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In 1947, to reward ourselves for restoration of Charlie Parker's 1931 Model A Ford, we decided on a motoring excursion to Silver Springs up near Ocala.

We performed a pre-flight check as though we were going in a Piper Super Cub, not a restored deluxe land cruiser (well, deluxe for 1931).

All of a sudden, along about Zephyrhills, spit, spit, sputter, sputter, the engine died.  Gadzooks! We can't be out of gas, the gauge says "full". The gas tank on a Model A is right in front of the windshield and the gauge displays through a small glass covered opening in the dashboard. The indicator is on one end of a stiff wire, on a pivot, with a floating cork on the other end.

One of the last things we had done, two days before our trip, was to give the cork a good coat of shellac to enhance its buoyancy. Then we filled the gas tank which caused the float cork to stick to the top of the tank. Indeed, the gas tank was empty. Fortunately, in 1947, it was okay for good Samaritans to give stranded motorists a tow in to town. Life was/is good.