Lot Ended
Description
Rare UK-built De Luxe model; interesting history from new; just two
owners from 1934 - 2023; restored in the late-1980s; only 1,100 miles on fully
rebuilt engine; runs like a sewing machine; original number plate; lots to love
about this one
As Jeremy
Clarkson memorably discovered, you can stick a modern motorist in a Ford Model T
and they will be out of their depth within seconds. Put them in a Model A
though, and they will be in the next county before you know it. Light years
ahead in every way, the A is a delight to drive and caused such a sensation when
it was launched in December 1927 that riot police had to be deployed outside
Ford showrooms to control the crowds.
Longer,
lower-slung and better-suspended than its predecessor, the American market Model
A was powered by a Howard Hicks-designed 3,285cc, L-head four-cylinder engine
developing 40hp (twice the Model T's output) with bags of torque and boasted
coil ignition and an integral water pump. Mated to a three-speed manual gearbox,
it gave up to 30mpg and had a top speed of 65mph with four-wheel drum brakes to
ensure safe stopping power. When production finally ceased in 1931, over 4.3
million had been sold in no fewer than 22 different body
styles.
Dating from the last year of production,
this Model A Fordor De Luxe is a rare UK market car fitted with the smaller 28hp
2,043cc engine which made it much cheaper to tax as it fell into the 14.9hp
fiscal horsepower category. Being a De Luxe model, it has luxury features such
as two-tone paintwork, large folding fabric sunroof, roller window blinds,
opening front windscreen with overhead sun visor, ash trays for the rear
passengers and leather rather than cloth upholstery.
Supplied
new by South Hants Motor Company of Southampton in September 1931, OW 939 comes
with a large and interesting history file which shows that it was first owned by
the Managing Director of the supplying dealer. In July 1934 he sold it to a
local farmer, Mr William Marshall of West Wellow, and it was to remain in his
family for the next 48 years. By 1963 when it had covered 84,000 miles, it was
laid up in a nice dry barn where it was to remain for the next two
decades.
In 1982 it was discovered by a David
Noyce of Fareham, a gent who had known OW 939 since his childhood – an
article in a 2022 copy of the Model A Owner’s Club magazine recounts how he
vividly recalled Mr Marshall and his wife being regular visitors to the sawmill
where Noyce had worked as a teenager in the 1940s, always turning up in this
glamorous Model A De Luxe.
Mr Noyce suceeded in
buying the car for the princely sum of £850, recounting that by this time it
was: “A non-runner and in several pieces, but generally still in good
fettle having lain undisturbed for many years”. He was informed that the 84k
miles on the speedo was correct, the engine “having been previously rebored
only once before, to 10 thou oversize”.
Formerly
employed by Supermarine Aviation (who famously built the Spitfire in
WW2 but switched from making aircraft to hovercraft during the 1960s), Mr
Noyce had the skills to restore the Model A and spent the next three years
treating it to a total body-off rebuild. It was finally finished and back on the
road in September 1988, just in time to use as bridal transport at his
daughter’s wedding.
He was to keep the car for
over 40 years, during which time it was in regular use, as shown by many old tax
discs on file (see photos). There are also a good few invoices for upkeep, the
most significant being a full engine rebuild in 2007 by Jim Stokes Workshops of
Hampshire which cost well over £8,500 in labour alone, plus plenty more spent on
new parts from America (pistons; bearings; con rods; reground crank; timing
gear; valves etc). The water pump was also renewed at the same time, the mileage
at this point being c.88,300.
Subsequent
maintenance includes Zenith carb rebuilt; starter motor rebuilt; distributor
rebuilt plus various other items. A new set of Waymaster 475/500 x 19 tyres and
inner tubes were fitted in September 2015 and the car has also been converted to
12v electrics.
Mr Noyce finally sold the car in
2023, our vendor acquiring it from a dealer in July last year (for rather more
than the guide price suggested here). A change in circumstances means she no
longer has anywhere to store the car, hence its appearance in this sale. It
comes with an interesting history file including two buff logbooks, the
aforementioned magazine feature, correspondence, period road tests and some
useful technical literature relating to the model.
As you can see in the photos, this Model A is in super condition
throughout, with a pleasingly original interior and excellent body and
paintwork. It has been starting promptly and running like a sewing machine as we
have moved it around on site – hardly surprising as it has only covered around
1,100 miles since the engine was rebuilt in 2007. The icing on the cake is the
original (transferable) Southampton-issue number plate, OW 939, which no doubt
has a value of its own.
Believed to be the only
UK-built De Luxe model still surviving, it now only needs an enthusiastic new
owner who can reap the rewards of all the good work carried out and add their
own chapter to its interesting 95-year life to date.
Consigned by
James Dennison – 07970 309907 – james.dennison@brightwells.com