The Model A Ford today is commonly mis-understood. It suffers from many years of wear and adaptation and many seem to have some great misconceptions on the reliabity and capabilities of the car. It is important to understand the car was considered a very reliable car when it was built. People bought these cars and drove them everywhere just like we buy cars today. They were designed to run fast, even Ford wanted the dealers to show how well the cars ran at 60 MPH and how well the brakes worked. They were quiet and reasonably virbration free.

Today it is quite common to hear people at the shows discussing the cars and how all they will run is 45 MPH. Even at that they are afraid and the car does not handle well. A quick glance at most cars and you will find obvious reasons for the owners comments. There may be a decent paint job, but there is still 75 years of wear on the parts.

It is important to know that he Model A was a cheap reliable car in 1930 because Ford used precision construction and unique metals. This allowed for a cheap reliable car to be mass produced. To get an idea of the level of precision read "Know Your Model A Ford" by Murray Fahnestock or look closely at the prints for the parts. Next time you hear someone say "ahh its a cheap Model A a little wear wont hurt it" think about the original accuracy Ford used to build the car. If you look at the rod print that is floating around the internet you will find each end was kept to +- 1gram. One of the major rod builders only keeps the rods matched to 5 grams, for the whole rod. I will try to highlight the various accuracies you need to consider as I write about different parts of the car in this FAQ.

Modern replacement parts are a little pet peeve of mine. The advantages of most 'modern' replacement parts over the originals is modest if any at all. People talk about how they put in a 'modern' part (alternator, modern points, and such) and the car runs much better. Well lets ask a question. Is the car better because of the new parts or because in the process they fix a real problem? They now believe that there cars are now more reliable. Well last time I checked most of the original parts were pretty darn reliable if they are properly rebuilt. I will concede a diode cutout and a voltage regulator are two items that offer much more than the original parts. I feel modern tube shocks are critical for driving safety if you can not afford to put good original shocks on your car. It is interesting to listen to the guy selling some of these modern fixes. If you based you opinion on Model A reliability base on what they say you would have to wonder how Ford is still in business after the Model A.