Ford’s Oldest Surviving Car
The 1903 Model A Rear Entry Tonneau, car no. 30, is the third Ford model built by Henry Ford in 1903. Of its more than a hundred years of existence, only four owners were noted to experience driving the said car. The first owner was Herbert L. McNary, a butter maker from Britt, Iowa. And according to the records of the company, the first owner paid an initial deposit of $170 on the $850 car.
The model A propels on a 72-inch wheelbase and features a two-cylinder, 8 horsepower, 100 cubic-inch engine; two-speed transmission; live axle rear suspension with full-elliptical leaf springs at the rear; and mechanical brakes.
A historic-car collector from Waterloo, Iowa Harry E. Burd, bought the car from the McNary family for $400 around the year 1950. Burd had flourished and restored the car to its previous elegant state.
Later, Burd sold the vehicle to a Ford dealer in Switzerland for $6,500, and in the 1980’s, the Swiss owner loaned it to the Ford Motor Works in Cologne, Germany where it spent the next 15 years being on display in the company’s foyer at the Museum of Nurburgring and the Engineering University of Aachen. The current owner purchased the car from the Swiss dealer in 2001.
Now, the oldest surviving Ford car is being auctioned at RM Auctions’ "Vintage Motor Cars in Arizona" which is held at the prestigious Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix starting last January 19. According to the RM founder, Rob Myers, the model A is one of the most historically significant automobiles they have ever offered. The world’s oldest Model A is expected to bring between $400,000 and $500,000.
