Average Odometer Reading

Cracker39

Cracker39

Senior Member
If our A's had an odometer that would read up to 999,999, how many miles do you think the average A would show? My wife and I were guessing and came up with a figure around 300,000. We started out with fairly high annual miles for the first 20 years (10,000/year) and then came up with an overall average of around 1500 miles /year for the next 84-86 years. This, of course, would exclude the many Model As that spent 30 years or so sleeping in a barn. If we deduct that element our estimate would drop to around 250,000 net miles. The odometer on my 1931 Tudor currently reads 6,695 miles. If it has worked faithfully over the years I would be inclined to assume a net of either 206,695 miles or 306,695 miles, based on our assumptions. It would be interesting to see what others think. I tried several searches but I could not find anything on the subject.
 
but people did not drive as much as they do now, most people only went on friday and sunday, and to go get grocery's, and the roads they drove on were not very nice on them as well.
How many people do you see driving around in a car that they bought fresh out of high school in '65 as a daily driver yet? I think most people would have up graded when there cars became out dated and worn out
John
 
I have several Model A's and they are all in the 70,000 to 85,000 range. 4 of them have logs or records to verify less than 100,000 miles. Like John said, people did not travel as much in days gone by. Wayne
 
The odometer that was with the bits and pieces for the delivery read slightly over 68,000. The pistons are .030 over, so likely rebuilt once and ready for another rebuild. I am guessing the 68,000 to be close to accurate. I highly doubt it to 168,000. Rod
 
John Duden said:
but people did not drive as much as they do now, most people only went on friday and sunday, and to go get grocery's, and the roads they drove on were not very nice on them as well.
How many people do you see driving around in a car that they bought fresh out of high school in '65 as a daily driver yet? I think most people would have up graded when there cars became out dated and worn out
John
Click to expand...

Agreed, most roads were packed dirt (and in the spring mud) so not alot moved then. People went to church on sundays and got groceries or hauled (insert grain, hogs, cows, etc here) once or twice a month maybe and maybe go 10 miles tops to get to the local guy.

So yea im guessing 75,000 or less, probably more around 40,000 for MOST a's possibly even way less for AA trucks due to thier nature.
 
Put me down for the 70-85000.

You know where we might get a good answer to how many miles when parked would be the speedo rebuilders as the numbers would be lighter from sitting.
 
When I bought my 30 couple in 1957 it was showing 80,000 something on the clock. I drove it as a daily driver to and from school, then was in the USAF for 5 years and wasn't home to drive. My youngest brother drove it some but not a lot. It hasn't been driven but very little in the last 50 years in fact still has the same tires on it from when I drove it to H/S so I would say it has less than 100,000 on it maybe in the mid 90,000. Haven't looked at the odometer in several years.
 
my 28 AA used to haul logs, it has 17273 miles on it and it was beat to Sh!t, but most of the mechanicals were still good,
 
It sounds like the concensus herein would suggest that my '31 Tudor probably has 106,695 miles on it. Of course I added another 41 miles this morning driving to an Amish farm for fresh donuts!
 
I lean also towards what John and SeaSlugs stated. People really didn't drive all that much back then. Bad roads. Good access to train travel there were electric Interurbans still in use thru the War years all over the country.AND ( this is the kicker) every small town had a thriving business district where you could go to buy what you needed, we hadn't been accosted by the WalMarts and such and all the big name stores w/ acres and acres of parking lots that we drive to today, often times 20 miles or more away, to buy things.

But, with the Internet and Amazon and the like, maybe we'll edge back to not driving so much as we were since things can be bought on-line and delivered to your door. The Fed claims that Americans are driving fewer miles these days than in the past. I don't see it most places I go the streets are clogged with cars driven by maniac poor driving teenage girls:p
 
My Tudor is an older restoration and it's likely that more miles were added since the late 90's than in the preceding 65 years. The 106,695 miles is sounding more and more realistic.
 
Take a look at my albums. I have a car near me, with 567,000 documented miles on it. The AACA has one with over 400,000 miles. When the present owner (No 2) expires, the car will go to the AACA. It is a Sport Coupe with very old and fragile fabric (Original) in the top. The engine has been rebuilt 5 or 6 times and had to be sleeved with the last rebuild. The owner knows of none with higher mileage. The car was driven by the proverbial "Little old lady" to deliver papers up until the seventies.
Terry
 
Although its not a Ford, I have a friend who has done about 300,000 miles towing a camper trailer around the outback in his '28 Chev since 1985. These cars are capable of huge mileages under today's conditions but not so many in the day, besides, as has been said, people didn't need to drive so much. They were still getting used to not using a horse. It's worth remembering that when these car were new, they shared the road with horses. Who'd want to drive 20,000 miles a year at those speeds, getting one flat after another from the shed horseshoe nails?:eek:
 
Jeff/Illinois said:
But, with the Internet and Amazon and the like, maybe we'll edge back to not driving so much as we were since things can be bought on-line and delivered to your door. The Fed claims that Americans are driving fewer miles these days than in the past. I don't see it most places I go the streets are clogged with cars driven by maniac poor driving teenage girls:p
Click to expand...

i dont doubt this statement, for most of us in a 20 mile radius there are 5 gas stations, a walmart, 3 mcdonalds, and about 20 major stores for all sorts of stuff...
 
in 1959 I started to work part time while in HS at a garage in Huntington LI called Mortimer Bros garage, I worked there till I finished college in '67. As the new kid I was the grease monkey and started doing all the lube and oil change work. Back then we put a sticker on the door frame with the mileage . I did a LOT of As, but with them being 30 yrs old most of them had become a family's second vehicle. As I recall most had between 30 & 50K miles, a rare one would have more. Most of the customers said that they wouldn't take one of them for a trip over 25 miles when the had a faster and newer car available. Where I lived was a bedroom community for New York, and it would be difficult to keep up with expressway speeds, plus they were a pretty cold ride on a winter day. 50 to 100 dollars would buy a nice one back then, but making less than 1.00 per hour didn't have much money to spend. BTW we had one of those rail lifts that looked like 2 I beams, sure worked good on those older cars, with adjustable adapters that slid on the rails and contacted the front end and the rear end perfectly.. kinda was the good days!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top