My morning agenda was to visit three parks, with the third being Youth Center Park here in the City. It was also the site for an event entitled the “Model A Rendezvous” which was to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Henry Ford’s Model A vehicles.
First, I was at Bishop Park to walk the boardwalk and get some steps in, then stopped at Council Point Park for the sole purpose of seeking out Parker and giving him some peanuts, then I headed to the vintage car event … so, three parks by 9:45 a.m.
The long-awaited vintage vehicle event was originally scheduled for June 9th but cancelled due to rain. Henry Ford’s Model A vehicles rolled off the assembly line between 1928 to 1932. I wonder if there was as much fanfare back then as there was this past Wednesday when Ford Motor Company celebrated a milestone, as its ten millionth Mustang rolled off the assembly line at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant. The paint job on this 2019 six-speed manual convertible, was the identical Wimbledon White as the first Mustang 64 years ago. It was a big media event and Mustang automobiles from the last six decades gathered in the plant’s parking lot to form a 10,000,000 figure to commemorate the event.
I wanted to arrive early to beat the crowd to check out the cars and take some photos. The weather was perfect, bright and sunny, though many of the vehicles were parked in the shade. There were about fifteen Model A vehicles at this event when I arrived, but, as I was leaving a few more Model A cars and trucks were moseying into the event area.
I visited each of the vehicles on display.
Many, if not all, were part of the Model A Restorers Club.
I paused the longest when I stopped to chat with two different owners of these fabulous vintage Model A vehicles, as they were kind enough to give me a history lesson, and let me check out the interior and exterior up close as they proudly showed off their vehicles.
The first person I spoke to was Greg, and he has owned this 1929 Model A car for five years.
It was gleaming black and I could see my reflection in the glossy paint job. I especially liked these snazzy wheels.
Greg showed me a few features for his car, including a specially made grille which helps protect the front of the car, and there were headlamps and small lights which he turned on, as well as tooting the horn, which sounded that tinny, high-pitched noise like you hear in the old movies.
The front windshield was unique in that the glass tilted outward and Greg said it provides somewhat of a breeze on a hot day as the air will coming rushing in toward your feet when you’re clipping along. As I was taking it all in, a youngster came by, saw the door open and asked if he could sit on the seat. Greg accommodated him, saying “as long as you don’t drive the car away” … that got a few grins from the boy and a man standing nearby, most likely his father, who captured this “Kodak moment” on his cellphone as the little boy gripped the steering wheel and his face lit up with a big smile.
I was going to check out more of Greg’s car, but a small crowd had gathered after the youngster took the wheel, so I ventured to the next car over.
Parked next to Greg was Lee, who owns this 1931 Model A pickup truck which he bought in 1961.
He told me the first outing in it with his wife, the passenger door opened on its own and Linda said that was the last time she’d ride with him. Neither of these gentlemen brought their wives to today’s event, and coincidentally both wives are named “Linda”.
Lee bought the vehicle “as is” and it has not been restored in any way as long as he has owned it, thus the paint job is a little dull, but imagine this … that paint job is 87 years old! The top of the car is actually sheet metal and you can see how it is bolted together. There is a narrow gap on the passenger side. I said “maybe that is why Linda nearly fell out.” He smiled.
The hood was raised up so the engine was visible and Lee told me you can see gas and oil traveling through when it is turned on.
The pickup bed had a spare tire in it. He showed me the tail lights, not part of the original equipment, but a necessity when traveling around in this vehicle – and he does travel around in it. I asked if it is in a garage that is humidity controlled and he said it was not. You can see the old Ford logo imprinted on the rear portion of the truck and his vanity plate as well.
Next, Lee opened the door so I could inspect inside the car. Right away I noticed a bright-red fire extinguisher on the passenger side, and remarked that with everything black or dark colored, the bright red fire extinguisher looked out of place. He said you must have one since the gas tank is in the front of the car. Good point!!
