Minneapolis Street Sighting: Ford Model A pickup

When I'm shooting vehicles on the street, I tend to go after stock-appearing vehicles for the most part; however, a scant few vehicles begin to pique my interest in any condition. Like a majority of other car geeks, I've always been intrigued by hot rods--if they're done right. Normally, old Fords are the cliche hot rod or street rod--and they still are, to an extent. For this reason, I'd likely shy away from them--at car shows. On the street, these things truly do fascinate me. Like a Ferrari parked on the street, hot rods do leave me with an impression be it good or bad. Whether its a '50s style rat rod, or a gussied-up fiberglass body with monstrous wheels and a generic V8, these old Model As can be done up in a variety of ways. I've seen coupes in damn-near every fashion, and the roadsters and rumble-seat convertibles aren't that hard to come by, either. It's fairly rare that I do see a pickup, though, and usually when I do, it's been hacked into a rather distasteful amalgam of a roadster with a pickup bed. Not quite what I hope for when the phrase "Model A pickup" enters my head. Thankfully, the only roadster-pickup I've seen in person was quite tasteful, as is the only true pickup I've seen in person.












Patina; you've gotta love it. On most hacked-up crapfest hot rods, patina is way overdone--to the point of being straight-up ridiculous. On certain examples of the hot-rod genre, it work--quite well. Doing away with the typical off-shades of red, maroon, gray or black primer, this Model A replaces the generic "in" hues with a nice shade of blue-green that may or may not be a factory color. Like so many other "period" hot-rods, this truck has been decked out in a shop-truck manner, complete with door decals emblazoning the shop name. Again, like most of the traditional "shop truck" hot rods, this example of Ford's first popular truck is done up in such a way that I can't even tell if it really does duty as a hauler, or if its just done up like this in a vain attempt to be cool. Regardless, I quite like it; I've always dug Model As, and I've always dug hot rods for some reason. If they're true to the original meaning of what a hot rod is, then I have no problems with them. Now, if thing was sitting on a set of Boyd wheels and wearing a fluorescent paint color, then there would be a hell of a problem. But it isn't, so there's not a problem. The wheels on this guy are damn near perfect; I'm no expert at being original with regards to what wheels I'd slap on vehicles, but I do like these. These stock Ford wheels give this Model A a rat look, but keep it looking classy as well. No doubt that the bigger meats help, too. I'm not too sure of possible handling, but I'm sure it rides and handles much better than something of this nature on previously mentioned Boyd wheels would ever do. I will never grow tired of proper hot rods; they're a part of American culture that I cannot ever seem to hate. Bling-rods? Yes. I detest those. But traditional hot rods? Vehicles like this Model A prove once again that traditional hot rods are the way to go when customizing a 70 year old vehicle. They've stood the test of time for a reason.