1931 Ford Model AA 1-1/2 Ton Sinclair Fuel Tanker

Built as the heavy duty commercial counterpart to Ford's enormously successful Model A, the 1931 Ford Model AA provided the rugged foundation upon which specialized commercial bodies ranging from wreckers and dump trucks to buses and petroleum tankers were constructed. This striking example, chassis AA4865762, is powered by Ford's 201 CI L-head inline-four producing approximately 40 horsepower and backed by a four-speed manual transmission. Its period three-compartment fuel tanker body is believed to have been constructed by Brown Sheet Iron & Steel Company of St. Paul, Minnesota, an established manufacturer of commercial petroleum tanks during the era. Finished in eye-catching green and red Sinclair Oil livery, the tanker rides on beautifully varnished ash hardwood supports and side shelves and retains brass fuel valves at the rear. Prior documentation records a comprehensive frame-off, nut-and-bolt restoration that included rebuilding the engine and mechanical brakes, restoring the interior to period-correct specification and completely restoring the 1930s tanker body. Perhaps even more fascinating is the truck's recent history. Its late owner maintained a collection of 24 automobiles and wanted to keep ethanol-free 93-octane gasoline readily available at his facility. When local officials declined his request to install a stationary 150-gallon fuel tank, the collector arrived at a wonderfully creative solution - he bought this 1931 Ford tanker instead. The truck was subsequently fitted with fuel plumbing, filtration and an electric dispensing pump and was reportedly used as the collection's own private filling station, holding approximately 115 gallons of gasoline and fueling whatever collector cars were headed out for the weekend. Combining beautifully restored prewar Ford commercial engineering, period petroleum equipment, instantly recognizable Sinclair advertising and a remarkable modern chapter in which it once again performed the job for which trucks like it were originally created, this Model AA is equal parts collector vehicle, petroleum artifact and functional piece of American motoring history.