How many are still on the road?

[ratamahata]

USA is the country with more model A vehicle's? I think yes, and also the country with more model A disarmed and sold as metal, only that last thing produced by the high number of vehicle´s existing

[1931 flamingo]

I know of about 7-10 in a 15 mile radius, only a couple are on the road during the year, others are parked or "projects".
Paul in CT

[mjw]

Originally Posted by Special Coupe Frank

Well, we had about 20 stock or nearly stock cars at the Model A Day meet in Tunkhannock, PA in September, mine included. So this would include cars from Western NE PA... that's cars that were driven there and driven home... who knows how many more are lurking in garages & barns or are being restored.

I have heard that more 1928 & later Fords have survived versus their GM counterparts due to their relatively minimal use of structural wood in the coachwork.

Dad has a 1930 Chevy Special Sedan whose body structure is entirely wood... and that wood is in sad shape.

Mine came from Nuangola PA and hadn't been registered since 1970. I know of at least two more nearby that are not on the roads. Plus there were 4 more dis assembled cars that are being parted out ( not by me). Not even counting the Rods that show up at the square in Wilkes Barre in Friday nights in the summer.

BTW a friend of mine has a 28 Chevy Coupe near WB as well.

So you never know....

[mhsprecher]

There are five or six in my town of 17,000, depending upon how many of mine are at my house.

[CarlG]

There are over 200 that we know about in Alaska

[Larry Jenkins]

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The real numbers might be.. Of the 4,800 plus..

How many restored?

How many capable of restoration?

Then.. what's the numbers? Would also be interesting to know the ratio of restored versus un restored..

Larry

[jeep44]

I think there are quite a few that were restored in the '70s and '80s that are hiding in garages these days-the owner has gotten too old, but nothing is going to happen to those cars until they pass away.
Another thought: all those rusty old spare parts you see at swap meets were once complete cars.

[C26Pinelake]

There should be lots of them because they are so cheap that basically anyone can afford one. They are basic mechanically and you can do most repairs yourself without hiring a grease monkey. There is no way to determine the actual number and you will never come closer than a wild a** guess! Wayne

[mramc1]

I have three complete trucks and one coupe just at my house. I also have four more cowls and frame sections from doodlebugs I saved from the junkyard.

[Wick]

Model A's on the road I would think 250,000 But the ones still out there sitting that have a chance of being on the road again add another 250-500,000 to that number. Hot rods another 150,000 I run across a different Model A every week...I saw one in a thrift store last year.

[darrylkmc]

Originally Posted by CarlG

There are over 200 that we know about in Alaska

Carl,

I would be willing to bet that there are more than 200 in the Fairbanks area alone.

Darryl in Fairbanks

[chl]

must be a very substantial number to keep all of the vendors in business.

[Cool Hand Lurker]

Originally Posted by Cool Hand Lurker

There are 5 Model A Fords in my town of 14,000 which translates to one per 2800 people. The latest U.S. census is about 300 million, so that in turn translates to exactly 107,142 Model A Fords in the country. Just about what I figured.
By the way, my town is just down the road from Lake Wobegon so it is exactly average.

Well, in the time since this thread started in 2011 we lost 2 of the 5. That is 20% and being an exactly average town that means the total Model A's still on the road has gone down by 20% in only 5 years!

[ModAfan]

Would it be worth the effort for MARC and MAFCA ask their chapters to take a count of the unmolested Model As their members own?

[denis4x4]

Since the A CCPU in my avatar was "created" from parts provided by many different cars, does mine count as zero or seven A's? Again, why doesn't MAFCA and/or MARC start with state registrations and insurance data to determine how many road worthy A's are out there?

[Larry Jenkins]

Originally Posted by chl

must be a very substantial number to keep all of the vendors in business.

That is a great point.

Maybe the major vendors would tell us how many Customers they have..
How about a guess of one-third remaining..

So many restored
So many capable of restoration
So many with enough parts to start restoration.

[Terry, NJ]

In my town, Perkasie, Pa, I know of seven. Three of which belong to me. I've only lived here about six years and I don't get around as much as I used to, so the seven is probably low. Three of the seven aren't on the road now and one is a doodlebug. One of the owners has pretty immaculate 29 Chevy 4Dr that he can't sell for $16,000. Even with new, beefed up rear axles. There's just no demand!
Terry

[Capt Quahog]

Happen to have many street scene photographs taken around greater Boston, Massachusetts in the 1930s - 40s. Almost every picture has one or many more beat up 1928-31 Ford cars and trucks in view. Those cars were hard and heavy used throughout the Depression era with most of the worn out jalopy grade Model A Fords going for scrap metal during World War II. By the 1950s the going price for a solid running A Model Ford in southern New England was in the $100 range. Would sometimes go with my friend Henry and his parents up to their summer house in Vermont. There were always gas stations and general stores up there with a couple of rustic looking "barn find" type Model A Ford cars parked outside with "For Sale" signs. They were usually running cars and basically complete with price tags at $125 - $175. No doubt, it was from those trips to Vermont back in the late 1950s that both Henry and me caught the lifetime Model A Ford bug.

When a 15-year old kid in 1961, I bought a 1930 Ford tudor sedan for $175 in Boston. It was an old repainted maroon original fine running car with Sears Roebuck exhaust and good Allstate tires. Back in those days people kept their old Fords in operation with parts acquisitions made from Sears, J.C. Whitney and Ford Parts Obsolete out in California.

The prices for survivor Model A Fords during the 1960s crept up. A good solid 1931 Sport Coupe with 17-inch 1934 wheels was bought for $550 in 1965 from an old lady in Laconia, New Hampshire. Even then, that 34 old car had rust out in the lower door panels, rear quarter and bottom cowl. In 1968 an amateur restored 1930 Ford tudor sedan was bought for $600. Loved that car and for a couple of years drove it all over the place. That old Ford was a former Fitchburg, Massachusetts police car and must have had some type of hopped-up rear end gearing. The sedan was quite fast for a stock Model A Ford. Remember the summer of 1969 while humming along the Maine turnpike in that sweet car cruising at a steady 58 miles per hour Anyway, when I look at the 1931 Ford tudor sedan parked out in the garage, it's still hard to imagine that the vehicle is now 85-years old. These ancient automobiles have passed through numerous historic eras and outlived the life times of many owners. The surviving numbers are likely no more than a small percentage of all those that were built.

[DJ S]

In my town with a population of 9,502, there's at least 15 that I know of.