1930 Roadster Pickup Manual

Description

If you're a car enthusiast, and you haven't owned a Model A, you're missing out on one of the truly great collector cars of all time. Rugged, simple, with plentiful parts supplies and thriving club activities, the Model A is the perfect early collectable, and I bet you'll find one in even the most impressive collections. This 1930 Ford Model A roadster pickup is one of the more desirable body styles that has recently come into fashion. The handsome silver paint isn't correct for 1930, but it works well with handsome wooden bed rails and it gives the tidy little commercial vehicle a ready-to-work look. There's no denying that the work is reasonably well done, with straight bodywork and a nice gloss to the finish, which is still pretty fresh. And any Model A without the black fenders is incorrect; as the saying goes, you could have your fenders any color you wanted as long as they were black. The bed is fitted with lovely oak planks that are covered in a few coats of clear varnish, so it'll look great for years to come. There's not a lot of brightwork on the roadster pickup, but it does offer a proper stainless steel grille, accessory front bumper, and even rear bumpers with a center guard that gives it a finished look. A single side-mounted spare is correct as well, and it's been dressed up with a stainless cover. This is a really deluxe little truck. Basic is the right word for any open Model A's interior, with weather-resistant materials and exactly zero creature comforts being the norm, but I guarantee you'll love every moment of it. The silver vinyl bench seat has a contrasting black stripe and wipes down with just a damp cloth. The steel dash is also the outside of the fuel tank, which is mounted above the engine to facilitate gravity feed to the carburetor. And the gauges consist of speed, fuel, and ammeter, with a single instrument lamp in the center. The big hard rubber steering wheel makes the A lively on the road, and houses the headlight control in the center. Plush gray carpets cover the floorboards, and the carburetor is adjusted via that knob on the far right side of the dash. Remarkably enough the top on roadster pickups looks like it should fold, but it does not; instead, it's like a removable hardtop. Fortunately, it's lightweight and easy to move all by yourself. On paper, the Model A's modest 40 horsepower from a 200 cubic inch inline four seems modest, but it makes great torque and delivers bright performance in the lightweight little truck. It also has a distinctive sound that fans recognize a block away. Carburetion and spark are brutally simple, and these cars will practically run underwater on a mixture of vodka and Aqua-Velva. The 3-speed manual gearbox is non-synchromesh, so brush up on your double-clutching, and the brakes are mechanical drums, so plan ahead, but they all work rather well given the truck's modest performance. It carries proper blackwall tires on the painted 19-inch wire wheels, adding just the right amount of contrast and a low-key attitude that suits the Model A just fine. Model As are simply great cars, and they always bring a smile to everyone's face. This one is as functional as it is fun, and we'll bet it delivers many years of happy motoring behind the wheel. Call today!