Bringing the Model A to New Mexico

After spending a year in Santa Fe, NM, I decided this was where I finally wanted to settle down and live my life. The past year had been great for me, and I decided to bring the car 330 miles to Santa Fe.

Arrangements were made, favors were called in, and my friend Doc and I set out early on the morning of September 7th, 2024 to retrieve the car.

We made it out to the Daniel Family barn mid-afternoon, and began work of getting the car onto the trailer. Since the car hadn't been started in over 10 years and the tires were flat and starting to dry rot, I was hesitant to try and start the vehicle. We began the process of slowly pulling the car onto the auto transport with come-alongs.

Doc had driven us out to West Texas, but by the time we were finished loading the car he was tired, and I decided to drive us fully loaded back to New Mexico. It was slow going, and we pulled into Clovis NM to refuel right around sunset. We arrived back in Santa Fe early the next morning, around 2 AM and unloaded the car into storage. The next day, I went back and wiped the West Texas dust that had not blown away, off the car.

Over 660 miles away from Temple TX, where the car first joined the family, she was now in Santa Fe. Now I could begin the process of getting the car to run, and restoring her, and returning her to the parade life. On the way back from West Texas, it occurred to me that nobody had ever mentioned the car having a name to me. That had to change.

In appreciation of Doc's assistance with moving the car to New Mexico, and in homage to the original owner, the Model A came to be known as "Doc Estelle".