Time for a new Ford???????????

[31 Model A]

Anyone have any idea how often that was spoke during the 30s? I know it was the time of the Depression and I'm only talking about the middle class that could afford a car or still operate a car. What was the average ownership time in years during the 30s?

[Jeff/Illinois]

Originally Posted by 31 Model A

Anyone have any idea how often that was spoke during the 30s? I know it was the time of the Depression and I'm only talking about the middle class that could afford a car or still operate a car. What was the average ownership time in years during the 30s?

Good thought. I know Ford hit the 1 million sales mark for the 1935 model year alone. Period photos you see, seem to show Model A's pretty beat up by the mid-30's. So, I bet plenty of them were traded in by at least the mid-late 30's. Anybody lucky enough to have a good one babied that A thru the War years for sure.

[31 Model A]

Originally Posted by Jeff/Illinois

Good thought. I know Ford hit the 1 million sales mark for the 1935 model year alone. Period photos you see, seem to show Model A's pretty beat up by the mid-30's. So, I bet plenty of them were traded in by at least the mid-late 30's. Anybody lucky enough to have a good one babied that A thru the War years for sure.

That I think would coincide with the end of the Depression. I'm sure those with a 28 or 29 Model A hung onto it till after the end of the Great Depression. Sales did drop in Chicago in 1931, I read.

[ronn]

Chevy outsold Ford in 1931..............

I am guessing that people held their cars much longer back then, only because it was more of a means of travel back then and less of a look at my new car every four years.
Also remember credit wasnt as available as today, and lease? what was that..............?

[Jeff/Illinois]

Originally Posted by ronn

Chevy outsold Ford in 1931..............

I am guessing that people held their cars much longer back then, only because it was more of a means of travel back then and less of a look at my new car every four years.
Also remember credit wasnt as available as today, and lease? what was that..............?

Good points ronn--- imagine how new car sales today would go w/o the zero percent financing! The car companies started that after 9-11 to revive sales and the consumers now kinda demand it. 2015 new car sales are heading for a record year.

I am puzzled why Chevy beat out Ford in sales in '31 as the cars resembled each other anyway. I guess maybe the best answer was people got wind of an all new Ford coming out in '32 with a V-8. But by then a lot of people weren't buying new cars. My wife's grandfather bought a new '32 Ford V-8 and didn't like it mostly from the oil consumption. He got rid of it and went back to Model A's. Never had a V-8 after that said 'the piston lying at an angle wore the cylinder bore more' you could never convince him otherwise. Drove them whenever he could find a good one into the late 1940's!!! Then went to 6 cylinder cars until he died many years later.

[armchair67]

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My understanding is that most American cars up until the 1970s was that, especially if it was from the rust belt, a car with 60-70,000 miles on it was pretty much shot. I am 41 and do remember as a kid, in the mid 1980s, cars with major work being needed, parts falling off, major rust-etc. The cars at the time seemed ancient to me, because of how they looked and sounded, but in reality most were probably less than ten years old.

[31 Model A]

Originally Posted by armchair67

My understanding is that most American cars up until the 1970s was that, especially if it was from the rust belt, a car with 60-70,000 miles on it was pretty much shot. I am 41 and do remember as a kid, in the mid 1980s, cars with major work being needed, parts falling off, major rust-etc. The cars at the time seemed ancient to me, because of how they looked and sounded, but in reality most were probably less than ten years old.

I agree with the rust..............saw too many back when I was a kid, especially in the mid-west where salt combated snow.

[CarlG]

...

[CarlG]

When my parents lived in the Chicago area, my Dad often said that he would see cars that were only a couple years old have the headlights fall clear out of their sockets.

[Jeff/Illinois]

armchair you are quite right. I recall a lot of cars in Northern Illinois, really starting to show rust pop outs by the time they were 4 years old. Some worse than others.

Cars today have definitely come a long way since those days. Most cars don't seem to start showing cancer until around ten years old and then it's usually not that bad. Our '04 Ford Escape is spotless underneath, only rust at all on the car is the LH dogleg on the quarterpanel other wise that's about it. Bought the car new has 203,000 miles on it and still runs great! 3.0 V-6 AT, 4X4. I change oil every 5,000 miles and it might be down not quite a half quart by then if I haven't checked the oil before that.

[barnstuf]

I did not see rust in pre WWII cars, but in the late 1940's in my area the highway crews began to use salt mixed into the sand. The salt & sand mix would find its way into pockets such as around the headlamps or in rocker panels where the new car designs of that era created these pockets. If your car was kept outdoors it did not rust as much as the car kept for example in a heated basement garage. Heat encourages salt corrosion. This continued through the 1950's and well through the 70's until cars were better designed. Cars in more recent times show little rust due to being designed to defeat those pocket areas where rust forms. I recently traded a 1994 Explorer I bought new and it had about 150,00 miles. My area while not in a snow belt has quite a fair amount of snow (a record 110 inches last year which is above normal).