This month we’re introducing two new sections. The first is Hot Off the Manifold, a place to feature recipes from members, whether or not they can actually be cooked on the manifold. The second is the Model A Matinee, a monthly recommendation for a movie or TV series featuring your favorite car. Hope you enjoy them.

By Tad Petrie

On May 9th, MaryBeth and I wanted to get out of the house for the day. The front of our A had just been reassembled after we replaced the front spring and shackle bushings, so a shakedown run seemed timely. We decided to go tootling around to some antique shops and stop by the 37th Annual Buggy Festival in Carthage.

The trip nearly ended before it started. The light socket in the driver's side headlight bucket shorted out and blew a fuse. A quick socket change and we were on our way. The temperature was cool and the sky was blue, but that was going to change. Just a bit south of Four Oaks the sky started looking grey, and before long our Tudor (Lydia) was getting a well needed bath.

The first stop of the trip was a repurposed general store in Cameron, a neat little country town that appears to be in the early stages of revitalization. The store is not a "polished" antique shop, but it is well organized, which we prefer. The business has been upgraded with a coffee shop and café in the walk-in basement, which would make a nice rest and refreshment stop on a future club tour.

Shortly after this stop the liquid sunshine quit as we motored into Carthage, which appeared to be the place to be for the area. There was a flurry of activity as we drove the detour route around the festival in the historic downtown. A marker educated us on the history of the main road through town, once part of a 129 mile plank road built in the mid 1800s.

The festival consisted of a bazaar with local artists selling their wares, a food truck rally with a nice assortment of vendors, and a car show. The early Fords were well represented, with about ten cars in a mix of A and T models. Since we didn't intend to stay for the day, our A wasn't on display. We may have been a bit occupied looking at the cars while munching on fair food, but we never did see any buggies during our time in Carthage. This was a nice festival, and we intend to return next year, hopefully with a few Tar Wheel friends too.

We left while the festival attendees and car show participants were still arriving and headed toward Sanford for a few more junk shop visits. We spotted this beautiful Buffalo Presbyterian Church, erected in 1880, along the way.

The remainder of the day was spent around Sanford before heading back to Kenly. Lydia performed and behaved well during the trip with no other mechanical challenges along the way. The new front spring provided a noticeable improvement in ride quality during our 200 mile tootling tour. Shocks will be a future addition.

Our thanks to Linsey Blanchard Jr. and Mike Kinsch for passing these recipes along, and to anyone still working off the second helping from Sunday’s meeting.

By Linsey Blanchard Jr.

This one was the hit of the dessert table, and it could not be much simpler. Linsey uses a store-bought crust and Jif peanut butter, but any creamy brand will do.

Ingredients:

Beat the peanut butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add the Cool Whip and beat until smooth. Pour the filling into the crust and refrigerate for a few hours before serving.

By Mike Kinsch

A savory counterpoint to the pie, and a good one to keep in your pocket for the next club potluck.

Ingredients:

Process:

A note from Mike: the mushrooms may release water as they cook, so you may want to drain them before serving.

By Carol Blanchard

Saturday, May 16th started with a beautiful morning to take a drive. My son, Brantley Blanchard Jr, the actual driver and owner of the Model A I rode in, created a route that gave us lovely views as we headed east to our final destination, the Free Will Baptist Children's Home in Middlesex, NC. We stopped in Zebulon at McClean's Ol Time Cafe for a quick bite and to meet up with a few other Model A's. We discovered that we were just a little early for the lunch menu and enjoyed a very nice breakfast.

We took a beautiful drive through the back side of the Children's Home through some gorgeous scenery speckled with cows and farmland as far as the eye could see. We stopped at my friends Peggy & Brooks Dean's house for a brief visit before driving to the Children's Home. The children immediately started coming out to greet us.

Carrie, the director of the Children's Home was there to welcome us and later the CEO and president, Gary Lee, came out to see the cars and children taking rides. What a beautiful campus Middlesex Children's Home has.

