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Old 11-12-2013, 12:30 PM   #21
Veger
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

I'm still new to owning a Model A and a AA but here in Kentucky I see MANY old cars out there. Lol there is one guy down the road has a Model A Museum! Of course each Museum is a idea of the owner in this case, lol its all the Old Model A's and AA's he found in fields, under trees or in a garage. He took them back to his place and there they sit just like they was from the find. Lol one Phantom he found in a barn that has Bird Crap ALL Over it. I must say it looks GREAT in his Museum just like all his others. He has a GREAT collection of AA's I'm like him I think they look GREAT just like they are. It would be a safe bet to say his collection has some 30 Model A's AA's along with a LOT of cowls. WOW it really is a fun Time to look at what most ppl would call Junk. LoL And we can't forget to add the Doodlebugs in the count Too. Google DoodleBug and find out How MANY there is out there. I think I want a AA doodlebug one of these days just for spare parts on my AA StakeBed LoL

Last edited by Veger; 11-12-2013 at 12:35 PM.
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Old 11-12-2013, 12:48 PM   #22
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

Doug, There's always the chance that you may be right. Try this, Does every town over 1000 population have at least one or two model As? From fully restored to a frame sitting on blocks (My boss from Ringoes, NJ had nine) How many towns over 1000 are there? As an example, NJ has 564 towns. Now you know it has a lot more than 564 model As. My town of Jackson had at least a dozen, that I knew of.
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Old 11-12-2013, 02:16 PM   #23
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

One thing that is unique to the Ford Model A : whatever that unknown survival number is, what is sure, is that the number will continue to grow. With a great bulk of component parts cluttering up our 'back forty' we have an tremendous potential for 'growth'.

When I was first interested in and involved with the Model A in the mid-1950's (in those days when there were no 'Parts Houses'), every one I know who had a Model A, had at least an additional couple of frames, two or three engines, a stack of transmissions, a pile of rear-ends, boxes full of brake drums/backing plates, fenders, hoods, running boards, etc. etc. All of the essential 'guts and back bone' of what is needed to build a 'new' Model A are still present with us.

Unfortunately for me, I was/am one of those 'old codgers', and still swim in a sea of original Ford-made Model A parts. Now, while these bits and pieces may eventually be worked into the creation of a 'new' completed car, at the moment they only represent 'potential' - not existing Ford Model A's.

However, having such a large stock of original component parts is very encouraging. Ignoring places like BERT'S acres and acres of original Ford Model A cars, parts & 'bits and pieces' (what was called a 'Junk Yard' in the old days), there are a great many of Model A owners who have stock-piled component parts - a good portion of the 5 million Model A's that were made. (see Ford Barn Forum post "How Do U Store/Find ?") These will eventually add to our tally, ensuring that our venerable and ubiquitous Model A will survive in the public conscience forever more.

So whatever the number, either my conservative 170,000 or the more optimistic 250,000 - the number is relatively staggering, in relation to all the other surviving marques of the 1920's and 1930's. I suspect that we are not too far away (if not there already) that the general public will equate 'old car', 'antique car', 'historic car' etc., with the Ford Model A.

Last edited by DougVieyra; 11-12-2013 at 02:30 PM.
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Old 11-12-2013, 02:23 PM   #24
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by CarlG View Post
The figure I have heard for years is one million world wide.
Yes, i belive to.. Here in Scadinavien we have a lot of Model A... And i have in my mind, that there are company´s living to make new part´s for Model A.. And there is many Company´s and i do belive they do it fine..
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Old 11-12-2013, 03:03 PM   #25
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

I'm with CarlG. I believe that at least a million still exist. Many have been built from NOS, repro and good used parts . Brookville has made quiet a few new roadster bodies
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Old 11-12-2013, 05:42 PM   #26
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry,NJ View Post
An older cousin of my father (now deceased) had a 28 or 29 chevy and said that year was notorious as an axle breaker.
Terry


This is true. I have a '30 Chevy and they do break often. I even carry a spare in the trailer when I go on tour. Paid off when I was on the Glidden tour in Colorado a couple of years ago. Sorry to hijack the thread with my OT post.
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Old 11-12-2013, 06:12 PM   #27
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

This past summer I looked at 3 Model A's and 2 T's in a Garage just outside of town Sitting there for 20 to 40 years and will be until I make room for them? 2 more A's came to the Island this summer that I know of. And the T's that are showing up.
The Low mileage A has been named "The Lady" she is resting with a good coat of Gibbs oil. Her time will come.

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Old 11-12-2013, 06:24 PM   #28
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

Just finished and got running over the weekend an A made from spare parts and swap meet stuff. What ever number you settle on, add 1!
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Old 11-12-2013, 08:30 PM   #29
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

The actual number will never be known. How many Model As are not registered ? What constitutes a Model A ? There are just too many unknowns. Here are some estimates base on different samples.

(1).
I live in a town with about 50,000 people. I know of 25 Model As in my town. There is likely 10 to 25 that I am unaware of. There are about 300,000,000 people in the United States. Using those number the estimate would be 200,000 to 300,000 Model As in the US.

