The club is getting back to its first-Sunday schedule, and the October meeting is Sunday, October 4, at Crabtree Shelter #1 in William B. Umstead State Park, 8801 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh. We start at 2:00 with a pot-luck lunch. Carol Murray has already sent out the Signup Genius to organize the food and drink, so please sign up if you have not.

There are two members to welcome. David "Oz" Osgood, a returning member, lives in Fuquay-Varina and drives a 1931 Closed Cab Pickup. Richard Holmes, new to the club, lives in Haw River and drives a 1931 Coupe. The agenda includes the Christmas parade season, with Darsen Sowers coordinating, and Phil Taylor on a Blue Ridge Parkway tour planned for October 2027. Chuck Murray missed the September meeting and says he is looking forward to seeing everyone.

If you have an item for the agenda, email Chuck.

by Chuck Murray

A beautiful, sunny and relatively cool Saturday morning provided excellent conditions for Chuck and Carol Murray to drive their 1930 Fordor, and for Kirk Ellis to drive his 1930 Tudor, to Halifax to visit the Halifax Historic District and view the Halifax Resolves. Driving two-lane roads that were mostly empty through the farm fields of Johnston and Nash counties, our Model As headed to Nashville, where we made a quick stop to stretch and refresh before heading on to Halifax. Back on the road, we saw very few cars all the way to Halifax. It was a very comfortable drive on smooth roads through the country.

Arriving in Halifax about 11:00 AM, we went to the Historical Center building to get information about the historic buildings open for touring and to view the exhibits on the Halifax Resolves and the history of the Halifax area. The Resolves were the first official document written by a colonial legislature seeking independence from the King of England, and the precursor to the Declaration of Independence. One of the original copies of the Resolves is on loan from the National Archives in Washington, DC, to the Halifax Historical Society to help with its celebration of America 250.

There were several interesting exhibits about the history of Halifax. The Resolves document was in its own display case and rather difficult to read. Fortunately, there was a full-text transcription in large print on the side of the case.

A few of the restored historic buildings were open, and we headed to the Taproom to speak with an interpreter in period costume about the history of the building. It was built about 1760 and was a popular meeting place to get a drink and play cards. We then walked about 100 yards to see the Halifax Jail. The original jail, built in the early 1800s, was burned to the ground by inmates trying to escape. A second jail was built in the same location, and it too was burned to the ground by escaping inmates. In 1838 a third jail was built to be "fireproof," and this is the jail that has been restored.

Halifax has no restaurants. The docent at the Historical Center recommended we drive out to I-95 to eat at Subway, so off we went, about five miles, to Subway. After refueling our bodies and our Model A's, we headed back to Clayton. The roads had a few more cars on them but were still wide open for us. The tour came to 175 miles round trip, and we arrived home at 3:45 PM. No breakdowns along the way, and a truly beautiful drive in our Model A's with lots of waves and smiles.

More photographs from the tour are in the club's Google Photos album.

Chuck Murray passes along a find. Twisted Shifterz makes gear shift knobs in a wide range of styles and colors. The knobs can be equipped with any thread size. For the Model A shifter, select a 5/16"-24 thread fitment.

by Chuck Murray

A beautiful and cool Saturday morning was perfect for driving our Model A's to Anderson Creek Park in Lillington to join the Sand Hills Model A Club at their annual picnic. Mike and Helen Kinsch, in his Cabriolet and her Roadster Pickup, met Chuck Murray in Angier to caravan to the park. Ron and Elizabeth Hill drove their Roadster from Lillington, Kirk and Robin Ellis drove their Tudor from Pine Level, Neil Kaminar drove his Fordor all the way from North Wilkesboro, and Rick and Mildred Renner drove their Studebaker to the picnic.

The park has a very nice picnic shelter, with just enough tables to accommodate everyone along with all the door prizes, food and drinks. The hot dogs went on the charcoal grill, and we were ready to eat just before noon. As usual, there was more than enough food to go with the hot dogs: a pot of excellent homemade chicken and dumplings, a pot of homemade chili, pulled pork, shrimp cocktail, Jersey Mike's subs, and more delicious desserts than everyone could eat.

Following the great lunch and conversation, Nick Lean, President of the Sand Hills Club, started his string of corny jokes as he called out the ticket numbers for the door prizes. There were more door prizes than people present, and the extras will be used at the Sand Hills Club's annual Christmas Party. Nick invited the Tarwheel A's to attend that party, held in Sanford on the first Saturday in December. Details will be in their club newsletter.

