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Donald Zimmerman of Onalaska certainly has a car that would qualify for the AAA Revival Glidden Tour, but he’s not all that keen on putting a lot of miles on it.

In fact, the 1930 Ford Model A he bought back in 2001 has just over 500 miles on it since it was restored, which was before he bought it. That’s about the distance Glidden Tour members will drive in one week.

Zimmerman is only the third owner of the car, which he lucked into in 2001 while at his winter home in Tucson, Ariz. The car had been in a museum in Tombstone, Ariz., but the museum had closed and the vehicles were being liquidated.

He happened to pick up a newspaper with the first ad offering the Model A for sale, and was lucky enough to get to the car first. He had wanted an old Model A ever since he was working his way through college and his boss had a Model A as a restoration project.

“I bought it on sight,” Zimmerman said.

His Model A sold for $547 new, but he bought it for $14,000. The nice thing about antique collector cars, though, is they don’t depreciate like other cars, Zimmerman said. They gain in value, and he figures his is now worth $35,000.

Zimmerman rarely takes his Model A out on the road, but if the weather is nice on a Memorial Day or Labor Day weekend, he’ll back it out of the garage and motor over to West Salem’s Neshonoc Campground, where he’ll treat kids staying there to a ride in his car. The lucky ones get to ride in the rear “rumble seat.”

He had the Model A out to Lake Neshonoc on Sunday this year. Next Labor Day, though, he might be able to give even more kids rides. He’s restoring a 1925 Ford Model T school bus he brought back from Broadway, W.Va., which could probably hold 10 to 12 kids.

Contact Randy Erickson at randy.erickson@lee.net or (608) 786-6812.