Ford model A (1930) open cab pickup truck - driving in the desert

[Andrew H.]

As a long-time owner of a Model A pickup truck (and an avid reader of anything Bagnold-related) I know how good they were for desert exploration. They were the preferred vehicle of all the desert explorers, including Almasy, Bagnold, Kennedy-Shaw, Awkright and others. Even as late as 1944, Kennedy-Shaw described the Model A as "the best car Ford ever made". They were light, strong, had a robust 3.2 litre engine and good gear ratios for tackling sand dunes. Bagnold was using a Model A when he proved all the skeptics wrong by driving across the Great Libyan Sand Sea in about 1932, paving the way for the formation of the Long Range Desert Group eight years later.