1931 model A performance
 

Let's say it's 1931 and I am buying a new model A. What type of typical driving
speed would I be looking at?

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Ford said this at the announcement of the new Ford. "The new Ford will ride comfortably at fifty and sixty miles an hour. It has actually done sixty-five miles an hour in road test."



Bob

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Typically 45 to 50 is a comfortable speed. Watch this thread... you'll have people declaring that 65 - 85 is what they do, ALL DAY. Yeah right. Just the aerodynamics alone make that stupid.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

You would probably accept the verbiage that was printed in the sales brochure. If you were hesitant to believe that claim, your salesman would proudly demonstrate this to you..
.
.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

I like back roads and 40 to 45 for cruising around. If I want to go faster, then I'll add a 3.27 ratio ring and pinion, plus a 5.5 compression head.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

The sweet spot for my A seemed to be about that.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Don't forget the question under consideration here: "Let's say it's 1931 and....". So how we drive our A's today is not the point! It's how they were used and driven in 1931! The A was not a hobbyist's toy back then. It was more a tool, almost a necessity, to get from point A to point B as quickly and efficiently as possible during the week (on Sunday you could slow down and smell the flowers). So if the road was good enough to allow for 60-65 MPH, I'm sure A's were often going 60-65 MPH. Those were Depression years, so you didn't toodle aimlessly down back roads in your A.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

With a 3:54 rear end and a Mitchell 26% overdrive on 600 X 16 tires and hydraulic brakes, I find I can stand a long day doing 55 MPH on the freeways here in Calif. I have driven from Danville (SF Bay area) to Chula Vista in one day and also the return in one day. Was a long 14 hr. Day each way. A tad over 600 down and 550 back, Hwy 1, Vs Hwy 101, with a couple of side trips to view sea and lakes. Car will do it all day and night, I, at 83 years of age, can't.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

How fast to go isn't nearly as relevant as how fast can one stop given the Model A's mechanical brakes compared to the ubiquitous disc brakes on all the other cars on the road. Think about it.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Given that there were no freeways in those days, plus lots of older, much slower cars, even though a Model A could go 65, I tend to doubt that was seen much in every day driving.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

I think it should also be remembered that there were still plenty of horses on the roads then.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

My car loves 40mph. 45 and over it starts to complain, and I haven’t tried to get her above 55. Then again I daily in Chicago city traffic, and rarely get over 20 anyway!

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Maybe after the bank job!

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

A lot of the customers that I have worked on their mercedes have told me they had a model a in college, that they drove in the 55-65 range "all the time"---but the average time was low because they had to stop for oil every 100 miles---used oil

my own experience is that a bad rebuilt engine had trouble with 55,poor fuel mileage (15 mpg) rebuilt closer to original specifications I found that 65 all day was possible, along with good fuel mileage ---over 20 mpg at those speeds with stock head and rear ratio

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

So let me get this straight, ...you are trying to convince us/me that in 1931 all other cars on the road had disc brakes? I say that is total BS ...just like the BS about having a Mitchell overdrive in 1931, -or horses everywhere on the roads in 1931.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Someone at a car show last night asked me how fast 0 to 60. I replied "Oh, maybe 4 to 5 - days!" "Seriously, I don't know, I've never driven my "A" at 60 MPH."
Marty

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

An old mechanic that worked on my first car, a 1934 Ford Tudor, back in the 50's gave me a word of advice. "Up to 60mph you are driving the car, above 60 you are aiming it". Probably trying to save the life of another reckless teenager.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

I have several photos my friend gave me of his grandfathers coupe he dilivered Mail with. He is axle deep in many of them with a shovel sticking in the muck in front of the car. I found one photo of the Blue Ridge Parkway being constructed in 1936 and just over the hill my dad (now passed) was two years old in the shack he grew up in. You can clearly see what is the main road through that area now. I would describe it as a decent logging road. Very very little 60 mph stuff happening in this area back then. But it wouldn't be long until moonshine needed to get moved pretty fast.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

There was very little 60 mph driving in the 30s. The roads weren't up to it. A salesman driving one on probably the only paved road in the town he was trying to sell the car in was taken to 60 just to show the prospective buyer it would go that fast.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

I agree .

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

.



This simply just is not true. I guess I have paid more attention to this as I often route tours on paved secondary roads in the Appalachia areas that when I researched them I find they were old trails or dirt roads that were often hard paved in the mid to late 1920s. We are talking paved two-lane roads with a speed limit today of 55-60 mph however back in the Model-A era, these roads did not have posted speed limits. Paved sections of roads date back into the early teens with highways such as the Lincoln Highway. In the areas of major populous cities, there were WAY more well paved secondary roads than most would probably like to believe. These roads were very conducive to the advertised Ford speeds.


