Introduction. The ACA vehicle registry is a summary of Airflow ownership reported in ACA member rosters over the years. As such, it is just a convenient tabulation of information previously published in the membership lists. Using this list, owners can determine, in some cases, how long their car has been known to the club, who owned it and where it was located. 

 

Many hands have contributed to assembling this information, including among others Pete Haldiman, John Heimerl, John Boyd, and most recently Jon Clulow. This edition represents a substantial improvement over the last one. Jon Clulow borrowed rosters from various members going back to the earliest days and he painstakingly entered the reported ownership information into the existing data base. 

 

How to read the entries. Cars are listed in order of serial number. Because the numbers were assigned by model, this results in a sort by model and date of manufacture. Some cars were reported without serial number; these appear at the top of the list.

 

Ownership reports are presented in the format 

"1972- to 1981+  | Joseph Blow, MN”. A vertical bar, “|”, is used to separate the dates from the owner name.

This sample means that Joe Blow in Minnesota reportedly owned this car from before 1972 until after 1981. Missing information is just omitted. So for example,

"1935 to  |  Knox, John" means Knox reportedly owned the car in 1935 but we don’t know for how long.

“  to  | Alabama farmer“ followed by a more complete entry means the next owner reportedly bought the car from a farmer in Alabama.

 

Caveats. There are some inconsistencies in the data as well as mistakes, including, for example:

- Missing information, especially serial and engine numbers in the early years of the club

- Inconsistent ownership reports. For example, A owned it in 1984, then B reported he owned it in 1990 and then A reported he owned it in 1992. Though not impossible, it might be unlikely these reports are all accurate. Some early records list only a name and a year — there is no indication of when the car was acquired or disposed of.

- Typographical mistakes. The data entry was all done manually, originally from handwritten reports.

- Incorrect serial and engine numbers. Missing serial number tags, poorly stamped or rusty/dirty engine numbers sometimes lead to bad numbers being entered in the data base. 

- Vehicle condition has usually been solicited but seldom reported. Thus, some cars in the list may be in deteriorated condition or even no longer exist.

- CW Custom Imperial records do not show model year in this extract. The full registry contains indicators of year of manufacture, but for CWs especially, it can be ambiguous. Clues can include radiator grille style, cowl grilles, presence or absence of a trunk, and 4-bar bumpers. 

 

Errors. If you find errors in the information, improvements are welcome. The data base is maintained (in 2021) by John Boyd. Please notify him of any changes you think would improve the list.