Coach Andy Reid treasures family, football, and his dad’s Ford Model A
Andy Reid finally has his Super Bowl trophy, and he joked on Monday that he celebrated the Kansas City Chiefs’ championship victory with his “trophy wife” of 38 years, Tammy. But the Reids have had a trophy car in the family for a lot longer than that.
Andy Reid told Chiefs.com that his father bought a 1928 Ford Model A for $25 after World War II ended in 1945—“a late ’28, they call it. Henry Ford had to make a little transition with his brake system, so this is part of that transition.”
Reid, who was an assistant coach in Green Bay from 1992–98, earned his first Super Bowl ring after the Packers won Super Bowl XXXI in 1997. While in Green Bay, he got to know “a couple of old guys who restored these things,” so—flush with a little extra Super Bowl cash—he trailered the Model A from Los Angeles to Wisconsin, and work began soon after.
“We took the whole thing apart and we just started from scratch, the engine included, and built it back up,” Reid told Chiefs.com. “A lot of this car is wood, which people don’t realize. [And Model A Fords] are the most restored car in the world…”
Reid, the father of five children (including son Garrett, who died tragically in 2012), says the best part of owning heirlooms like his dad’s Model A is that they can be shared.
“It’s something you can pass down. I think that is kind of neat,” he said. “It’s kind of neat to be able to do that with things—we’ve got furniture, we got this [car], a couple of Super Bowl rings… that you can pass down. All that’s great, and that’s what it’s all about… Being a dad, [it’s] about loving your kids and then having a chance to present a history to them.”
We’re with you, Coach.