You might say he’s “living the dream.” While some car enthusiasts are careful to only take their dream car out on sunny days, Norman Grant of Trenton, Ontario takes his 1930 Ford Model “A” Coupe out in rain or shine, including on a 2004 cross-Canada trek.
“Virtually every day for 10 months of the year, it’s my daily driver,” said Grant, bowing to conventional wisdom that maybe it’s not such a good idea to drive it in winter’s worst. “Hey, I want to have some fun. If I have to spend 45 minutes a day driving each way to work, I want to enjoy it.”
Grant bought the “A” in 1999, and since then he’s put 96,000 miles on it.
“My hobby isn’t restoring old cars,” said Grant. “What I love to do is drive them because they’re fun and unique.”
Unlike more common hot-rodded Model “A”s, Grant’s car remains virtually original, only altered with safety modifications such as signal lights, seat belts and halogen headlamps to improve night driving. There’s a speedometer, odometer and a dash light, but no radio, air conditioning or heat. And there is a pop-out retractable windshield.
“You get plenty of air, but you have to keep your mouth closed…otherwise you’ll be swallowing a few bugs,” Grant said.
The Model “A” is powered by a 47-HP four-cylinder engine and a three-speed standard transmission.
“If you are equipped with a flat screw driver, an adjustable wrench and a roll of electrical tape, you can fix just about everything,” he said. “All I carry with me in the car is a spare fan belt.”
Grant hopes to achieve a world’s record by driving the longest distance traveled in a Model “A”, taking an almost 14,000-mile trip from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Tierra del Fuego in South America.
“I haven’t found anybody to go with me yet. It’s gotta be somebody who can take three months off, is retired and a little bit crazy.”
Read more about the unique exploits of this daily driver, and see more pictures, when you click here.