The First 200 Model A's

These early cars were primarily used for production tryout, testing, and advertising. But when the Model A introduction date arrived a month later, the Company had not produced enough cars to make one available for each of about 3000 dealers. Therefore, these early production cars were sent to branches that loaned them to select dealers for show and demonstration with specific instructions that the cars were not to be sold (letter at Ford Archives) but were to he eventually returned to the home branch (Dearborn), where they were to be reworked with later parts or scrapped. It is not recorded how many were scrapped. Since the original cars were not to be sold, no replacements of the unique parts were ever made for dealer service. Therefore, it is not possible to build one of these cars from dealer old stock parts.

If a Model A restorer insists that one of these cars may have been sold to the public, or somehow one has survived, then the restorer, in addition to the open end bumper, must show that his car also has the other features that were unique to the first 200 cars. The open end bumpers are easily visible, but some of the other components are not.

The reason for the bumper change was the result of engineering tests. It was discovered that on impact with another object, the two bumper bars flew apart. The remedy was the two bolts at the end of the bars and a redesigned bumper clamp.

The first chassis frame was 5 inches narrower at the rear cross member (35 1/4 as opposed to 40 inches after the first 200 cars). The front cross member and center cross member were carried over with minor changes.

Originally, the Model A was designed without shock absorbers, but when Henry Ford drove the first prototype he said, "Rides too hard. Put on Shock Absorbers." However, redesigning and retooling could not be accomplished before production start-up. Even though the shock absorbers were available and could be bolted to the frame, there was no means for attaching to the axles. The front spring perch on the first 200 cars did not have the ball for attaching the shock absorber link. The first shock links had a threaded stud on the lower end and were fastened to the axle by a lamp. Likewise, the rear axle tube did not have the rear spring perch ball, and there, also, the shock absorber link was attached by a clamp around the axle tube.

There were other differences but these were the most visible. Regarding engine numbers, engine production was ahead of car assembly Most of the first 200 cars would have had low engine numbers, but since the engines were not installed on the chassis in sequential order, some of these cars could have had engine numbers higher than 200 and some of the cars that were assembled after the first 200 could have had engines with numbers lower than 200.

It is doubtful if any of these cars survived.