My Experiences With
Model A Fords

Our Model A Truck

Mr. Holt was another old friend of dad's in Arlee. He was an older man. Dad had worked for him some back in the depression days when he (Dad) was a teenager. We'd stop by and say hello to Mr. Holt and his family occasionally. One time the subject came up of the Model A's we were restoring, and it turned out Mr. Holt had a 1930 ton-and-a-half truck with dual rear tires sitting in his garage. I don't know why, but dad decided he just had to have this truck. But Mr. Holt didn't want to sell it. Not that he ever used it, it hadn't been run for years.

We started dropping in on the Holt's more and more frequently, and each time dad would try to get Mr. Holt to sell him the truck. We were pretty surprised when one day he finally agreed. He wanted $75 for it (this is the most we ever paid for any of our Model A's). So we headed home for a few essentials: a carburetor, a distrubutor, some spark plugs, a battery. With surprisingly little work, the thing fired right up. So we drove up to Polson, and got the transfer papers notarized and license plates purchased, and we were ready to drive it home.

It still kinda surprises me that dad decided to have me drive the truck home while he drove the Pontiac (I guess he didn't trust me with a good car on Highway 93). So I got to be the one to drive the thing home at 35 mph or so in the weekend traffic. I even had to stop at the truck scales. I was sure they were going to come out and inspect the truck and make us fix some little things (such as the brake lights) before allowing me to proceed, but they just waved me on through.

We really didn't have a whole lot of use for a ton-and-a-half truck, but it did come in useful a few times. One cold winter day a policeman friend of dad's called and said someone had dumped a model A body down by the railroad tracks and we could have it if we wanted it. I suppose he figured that was the easiest way to get rid of it. So we jumped into the truck, threw it on the bed and took it home. Model A bodies are pretty light. Dad and I were able to load it up ourselves without much effort. This one was in pretty good shape, and we would have used it for our best car if we hadn't already built it. We never did use it, though. (The pictures on this page show the truck with this body on it.)

We kept the truck for maybe a year or so. Then a friend of dad's wanted to buy it to use for hauling fireworks for his fireworks stand. Dad sold it to him for the $75 we had paid for it. For several years, I would now and then see it traveling around town with it's "Golden Dragon Fireworks" logo.