The seats seemed smaller and I said “you couldn’t have long legs and travel a distance in here.” I noticed there were no seat belts, so I asked if it wasn’t necessary to “buckle up” per the law. He told me that if a vehicle did not come with standard equipment like seat belts or turn signals, then the law does not require you to have them. He did confess that he might get seat belts one day though. Since there are no turn signals, he uses arm gestures just like motorcyclists or bicyclists use.
I was fascinated with the front dashboard and instrument panel cluster … well, there were not many doodads there, so it was not cluttered, that’s for sure. I bent in closer to see the odometer and speedometer and Lee said he thought it had about 73,000 miles on it (that is, if it had not already rolled over before he got the car).
Next, he reached up and rapped on the inside part of the roof and said “notice how it is made of wood? That is because the roof under the sheet metal is actually wood from a packing crate and up close on one of the boards, you can see the wood is stamped “Sears Roebuck & Company” on it.”
Lee plans to go to the vintage car event at The Henry Ford on September 8th and 9th and Greg told me I should check it out because you can find every type of old vehicle at that event and “you’d come home with even more pictures than you took today.” So, I checked it out and Greg is right – what a collection of vintage vehicles. The link is here if you’d care to view it: https://www.thehenryford.org/current-events/calendar/old-car-festival/
After I got home and uploaded these pictures I noticed Lee’s vintage Ford shirt he was wearing – how did I miss that while chatting with him? I guess I was so engrossed in looking at the vehicles and learning their history, I didn’t notice. Very cool Lee!
I took some photos of the other vehicles at this event, including close-ups of some of these features from cars of yesteryear.
Check out the rumble seat – maybe not your smoothest ride.
This is a produce truck with its scale.
How about this delivery truck?
This vehicle featured a wooden box which was open to display its roadside emergency kit, which included a bicycle pump.
I also liked the fuzzy dice and a sign about “Henry’s Lady”.
It was a fun event and I enjoyed myself. As I headed home in my nine-year old car I glanced at the odometer with its whopping 5,254 miles on it. I only got about four miles walked today, but it sure was fun to travel back in time.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Miss Linda………………………………you sure have a very nice blog today on those old relic cars…………………..a lot of people would like to see and hear your descriptions of them………………………..they are well written up and I learned about the big event over at the Flat Rock assembly plant with it’s Mustangs lining up outside forming a 10,000,000!
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Thanks Ann Marie – I should send the blog post to the Historical Society who put the event on. I gave my blog site address to the two gentlemen I was chatting with as they were so nice about showing me their vehicles and told them to check it tonight for pictures. It was quite interesting looking how these old cars “survived” in such good shape all these years. I took a look at the picture of 10,000,000 Mustangs lined up and it was really amazing. I am glad you liked looking at all the old cars – I certainly did too.
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What great photos Linda!!! I think the less mileage was worth it for taking in these cool sights! The men must have loved your interest:)
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I agree with you AJ – I took so many photos here today but decided to take the most-interesting ones in the end. These two guys were great – their cars were parked next to one another, as were they in chairs that they had brought along. I felt like I had a big history lesson by the time I left the event grounds. Some of these cars were so shiny and new looking, you would swear they just rolled off the assembly line.
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I’ve spent a lot of time at old car shows with my dad and the owners are usually just as interesting as the vehicles. It’s neat to talk to people who are so passionate though!
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They were so enthusiastic that you could not help but want to learn more about their cars. It sounded funny when Lee said he had that car since 1961 … that a long time to have a car, but he drives it around and he said it actually spends more time outside than inside the garage. That amazed me.
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Wow I find that amazing too as I’m more used to collector cars being worked on more than driven!
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That is even how the classic cars are that we have for our cruises all Summer. The various cities have cruises all Summer. Our classic car cruise back in June covered about four cities and most of the cars were from the 50s to the 70s but a few of these vintage vehicles also attended. But most of the people with even just 50s to 70s vehicles keep them in special garages the rest of the time, especially due to our cold Winters. The first guy Greg said his car had been worked on just this past week as he wanted to ensure it was ready for this event.
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Ok that sounds familiar:)
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What a fun post this was! I enjoyed the photos, too.
