Wheels of Romance
Jim Hedgeland Restores Antique Vehicles
by Barbara Mastriania
RENOVO – Boys will be boys, playing with their toys, even into their eighties. Jim Hedgeland of Renovo is an example. Jim fell in love with a Model A Ford truck when he was just a youngster. Next week, August 6 to be exact, he turns 83 and he’s still enamored with his 1929 Model A.
The romance with the Model A truck began when he was five or six years old and his family was living in Cross Fork. The new Model A’s were just coming out. He was swimming with friends one summer day when a man with a new Model A drove his truck close to the water and allowed the kids to use the fender as a diving board. “I fell in love with the Model A right then,” he said. “All my life I wanted one. Whenever anybody asked me what I wanted for a gift, I said a Model A.”
It would be years before he got that wish. In the meantime he fell in love with his late wife, Cathy, they got married in 1955 and in the ensuing years raised a family of five children.
During the years they were raising their family, Hedgland’s dad, James Hedgeland, Sr., ordered and purchased a new 1958 Plymouth station wagon from Meade Bierly who sold cars in the building opposite K & L Auto Sales on Route 120 in North Bend. In 1964 when his dad replaced the station wagon, Jim Jr. got it. “It really came in handy with five children,” he said. He used the station wagon about 10 years then stored it in his garage on Fourth Street, planning to restore it to original condition eventually.
As the years went by, he found the Model A of his dreams, but it was owned by Johnny Dremel. He tried unsuccessfully some 30 years to buy the vehicle from Dremel. Dremel at one point said Hedgeland would have to buy it from his heirs.
After John Dremel died, a brother sold the Model a to Hedgeland for $2,500. It a lot of restoration work, he said. All the fenders had holes in them, the tires needed replaced and it needed a complete overhaul inside and out.
Hedgeland did much of the restoration himself. For the past decade he has benign taking both the station wagon and the Model A to many car shoes. He has a shelf full of trophies and awards recognizing the success of his restorations.
He said people often tell him about the quality of his work, and of those early vehicles. Often, he said, they say ‘they don’t make vehicle the same anymore.’ Hedgeland says, “thank God.” The roof of the Model A for instance is fabric covering over chicken wire and thin lath like strips of wood. The roof of the truck would not meet today’s manufacturing safety standards.
Hedgeland has long been active in the community and his church. He organizes the Renovo Flaming Foliage Festival car show and he has a special seat for his Model A to hold the FFF queen during the annual parade. He’s also Santa for several service organizations.
Hedgeland is active in his church, Trinity Episcopal Church in Renovo, where he has been a member since 1969. He became active early on, serving as an altar boy. He’s still serving, as Crucifer and acolyte and most every other position that needs done. Through the years he’s also served as sextant, junior warden and warden, lay reader, choir member, and vestry member.
Prior to retiring he worked for Piper and he was the force behind bringing Piper to South Renovo. For many years he took care of Bush Dam before retiring.
