Historic Hood River
Road Trip!
10-28-2016
Notes
Crag Rat Bill Bryan took this picture on a 1951 road trip to Sun Valley. I was thinking he was very retro driving a Model A in 1951, but then I realized my current car is only a few years younger than this car was then. I wonder if Thule or Yakima have Model A mounts in their roof rack catalogs?
Kenn
Driver devised partial radiator cover, This reminds me of the roller covers on truck radiators, similar to an upside down window roller blind, operated from in the cab to control temperature.
L.E.
We didn’t have a Model A when I was a kid, but I remember the windshield wipers going really fast or really slow depending on whether we were going up or down a hill.
Andrew B
That looks like a custom paint job, I believe they only came in black. I cant imagine it was all that warm in the cab. Did they have heaters?
Buzz
In Alaska we used to reverse the fan blade on cats and skidders and blow the engine heat back on us. But don’t know if you could do that to old cars or not.
Kenn
Cars in the thirties sold best if "R&H" was included indicating the optional radio and heater. We could add the now common hot water heater, although not a fresh air unit as today, a manifold heater tube along the exhaust manifold or a Southwind gasoline heater. The latter could not have been too safe and hopefully was not a big seller although I do not remember bad reports.