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Thanks Anne – I am glad you enjoyed them. I was amazed at how these cars were so small inside, and the rumble seat which I’ve heard my mom talk about seemed small as well. I picture the ladies with their long dresses and how in the world did everyone fit in here? The kid was having a whale of a time and I’m glad the photo of him came out so well too.
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I haven’t figured out how people got in the rumble seat.
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Me neither Anne and when you see old pictures or a movie, there are two people back there – I can’t see how they fit one, let along two, back there. I have long legs and would be pretty uncomfortable … imagine Nathaniel – you said he was 6 foot, five inches tall I believe? I wish I had asked if they had some sort of stepladder that they used that came with the car.
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You are right about Nathaniel’s height. He can fold himself into some pretty tight spaces, but it would be terribly uncomfortable after a short while.
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Yes I would think so as I am five feet, nine inches tall and it is a challenge in some places – the bus especially.
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Nice to see the black and white photos — ageless.
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Thanks Andy – I toyed with the idea of doing the entire post in black and white photos only and probably would have, if t was just the cars, but I included people, so mixed and matched them instead.
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Lovely old cars. I’m not into modern cars but I love vintage vehicles. 🙂
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Clare – the modern cars don’t have a lot of personality and all tend to look alike – you go to the parking lot and may see several that look like your car. These cars were so well maintained and I’m sure most were restored except the pickup truck belonging to Lee as it had nothing restored or renovated except adding tail lights to it. All original – just incredible!
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Great post and pictures!😊 I love old cars and this is really in good condition as well. You have thought about taken pictures of the details to, that’s something I never think of when I’m photographing cars. We have a car show every Tuesday about 20 kilometers from where I live, but this year I have not visited it.
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Thanks John, I am glad you enjoyed therm. I really had a great time here and when I left there was a 1955 Chevy Bel Air in the parking lot by the event and later that day I thought to myself “why didn’t I take a picture of the ’55 with the vintage cars behind it?” I got some good shots of the ’55 Chevy to use one day. Is your car show all old or vintage cars John? I took a ton of photos of the cars, most were in partial shade, so their gleaming paint job did not show up so well in the photos and because most were all-black vehicles, they looked similar to one another. So I decided to take pics of what made them quirky or unusual, like the bright-colored wheels or the fuzzy dice, the cool license plates. We are so used to seeing chrome or trim on modern vehicles The two owners I spoke with were full of knowledge about the vehicles so it was a joy to speak with them.
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Wow! A Bel Air.😊 I love that car and here is a few of them. One is red and white, think it’s a -59, and it’s as new. The car show we have weekly here is for all cars but it’s most old American cars. Most is there Ford Mustang in many shapes and ages.
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Hi John – I went back and looked at my pictures I took yesterday and in taking the back of the Chevy Bel Air, I did get a row of the vintage vehicles in the background after all. I liked the Bel Air as well and I featured the orange-cream one the day before our annual Cruising Downriver event. This weekend will be the grand daddy of all cruises, the Woodward Dream Cruise which I had sent you a link to … it is the largest classic car cruise in the world and people come all over to participate in it. Even these really old vintage cars will be in it. Woodward Avenue was the first paved roadway in the United States. You cannot get near the Cruise and people who live on the route have to either walk or use a bike from Thursday through Saturday (they start cruising informally on Thursday night). I think I will use the blue Chevy Bel Air this week for the cruise. It was in very good shape and was a 1955 – it had a sign in the window with the year/make of the car. The cars lining up for the Mustang’s 10 millionth car is below if you can open it – I looked for something on YouTube since it is harder to send links now. And the Mustang they say is as popular overseas as here, in fact more popular than here now.
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These vintage cars are so cool – adored the ‘woody’ delivery truck!
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Me too and they referred to as a “woody” … I said I remembered when the “woody” station wagons were all the go … it seemed like every neighbor had one to haul all their kids around in – people with minivans for their kids and all their kids’ sports paraphernalia could not imagine the concept of a station wagon doing the same thing. I thought you’d enjoy this post Jan since you enjoy all the vintage pictures.
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This post really takes one back in time. This was perhaps an era of horse carriages and people with an “auto” were probably the “privileged”.
