'30 Model A Sedan "Delivery"
Gary Morris had been hearing about this Model A body from a coworker for years. It was the same old story that we’ve all heard; he was going to do something with it someday so he wouldn’t sell it. And he had been saying that for about a half-century, having pulled the body from a ravine when he was 15. Unfortunately, Gary’s coworker passed away before any of his dreams for the car could be realized.
After waiting an appropriate amount of time, Gary approached the widow about selling the car. A deal was made, and Gary wasted no time delivering it to his friends, Davey Scheimann Sr. and Jr. The father and son team have a well-equipped home shop and a lot of talent between the two of them. They agreed to help Gary realize his vision of a clean and cool hot rod.
The foundation was established on a chassis fixture, using a pair of ’32 rails from Speedway Motors. Crossmembers for the front and rear buggy springs were added, along with an x-style center crossmember. A dropped I-beam swings on split wishbones in the front, and ladder bars locate the 9” rear.
With the chassis established, the trio set out to do something a little different with the clean Tudor sedan body. After some careful measuring and marking, a sedan-delivery style door was cut into the back of the body. ¾” was added around the opening on the body so it would overlap like a stock Model A door, the jambs were made from scratch and Speedway universal hinges make it swing. The Daveys (as Gary calls them) refused to chop the clean original body, and the unchopped phantom delivery stands out in the sea of chopped sedans.
The engine is a fresh GM Performance 290-horse 350 crate sourced from Speedway, but it’s dressed up to look like a vintage powerplant. Gary wanted the look of a 265 or 283 freshly plucked from a junkyard Chevy in the late 50’s by a kid building a hot rod. Recognize that air cleaner? It’s from a 50’s dual quad hemi Chrysler. The small block is backed up to a TH350 that delivers the power to a Ford 9”.
When the car was finished up, Gary took the former owner’s wife for a ride. There were some tears as the car that had been part of her husband’s life for so long was finally brought to life. Thanks to Gary’s vision and the talented hands of the Scheimann family, this Model A that had waited patiently for so many decades finally gets to live on as a hot rod.