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Making way for Model A's
Making their way back to Tulsa from the Midwest Regional Model A meet in Altoona, Iowa, Barbara and Roy Cail, Ralph Hudson and Charles Clevenger made an unplanned stop in Fort Scott to get the Cail's trailer fixed.
The trailer was hauling the Cail's 1929 Fordor Blindback, one of six vehicles from Tulsa that were part of the regional meeting, which included Model A's from Nebraska, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas.
People came from as far away as California and Hawaii to see the vehicles. One of their group, a 1931 Town Sedan owned by Rodger Johnson, won the people's choice award.
Barbara said she and her husband purchased their Model A already restored five years ago after hearing all they wanted to know about the cars while on vacation with Roy's brother.
The blindback was favored by gangsters because if you sat up straight in the back seat, you could shoot out the back window and no one could tell who you were.
"We never had any antique or toy cars at all until we got the Model A. We have two others and sold a third," Barbara Cail said.
She enjoys the people in the club and being able to talk about the cars they have in common. "They're fun," Barbara Cail said. "We've taken this car up to 12,000 feet in Colorado. ... Some of our members have climbed Pike's Peak."
The Cails usually go to a meet once a year for a week, but also do a "fair amount" of touring, club meetings and day trips. Club members will drive their Model As from 1,000 to 3,000 miles a year.
Hudson, who restores Model A's, said his cousin had one with a rumble seat in Turley, Okla. Five of them would pile into the back and go to a lake to swim.
The travelers all expressed thanks to K&K Auto in Fort Scott who "bent over backwards" to help the contingent and get them up and running.