I felt a thrill when I heard the stories of Lee and Greg. I wonder for the movies where they get vintage cars from- I think I have seen movies with Chicago mafia driving cars like these. And the classic delivery van- that I remember. Tintin books have good pictures of cars from those times. You do do a lot of research for your posts.
Thank you,
Susie
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Hi Susie – I thought the cars really took you back in history and I liked to think about the original people driving them, like you see the old films from decades ago – the movies weren’t “talkies” yet and the speed was very fast. I was looking forward to this car show in June and was disappointed when the show was cancelled due to rain. I was happy to see it rescheduled again.
I was looking at other car show in September and it looked very interesting as well – not only the cars, but the drivers of the vehicles were dressed in period costumes. Now that would be something to see. And they had the old-fashioned very tall bicycles featured as well. I know they have that event every year at “The Henry Ford”, which, for years was called “Greenfield Village” and is a big museum and a town from back in Henry Ford and Thomas Edison’s time. Houses and streets look like they did back then, and people dress in period costumes to give talks on all the different buildings. I have not been there since I took my grandmother in the 70s, and before that,since I was in 8th or 9th grade on a field trip. In fact I took my grandmother while she was visiting us and she was so excited to walk around the museum … they had the old-fashioned button shoes and she said “I wore those type of shoes!” Also she was pointing at different items she wore in her hair or a purse like she had, and then we went to the large part of the museum which houses the old farm implements. My grandmother grew up on a farm, so more excitement as she pointed out which farm tool was used for what. She came home and told my mom she was glad I took her there. We were trying to think of somewhere to go and we hit the nail on the head.
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Great photos Linda!
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Thanks Fred, I’m glad you enjoyed them.
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What an amazing show! True classics!
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Yes, they were Diane – I thought it would be a nice change of pace to see these vintage vehicles, and they were in such good shape, which was even more amazing, considering they ranged in age from 86 to 90 years old.
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It’s something how cars have evolved over just a few years! Those vintage, classic cars are real beauties and the engines were small and down to earth. When we are at such car shows, the owners watch you to make sure that you don’t touch or scratch their precious beauties… almost looking at their cars as if they were married to them! 🙂
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It sure is Tom, not only in design but technology. I am glad my car is not high tech with wireless, etc., but imagine these cars with this small instrument panel only. I have to say that the classic cars I’ve seen when we have the Downriver Cruise event, the owners are more possessive than these guys were and those cars are mostly just 50s – 70s classic vehicles. These two guys I spoke with seemed pretty laid back and the one even let the young boy climb in and pretend he was driving – that surprised me a little.
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I do not know the first thing about cars, but this seemed like SUCH an awesome, fun experience! I was fascinated reading the whole post. Thank you for sharing with us! (Such great pictures too)
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Truthfully, I am not that into cars either Mackenzie, but I thought it would be fun to see these old cars what are celebrating their 90th anniversary since the first one rolled off the assembly line … that truck with the original paint job and no restoration was really awesome. I really had a good time at this event. Glad you enjoyed this post.
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Those cars look like they’re in amazing condition! Great photos!!
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Thanks Ellie – glad you liked the photos. I’m happy I went to this event. It was scheduled for June 9th then cancelled due to rain. It was nice and sunny last Saturday. Some of those cars were in mint condition and all were driven there but the produce truck which arrived in a trailer.
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They sure look shiny new!
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I love Lee’s shirt! Lee’s story about his wife and the opening passenger door reminded me of my own story with my father’s old pickup truck. (I have no idea what kind of truck it was but it was already quite old in the 1960s.)
“For my sister and me Saturday trips to the dump were fun! Perhaps once or twice a month Dad would load up the back of his pick-up truck with our family’s trash. Beverly and I would then climb into the cab and snuggle up to our papa as closely as we could. This was back before the days of seat belts. The reason we held on tight was that the passenger door would sometimes swing open when the truck turned a corner. (The problem was eventually repaired.) What a thrilling adventure! And the chance to feel the strong arms of our father holding us securely, the chance to feel like precious cargo!”
