sieber who has plans to drive his 1930 Model A Ford from the Atlantic coast to the shores of California.  He plans to do this 5,000 mile trip in 35 days.  He will begin his journey on July 10 with a send-off party.   He reports that he plans to drive through 15 states in 35 days by using mostly back roads with his Model A.  The old Ford coupe has 40 horsepower and can reach speeds of close to 65 mph, tops!  The Model T Ford is much slower with only 20 horsepower and a top speed of 35 mph.  The Model A is also bigger with a full back seat and plenty of room for storage.

Nick and his automobiles.

He hopes to average about 40-45 mph on his journey which is a doable speed for his Model A.  The trip had been mapped out for some time with stops along the way in vintage-style motels and towns that make up America's roadside history.  Perhaps your town will be one of them on his journey.  So...what happens if the car breaks down along the route?  He already had the engine rebuilt by a man in Ohio and then rebuilt the transmission himself.  The remainder of the drivetrain had already been rebuilt by the previous owner. He does have plans to take plenty of spare parts along such as spark plugs, points, condensers, coils, headlight bulbs, fan belt, radiator hoses, intake and exhaust gaskets and fuses.  Nick also will carry with him a Model A Ford Club member roster in case he does need help along the way.  Nick already has spent many hours working on both this Model A and Model T, so he is well versed in repairs of the car.  His Model A Ford used to be Burgundy, but he has repainted it a deep bottle green with grass green wheels.  The smaller Model T is a classic black two-seater.  I can remember working on my old 1953 Henry J with my neighborhood friend Jere Herr.  We, mostly "he", rebuilt the engine in his parent's backyard garage and my Uncle Bob and I, mostly "he", prepared the car and painted it what I thought was to be a Burgundy color, but ended up a bright orange.  Not only did he paint the car, but most of the inside of his garage in nearby Strasburg due to "overspray".  As for Nick, his interest in older cars began when his grandmother Gepfer used to tell him stories about the antique cars from her youth in the 1920s.  He became enamored by the stories as well as cars and fell in love with that time period.  At the age of 14 he saw a 1928 Ford Model A for sale, but didn't have the funds to purchase it.  Three years later, with the help of his parents, he bought the 1925 Model T for $8,000.  The car had belonged to an elderly man who had taken good care of it for many years.  It even had wooden spokes.  He often would take his Model T for rides on the  country roads between Elizabethtown and Manheim in the state of Pennsylvania.  It was during one of those rides that a woman flagged him down and asked he wanted to buy her husband's 1930 Model A Ford.  He ended up buying it for $8,500.  He joined the Model T Ford Club of America and by now knows both cars inside and out.  The Model A is a four-cylinder Deluxe Town Sedan with 73,000 miles on it.  Production on this car began in 1928 and ran until 1931.  More than 5 million of them were sold during that time.  The car has a top speed of about 65 mph and averages 15-20 miles per gallon.  The Model A has more upgrades with a fuel gauge, speedometer, odometer and heater manifold.  He did have to replace the water pump, rebuild the carburetor, clean the points and flush the gas tank after buying it.  As for the Model T, that has been in Pennsylvania since it was new.  Henry Ford introduced the Model T in the fall of 1908 and stopped production in 1927.  Over the lifetime production of the Model T, about 5 million were produced with over half of the cars in the world at one time being Model Ts.  While in High School, Nick wrote a research paper on the Model T telling of the danger involved in starting it.  "If the levers aren't adjusted properly while starting it, the car could backfire and if your hand is on the crank when that happens, it could easily break your arm or snap tendons."  Can't imagine what his teacher must have thought while riding his paper.  He also wrote... “To make the car move, the hand-lever needs to be put into first gear, the throttle needs to be increased to raise the rpm of the engine, and the clutch needs to be completely pressed in. With the car moving in first, the clutch must be held in the entire time until the hand-lever is dropped, and the transmission is put into second gear. With all of these maneuvers that must be completed, it is obvious why the old-timers called it the Model T Dance.”  It will be interesting to see how Nick and his car fare during his upcoming trip across the country. He recently said, "I figure it's not too often that a 91-year-old car gets driven across the country.  Best of luck to you Mr. Sieber on your cross-county journey.  You may need it!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.