"The fact that they run so well is amazing. You realize the amount of work that has to go into them."
Automotive students at Francis Tuttle Technology Center got a firsthand look at the history of cars thanks to the local Model A club.
The OKC Model A Restorers Club brought five of the classic cars to students at the Rockwell Campus on Monday, May 5. Once inside the training garages, students in the Automotive Service Technology program put the vehicles up on lifts and talked to their owners about what it’s like to restore a piece of automotive history.
“You don’t get cars like that here a lot,” student Austin Kelser said. “The fact that they run so well is amazing. You realize the amount of work that has to go into them.”
For the Francis Tuttle students, getting an inside look at the old cars was a unique history lesson. While the general function of vehicles remains the same, they gained a unique perspective of how far the technology has come along in almost 100 years.
"To really understand modern cars, it helps to understand how the technology worked in the earliest automobiles,” Will Langford, National Director of the Model A Ford Club of America, said. “Driving a modern car is, in some ways, just another thing you do. But driving these cars is like its own verb. It’s an activity in and of itself.”
Model A’s were produced from 1927 to 1931 and they were considered Ford’s second most popular car after the success of the Model T. Restorers bring the cars up to their former glory or keep them that way, which requires plenty of maintenance and care.
Langford said restorers are happy to put in the work because every car comes with a unique story. One of the Model A owners at Francis Tuttle on Monday restored a car that his grandfather passed down to him, and another drove a Model A as his first car when he was 16.
Kelser said he is a morning student at Francis Tuttle but came back in the afternoon just to get a look at the Model A’s. It reminded him of what got him interested in automobiles in the first place.
“They would always hold air and auto shows at the airport in Bethany, and my grandpa would always take me to those,” he said. “It reminded me of that. Looking at the old cars there, it kind of caught my eye and I decided that’s what I wanted to do.”
Francis Tuttle has Automotive Service Technology programs at its Reno, Rockwell, and Danforth Campuses. Students train on many ways to service cars and trucks, and they graduate with one or several professional certifications to help them earn a job in the industry.