Today’s vehicle is a 1930 Ford Model A Pickup driven by Mitchell Hesse and built by his Grand Father Maynard Hesse who used it as his daily driver. I photographed this car at the 19th Annual Redondo Pier Rods, Rides, & Relics on the Pier Car Show held in Redondo Beach, CA. The car is finished in BMW Malediven blue with a red pearl topcoat, with a Haagen blue leather interior, and the bed wood is Ebony finished in clear coat. It is powered by a 130 hp, 4.3 liter, Vortex V6 engine, with multi port throttle body fuel injection mated to a 4L60E 4-speed automatic transmission with 3.55:1 rear axle which translates to 2.47:1 final drive. Slowing this beauty down are disc brakes in all 4-corners. The front suspension is a 4 link dropped solid axle, a transverse semi-elliptical spring, and shock absorbers.
The Model A Fords were built from 1927–1931 with a total 4,858,644 produced. The total number of 1930s Model A’s produced was 854,263 of those over 48,000 were pickups. The MSRP was for the open-cab version started at $395, while the closed-cab pickup started at $445. The published top speed of 58 MPH with a 0-45 mph was estimated at 19.0 seconds.. The 0-60 mph time never happened, as the Model A topped out at 58 mph. The Model A was the first Ford to use the standard set of driver controls with conventional clutch and brake pedals, throttle, and gearshift. The 1930 Ford was the first vehicle to feature safety glass in the windshield.
This is a very well done pickup and is a great example of an restomod. What a great truck to take to Model A or FOMOCO car shows, local car shows, Cars and Coffee events or just a cruising around town in a cool Model A pickup. Thank you for riding along. Frank