The kids lined up for rides. We had a mix of elementary and middle school aged children, a few high schoolers and a few adults that work there. Of course the most popular car was Freddie Braswell's roadster. Every kid lined up to get a ride in that car. They loved it! They also really enjoyed riding in Chuck Murray's Fordor, Brantley Blanchard Jr's Fordor, and Kirk Ellis' Fordor. After a ride in a Model A, the kids and staff enjoyed ice cream sandwiches supplied by Chuck and Carol Murray. It was such a treat to spend time with the kids and to have ice cream after.

All the kids were so polite and kind and LOVED riding in the cars. "This is sooooo cool", "that was really fun", "I liked pushing the horn button and the weird sound the horn made" were typical comments from the kids. This is the 2nd time we have done this event, and it is definitely worth the time and effort. Carrie told me that the kids don't get many opportunities to do special things and the smiles are worth the time, effort and trip!

This month we're featuring The Highwaymen (2019). Two aging former Texas Rangers, Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson, take to the back roads to hunt down Bonnie and Clyde. It is very nearly a rolling Ford show, with dozens of period cars and a generous helping of Model As leaning into the curves, a fitting way to launch a summer of motoring. Rumor has it that when antique-car collectors heard a movie was honoring that era, word spread and they volunteered their own vehicles as picture cars. Members of the Model A community near the Louisiana locations have said their cars are in it. Stream it with a Netflix subscription.

Dave Renner has spent years testing Model A Zenith carburetors on a Super Flow SF-120 flow bench, measuring exactly how much air they can move. The instrument is accurate to within 0.25 CFM (cubic feet of air per minute), so when the numbers change, it's not noise. One day, while testing the effect of various air cleaners, he stumbled onto something unexpected.

The Air-Maze, for those unfamiliar, was an air filter and flame arrester sold for the Model A beginning around 1930. It consists of two main parts: a cylindrical filter canister containing a mesh screen, and a cast aluminum 90-degree elbow that bolts to the carburetor's air intake and connects to the canister. Many Model A owners have an Air-Maze in their parts collection.

Dave was fitting an Air-Maze assembly to the carburetor on the bench when he noticed the CFM readings climbing. An air cleaner improving airflow seemed wrong, so he investigated. The gain wasn't coming from the filter canister at all. It was the elbow. Renner found that the bare elbow, pointed downward, produced measurably higher CFM than the carburetor alone. The improvement was most pronounced above 50% throttle. Rotating the elbow to the side or facing it upward made the readings drop. The best configuration was the simplest: elbow on, opening down, no filter attached.

Why would a short aluminum elbow improve airflow? The likely explanation involves the shape of the air intake itself. When air enters a sharp-edged opening like the bare throat of a Zenith carburetor, it can't make the abrupt turn from open space into the narrow passage. The airstream separates from the wall just inside the edge, creating a narrowed column of fast-moving air surrounded by turbulent eddies. Engineers call this a vena contracta, and it effectively shrinks the usable area of the opening.

A radiused or bell-shaped entry, by contrast, guides the air smoothly around the corner and into the passage, letting more of the opening's area carry airflow. The Air-Maze elbow, with its curved interior, acts as a crude bell mouth. Pointing it downward likely helps further by drawing cooler air from below the engine compartment rather than heated air rising off the exhaust manifold.

None of this means your Model A is going to feel like a different car with the elbow installed. But the gains are real, and if you already own an Air-Maze elbow, it costs nothing. As Renner puts it, the people rigging up plumbing-store contraptions to mount modern air filters on their carburetors haven't tested what they're doing. Sometimes the original accessory is the better solution.

Dave Renner operates Renner's Corner, continuing the business his late father started. The shop specializes in carburetor parts and technical information for 1928-34 Fords. Renner published detailed flow test results in Secrets of Speed Magazine (vol. 18, no. 4, April 2009).

The Dispatch is sponsored by Smith & Jones Antique Auto Parts. When my friends call me in frustration because the part they need is out of stock everywhere, I ask them, “Everywhere? Have you tried Smith & Jones?” For example, if you need authentic bronze plug connectors (springier than brass!) for your ‘31 roadster, you’ll be out of luck at the big parts suppliers, but S&J has got you covered. And their shipping times are shorter than those midwestern suppliers. Don’t be left in the lurch – try S&J Parts today.