Located on the campus of the Gilmore Automobile Museum, the Model A Ford Museum is dedicated to preserving the Model A Ford. Since its inception in the late 1980s, Model A Ford Foundation, Inc.(MAFFI) has had a goal of opening a museum that would be dedicated to the car known as Henry’s Lady, the Model A Ford. The Model A was actually a stop-gap automobile. Henry’s beloved Model T had put America on wheels, but by 1927, people were tired of the Tin Lizzie, basically unchanged since its debut in 1908. Henry was working on a secret engine design, that would later become the famous Flathead V-8 but it was far from ready. The last Model T, the fifteen millionth, was driven off the assembly line on May 26, 1927, by Henry and Edsel Ford. Henry told his crew, «Well, Boys, we better get busy designing a new one.» For six months, the Ford factories were shuttered, causing a minor recession in Detroit, as the car market waited to make a purchase and see what«The New Ford» would be like. Henry Ford told the press that the New Ford was so impressive that he wiped the slate clean and started the alphabet over again. So the New Ford was the Model A, introduced on November 1, 1927. It was a sensation, including a song entitled, «Henry’s Made A Lady Out of Lizzie.» The Model A was manufactured from 1927 to 1932, listed as model years 1928 – 1931, when the 1932 Ford V-8 was introduced. 5 million of the reliable little Fords were produced, passenger cars, coupes, roadsters, sedans, phaetons and cabriolets, as well as a full line of commercial vehicles such as pickup trucks, station wagons and a full line of heavy duty trucks. The Model A Museum displays many of those Model A body styles plus some very unusual body styles, including a mail truck and a school bus, there’s even a tank truck and a compressor. There are cutaway views of engines, transmissions and a chassis. The building resembles a 1929 vintage Ford dealership, including a showroom, service department, parts department, and a Gulf gasoline station out front. This is all but a mandatory pilgrimage for anyone who is a fan of the Model A Ford or of any Ford product, for that matter. Anyone who is a car enthusiast will enjoy this museum, while taking the opportunity to look at all the other eye-candy offered by the Gilmore Automobile Museum. It’s located a few miles north of I-94 between Kalamazoo and Battle Creek, and is a destination for any automobile enthusiast.
