Still waiting

Well, I am still waiting for the part to arrive from California. I discovered they shipped it late last week, so hopefully, it will arrive tomorrow or the next day.

In the meantime, Joey came over and helped John change the oil in the little car. Although I'm not real sure why we need to change the oil. We seem to be putting a couple of quarts in the little car every couple of hundred miles. It's not burning any oil, but it sure does drip from the rear main seal.

I decided to check the mileage on the little car and discovered that I had put a little over 400 miles on her during the month of May. I think with the trip to Athens, GA plus the other touring activities during the month of June will probably top May's mileage.

So, I still wait and hope . . . .

My journey in my 1931 Ford Model A DeLuxe Roadster began last summer. John and I were out hunting for a Model A for our friends, Mike and Steph, of Fairfax, Virginia. They wanted a four door Town Sedan. We were told of a collection of cars that belonged to Bland Quantz of Lexington, SC. So, we made an appointment to see the cars. We took quite a few pictures of the three Model A's that were for sale.

We thought Mike and Steph might be interested in one of them, although none were a Town Sedan. There was a sad little roadster, an immaculate pick-up truck, and a very, very rough four door phaeton. They were not interested in any of them, so the hunt was still on for a car for them.

But . . . . I was really interested in the little roadster. It was truly a very unique Model A. Not only was it a right hand drive, but it was just the right style, color, and had a rumble seat! I noticed that the little car had an unusual pedal configuration. Of course, the gear shift was in the middle of the car, to be operated with your left hand. There were two large pedals with a button in the center of them and another smaller button to the upper left of the pedals. I just couldn't figure out which button or pedal did what. Interesting, to say the least! By the way, the button to the upper left is the starter, the pedal on the left is the clutch, the button in the middle is the fuel feed, and the pedal on the right is the brake. You can imagine the first few stops are a little hair raising when you slam your foot on the gas!

One thing led to another and the little roadster came home with us within a week. Oh, she was a sad little car! A broken front spring gave her a terrible sag and she needed a new top in the worst kind of way. A trip to our "Model A Guru" Mark and she was starting to look pretty good. We changed out all the inner tubes - only to find that they were really old. The car had been imported from South Africa in 1992 and it still had South African tubes! They were at least 17 years old! It's a miracle they held air at all! We did replace the side mounted spare with one with some tred on it as well. John did his magic with his cleaning and waxing supplies. She really was shining! Wow! I was ready to tour with the Palmetto A's on their adventures around the state.

Before we made a tour with the local club, we took the little car on a nice long drive up to Saluda, NC, straight up the Saluda Grade! She did quite well until we were about 1 mile from the town of Saluda and then all hell broke loose. It was as if the devil himself had taken hold of the radiator. Steam was blowing straight out the top and bottom of the radiator! Wow, that car was hot!!! Two gallons of water and we made it up to Saluda and the Bellinger Family Reunion. Coming home was even worse! We didn't make it 25 miles and she was blowing like Old Faithful, again! Thank goodness for AAA and flatbed tow trucks! Ninety-seven miles later and she was back home in the barn.

We decided that the little car needed a new radiator and while we had her apart, we decided to replace the water pump. Simple . . . . well, not exactly. The hood had to come off, along with the radiator shell before we could consider getting the radiator and water pump off. You wouldn't believe how many parts are connected and run through that radiator shell! Two days later she was back on the road ready for her next adventure.

Everything went along quite well during the months of October, November, December, January, February, and March. All went well driving down to our fundraiser for Epworth Children's Home in Columbia.

The weekend of April 24, we were headed up to the Clemson area for the Central Railroad Festival with Orville and Sharon Booth. Going up was a beautiful day of driving the back roads of rural South Carolina. The next morning, we got up to misty, cloudy skies. It was going to be an iffy day at best for showing cars and driving back to Columbia. About 1 p.m., we decided that it was best to head for the barn. We traveled about 25 miles south when the little roadster decided to do her best imitation of Old Faithful, again! Only this time, it was pouring cats and dogs. Two gallons of water and we were back on the road. We made it home without incident, traveling at 40 mph to avoid over churning the water out the overflow tube, thinking that was our problem.

The next week, we put an overflow bottle on the little car. The thought was that the water was being churned out the overflow tube by a very efficient new water pump. Our next trip was with the Model A club to Happy Cow Creamery up in Pelzer, SC. This was a round trip of about 275 miles. Everything was going well until about 125 miles into the day, when Old Faithful blew - AGAIN!!!!! Only this time the water was boiling so hard in the overflow bottle that it blew the cap off and hot water was blowing out the side louvers of the hood. Not good! Two gallons of cool water and we were back on the road again. Only this time, we noticed that there was a lot of "junk" in the overflow bottle. Fortunately, we made it home without incident - again at 40 mph. We weren't sure what to think at this point.

Well, Calvin LeNeve to the rescue the following day. Of course, on the way to Calvin's, we blew the water out the overflow bottle one more time. Two gallons of cool water and we made it to Calvin's house. He rigged up a method to power back flush the block and radiator. We held a sieve at the top radiator port and began catching chunks of rust! Probably a couple of tablespoons worth. Who would have known that was our problem all along? All I can figure is that the little car had sat neglected for many years with less than adequate water in her block and just rusted. Now she was being driven - and I mean a lot, and that was stirring up all the crud and clogging up the radiator tubes. Even a magnet run around the inside the radiator kept pulling chunks of rust out. Some were the size of dimes.

After some investigation, we discovered an inline coolant filter (Gano) for just this issue. It was invented and patented by a Model A owner out in California. We've got our fingers - and toes, crossed in hopes that this will solve our overheating issue. We are awaiting the filter. Hopefully, it will arrive before our big overnight trip to Mike's A-Ford-able in Georgia on the 4th of June.

Stay tuned!