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LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Lake County Model A Club on Wednesday gave Lower Lake High School a gift for the ages.
The gift, 83 years old, was a Model A truck, which, like a graying matinee idol, showed its age.
But Bill Gabe’s automotive class at the school will soon change that.
“We want younger people in our club so we’ve donated this pickup and they’re going to restore it,” said Jerry Eddy, president of the Lake County club. “We’ll be in contact with them throughout the restoration. We’ll help them with all the parts.”
Ultimately, the truck will take on the appearance of the numerous classic Model As that many of the 63-member Lake County club members drove on to the Lower Lake High School campus and could have just come off Henry Ford’s assembly line.
They came in a variety of body colors and upholstery. All were well polished and doubtlessly better looking than they did in 1930. Most were valued in excess of $20,000. No one doubted that the old black pickup truck given to Lower Lake High will command such a price.
It was a unique gift for a unique high school program.
“This is the only high school in the state that we know of that has a program in which the American Society of Engineers certifies kids when they get out of school,” said Eddy. “So when the kids graduate they can go to work.”
Model A Ford Club of America President Alex Janke, who came from Concord for the ceremony at the school, praised the Lake County club.
“This kind of thing we do for local communities all over the country,” Janke said. “It is not the first Model A we’ve given away, but for a club the size of the Lake County Club this is a huge gift. They do a lot of things for the local community in a big way. This is a very generous club.”
Earlier, the Lake County Model A club donated $500 to Lower Lake to offset tool costs.
“They (Lower Lake High School) also have a Model T that was donated to them by Jonas Oil. And it is the original truck that old man Jonas used to deliver fuel oil,” said Eddy.
“This is the kind of car that is restored by common guys,” Janke said. “And yet they are just as much fun – in fact more fun to drive – as high-end cars like Rolls Royce, Pierce Arrow and Packard.”
In his seven years at Lower Lake High, Gabe has established a model program for aspiring automotive mechanics.
“The (Konocti Unified School) superintendent and the board said ‘make us a program,’” Gabe recalled. I told them we needed all new equipment and a building that’s worth a darn.”
The district, he added, wrote a grant – approved for $3.4 million – for the new building.
“We do paint, body, everything,” Gabe said. “We have all the modern equipment. The kids will have a customer come in, fill out a work order and do whatever’s needed for $20 an hour.”
The Model A will be the property of Lower Lake High School and will function as a vehicle to carry the homecoming queen and king and the like.
Gabe’s eyes swept over the restored Model As lined up outside his building.
“It will look like one of these,” he said.
Email John Lindblom at
