If you’ve ever harbored a desire to tackle a vintage car as a project then this may well be a car for you to consider. Listed for sale here on eBay is this 1930 Ford Model A. Located in Elgin, Illinois, and for sale with a clear title, spirited bidding has pushed this one to $2,550 in this No Reserve auction.
As restoration projects go this one is potentially starting from a solid base. The Briggs-built body appears to be in pretty good condition for a car heading towards its 90th birthday. The floors are solid and the doors open and close firmly with no evidence of sagging. The car wears most of its original paint and the panels look to be really straight. The seller also states that most of the timber appears to be solid as well.
The interior is going to need a lot of work. Basically everything in here is either going to require reconditioning or replacing, although once again it all appears to be solid. It’s really hard to tell from the photos, but the dash itself does appear to be complete, although with cars from this era there really weren’t that many items to go astray. The seller doesn’t indicate whether items such as the gauges are operational.
As you can see from this shot the roof will need replacing as there is no material left. However, the roof bows are still in place and appear to be in good order. The window frames are sitting in the back seat, along with a few other items. The seller indicates that the headlights and tail-lights are in good condition, along with the radiator and shell.
The engine looks to be fairly clean. The owner indicates that it turns freely, but I get the impression that it doesn’t currently run. It does carry a plaque on the side of the engine indicating that it has at some stage been the beneficiary of a rebuild by Sears. At some stage in its life the brakes have been converted to hydraulic operation. The seller says that the car rolls freely, but that the brakes require a rebuild.
This is not a car that is going to be returned to the road after a weekend of tinkering in the workshop. There is a fair list of things to do, but the length of that list will depend entirely on how thorough you would want to be with your restoration. If this old Ford could be returned to safe and sound mechanical condition then it is entirely possible that you could replace the roof, tidy up the interior to a serviceable level and just drive it. Equally you could perform a ground up restoration and the result would be a wonderful old car. After all, it’s survived for nearly 90 years. There’s nothing to say that it can’t go on for another 90.
Way more likely to go another 90 years if it is restored and maintained. Nice old carwould be fun to own and drive.
^^^ What he said… ^^^
In my area, unmolested examples are in the $4-8K range and running rolling light restorations for weekend driving in the $10-14K.
There is a lot of work to be done, but nearly every part is available aftermarket now, and I’d be kind of tempted to get it operational, the interior cleaned up and try to keep it as original as possible. It’s rare that I go for a patina car, but these particular cars are either basket cases, fully restored, or heavy customized. Sometimes it’s nice to see an honest used car. It would be a potential movie car for its condition.
Friend had many a-bones- modified to run on unleaed gas. ran a v8 clutch. Overdrive unit installed and he could run it all day at 55 mph with no trouble, Lots of potential here!!
Good luck to the new owner.
The first hot rod I ever got a ride in was a Model A 4 door. For a 13 year old kid it was a cool ride, especially with black paint and white roll and pleat interior and a flathead V8 conversion. All that said, the most interesting thing to me now about this car are the ’39 Ford wheels (wide five bolt pattern, and hubcaps) and presumably ’39 brakes, though I really prefer the ’42-48s if you’re going to go Lockheed style brakes. Near 60 years of time has apparently jaded me. I’ve had several A’s, still like some, particularly roadsters and coupes, or the occasional tudor sedan, but a 4 door just doesn’t move the interest meter. If you could get it cheap (as in nearly free) it could be an okay intro to Model A’s kind of car, but you’d probably lose near every dollar you put into it. But, worthwhile education generally ain’t free………
Very nice – as suggested, get it running and keep it as original as practical. Kids coming up need to know what cars were like in the “old days.” A fellow who lives near me has an unmolested Model A pickup and it’s a treat to hear it coming down the road.
Love these old untouched cars, wish they could talk lol. I’m pulling my 31 model A out of a bad garage after 28 years of hiding on August 25. A very long story short is dad bought it in 1966 and restored it in our yard, finished it in 67 in time for mom’s anniversary, they put many many miles on it including my brothers and my wedding car, mom died in 1990, dad just put the car away, refused to drive it again, he refused to sell it to me because he knew I’d have a sbc in it in no time. If finally and reluctantly sold it to me but made me promise to leave it alone. Time goes by raising a family and looking after dad, he had his ups and downs throughout the years and died 2 years ago. Now time to get the old girl out and put her back to the way dad had her no matter what the cost or effort. Thanks for letting me vent lol