Model A automobile collector Bob Wiser has been seeing through a glass, clearly, for a long time. Fifty-four years ago he accepted Jesus, then he began following Christ wholeheartedly at a revival service, where he was baptized.
“I have my life to the Lord in about 1947, and I was baptized during an Easter revival in 1952,” he said. After that, he has been seeing through spiritual glass, clearly.
A few weeks ago in Foley, he sat behind the wheel of his 1930 Model A Ford Roadster Deluxe that is about six weeks older than wiser, a 69-year-old Miflin Baptist Church.
He peered from behind the glass “wind wing” (glass wind deflector-one is mounted on each side of the car) on which an eagle and the Scripture reference “Isaiah 40:31” is etched as a testimony to his Christian faith. The passage says that people who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength and mount up with wings, like eagles, run and not be weary and walk and not faint.
But it was as a nine-year-old in Illinois when Wiser first looked through the glass of a Model A and his dad taught him how to drive it.
“When I was 14, I wanted a Roadster, but I had to go through high school- that was before the war started. After high school and the war I had gotten a job, but I couldn’t find one to buy.”
Instead, he bought a 1931 four-door and a 1929 two-door, both Model A’s. Finally, in 1987 he was working on a man’s farm in Illinois when he found the Roadster.
After careful years of restoration, that same Roadster, which is the deluxe version, rolls in pristine condition and is valued at about $30,000.
But Wiser is more concerned about values exceeding dollars.
“It’s just a hobby. I’ve always liked Model A’s, always drove ‘em. Of course, I want you to understand that they all belong to the Lord,” he said.
On the back window of his 1931 Model A Ford pickup is etched a dove with “Isaiah 26:3.”
“Thou (the Lord) shalt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusts in thee,” Wiser quoted from memory.
His wife, Nancy, said that sometimes when driving in a local parade, they display a sign with the name of their church, Miflin Baptist.
Anyone interested in antique auto collecting, can call Wiser at 334-955-2279.
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