(upbeat music) - My name's Danny Hopkins. I'm editor of Practical Classics Magazine and we're here at the Vista Heritage site with a beautiful heritage vehicle. This is a Ford Model A built between 1928 and 1931. They made almost five
million of these babies in four years flat. No other car was produced in such volumes in such a short period of time 'til the Ford Mustang. It's a real slice of history. What's more, it's a really
practical proposition. More practical than an Austin 7. It can keep up with modern traffic. So, if you want to get your hands on one, here's how. As with most cars, let's
start with the body. The fenders: check along the inside lid. It should feel nice
and straight and clean. If it isn't and it's been filled, you might find that starts
to split up later on as you drive it. Check all the way along. Again, everything's available. It's not going to break the bank, but you don't want to be
doing that kind of work if you've spent money in the first place. The most important thing
to do on all Model A's is to check that the chassis isn't bent Because that's proper expenditure if you need to get it done. And you do that by just
looking at the doors. If the door's hanging straight, that's a good sign. If it's hanging squiff,
then you might find that the chassis underneath is bent. Another way of checking that is to look along the coach line. If the coach line is wrong, again the alarm bells should be going off. Check below the rear fenders
as well all the way around. Get down on your hands and
knees, look at the chassis. Make sure there isn't serious corrosion. It's not a disaster if there is. Everything is available. But, the checking of this car is basically about whether you want a
restoration project or not, whether you want to have
that kind of expenditure. If you don't, you can use it all as a
good negotiating point. Okay, another key aspect
to check out is the engine. A Model A had two engine types. UK cars built at Trafford Park
had the 2.8 liter Ford part. US spec cars like this one
had the 3.2 liter Ford part. Now, 2.8 was designed
as a 2.8 to pass through tanks legislation. It's generally acknowledged not to be powerful enough for the job, so, a lot of UK cars
have been retro-fitted with the US spec 3.2. It's a good idea if you
want to use it a lot. And, it's one of the
engines that will wear its poor condition on its sleeve if you want to buy one. So, if it sounds like
a tractor, negotiate. A little originality tip here, because originality is quite
important to some people: two blade fan, very original. All the numbers can be
found in here as well, so, check that against the paperwork. They all match, it's a rally good car, even if it's been restored like this one. They all match, that's worth a premium. By the way, this one was
restored back in Texas as is has been flown
back across the Atlantic. That's how authentic it is. But, it's a fantastic engine bay, really easy to work on, nice powerful, solid lump, makes a good when we go for a drive and we'll see that in just a second. (creaking and metal thunking gently) Okay, welcome to the office and what a fabulous office it is. Now, the Model T is quite
a difficult car to drive 'cause the pedals are all over the place, all in the wrong places. The Model A can be said to be the first of the modern era Fords. It could be almost said to be the first of the modern era cars. All the pedals are in the places that you'd recognize. So, it's got a clutch, brake
and accelerator over there. There's still some stuff
that you wouldn't recognize, of course. There's an advance and
a retard handle here. So, you retard the ignition
when you start the engine and advance it as you
drive further and faster. There's a hand throttle here
which is kind of helping when you start as well. Kind of an ancient
version of cruise control if you like. That's the choke there. It's kind of more of a petro pump thing. We won't need to use that now because the engine's warm already. Hand brake. Ignition, obviously and then
the niftiest thing of all, the thing I like the best
about the interior here, that little button down
there on the bulkhead, that's the starter button. You do it with your toe. But, it's all fantastic,
very easy to drive. Again, you could use this car every day if you really wanted to. And it holds its own at
50, 60 miles per hour. And with that, I think we
should take it for a drive. (lively music) So this is vintage motoring
at it's absolute finest. It's so easy to use. A lot of people say they
don't want to get involved in cars from the 1930s, even the 1920s because it's all a bit too difficult. But, when you're in a car like this, put yourself on a B road and just watch the
countryside floating by. It's absolutely beautiful, well sorted, goes where you point it. The brakes pull you up
when they should do. All those good things. If it doesn't do that then
you need to find out why. Don't assume that just because the car's a car from the 1920s
or 30s it's going to be bad at stopping or bad
at going round corners. This is neither. This is just great fun. Three speed gear box. The ratio's really nicely spaced. I'm in second gear at the moment, bimbling along at 20 miles an hour. Third gear takes you all
the way up to 50, 55. Holds the road perfectly. I mean it's mass produced. This isn't a specialist vehicle. The one problem with getting involved in vintage motoring is that when you get back into your car to go to the shops or to
take the kids to school, it all seems a little bit dull. This is absolutely fantastic. In fact, I'd say, it's
completely addictive. No wonder they sold five million. It's absolutely brilliant. (lively music)
