1931 Ford Model AA Closed Cab 229A Service Pickup with Crane

1931 Ford Model AA Closed Cab 229A Service Pickup with Crane
Engine no. AA4834317
The 229A Body option was built for Ford by the Briggs Manufacturing Co., being offered as a $715 option from January 1931 through to February the following year. Unusually this offering seems to have been only a modest success. Ford expected that the take up by garagistes, repair men and service stations would be into four figures and commissioned 1,000 units from Briggs, but in actuality barely half of that run were shifted, and the designation/option retired once the BB succeeded.

This example shows the fully equipped effect, having both the 229A service body and the additional auto crane as well. In keeping with many of the commercial vehicles it has been liveried with Den Hartogh branding.

For a long time this Pickup has been displayed in the Den Hartogh Museum as if in action lifting a Ford Model A Station Wagon up for retrieval/repair. It is clear that this demonstration is something that has been going on in the Netherlands for decades, as according to an old log book on file, the vehicle has been on the Dutch roads since the mid-1950s. Its ownership continues to be listed through later documents and it appears to have arrived in the collection in 2010.

A correct and original example of the model, this would make fun paddock or rally support vehicle.