1930 Ford Roadster (Knaur)

For 18 years, Henry Ford's "Tin Lizzie"--the Model T--had reigned as the queen of the road. With the encouragement of his son, Edsel, and the times and demands of the modern motorist rapidly changing, Ford made his final Model T--car number 15,000,000 on May 26t 1927--and spent five months and $100,000,000 developing the Model A. The new and improved Ford was made available to the public on December 2 1927. Curiously enough, Ford's Model A was not actually the first Ford to go by the Model A name. The original Model A was, in fact, the very first car produced by the Ford Motor Company back in 1903.

The original Model A was produced for only one year before being overtaken by the equally short-lived Model C. It has been theorized that Ford decided to pay homage to his first automobile while simultaneously sending the message that the Model A was a new era for the Ford Company and thus should be represented by a car named after the first letter of the alphabet.

Among other vast differences between it and the faithful Model T, the Model A featured no less than 7 body types to choose from as well a veritable rainbow of 4 colors. While the Model T had only been available in black, black was not among the color choices for the Model A--yet another example of Ford's attempt to distance his new Model A from any other car previously produced. Car historians seem to enjoy arguing over whether or not yellow was an available color choice for the Model A, but it is known for sure that "Deep Channel Green," "Windsor Maroon," "Phoenix Brown," and "Gunmetal Blue" were available. Standard to the Model A was an an L-head 4-cylinder with a displacement of 3.3 litres. The Model A typically got 20-30 miles to the gallon, making it a fuel-efficient car even by today's standards. Each Model A, regardless of body type, also included its very own Model A Tool Kit that included 3 varieties of wrenches, 2 tire irons, jack pliers, a screwdriver, tire pump, grease gun, combination spark plug/head bolt wrench and a handy instruction manual to help you figure out what to do with all those tools! There was seemingly a Model A to suit every lifestyle and budget. The car you see here is a Roadster. Roadsters were available in either Standard or Deluxe models and, price-wise, were at the low end of the Ford totem pole. A Roadster could be had for as little as $385.00 while the most luxurious Model A, the Fordor, would run you about $580.00.