The Utah Valley Model A Club held a Garage Day in April in the garage of club member Theon Laney. Fifteen club members attended to install a newly rebuilt engine and transmission in Theon’s 1928 Tudor. Fortunately the weather had warmed sufficiently to melt the six foot snow banks that lined the driveway, so there was room to park.

The activity began with the adjustment of the clutch contact and mating the transmission to the engine. Once the engine was in the air it was a tight fit to get the engine over the head light bar and into the compartment. That was accomplished with an expert on the engine hoist and a sharp eye below the engine compartment. It was a team effort — forward an inch and drop two inches, forward an inch, drop two inches. Until we got it in.

The next chal...

On a cold March morning, too cold and icy to drive our Model As, about 15 or 20 curious club members came to BYU to be Doctor Grant Eckstein’s lab rats. He was interested in our eyes. That is, our eye movements as we studied 12 sets of Model A parts and cars. You may think it was easy, but the general consensus was that the questions and pictures were too hard. Can you imagine that? Model A owners complaining about something? The suggestion was made that fine point judges should be subjected to the experiment.

OK, I confess, I had to consult the Restoration Guidelines and Judging Standards book to verify that the pictures, questions, and answers I chose conformed to the current body of Model A knowledge...