Putta, putta, putta: Here comes the Model A

    The distinctive putter of Model A engines were singing their own song as Ford enthusiasts started arriving in Orange Park for the Southeast Model “A” Round-up on Thursday.
    Jacksonville has a history of enthusiasm for Ford vehicles, which started with the Jacksonville Ford Plant that was built in the mid-1920s. Model A’s rolled off of its assembly line from the late ‘20s to the early ‘30s, and that history is kept alive by the passion of the First Coast Region Model “A” Club.
    “Nothing sounds like a Model A,” said Bob Cook, of Green Cove, a member of the club for about three years. “It’s that putta-putta-putta that people listen for. They are considered to be the No. 1 collector car, as far as popularity.”
    Ford produced more than five million Model A’s from 1927 to 1932, and this production allowed for plenty of opportunities for Model “A” enthusiasts to find parts and bodies for restoration projects.
    “The engine for the Model “A” was used in bigger trucks, trains and airplanes,” said Karl Burghart, 74, former president of the club. “It was a very versatile engine.”
    Cook met Burghart when he was looking to get involved with the club after his dad suggested he find a club in the Jacksonville area.
    “I called Karl up and we started talking about tinkering with Model A’s,” Cook said. “By the end of the phone call he asked me if I wanted to drive one of his cars in an upcoming parade. He was having some mobility problems and thought it would be better if someone was driving it rather than having it sit around. That’s just the way car people are.”
    Cook and Burghart developed a friendship and they took on a restoration project together that produced the “Moosemobile,” which celebrates the Moose Lodge that Karl and his wife, Winnie, are members of.
“This isn’t a show grade Model “A” because we made it out off a bunch of parts, so purists might scoff at it,” Cook said with a grin. “We wanted to make a parade car and this is what we came up with.”
Another consideration for the project was Karl’s mobility.
    “Model A’s aren’t the easiest cars to get in and out of,” Cook said. “So we stretched it out a little to make it easier for Karl to get in and out of.”
    The pair also outfitted the truck with a truck bed built up with cypress walls, a Bermuda bell, fire engine siren and moose horns.
    “We also added some 1930s bling,” Cook said.
    The radiator has a chrome quail cap that also functions as a temperature gauge and chrome wheel caps.     It took about a year to build the truck up from just the frame.
    Cook and Burghart will join about 50 other Model “A” owners Thursday through Sunday for the Seventh Annual Southeast Model “A” Round-up. The event will be hosted by the Quality Inn on Park Ave (U.S. 17) in Orange Park.
    The Round-up will feature seminars, a flea market for collectors, a poker run and ride to Green Cove Springs. The Model “A” vehicles are set to roll out of the Quality Inn Parking lot at 9 a.m. today. They will roll along River Road in Orange Park to Kingsley to Doctor’s Lake Drive to Peoria Road to College Drive to 220 to 209 to Henley Road to Sandridge Road to Green Cove Springs.   
    “You don’t want to drive something like this if you are in a hurry,” Cook said, “But they can get up to 45 miles an hour and even 55 miles an hour with modifications to the engine. Some people even drive them down from Georgia and South Carolina.”