I love your attention to detail, Linda, even though I can never muster up enough interest in cars to focus on them. I have, however, sent the link to this post to Tim!
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Glad you liked this post Barbara and it brought back some nice memories of the old pickup truck and spending time with your father. I really had a nice time at Model-A old car event. It was just a mile away, free and I could walk around and photograph the cars and chit chat. I really don’t know that much about cars, so I appreciate your comment about my attention to detail, but because both of the gentlemen were very nice and eager to show-and-tell, I learned a lot, especially with Lee’s car … like that the underside of the roof was made from the car’s shipping carton. I took a photo but it did not come out. I hope Tim likes the post too. Did you, and/or Tim, notice the link for Greenfield Village’s old car festival in my post? I would like to go one day – Greenfield Village has this two-day event every year and they decorate the entire village like “the olden days” having vendors in period costume, even cooking food to buy and playing carnival-type games like they would have had years ago (horseshoes or ring toss with an old-fashioned flair). The link gives you a flavor for the event, even down to the music. One day the pandemic will be over and I’ll venture over to visit it.
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I emailed the Old Car Festival link to Tim in case he didn’t notice it when he read your post. He would love that event! Too bad it’s so far away. 😦 Maybe some day we will read your post about it… Would love to see a Model T assembled in less than 10 minutes! 😉 The music and costumes were fantastic!
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Thank you Barbara – it does look like a lot of fun with all the old cars going down the street and the old-fashioned activities. I will go one day – I planned to go after attending this event and they called for a rainy weekend. I checked to see the link was still good and saw the prices – now I can get a reduced fee as a senior. It was $28.00 admission; now $25.50. They have a yearly membership you can get with lots of old-fashioned entertainment and events – it is pricey though. One day the pandemic will be over … sigh. I have not been to Greenfield Village in years. I took my grandmother there and she had a great time as she grew up on a farm and was pointing out farm implements by name and in the old clothing area, she said she had high-button shoes like those displayed. She didn’t stop talking about it for days.
Tim wrote a nice comment about the Model A event. We also have the Woodward Dream Cruise – that is the biggest cruising event in the U.S. on the original road in the U.S. There are vintage cars from the Model T to 50s and 60s. I’ve never been to that but people come from around the world to drive their cars in it. We have a smaller cruise at the end of my street that is a parade of vintage cars every June.
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I remember when I was about 12 years old getting a ride in the rumble seat of a neighbors pea green colored car. I remember as a 12 year old boy loving the bumpy ride! Now at 68 I might not enjoy it so much. 🙂 Climbing into the seat was like climbing on a jungle gym.
Besides the British By The Sea we recently attended ( https://www.ingebrita.net/2021/09/wheels-flowers-puzzle/ ) we also have the upcoming Mystic Seaport By Land and By Sea Antique Vehicle Show. ( https://www.mysticseaport.org/events/by-land-and-by-sea-antique-vehicle-show-2/ )
We had attended this show about a year before C-19 hit, and hoping we can make it again this year.
Tim (Barbara’s husband)
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Hi Tim – I really enjoyed my Model A event and the owners were happy to chat and show off their cars and answer questions. Your upcoming event looks like fun and a picturesque location as well. I went on my first lighthouse tour in 2019 – the lighthouse was about the size of this one. They open the lighthouse for tours by the Historical Society one day per year as you have to go onto a homeowner’s property/dock to access it. It is off a small island (Grosse Ile) about 10 miles from me. I had booked the tour a month in advance and when I got there, a busload of people who were on a tour of lighthouses in Michigan and Ontario were ready to board the shuttlebus to the lighthouse. What a great group they were – I was the only novice and they regaled me with tales of their lighthouse tour adventures. I learned that they have passports that they get stamped for each lighthouse tour. They were eager to show me their passports and stamps and they had no trouble climbing the steep stairs – they were used to it. I was 63 at the time and they were all at least 10 years my senior. I felt a little sheepish that I was going up the stairs so slowly but there was no railing as they liked to keep it authentic. Thanks for your comment Tim and I hope I see this car show event in Mystic Seaport in Barbara’s posts.
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