CLUB HISTORY

The Naper A’s Club was founded in July 1979 by a few Model A enthusiasts. One of them, Stu Carstens, wrote the following reminiscence of how the club began:

”I had bought my 1930 Model A pick up a year before we started the Naper A's. I would drive the pick up on Sundays so people would know the store was open. One day, a guy named Charlie Kocan came in and asked if I had a Model A. He said he wanted to start a Model A Club and needed five guys to start it. I told him I worked seven days a week and wouldn't have time to be a member. After a while he talked me into joining so he would have the five members. He even had the meetings on Sunday at 9 AM so I could attend. We ended up with eight members to start the club. Most were friends of his or worked at Bell Labs. The first year we had meetings at everyone's houses. Our first parade was in Naperville. We had the most sorry three Model A's you ever saw—one was just a running gear with a gallon milk bottle for a gas tank and a pair of coveralls under the rear end that looked like a mechanic working on the car and being dragged on the ground. The crowd liked it. We had our first get together at Charlie's house on Route 59 and Aurora Road. It was the Old Gregory Farm then but is now a shopping center. Charlie showed us an old frame and some body parts under a tree and said that was his Model A. About five or six months after that he drove the cutest peddler’s wagon Model A down to the store to show me. This is how the Naper A's got started by just a couple of guys who really love and enjoy the Model A.”