He could fix, build, or restore nearly anything, and he built his own Model A. When Chuck Murray's 1930 Fordor refused to start this spring, and a couple of capable hands could not track down the trouble, the call went out to Bobby. He drove over, and after a good deal of head scratching all around he put his finger on it: there was a crack in the block. That was Bobby. He showed up, he figured it out, and he sent you home running.

His interests ran well beyond Model A's. He was a licensed pilot who rebuilt and flew small airplanes and kept a hangar at Raleigh East in Knightdale, and he camped each summer at the Old Thresher’s Convention among the antique tractors and hit-and-miss engines, churning homemade ice cream with one of them. Wherever he went, the common thread was machinery, know-how, and the company of friends who shared the same bug.

Some two hundred people gathered for his celebration of life, which surprises no one who knew him. The Tarwheel A's made a donation to the American Heart Association in his memory, and the family welcomes gifts to the American Heart Association or to the SPCA of Wake County.

Our deepest sympathies go to Lori and to all of Bobby's family. The roads are a little quieter without him.

The Model A Ford Club of America has opened pre-orders for the fifth revision of the Restoration Guidelines and Judging Standards, the reference our hobby leans on whenever the question is what is correct for a given car. MAFCA calls it a new benchmark, and the scope bears that out.

Revision 5 runs to 590 pages and is the product of five years of work by the joint judging standards committees of MARC and MAFCA. The editors drew their research directly from the Ford Archive, had every section checked for accuracy, and illustrated the book throughout in color. Two new supplements have been added that earlier editions did not cover, one for the Town Car and one for the Victoria.

For anyone restoring a car, preparing for a show, or simply trying to decide whether the part in the swap-meet box belongs on a 1930 coupe, this is the book that settles the argument. It arrives as the Model A approaches its hundredth birthday, which makes the timing fitting.

The book is offered as a pre-order at $65, shipping in late June. MAFCA adds a 3.5 percent processing fee to orders paid by credit card, and buyers outside the United States are asked to email the office to order. You can place a pre-order on the MAFCA website or email [email protected] with any questions. Unlike prior revisions, no “update pack” will be offered due to the wide replacement of B&W with color photos.

If you've ever rebuilt a 7-tooth steering box, you probably know what these are:

These metal shims are critical for setting the end play on those steering boxes. To quote Les Andrews: "Add or delete brass shims from under the lower shaft bushing assembly to adjust out steering shaft end play. With correct adjustment, the steering shaft should rotate freely, with no binding and no end play."

Unfortunately, those of us following in Les's footsteps have a problem: these shims have become hard to find. Almost all vendors now supply only paper or cork gaskets (looking at you, Snyder’s). Paper shims compress over time, leading to excess end play and sloppy steering.

For now, there is exactly one (1) vendor selling these shims: Sacramento Vintage Ford. When their supply runs out, that'll be the end of the line for 7-tooth metal shims for a good while. So get 'em while you can.

Last week saw one of the largest Model A-related auctions held in this region since the Model A Garage in Luray was liquidated to pay debts. The scenario this time was less tragic: the living estate sale of Walt Kritemeyer, from Nebo. Hundreds of Model A parts were sold, including 8 Model A engines and two partial Model B engines. A bidder paid $5,300 after fees for an engine that came complete with test stand. Another bidder paid $4,800 after fees for a Burtz block kit. I think you can just order a new Burtz kit and pay less than that. Auction fever!

Three cars were on the block and went for respectable prices. A '29 business coupe sold for $10,400, a '30 cabriolet sold for $20,500, and a 28/29 "coupeup" with a Riley head and overdrive sold for $14,200 (all prices are my estimate of bid + buyer's premium + taxes).

A few rare parts were seen amid the flood:

All in all, a fun auction. I nabbed a couple of deals. Did you? Click over to the web version of the newsletter and leave a comment.

Occasionally we pass along a few useful or just plain interesting items spotted in the newsletters of other Model A clubs. This time everything comes from Ford Torque, the May and June magazine of the Model A Ford Club of Victoria, in Australia. Our thanks to Neil Kaminar for sharing it.

A Model A is full of holes that are supposed to be there, but an open spark plug hole, distributor hole, oil filler, or flywheel opening is an invitation for a dropped washer or nut to disappear into the engine. The author tells on himself: a washer rolled into the number one plug hole while he was mounting the radiator shell, and it took a frightening noise at startup and a long hunt before he fished it out of the exhaust port with a magnet. The lesson is simple. Plug or cover any open hole with a rolled paper towel or a cork while you work.

A longer piece walks through why Model A's leak oil and how to prevent it during engine work. Most of it comes down to careful assembly: a rear main cap that sits flat against the block, a flush oil slinger, a clear and properly fitted oil return tube, shims that fit the crank closely, and correct bearing clearance. The article adds a useful diagnostic reminder, which is that many leaks blamed on the rear main actually start at the oil pan, timing cover, valve cover, or oil lines, so clean the engine and watch where the oil first appears before tearing anything down.

Arnold Chivers, who has done a lot of outback touring in his ‘29 phaeton, shares a cheap way to guard against theft from an open car overnight. He buys the small personal-alarm fobs sold online for joggers, the kind that shriek at 120 decibels and flash when you pull the pin. With a bit of string he rigs one between the doors so that opening a door yanks the pin and sets off the alarm, and he describes how to attach it to the side curtain posts so it works reliably and can still be disarmed in the morning. As he puts it, a strobe and 120 decibels in the dark would send most thieves running.

For anyone chasing a stubborn headlight connection, a reprint of the Ford Service Bulletins explains a change Ford made to the headlamp plugs and terminals around May 1930. The plug went from black rubber to a slightly longer red-rubber design, and the terminals changed to match, so the old and new parts will not mix without a spacer washer. If your wiring harness and your headlamp plugs come from different eras, that mismatch is why the connection at the base of the light is either too tight or too loose, and the fix is to match the plug dimensions or add the spacer.