Getting ready to roll

The Town Sedan is now ready to roll along the beautiful rugged coastline of Maine.  The 2015 MAFCA National Tour kicks off on Monday, June 8 from the Colony Hotel and the Nonamtum Resorts in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Meet Miss Olive Oil

We have spent the better part of the last month getting her ready for the journey.  Really, it all began last Christmas, when Santa left four new tires for her under the Christmas tree.  Before the new tires could be mounted, the wheels would need to be sent to the powder coaters for sandblasting and a new coat of yellow paint.  This proved to be a bit more difficult than we thought.  John found the powder coater he wanted to do the work, but finding the correct shade of yellow for the wheels proved to be a bit more difficult.  As there has not been a Pantone chart for the different Model A colors this task had John contacting powder coat companies near and far, a powder coat company in Oregon was contacted for color chips, because they "do a lot of Model A work."  Finally, after a couple of months of color chip samples arriving, we found the perfect match.  Wouldn't you know it was named "Yellow Wheel?"  

With the Pantone for "Yellow Wheel" in hand, the wheels were delivered to the shop for sandblasting and a fresh coat of yellow paint.  Once the wheels were stripped, it was discovered that some restoration work had previously been done to the wheels with "Bondo" to smooth out old surface rust pitting.  Not an insurmountable problem, the areas were once again smoothed using a permanent material that would bond with the metal and painted with the new paint.  Today, the wheels look beautiful and are the perfect shade of yellow.

We decided to take the car on a bit of a shake down drive, as our local club was driving down to Rivers Bridge State Park, about 100 miles from our house.  It would be a good test for the new tires and to check if we needed to do anything else before our great adventure in Maine.

We met up with friends at the end of our street and we were off to meet up with the rest of the club members in Gaston, SC.  We made it about 7 miles from the house, driving down a big hill, when we heard the distinctive ping, ping, ping of a hubcap being airborne and bouncing along the pavement, then through the blackberry brambles, and into the creek at the bottom of the drop off along the roadside.  Well, that hubcap was history!  Unfortunate, but not something we were going to go hunting for.

The drive to Rivers Bridge was uneventful for us, but not for another club member.  We made a short stop for a roadside tech session and a new fan belt was installed.  We made a planned stop in Denmark, SC for a visit to the Mennonite Bakery and enjoyed delicious fresh doughnuts and a stroll along the town streets.  We went into the art gallery of artist Jim Harrison, a very talented painter of South Carolina scenery.  I just couldn't pass up a framed print of an old country barn with the Carolina block C and Gamecock on its roof.  

Our next stop was to the town of Olar (Pronounced Ōh-luh, as in cola), population of less than 300.    The town of Olar has a special connection with Ford Motor Co. because of Henry Ford’s relationship with C.F. Rizer, an Olar native, in the early 1900s.  Rizer’s business in the early 1900s included general merchandise and farm supplies. He added another building in 1912 that provided different departments for the goods he carried, and included a store for his buggies, wagons and harnesses.  When the automobile became a reality the next year, Rizer had the first and largest supply and sales of any dealer in South Carolina. His business required 15 clerks to handle the merchandise and auto trade.  In 1914, Henry Ford, not having the capital to expand, called Rizer asking if he had any money to spare. With full confidence in the automobile industry, he lent $25,000 to Ford. That year, Ford sold half a million cars, and the industry was on the way.  The same year, Rizer Auto Co., as it was known, received the largest single shipment of cars in Bamberg County. It took a train with one-half mile of 64 box cars, each bearing four Ford automobiles, to bring the vehicles from Detroit to Olar. The 256 cars arrived in Olar in March, and the last one sold in November. These cars had to be assembled and put together for a contract price of $15 a car.  In July 1920, Rizer placed a full-page ad for “Rizer Auto Company of Olar,” advertising his intention to discontinue activity in all other lines.  Rizer was able to outsell other dealers because he had sufficient capital to sell on credit. Ford awarded Rizer the exclusive franchise to sell Fords in Bamberg, Barnwell, Colleton, Hampton and Allendale counties. Rizer would put his salesmen on the road in the five-county area and the cars would sell quickly. It was not uncommon to sell as many as 10 cars a day.

After arriving at Rivers Bridge State park, we enjoyed our picnic lunch and a history lesson from the park ranger, but it was soon time to head back to Columbia in our A's.  We arrived back home with no issues about 5:30 PM.  It had been a long, but fun day in the A's with our friends.

We did learn some valuable information about Miss Olive.  Her new tires certainly made for a much more comfortable ride, but a front end alignment was needed, along with a bit of a tune up and brake adjustment.  All of which has been done, along with a quick trip to Smith & Jones for a few extra parts for, you know - just in case!

Friday evening, we will load her on the trailer for the trip north...