2010 Peking to Paris Rally

Lang and I wanted to know more about the history of our Model A Phaeton so we contacted Don Ross who sold us the car 2 years ago. Don put us in touch with Mike Worcester, of Dublin New Hampshire. Mike told us a story about how he restored the car. First he received the rolling chassis and the body separate. The body was in a million sheet metal parts and needed total restoration. The frame, engine and transmission had been restored, but Mike spent a lot more time on the frame and chassis parts before... (more...)

Fritz, Lang and their Model A during rebuild. When Fritz and I made the decision to compete in the Peking Paris rally several years ago neither of us really had any idea of the amount of planning involved.  Now we have ring binders full of details about the car and paperwork needed for the rally association, visas, etc.  All the planning is actually a lot of fun. It just adds to the anticipation of the trip.  One of the really bright spots has been all interesting people we have met that have... (more...)

Our car was purchased from a gentleman named Donald Ross in New Hampshire.  Don owned the Ford for 30 years.  He decided to restore the car and took it to pieces.  He reduced it to frame rails and nuts and bolts.  Realizing that it was a much bigger job than he imagined he located a professional restorer.  The restorer completely disassembled the car and started over and restored the Phaeton piece by piece.  After the car was restored, Don used it occasionally for weddings and a few parades. ... (more...)

Model A finally reaches Iowa We brought the car back to Iowa and have driven many miles on the back roads. We are still modifying the car and continue to find things that need changes or improving.  We are spending 3 days with Ora Landis, the rebuilder of our car, and making last minute adjustments and going over all of the spare parts and how to use these parts to keep the car running.  We are building a roll bar for safety and peace of mind and will discuss the mounting to the frame with Ora. ... (more...)

Model A is perfect. Very happy with purchase! Next we flew to Strausburg, Pennsylvania to see our purchase and meet Ora Landis, who would be rebuilding our car.  We were very pleased with both the car, which was perfectly restored, and Ora Landis, who is an extremely capable rebuilder. We agreed on the work that was to be done (basically rebuild and fortify everything) and asked Ora to start work as we only had 2 years before the start of Peking To Paris. Neither Lang nor I had ever driven a Model... (more...)