There are at least two fully functional Model A Fords still in the hands of the Federal Government, nearly three-quarters of a century after they came off the production line. The first is a 1930 coupe owned by the Geologic Survey. The second Model A still owned by the Federal Government is a rare, "one-owner" 1929 Ford Model AA Post Office Truck with 200 cubic foot body on a 1-ton Model AA chassis.
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| 1929 AA Mail Truck beside Sully Plantation House | |||
Records indicate this mail truck, P.O. Vehicle # 15279, was one of 400 1929 AA-based vehicles procured in June 1929 with bodies built by the August Schubert Wagon Works. In 1931, the Post Office bought 2500 more AA-based mail trucks. In addition, there were 1400 smaller vehicles procured based on the standard Model A automobile chassis. In total, there were 4300 mail vehicles based on the Model A Ford. This is the story of one of them.
Until the 1929 procurement, the Post Office used surplus government vehicles left over from WW I, and contractor owned vehicles. Postmaster Walter F. Brown convinced Congress to allow him to buy a fleet of standardized vehicles to improve efficiency.
But problems with government contractors are not a recent phenomenon. The Post Office opened up the bids for the 400 AA bodies on June 11, 1929 and soon thereafter inspected the plant of the low bidder, the August Schubert Wagon Works. The company, in business since 1888, was located in Syracuse and Oneida, New York. Despite a prediction by the government inspector that Schubert could not meet the delivery requirements, the contract was awarded on June 28, 1929.
The Post Office gave Schubert 124 days to deliver the 400 bodies; i.e., the last bodies were to be completed by early November 1929. As it turned out, the first 24 bodies were not delivered until February 5, 1930, and the
It appears that the Post Office bought the chassis separately from Ford and shipped them to the 9 major post offices where they awaited the Schubert bodies. However, there is one record indicating that on July 11, 1929 two post office mechanics drove two bare chassis from the Ford plant in Buffalo to the Schubert plant in Syracuse, a distance of 150 miles. Perhaps the chassis were for use in the two sample bodies the contractor had to build within 24 days of contract signing. Nevertheless, driving a bare AA chassis for 150 miles must have been a bone-jarring adventure for the two mechanics.
Records indicate that the total price for each AA mail truck in 1929 was $800. The price for the chassis was $475, and the Schubert body was $325. This vehicle was one of 10 AA Mail Trucks sent to the Pittsburgh Regional Post Office Garage. It is said that this particular truck was the first truck the Post Office owned that used pneumatic tires. Its original role was to haul the mail from the train station in Pittsburgh to the main Post Office. From all indications, it did that job well for twelve years.
The AA mail truck was then made available for a new role. In 1941 the Post Office started the Highway Post Office Service. The service was started to fill the voids created by discontinuance of railway mail cars on many passenger trains. At its peak, the Highway Post Office fleet numbered more that 200 vehicles. The AA carried out this function for eleven more years, before it was retired from the Pittsburgh Post Office Fleet on May 1, 1952. However, it was not sold by the Post Office. instead, when the final run of the Highway Post Office service was made on June 30, 1974 between Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio, the AA was available as one of the two making the final run.
The postal truck was in continuous use for over 23 years, during which time it accumulated over 500,000 miles. In the 1970's, the truck was resurrected from a Philadelphia warehouse where it had been stored after retirement from active duty. Postal employee Paul Thomas revived the truck and it was reinstated as a member of the Post Office fleet. It remains on the Post Office rolls for use as an exhibit to call attention to that era of the U. S. Postal Service history.
The Model A mail truck is now kept at the USPS vehicle maintenance facility near Dulles International Airport outside Washington, DC. It is in excellent condition and was used as a mobile mail station in June 2000 at the Sully Plantation antique car show sponsored by the Fairfax County Park Authority and the George Washington Chapter of MAFCA.
Note: Information for this article came from the postal maintenance office and from The Ford Model A Mail Truck by Aldie E Johnson, Jr