The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Brandon you were spared...... I have that 78 as well and play it occasionally, especially at the local Fathers Day car show here - usually 200 plus vehicles. Set a Victor IV on top of the travel trunk on the back of my Model A and play it. Goes over well...

Is that Model A a 30 or a 31? And is it truly appropriate for this topic, since it has electric start?

One of the few things my dad ever taught me to do was to start a car with the crank. Make sure you keep your thumb out of the way
He had one of these a 1954 Ford Popular. It was an antique when he bought it.



He then bought a brand new Morris 1000 in 1965 for the specific reason that it was the one car on the market that still had a starting crank. He often used the crank instead of the starter motor. When I started driving it after he died it was one of his eccentricities I carried on. I used to keep the cranking handle on the rear parcel shelf which was all fine and dandy until one day I had to brake sharply and the thing flew off the shelf and hit me on the back of the head. That was a crank attack I can tell you.

The other thing he taught me was how to dig.
I do wish I had his 78s though! I have some of my mothers' but they're all in terrible condition.

Its a 30 Model A. Never used the crank and hopefully never will. Must have been tough back in the day in the winter. No windows, heater, optional manifold hot air heat, canvas side curtains, whew. I'm only 10 years younger than this car....

When I play the Victor at a car show several folks asked if the machine came with the car. I'm always tempted to respond that is was an option..

You guys seem bent on taking this one off topic so... here's my dad going to the hardware store with my kids and nephew, (also driving at the end).

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5wKuXdnv1c[/youtubehd]

CptBob wrote::He then bought a brand new Morris 1000 in 1965 for the specific reason that it was the one car on the market that still had a starting crank.

Citroen 2CVs still had a starting crank right up until production finished in 1989 - sure enough, they weren't available in the UK in 1965 though! Thankfully those cranks have never attacked me yet...

Noted. It would have been more accurate to say a Morris 1000 was the only car he could think of that still had a starting crank.

Well having a facination with H-D 50s panheads early on my right knee will never be the same,they really attack,but ive had spring motors go berserk more than a few times.

Well since we've wandered off topic to old cars and cranks , here is our 1954 chev pick-up at the preserved CNR Tecumseh Ont railway depot , which is part of our "Heritage Village"...here twice a year we have a 300 plus car show . Lia and I set up by the depot with a Victor III and a pile of 78s

dutchman wrote:Its a 30 Model A. Never used the crank and hopefully never will. Must have been tough back in the day in the winter. No windows, heater, optional manifold hot air heat, canvas side curtains, whew. I'm only 10 years younger than this car....

When I play the Victor at a car show several folks asked if the machine came with the car. I'm always tempted to respond that is was an option..

Yeah, I could not imagine driving a car like that daily. Of course, I would love to have one for summertime fun someday.

Last year, one of the guys from Hagerty Insurance spent a year driving a 30 Model A Tudor in Michigan. This includes through winter. He said it wasn't so bad, because you got used to it. Here is a link to his blog:

http://www.365daysofa.com/