(upbeat music)
- My name's Danny Hopkins.
I'm editor of Practical Classics Magazine
and we're here at the Vista Heritage site
with a beautiful heritage vehicle.
This is a Ford Model A
built between 1928 and 1931.
They made almost five million of these babies
in four years flat.
No other car was produced in such volumes
in such a short period of time
'til the Ford Mustang.
It's a real slice of history.
What's more, it's a really practical proposition.
More practical than an Austin 7.
It can keep up with modern traffic.
So, if you want to get your hands on one,
here's how.
As with most cars, let's start with the body.
The fenders: check along the inside lid.
It should feel nice and straight and clean.
If it isn't and it's been filled,
you might find that starts to split up later on
as you drive it.
Check all the way along.
Again, everything's available.
It's not going to break the bank,
but you don't want to be doing that kind of work
if you've spent money in the first place.
The most important thing to do on all Model A's
is to check that the chassis isn't bent
Because that's proper expenditure
if you need to get it done.
And you do that by just looking at the doors.
If the door's hanging straight,
that's a good sign.
If it's hanging squiff, then you might find
that the chassis underneath is bent.
Another way of checking that
is to look along the coach line.
If the coach line is wrong,
again the alarm bells should be going off.
Check below the rear fenders as well all the way around.
Get down on your hands and knees, look at the chassis.
Make sure there isn't serious corrosion.
It's not a disaster if there is.
Everything is available.
But, the checking of this car is basically
about whether you want a restoration project or not,
whether you want to have that kind of expenditure.
If you don't,
you can use it all as a good negotiating point.
Okay, another key aspect to check out is the engine.
A Model A
had two engine types.
UK cars built at Trafford Park had the 2.8 liter Ford part.
US spec cars like this one had the 3.2 liter Ford part.
Now, 2.8 was designed as a 2.8 to pass through
tanks legislation.
It's generally acknowledged not to be
powerful enough for the job,
so, a lot of UK cars have been retro-fitted
with the US spec 3.2.
It's a good idea if you want to use it a lot.
And, it's one of the engines that will wear
its poor condition on its sleeve
if you want to buy one.
So, if it sounds like a tractor, negotiate.
A little originality tip here,
because originality is quite important to some people:
two blade fan, very original.
All the numbers can be found in here as well,
so, check that against the paperwork.
They all match, it's a rally good car,
even if it's been restored like this one.
They all match, that's worth a premium.
By the way, this one was restored back in Texas
as is has been flown back across the Atlantic.
That's how authentic it is.
But, it's a fantastic engine bay,
really easy to work on,
nice powerful, solid lump,
makes a good when we go for a drive
and we'll see that in just a second.
(creaking and metal thunking gently)
Okay, welcome to the office
and what a fabulous office it is.
Now, the Model T is quite a difficult car to drive
'cause the pedals are all over the place,
all in the wrong places.
The Model A can be said to be the first
of the modern era Fords.
It could be almost said to be the first
of the modern era cars.
All the pedals
are in the places that you'd recognize.
So, it's got a clutch, brake and accelerator over there.
There's still some stuff that you wouldn't recognize,
of course.
There's an advance and a retard handle here.
So, you retard the ignition when you start the engine
and advance it as you drive further and faster.
There's a hand throttle here which is kind of helping
when you start as well.
Kind of an ancient version of cruise control
if you like.
That's the choke there.
It's kind of more of a petro pump thing.
We won't need to use that now
because the engine's warm already.
Hand brake.
Ignition, obviously and then the niftiest thing of all,
the thing I like the best about the interior here,
that little button down there on the bulkhead,
that's the starter button.
You do it with your toe.
But, it's all fantastic, very easy to drive.
Again, you could use this car every day
if you really wanted to.
And it holds its own at 50, 60 miles per hour.
And with that, I think we should take it for a drive.
(lively music)
So this is vintage motoring at it's absolute finest.
It's so easy to use.
A lot of people say they don't want to get involved
in cars from the 1930s, even the 1920s
because it's all a bit too difficult.
But, when you're in a car like this,
put yourself on a B road
and just watch the countryside floating by.
It's absolutely beautiful,
well sorted, goes where you point it.
The brakes pull you up when they should do.
All those good things.
If it doesn't do that then you need to find out why.
Don't assume that just because the car's
a car from the 1920s or 30s it's going to be
bad at stopping or bad at going round corners.
This is neither.
This is just great fun.
Three speed gear box.
The ratio's really nicely spaced.
I'm in second gear at the moment,
bimbling along at 20 miles an hour.
Third gear takes you all the way up to 50, 55.
Holds the road perfectly.
I mean it's mass produced.
This isn't a specialist vehicle.
The one problem with getting involved
in vintage motoring
is that when you get back into your car
to go to the shops or to take the kids to school,
it all seems a little bit dull.
This is absolutely fantastic.
In fact, I'd say, it's completely addictive.
No wonder they sold five million.
It's absolutely brilliant.
(lively music)