1928 Ford Touring (Conv)

Features

Vehicle Specs

This vehicle is dressed in a blue paint with a greenish hue riding on cream-colored wheels. Powered by a 40 horsepower 200c.i. inline 4 cylinder engine and mated to a 3 speed manual gear box. Great driving car with interior and exterior in matching condition, this would be a great piece to add to any automotive collection. 

40 bhp, 200.5 cu. in. L-head inline four-cylinder engine, three-speed manual transmission, solid front axle and live rear axle with transverse semi-elliptic leaf springs, and four-wheel mechanical drum brakes. Wheelbase: 103.5 in.

By 1927, Henry Ford had built more than 17 million Model Ts, the car that truly put America on wheels. The long-running model, conceived in 1908, had changed little, however, and by that time was quite antiquated in comparison to its competitors. Ford’s son Edsel, then president of the firm but basically in name only, had been trying for years to convince his father to update the T. Finally, he was successful, and in June 1927 Henry Ford halted production completely. His new car, ready in October, was novel in many ways and to emphasize the fact Ford returned to the beginning of the alphabet and christened it “Model A.”

The engine followed the Model T formula, an L-head inline four, and though it was a mere 14 percent larger in displacement it produced twice the brake horsepower. Replacing the two-speed planetary transmission of the T was a three-speed selective gearbox, though transverse leaf springs and torque tube drive were retained, but the car had four-wheel brakes. It rode a three-and-a-half inch longer wheelbase and weighed 700 pounds more than its predecessor.

Most noticeable was the styling. Reminiscent of the Lincoln, the car that Edsel had ushered into trendy, iconic styling after his father acquired the company in 1922, the new Model A was similarly drawn under the scion’s watchful eye. While his father was practical and pragmatic, hewing to the form-follows-function school of design, Edsel was an aesthete of the highest order and knew how design could attract customers. He was proved right as the public queued up for a first look and placed orders that the factories took months to fill.

The new Model A was designated a 1928 model, and several running changes took place in that first year. The long hiatus from Model T to Model A caused Ford to fall behind Chevrolet for both calendar years 1927 and ’28, but for 1929 Ford rebounded mightily to more than 1.5 million cars. It would be the company’s best year for some time to come.