By Dave Dodd
Back in 1981, Gord Watt invited me to navigate for him on the APAC '101' Rally. Gord and I worked together at NCR. I had a great time and met a lot of interesting people and I thought this was a hobby I would really enjoy doing.
The first step was to build a garage and put some heat in it, a year later I was in a position to start looking for a car. While discussing my options with Gord, a confirmed Ford man, we talked about the merits of a Model T versus an A, the driving speeds of both cars, and the availability of parts etc. In the end I chose a Model A.
Then the search for a car began. With a teenage family and limited funds it was clear that my project car would have to be in pretty poor condition for me to be able to afford it. The cars I looked at were either too expensive or complete basket cases.
I knew of a '28 Tudor on a farm at Dalum, south of Drumheller. The farmer talked about restoring the car so that his wife could drive it in the Drumheller Parade, but he eventually agreed to sell me the car saying “If you restore the car I won't have to”. So I rented a trailer and on a snowy day in February 1982 I brought it home. The next day we rolled it into the garage, it looked a sorry sight. It had four wrong style wheels with flat tires, the roof was broken in and of course the glass was all broken too. I thought to myself, “what have you done”. Fortunately, Vivienne my wife had a more optimistic outlook, she said, “you just do one bit at a time”.
So I started taking it apart and began the long process of restoration. Frame, springs, brakes, steering, running gear, and then having the motor machined and the babbitt poured by Gord.
After carefully assembling the engine with help from Merv Ross and setting the timing I hoped that I had got everything right. I pressed the starter and it fired right away, when the idle settled down we noticed a knock, not too bad but not right. We shut it down and started checking valves and lifters, there was plenty of oil there so we knew the bearings were being lubricated. We took the head off next and found that two pistons were hitting the gasket. The holes in the gasket didn't align with the block. The gasket came fromArgentina, replacing it with a Mc Cord gasket made in the USA solved the problem. My son Mark and I took turns driving the chassis around the block, it was a great feeling, one I'm sure you all know too well.
The work progressed slowly over the next few years, the mechanical work for me was the easier part, the rest took much longer. A good friend Steve Fairbanks painted the car for me and did a great job. In the end I spent seven and a half years from start to finish, sometimes running out of ambition other times running out of money but I was pleased with the end result.
The more miles I put on the car the better it seems to run.
The pleasure we get from driving it and the fellowship of all the folks in the hobby makes it all worthwhile.
I like to think that I saved another Model A from extinction!