And one other point to note about these road conditions, -think about the high-end automobiles manufactured during the Model-A manufactured era. Why do you think manufacturers like Duesenberg equipped some of their automobiles with 320+ horsepower, -or Cadillac with V-12 & V-16 engines, ...or Peerless, Marmon, Lincoln, Pierce Arrows all with V-12 &/or V-16 engines making upwards of 4X the horsepower of a Model-A engine? These cars were not purchased and used by people who drove 30 mph on muddy roads. The reason these automobiles (-and by even more manufacturers that I did not mention) were equipped with big engines and had advertised speeds in excess of 80 mph were because there WERE many roads around the country that could be traveled at those 55-65 mph speeds. Their owners requested and purchased these larger engines because there was an ability to travel at faster speeds. Even the 1930-31 Chevrolet had an advertised top speed of 85 mph!! We are only kidding ourselves if we choose not to believe this simply because there were too many automobiles that were manufactured during the Model-A manufactured era that could be driven WAY faster than a Model-A.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Do the major road maps of the early 30's show only paved roads?

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

The challenge is to make the car viable transportation with today's cars and drivers.The ability to create the power and speed using stock components as a base to build on is possible. You can double the power of a stock model a engine with bolt on parts.you can add an overdrive to run modern highway speeds.Properly adjusted and maintained mechanical brakes are adequate for the job,provided you practice some common sense,smiths rule of air space for trucks is a good rule of thumb, 1 second for each 10 mph of speed between you and the car in front of you..add 1 second for a model a..Smiths basic rules havent changed in years..this is a neat Ford video..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8ECGHoMTu0

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Speaking of dirt roads..the lead dog doesn't need an air filter..all the others in the pack do..

a properly graded and maintained 'dirt' road can be driven at any speed you like..

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

;) Very true, as we tend prove this on many Saturday nights which at times is over 100 mph in a circle! :D :D


.
.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Umm - maybe this will help - my post should have read " the ubiquitous disc brakes on all the other cars currently on the road" The context of the original post referres to today's circumstance as does my original post which should have been obvious, but I suppose it was not so to everybody.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

I hit the Woolworths. Less security.:D

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Wow

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Can you drive a model "A" at 60-65 mph...Umm yes but why would you .

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Good on ya brother,but sacramento is a bit different than st cloud..

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Gosh, sounds like folks likely drove 60-65 very frequently....probably faster than most drive them today....I sure didn’t know that

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

I have a stock 1930 Tudor that I often drive 10 miles each way to work. I travel about 47-53 mph during about 7 miles of the trip. The car seems happy up to about 54 mph, but the vibration starts increasing at about 55 mph. By 60 mph the engine sounds like it is really spinning hard and the wind noise sounds like a hurricane outside.
Some of the threads I read on the forums say that driving a stock 1930 Tudor at 50mph for any length of time will take out the center bearing. I am planning to take a 45 mile trip in the near future and I will need to run 45-53mph most of the way. Is this going to take out my center bearing the way several people say?? I run synthetic oil with a full filter and try to change the oil often.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

I’ve been driving a Model A since 1968, and I don’t feel comfortable driving at any speed over 45 - the steering and brakes just aren’ t up to it. I’ ve heard people say for many years that they drove their A’s at 60-65. that’s fine - personal choice. I would never do it from a safety point of view. A’s weren’t designed to drive that fast on a sustained basis.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Since getting mine I haven't figured out how to go over 35, unless I can find a hill and then 40 it is. The engine sounds like it might explode as I push her beyond 35. "Explode" is really not a good word hear, but it makes my point. :-)

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

FYI that stick in the middle of the floor will allow you to shift the gears! Have you determined the gearing is not 4-11 in the differential?

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

:-) I looked yesterday on the differential and found no markings. I have no idea what the ratio might be. If we had a fourth gear that would be perfect. I could get to 45 with the engine at a medium RPM.


When I was a kid we had an old Ford end-loader. I think it had the same engine and transmission. It probably went down the road faster than this car.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Hmm, the original post starts out: "Let's say it's 1931 and...". So it would seem that the "context of the original post" was referring to conditions in 1931, not today's circumstances.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

I think a few people need to check the accuracy of their speedos.
When I'm asked (always by a younger person) "How fast does it go?" I answer "I don't know. I've never tried to find out." Boy does that confuse them.
BTW,There WERE a few horses on the roads even in the 1950s. I remember them. I'm sure there would have been enough there is 1931 that you's need to be aware of them.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Paved smooth good roads in the '30s ! Sure.

There weren't many where I come from. We had gravel roads into the late 70s. Try driving at those break neck 60 mph speeds on those. As often as the gravel or dirt roads were graded they turned to corduroy in a hurry. As soon as you left the city limits the pavement ended, but, that must have been just in the area where I was brought up. Even the highways [ mostly just state roads] that were paved had a 40 mph limit.

Re: 1931 model A performance
 

Ok, I guess I see where the confusion came from but I don't think the original poster asked anything about "Currently". I think we were supposed to answer what the performance was in 1931.