The last drawing was the 50/50 cash drawing. Ron Hill sold $82.00 in tickets, and Ron's grandson pulled the winning number for Mildred Renner. Mildred generously donated her winnings back to the Sand Hills Club. After a big thank you to Nick Lean for inviting the Tarwheel A's to the picnic, we all departed and drove home safely.

The weekend before the picnic, on Sunday, September 20, three Model A's paid a call on the residents of Stoneridge Gracious Retirement Living in Cary. Phil Taylor and Marilyn Miller brought Vanda Taylor's 1930 Roadster, Ron and Elizabeth Hill brought their 1928 Roadster, and Darsen Sowers brought his 1931 Fordor. Photographs are in the club's Google Photos album.

Jordon Beller has been collecting early Fords for decades, and his Beller Museum in Romeoville, Illinois, about 25 miles southwest of Chicago, holds some eighty 1928 to 1932 Fords and a library of about 25,000 pieces of Ford literature. The museum has begun a liquidation project, putting cars, trucks, parts, and tools up for sale.

However, buyers who want a piece of this history will need to apply in person. Museum staff are not able to ship individual parts. Call 630-653-2277 to set up an appointment to pick out the parts you want to buy or inspect one of the cars and trucks.

Lori Massey is selling a large collection of Model A parts, engines and shop tools. There are four engines, among them two complete engines mounted on stands and a Ford factory reconditioned engine that has never been run and is still bolted to its shipping frame. The full list was attached to your September meeting minutes. Please email Chuck Murray if you’re interested in any of the items.

Eric Didawick’s ‘31 Tudor is still for sale. Excellent paint and interior. Contact Eric through Facebook.

Have something to sell, or something you have been hunting for years? Email the editor at [email protected] and it goes in the next issue.

The question comes up every year or two. You would like to pull a small trailer behind the A, or just have a receiver back there for a bike rack, and you go looking for the Wagner receiver that everyone recommends. Then you find it is not to be had.

That was the question a member of the Model A Restorers Club group put to the group a few weeks ago. The Wagner receiver appeared to be out of production. Was anybody reproducing them?

Rob Wagner, who makes the receiver with his brother Ken under the Wagner Products Group name, posted in the comments that they had receivers in stock and steel on hand to make more. I followed up with Rob, and he confirmed they can ship now. The list price is $339.95. Shipping from St. Louis is extra, and Rob estimates it at about $65.

The Wagner receiver bolts between the frame extensions that run from the frame to the rear bumper, in place of the standard spacer. It comes powder coated, in both a standard length and an extended length for cars with a rear trunk.

Rob would rather you did not call it a hitch. The receiver is built at least as well as most trailer hitches, he says, but it hangs from 98-year-old bumper mounts, and those limit the tongue weight it can take. He also worries that someone new to Model A's will hook up a trailer the car's brakes cannot stop. He notes that plenty of owners pull small trailers to carry gear on tours. His concern is the owner who does not yet know the car's limits. To order a receiver, email Rob at [email protected] or call him at 405-990-4100.

For those who balk at the price tag of the Wagner receiver, an alternative was proposed by Kevin Duffy, whose Model A Steering shop we have written about in these pages before. He had installed a hitch on his 1930 Tudor the previous day and towed a trailer with it the day after that.

The part is a CURT 13900, a multi-fit Class 3 hitch with a 2” receiver. The crossbar is adjustable in width, so it can be set to a frame it was never designed for. It is a current CURT part, in stock at Tractor Supply, Walmart, and the usual online trailer suppliers. Prices run $160-$200.

It’s a little hard to see from the photo on the left, but the Curt hitch has been adapted to the Model A rear bumper bracket by reversing the direction of the mounting brackets and then cutting the top flanges off. Holes were then drilled in the Curt bracket to match the locations of the existing holes in the bumper bracket, and bolts run through to hold the receiver in place. The receiver fits neatly underneath the rear spare.

This month we're featuring Dark Passage (1947), a moody choice as the nights draw in. Humphrey Bogart plays a convict who breaks out of San Quentin to prove he didn't murder his wife, with Lauren Bacall as the woman who shelters him. The film is notable for its use of a first-person perspective for a significant amount of time – unusual now and virtually unheard of in 1947.

The shadowy San Francisco noir puts a 1930 Model A Deluxe Phaeton into the action. Current owner Pat Williams notes that, as of 2024, the phaeton “is still unrestored and looks pretty much as it did in the movie.” You can watch it free with ads on Plex.