1930s Ford Model AA Fuel Tanker — Handmade Metal Model

A Model AA tanker in hand-formed iron — the truck that put petrol into the filling stations of the early motor age.

Handcrafted with rolling metal wheels and hand-painted finish, with a cylindrical tank body, cab, running boards and period grille and lamp detail.

Details

• Handcrafted iron frame and body
• Metal wheels that roll
• Hand-painted with applied livery detail
• Cylindrical tank body with fittings
• Cab, grille, lamps and running boards
• Ready to display

The truck

The Model AA was the commercial version of the Model A — a heavier frame, a longer wheelbase and a rear axle rated for a ton and a half. Ford sold it as a bare chassis and left the body to specialists, which is why AAs turn up as tankers, tippers, buses, fire engines and mobile shops.

Tanker bodies of this era had no pumps. Fuel was gravity-fed through a hose from a tank sitting above the discharge point, which is one reason the tanks sat so high on the chassis.