Ford Model A Wagon

[Pammark]

Of the many projects I try to do, this one has been in the making for the last 4-5 years. Seveal years ago I was at an auction and this wagon was up for bid. I looked under and recognized a diamond in the rough. The wagon was built on a Ford Model A running gear.

This project was dedicated to my brother Rich in Texas, for half of the parts were donated by him.



I parked it behind the barn for a few years and the bed rotted more than is was. In the mentime, I had thoughts of making it into a parade wagon with fancy wire wheels and all.

My brother in Texas has a very nice Roadster and he needed better tires for his street running. I picked up his old tires and tubes while visiting there last year. Unfortunatley, his tires were 19" and I had 21" rims. Since I could not find a tire-stretcher, I was in the market for 19" rims.



I removed the rotted bed down to the frame. It had flapping tires of non-descript rims. The rear left was welded on the hub as well as the hub welded to the axle. It must have been a quick fix for mostly missing lugnuts.



The rear axle of a Model A is designed as a large center nut holding the hub on the tapered keyed axle shaft. I had to cut the welds and removed the brake drum/hub.



I chopped off the end of the axle and welded a 9/16" threads on the end of the axle.



I ground my welds smooth and the new hub slipped right on. I also removed all the brake shoes all around. Wagons do not need brakes anyway. Just more to drag on the rust later.



The rear pinion was removed and a wood block was used as a cover. I made a new cover and also added gear oil to the rear end while I was at it. The front hitch had a lot of play and wobble. I replaced worn bolts and even welded rings around the main bolt to tighten it up on the slot.

You can see the previous designer removed the front axle spring and rigged up some U-channel across the front.



The rear end also had the springs removed and was on wood blocks. I redid the rear end using some treated deck boards for a spacer and bent 1/2" all-thread for U-bolts around the axle. This leveld up the frame so the height was the same, front and back. It is ready for paint.



I finally bought two 19" rims at the Sringfield, OH swap meet last year. I bought two more at the Portland, Ind junk fest last month. I painted them up nice and pretty, all red.

I know white walls look nice, but let's be real. Did Model A's have white walls? My brother always got ribbed by his buddy Model A fanatics in Texas about white walls on Model A's. So here is the choice. Which one to use? I set the rims in place for comparison.



Blackwalls won hands-down, so I sprayed flat black paint over the whitewalls and mounted them on the inside of the rims.



This is starting to look pretty nice. All red and everything.



Ready for wheels.



The Portland, Ind rims came with two hubcaps. I had to shine them up some with a wirebrush. I asked my brother in Texas to find me two more beat-up, dented, discolored, hubcaps for the 19" rims to match. Here I am using the only two caps I have for the picture.



My brother did find me two more non-descript hubcaps, but his swap meet netted something even better. Four brand-spankin new hubcaps, even in the wrapper. Something really shiney to cap off the new wagon.



I worked on the wagon bed using treated 2 X 8's for the stringers and treated 2 X 6's for the floor joists. I tapered the ends of the floor joists to match up with the width of a ripped deck board.



I had to adjust the floor joists above the tires to allow clearance for turning and running.



The bed ended up being 12 feet long and 6 1/2 feet wide. I added the ripped deck board on the edge and screwed deck boards across the top.

Here you see the nice new shiney hubcaps in all their glory.



Looks good, but does she run? I pulled her around the country block up to 30 mph before she started to hop around. Not the best, for I have wagons I can pull near 50 mph, but 30 is acceptable for me. Let's see how fast you can run around the block at 80 years old?



All I need now is some bales of straw, a bunch of kids, some candy to toss and a parade to go to. This is parade material delux.



I would like to paint the letters "Ford Model A" across the stringers on each side just to let the public know what they are looking at.



Eat My Dust


Donations;
Richard Meyer - tires, tubes, liners, rear brake drum, brand new hubcaps.
Mark Meyer - wagon, rims, wood, paint, effort to make this happen.

[shinnery]

Looking Good, even though it did start out a pherd. Mopars Forever....
Bryce

[Rick Kr]

Great job.

I have a wagon under the shed I need to get restored one day.

There are a lot of model A restoration suppliers around. You should be able to find a nice "Model A" script to apply to the back of the trailer. I think tracing the pattern then painting it would make the wagon look "from the factory".

Rick

[Pammark]

My wife finally got excited about the parade wagon and offered to stain the deck. She used an oil base deck stain and brushed on two coats.






I found a Ford insignia on the Internet and by way of a photocopy enlargen option, made it 4" tall, the same as the lettering. I made a stencil of all the letters, did a quick white spray-paint and hand-brushed white oil base paint to fill in the gaps and over the top.

Of course the two side runners have "Ford Model A" so the bystanders know what they are looking at. The rear has the estimated year of the frame as "1930" and the current restoration date of "2011". The middle gives tribute to the Meyer family.

Where is the next parade and a raft of kids tossing candy? I am ready.

[whiteclipse16]

Hey Pammark, very nice job on the wagon project.
I like the tribute to the Meyer family.
Ironic thing is my grandfather's side of the family is Meyer.
Probably no relation, but it's still cool.
Were from a small town called knoxville, oh

[Rick Kr]

Looks great with the stain and stencil job.

No one should know any different on the 1930. If I recall, all A frames are the same from 1928-1931. All bodies have the same body mount locations. For instance you could bolt a model A truck, on a sedan or coupe frame.

If you interested the serial number is stamped into the top of the frame rail just forward of where the radius rod mounts are attached. Then you would know the year of your frame. Most people would never know the difference anyway.

Again, looks great.
Rick

[MADJACK]

Looks sweet!

[FL450B]

great job looks great

[Afzimm]

Mark Thats the coolest flatrack I have ever seen. Nice job on finding the wheels and the paint, the rack construction looks solid too! Thanks for restoring old stuff and not cutting it up for scrap! Al Z