Rufus: The 1929 Model A Closed Cab Pickup

(11/24/05...Thanksgiving Day) I'd spent the previous week in the hospital with viral pneumonia...so I had to wait until I had some help to move projects around. My sons and their wives and my friend Jim were there, so I enlisted some help to get the Monte Carlo out of the garage and the Model A in.

The idea was to back the A off the trailer and make a 3-point turn so that it would end up facing nose first, ready to go into the garage. Well, we got about half of that. When it got backed off the trailer, it couldn't turn sharp enough and it ended up sideways in front of the garage. Not exactly what we'd intended.

A little closer examination led to an idea.

A floor jack under the rear end and a little bit of muscle power moved it around pretty quickly. I would have been helping push, but I was on an oxygen line...kinda like a leash.

And then the Monte Carlo came out of the garage to spend the winter in the cold.

I got to ride on the running board and steer as it was pushed into the garage. That was fun, trying to steer with my right arm, keep the oxygen line outta the way with my left and hang on with... now how DID I do that?

But it's in the garage and pointing the right way. This is good.

These are the 16 inch 35 Ford wire wheels that I'm gonna be using. They're gonna need a little work before they're ready to go into service.

The bed is slightly less than complete...but as of 11/30/05 I have the wood and fastening hardware on order.

I think this is gonna be about the first place I start...or pretty darned close to it. I'm going to completely rewire it, convert it from 6 volt positive ground to 12 volt negative ground and add an alternator in place of the missing generator.

Next page: Did somebody call a cab?.

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