(2)
I know of 25 Model A Town Cars. There were 1198 Town Cars made. Total Model A production was about 4.7 million. So we get about 100,000 Model As still around.

3)
Cabriolets. The production totals were 68A 17,774, 68B 38,000, 68C 5,200. The Cabriolet Club has a count of 68A 50, 68B 102, 68C 74. Those compute to 13,000 13,000 and 67,000.

(4)
400A There were 5072 Convertible Sedans made. The A400 club has a count of about 150 cars. That computes to about 140,000 cars.


Which estimate would you pick. The number of Cabriolets in the Cabriolet Club is likely only a small percentage of the surviving Cabriolets. The Town Car and Convertible Sedan numbers are likely closer to the actual remaining cars. But the survival rate of those body styles may not be representative of all the body styles. After all 25% of all Model A made were Tudors.


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Old 11-13-2013, 02:04 PM   #30
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

WOW.. Sounds like there's still plenty to restore or HOT ROD...
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Old 11-13-2013, 07:23 PM   #31
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

How many left? not enough. Club numbers sound odd. Most of those people are probably all members of the same family or something & would have to overlap. i almost never see model 'A's, i would have thought maybe 6,000 in the USA & another 4,000 worldwide.
Most model 'A's i see with original spec' chassis are roadsters or coupes & only some of them have original bodies, the rest will never rust again. There was this old man who bought a really nice roadster but one day he noticed the chips in the paint were not rusting, only the gas tank was steel.
That is how the surviving population of model A fords look from here.
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Old 11-13-2013, 08:36 PM   #32
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

I find 1 million to be overly optimistic and can believe 250,000.

I also see so many cars being "destroyed" as rods that I am not as optimistic as some on this board about survival rate. I am not talking about minor alterations, but total gut jobs. Punch in Model A ford on ebay and what percentage are rods and what percentage pure. Pure loses by a long shot.... and will continue to.
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Old 11-13-2013, 09:30 PM   #33
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry,NJ View Post
An older cousin of my father (now deceased) had a 28 or 29 chevy and said that year was notorious as an axle breaker.
Terry

I believe that, I have seen a picture of a special Chevrolet tool called an Axle Shaft Remover in a independent garage supply catalog.
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Old 11-13-2013, 09:37 PM   #34
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

actually 247,134 (nobody knows about mine)
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Old 11-14-2013, 02:40 AM   #35
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Smile Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

I recently checked with the U.S. Census Bureau and they have informed me that in the last U.S. Census, besides counting the number of people in the United States, while they were in the neighborhood, they also conducted a separate census on the number of Ford Model A's.

The number they tallied, counting all 50 States, was 148,263. This number included all cars that were running, as well as those that were not running or licensed. It included all Fords that looked like a Model A. It did not look under the hood or at the chassis. It DID NOT include uncompleted cars, unfinished chassis, bodies, etc.

However, the Official U.S. Census report of all the Model A's in the U.S., did not account for all the other Ford Model A's outside the U.S. A contact has been made with both the C.I.A. and the KGB, as well as the Mossad, for information gathering by those key international intelligence agencies. A world-wide total is expect from them within the next year. As this information becomes available to me, I shall share it with the FORD BARN FORUM.

Last edited by DougVieyra; 11-14-2013 at 05:50 PM. Reason: Typo error - 248,263 should be 148,263
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Old 11-14-2013, 02:57 AM   #36
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by DougVieyra View Post

The number they tallied, counting all 50 States, was 248,263. This number included all cars that were running, as well as those that were not running or licensed. It did not include unfinished chassis, bodies, etc.

.
Just missed being the closest by one.
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Old 11-14-2013, 07:51 AM   #37
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

I wonder if state motor vehicle bureaus have any kind of breakdown on titled cars by age or historical plates.
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Old 11-14-2013, 07:56 AM   #38
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

I must be turning my calendar pages too fast. Here it's obviously April 1st and I was thinking it was the middle of November.

Mike V. - Check your math. 248,263 - 247,133 does not = 1 !!
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Old 11-14-2013, 11:11 AM   #39
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Smile Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

I have in front of me the Volume 57 issue 3 (September/October 2012) copy of the MAFCA "Restorer".
Starting on page 24 are the remarks to the 2012 Convention by Edsel B. Ford ll. He states "The good news is that there are over 250,000 model A's still on the road today, many of them right here in Marquette this week. with another 750,000 or so awaiting restoration."
I personaly have zero knowledge on the subject and can not comment, butYes,I read and reread those numbers and I reread it again before replying to the thread.
Great subject, thanks for starting
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Old 11-14-2013, 11:50 AM   #40
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Default Re: How Many Model A's are left ?

I think that Model A's were still made in South America and other countries for years after the 1932 cut off date here in the United States. This would greatly increase the number of model A's Actually produced to way over five million. Lots of model A's have been built from NOS and reproduction parts that remained in production for years after actual model A production. On another note, it ain't good when the CIA and KGB starts looking into stuff. Who knows what might be next !!!!!!!
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