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A model perspective
Roving reporters make unscheduled pitstop at Perfection Auto when their 82-year-old Model A runs out of steam

Ryan Williams/WGCN<br>
Iver Peterson (left) and Terry Moore wait for their 1929 Model A to be repaired by Jimmy Walker at Perfection Automotive.

Ryan Williams/WGCN<br> Iver Peterson (left) and Terry Moore wait for their 1929 Model A to be repaired by Jimmy Walker at Perfection Automotive.

WILLIAMS - In its time, the 1929 Model A Cabriolet traveled countless country roads, and undoubtedly, has also experienced plenty of costly interludes with mechanics. Inevitably, the day arrives when these Jazz Age machines are either put out to pasture or brought out from time to time for the odd car show, amid curious gazes.

Not so here. Retired New York Times reporter Iver Peterson and Arizona Highways photographer Terry Moore have successfully worked out how to mix business with pleasure, taking Moore's treasured Model A Cabriolet roadster pick-up out for a jaunt across Arizona's loneliest roads, all while documenting their trip for Arizona Highways Magazine.

But an impromptu pit stop at Williams' local Perfection Automotive threw a wrench into the works, causing an ill-timed delay in their schedule. The Model A was diagnosed with an electrical short, source unknown. Seasoned professionals, Peterson and Moore remained optimistic.

"This car broke down in the middle of a dirt road and we sat there for four hours and not a single soul came by, we were really out there," Peterson said. "Our follow-car eventually had to tow us into town when we couldn't fix it."

"And here we are, look at this place, it is Model A country," Moore added.

Luckily, they fell on the ideal place to remedy the misfortune. Perfection Automotive's owner and mechanic, Jimmy Walker, had just completed building a motor for another Model A and was familiar with the car.

"This was a wonderful thing Jim is helping us do," Moore said. "Iver's pretty savvy about these cars and we had a lot of spare parts, but there are certain things you just don't have. Our problem is not easily diagnosable because he has been fooling with it for a couple of hours. To find someone like Jim who is savvy with old cars like this is super hard to find. We lucked out."

The idea for the journey originally came about through Peterson and Moore's prior experience traveling in classic cars. Peterson has written stories for Rolling Stone Magazine and New York Times based on traveling in '59 and a'58 Cadillac El Dorado's. Even traveling through Williams, breakdown free, back in 1983 before Route 66 was bypassed by Interstate 40.

This time around, Arizona Highways picked up the idea.

"We are spending our golden years, finding publishers willing to pay us to drive around in old cars. This is the third or fourth time we've done this and gotten paid for it. Twice this year. The trend is up," Peterson said.

But just what is it like to travel such distances in a classic car? Peterson said one of the first things they noticed were the lack of cup holders, but the minor inconveniences don't outweigh the feeling of freedom.

"Everybody wants to talk to you, and you really feel like you are in the moment. Really feel like you are on the road," Peterson said. "And I daresay that we have been stuck in a cocoon of air conditioning and leather and cup holders and car seats. You are not on the road in the same way. We like being on the road."

Moore said their route takes them from Parks to Cave Creek in about four days, driving primarily on dirt roads. They chose a downhill route because during a reconnaissance trip, he found some of the trails impassable when driving uphill in an 82-year-old car.

"I said to the editors, 'lets pick a cool little place on either end that still has character and history. We will do 90 percent on dirt and drive slow and the only real civilization we would see, if everything went well would be Jerome, because our route takes us directly in and out of Jerome,'" Moore said.

Beginning in Parks April 4, they headed towards Jerome when they broke down past Sycamore Point, in a secluded area called Wild Hearst Canyon.

It's all part of the experience to Moore and Peterson, who took the breakdown in stride.

"This is the reason I got the car," Moore said. "I wanted to do this kind of thing. I didn't want to do car shows, I wanted to go out there and experience it."

Peterson added how growing up familiarized them with temperamental cars.

"I had a '35 Ford in college, which I had to park it on a hill because I knew the starter was iffy. If you took a girl out on a date, you had to think ahead. So the idea of a car not running would be shocking to a young person, but to us this is somewhat normal. It isn't entirely unexpected," he said.

Their trip's mission is to get back to basics, which Moore explained has been lost in the comforts of today's lifestyle.

"I grew up listening to my grandfather telling stories about taking my grandmother and four young kids to Yellowstone Park in 1924 and camped out all summer. And that was just too cool," he said. "We got to get out there because the rest of the world has just become a big plastic blob or corporate America that is what we are trying to avoid. We are not stopping at Target or Wal-Mart."

Taking the road less traveled requires the willingness to step outside the conventionalities of life, and both Moore and Peterson are grateful to embrace the rare experience.

"We could take the same trip from Flagstaff to Parks in two hours, and what would we see, who would we talk to, what would we experience? Zero. You are just trying to stay out of the way of the other car that's going to run you over. That is the way we think now when we drive," Moore said.

And in the end, sitting with the 'boys' at Perfection Automotive is a working example of Moore's aphorism.

"We are just hoping that there is a happy ending," he said.

About three more hours of work and a relieved phone call later, there was.


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