Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, June 6, 2025
Thursday of this week as I was arriving at our local library I noticed, directly in my path, this magnificent old car. After I snapped this photo, I sidled reverently past it, and reached out to grab hold of the left front fender. I know that nowadays there are old-car kits made with modern materials, some of which are plastic. But no, this fender was solid metal.
Is this a genuine old Model A? I wondered. I got the answer by looking at the license plate on the front. Not only does it say “1931” (and a Google Images search reveals several examples of this exact car made that year), but the license plate frame says “Gallopin’ Gertie A’s,” which seems to be a vintage Model A auto club based in Tacoma, Washington, and whose name alludes to the famous collapse of the Tacoma Narrows bridge in 1940.
So this car is real, and is nearing 100 years old. And what’s so fascinating is to compare it to modern cars. Take the bumper: my Toyota Corolla’s is plastic. The older car’s is just as metal as the fenders, and if called upon, it would bump. And the horn – see the squawker below the headlight? My Corolla’s hides discreetly under the hood, and its feeble bleat probably sounds half as loud as this one.
The headlights themselves are perched accessibly out where the untutored layperson can get at them to change them. That’s not the case for my Corolla’s lights, which require a specialist, wearing blue rubber gloves, using the skills of both a surgeon and a contortionist.
I wish I’d taken a photo of the car’s interior, but I did glance inside. No fancy accessories, just a steering wheel and a tall stick shift arising straight out of the floor.
So, what’s my parable point? This car, nearly a century old, has the basics – the essentials – necessary to get the passengers where they need to go. Everything we’ve added since then has been convenience-frills.
What’s the essential equipment for a Christian as we face difficult times? The whole Bible gives a lot of courage, but here’s one list of verses which will help: