Ford Model A Mail Delivery Snowmobile Coupe Roadster Phaeton 1928 1929 1930 1931

Description

PLEASE  READ  THIS  FIRST  PARAGRAPH.  --  I need to get ,995 for this very special project but had to raise the price on this listing to ,495 to list it with "Free Shipping" anywhere here in the USA. I assume ,500 will get it delivered to most locations here in the USA. I had to do this in order to require immediate payment with PayPal to keep the wannabees and dedbeet bidders from ending this listing. I have had several of them do that here in the last year or so. I can lower the "Buy It Now" price to ,995 if you are real and genuinely serious about this owning this very special and historically significant vehicle and want to pick it up yourself.
This listing is for the chassis only from a very interesting Model A Ford snowmobile conversion. This Model A was converted to haul rural mail in western North Dakota sometime in the mid to later 1930's or early 1940's. The last photo shows this car as it was this summer before some Australian fool bought it at an auction in North Dakota and ruined it by ripping off the coupe body, hood and radiator shell. Evidently he had no appreciation for the very interesting history associated with this car and the value it would have now had he not molested it. P. T. Barnum was right when he said "There is a fool born every minute".
This is the 3rd Model A Ford snowmobile in my vehicle collection. I still have the blue 1930 cabriolet that got a lot of attention here on eBay and several other websites few years ago. I also have a 1929 Model A Ford Tudor sedan with a flathead Ford V8 setting in it. Some ingenious person used 1920's Fordson tractor rear fenders to cover the large tractor tires on the rear wheels. That gives that car a very unique and distinctrive look. I plan to list that car here in a few weeks or so along with a 1929 Model A pickup cab and box assembly.
The frame appears to be from a 1930 or 1931 Model A Ford because of the holes stamped into the middle cross member where Ford obtained the steel sheet material for forming a pair of brackets associated with the rear brake linkage. I have not yet removed the wood left hand hood shelf so I can find the frame serial number. Other than damage from welding, the frame appears to be fine except for a crack in the top flange where the right front body bolt hole is located. I have seen many Model A frames crack at either of both of the front body mounting holes.
The engine is of 1928 vintage with the serial number 303,967. It still turns over but I have not yet tried to make it run. It still has the original Zenith carburetor and appears to be completely stock except for the Otwell exhaust manifold heater. Please notice the special home made but very well done scoop added to the front of the heater in attempt to get more air flowing throught it. Please remember that this rural mail delivery car would have only been used in relatively cold weather.
This car has two blown out 7.5 - 24 ribbed implement tires on the front and the remains of one 9.0 - 24 Montgomery Ward knobby tread rear tractor tire on the right rear corner.
I just found 4 good used 24" tractor tires to install on this car and they are included with this verhicle. The fronts are 12.4 - 24 which replaced the older size 11 - 24 while the rears are 13.6 - 24 which replace the older size 12 - 24. These tires will be a bit larger than those on it now but that will not be a problem. They may not be installed for a month or more due to the cold weather here in Montana. All 4 of those newer tires have the typical farm tractor rear tire lug tread.
This chassis is pretty much stock except for the 4 wheels and the rear axle assembly. Someone used the center section of a Model TT Ford truck Ruckstell 2 speed rear axle and adapted it to the outer ends of a 1928 Ford Model AA truck rear axle assembly. The outer ends of the housing, brake backing plates, brake drums and wire wheel hubs appear to be from the 1928 Ford Model AA truck.
You can see the extra shift lever mounted to the right of the stock Ford Model A 3 speed car transmission. A rod runs from a lever on the left end of the shaft that lever is attached to and goes back to actuate the shift lock on the Ford Model TT ruck Ruckstell reart axle center section.
Please notice the Model T Ford steering wheel that is mounted upside down on this vehicle. I have seen thousands of Model A Fords in my 65 years but I can not recall ever seeing one with a Model T Ford steering wheel on it. Perhaps the driver was a very large guy and wanted more room behind the steering wheel and used this smaller one to accomplish that.
I suspect the rear transverse leaf spring is from a a Model A car. I am not yet sure what the rear frame cross member is that the spring is attached to. That frame rear cross member was welded underneath the stock Model A Ford car frame rear cross member.
Now we must discuss the very interesting wheels on this conversion. The rear wire wheels are actually much of the 1928 Model AA truck wire wheels. All of the rim except for the very center of the rim where the spokes are welded was removed. That remaining wheel assembly was then slipped inside the center of a 24" tractor tire drop center rim and welded in place. That results in a very clean looking wheel compared to some other other Model A Ford mail car conversions I have seen.
The front wheels are actually stock mid 1928 through 1929 Model A Ford car wire wheels that have undergone a very similar treatment. All but the very center of the rim where the spokes are welded was likewise cut away. That remaining wheel assembly was likewise slipped inside the center of an idential 24" tractor tire drop center rim and welded in place. The relatively nice workmanship on the front and rear wheels of this gem really add to the appeal of it.
The pair of front fenders are included and came from early farm tractor rear fenders. I think they are either from a McCormick Deering 15-30 or John Deere D but have not yet figured out for sure which tractor was the donor. The inner skirt on the left front fender is attached to a wood hood shelf that is bolted to the frame. There is an angle iron support on the back of that fender that was welded to the frame but has since broken loose so that fender droops a bit.
The right front fender is in 2 pieces. The inner skirt has separated from the curved part and is mangled up a bit but is still attached to the wood hood shelf. The curved part is included even though it may not show in these photos. This pair of very unusual front fenders also makes this vehicle look very special. I doubt there were any fenders on the back of this car after it was converted for mail delivery use.
This project can be built into a very interesting Model A Ford by installing a body, hood, radiator shell, fixing the front fenders and building some kind of fenders for the rear wheels. I will guarantee that it will get way more attention at any car show than any stock Model A will. When I had my blue 1930 Model A cabriolet mail car here on eBay a few years ago, over 40,000 people looked at that listing. A man from eBay called me and congratulated me on how that was the most looked at listing on the entire eBay system at that moment in time.
Thanks a lot, Bob Woodburn in Bozeman Montana USA - the number of sides on a square, one less than one, the number of sides on a hex, t
he number of days in a week, t
he number of lives a cat supposedly has,
the number of lives a cat supposedly has, the number of presidents in the USA, the number of sides on an octagon, the number of sides on a square, the number of days in a week