Model A as a Daily Driver

James77

James77

Junior Member
Would any of you use your Model A's as a daily driver? I read about that 365 Days of A thing.......seems pretty cool!
 
I would if I worked closer to home or converted it for easier freeway/winter driving. Since neither of those is going to happen anytime soon it is only a weekly driver...and that will stop when they start salting the roads.
 
I have used mine daily for chasing parts in the past when it had an engine in it. One year I drove it over 30K miles.
 
Years ago ( before I Retired) I drove my A to work every day. Surface streets ,no freeway, untill someone followed me home and I later found fenders missing from my side yard.
Bruce Davis a400usa@nccn.net
 
In 1967 -70 my A was my daily (only) driver for Work, school, and play, freeways too. Now I am a bit nicer to it and take it out for nice weather excursions only.
 
This may be a TOTALLY insane thought but, ....do you suppose people some 80 years ago had this same question whether they could use a Model A Ford as their daily driver? Do you think they would have been reliable enough? What do you suppose would have been the maximum distance they would have dared drive it to work? Do you suppose anyone ever considered driving 20-25 miles each way to work?

You know I am saying this tongue-in-cheek but it does beg the question why should this not be feasible? Generally speaking, I think we would all agree that we can go anywhere in a Model A that we can in a modern vehicle ....except maybe not as fast. In many instances that could be a good thing!!
 
This past summer, I drove mine to work quite a bit. My intention is to use this as my work vehicle all the time, but I still have some "improvements" to make (like a heater) before I can make that happen
 
Mine is a daily driver

I use my Model A as my daily driver. I drive in town and on the highways. I put over 3000 miles per year on it.

Bob
 
I drove my unrestored 29 Tudor daily through high school and college, 1962-1970. I still drive it often, now restored, but not daily, for a couple reasons: I have historic plates on it (and my others, too), so legally I am not allowed to drive it as a regular vehicle. Also, the population here has more than doubled in forty years, and the roads have gotten much more crowded. And some places I like to go I can't get to without some freeway driving, which wasn't true forty years ago, so that is some restriction. But I have total confidence in their ability to "get me there," and I still drive them as much as I can. Distance doesn't worry me as much as finding and traveling on safe routes.
 
Biggest modern limit to use of an old Ford in good mechanical condition is salt. Winter driving around here would be deeply regrettable...some years we seem to get fewer inches of snow than salt. Fighting this would require complete but incorrect total teardown restoration, with everything coated with lots of modern paints and maybe all pinch areas then oiled, as we can't do anything about the existing metal in there.
Brakes are probably becoming a limit...modern cars have extremely powerful brakes, enough tire to handle that, and of course computer controls so any idiot can just nail the brake pedal. All younger drivers drive with complete trust in their brakes and do not hesitate to stop suddenly and hard...
An early Ford with late disc brakes and fat modern tires is easily built, but again is maving pretty far from stock. Caution and maintaining space is frequently not even possible as traffic will rapidly grab any space you try to leave...
 
Being in NJ the temp changes and condensation on the windows would be my biggest concern.

I drove 60's Mustangs for many years. The first year I got a 68 with A/C and could clear the windows kind of put the nail in the coffin on the non-AC cars for safe all weather driving.

Being able to see in bad weather makes a huge difference in safety.
 
i have used mine for a daily driver for 10 yrs now . love it ! i maintain it as needed and love the looks i get . ...................... steve
 
Kevin in NJ said:
Being in NJ the temp changes and condensation on the windows would be my biggest concern.

I drove 60's Mustangs for many years. The first year I got a 68 with A/C and could clear the windows kind of put the nail in the coffin on the non-AC cars for safe all weather driving.

Being able to see in bad weather makes a huge difference in safety.
Click to expand...

Kevin, if you have a Roadster or Phaeton, is that really of any concern??
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I use my 28 pickup every day, town has 37k pop,
My boys use it often as an engine pickup vehicle and when theirs are broken down.
No problems.
Lawrie
 
I drove mine for 5 years in high school and college ('60 - '65). The Michigan road salt took its toll, but my junk yard hot water heater made it bearable at the time. It was my car!

1961yearbookphoto-1.jpg


Steve
 
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Drove my '30 Tudor almost daily in Chicago from 1991-1998. Worked great, although I eventually gave up on the generator due to lack of regulator.
 
I have never thought that driving my Model A on a daily basis was anything special. I am sure there are many non-Fordbarners that do just that with their Model A without feeling they are unique.

My '30 Coupe was my only car in the late fifties through the time I was married in the mid-sixties. I drove it frequently from Otis Air Force Base in southeast MA to my home in the Chicago area from '58 thru '61. The Coupe isn't driven as much now that I have several other A's to drive. One of them is generally out daily. Now that it is too cold for an open car, the Coupe will be out and about until there is salt on the roads. When the roads get salty, out comes my winter "beater", a '29 Briggs TS complete with an Autolight heater. The salt can't do anything that I (or someone else) can't eventually fix. Gar Williams
 

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Once we put a four speed in ours i'll start driving it a lot more than I do now. Dallas traffic isn't fun in a 80 year old unsycronized car.
 
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