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Vancouver Planetarium Boxing Day Vintage Car Rally - 1928 Ford Model A Sports Coupe

Daniel Krechtel With his 1928 Model A Ford which is the same age as himself.

About four dozen members from the Lower Mainland Vintage Car Club rallied at the Pacific Space Center Parking lot about 11 AM before motoring around Downtown Vancouver for a Boxing Day drive which would end later at at Confederation Park and Rainbow Creek Station in Burnaby.

Some members travel from as far away as Haney, Maple Ridge and White Rock for this popular, annual get together for members and car enthusiasts who all enjoy talking shop and looking at heritage automobiles.

Ford was launched in a converted factory in 1903 with $28,000 in cash from twelve investors, most notably John Francis Dodge and Horace Elgin Dodge who would later found the Dodge Brothers Motor Vehicle Company. During its early years, the company produced just a few Model T's a day at its factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Groups of two or three men worked on each car from components made to order by other companies. Henry Ford was 40 years old when he founded the Ford Motor Company, which would go on to become one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world, as well as being one of the few to survive the Great Depression. The largest family-controlled company in the world, the Ford Motor Company has been in continuous family control for over 100 years.

The Ford Model A was the second huge success for the Ford Motor Company, after its predecessor, the Model T. First produced on October 20, 1927, but not sold until December 2, it replaced the venerable Model T, which had been produced for 18 years. This new Model A (a previous model had used the Model A name back in 1903) was designated as a 1928 model and was available in four standard colors, but not black. There has also been ongoing speculation for many years that the Ford Model A was based on the 1925 Peugeot 201 automobile as the two automobiles bear a striking resemblance. Standard equipment included: 4 wheel mechanical brakes, speedometer, hydraulic shock absorbers, starter, windshield wipers, dash lights, mirror, gas gauge and tools. Bumpers were a $15.00 option on the earliest cars. The car was powered by an L-head 4-cylinder engine with just over 200 cubic-inches in displacement. A three-speed sliding gear transmission with 1 reverse speed was used. Top speed was achieved a little over sixty-miles per hour with the average fuel mileage being rather exceptional at over 40 MPG.