Insight needed re: operating costs

a_crazy

a_crazy

Member
Hello fellas , so lets say a gent wants to run a 30'-31' tudor sedan ( ford model A of cource) as a four season daily driver, what do you suppose the yearly operating cost would roughly be in New England. Generally speaking...Would runing an A be more or less expensive than a modern car?
 
If you're mechanically inclined and stay on top of maintence,it will probably cost about the same as a moderncar. You have to remember, Model A engines don't last as long as a modern car's.
 
Modern cars require very little maintenance. If you are going to hire the maintenance out on the model A it's going to be more. Modern sedan style car will get considerably better gas milage too. Drive an A for the fun of it, not for the practicallity.
 
If your car was rebuilt to factory specs (not judging standards) the you would have a car that is capable of 60 MPH and able to get 50,000 to 80,000 miles between major engine rebuilds. You should expect over 20 MPG.

You would be pulling shims a few times during the life to tighten the mains. There would be the replacing the points when needed, water pump rebuilds, brushes on the gen, and brakes as the basics for things more then the oil changes.

You would probably get annoyed with lack of comfort in temp extremes and the problem of getting the windows clear.

You would expect to spend $15000 (less if you can so some specialized work) to get a chassis back to factory specs. It is not cheap or easy to properly restore the mechanical parts to factory specs.
 
eagle said:
Modern cars require very little maintenance. If you are going to hire the maintenance out on the model A it's going to be more. Modern sedan style car will get considerably better gas milage too. Drive an A for the fun of it, not for the practicallity.
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Yea, Id say hands down modern car is much cheaper. For those of you who have a car newer than 8 years old what was the last thing you had to do to it? Brake pads? Set of tires? Supposed to change fuel filter and air filter every 30-50K miles too same with plugs and wires 80-100K but I bet 98% of the cars out there havent yet...

a comparable car to the interior space is something like the fiat 500, fiesta, aveo, etc. Those cars are pretty bare bones too but only $11K-$12K new! and get 40 mpg.... and safer...and cheaper insurance...
 
eagle said:
Modern cars require very little maintenance. If you are going to hire the maintenance out on the model A it's going to be more. Modern sedan style car will get considerably better gas milage too. Drive an A for the fun of it, not for the practicallity.
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I totally agree with Eagle. This car is over 80 years old and needs regular maintenance and attention. Those that drive them to save money are trying to fool themselves. And make sure your insurance company will insure it as a daily drive. I have asked daily driver on here about four times if his insurance company knows it is his only car and he refuses to answer. This car was not made for freeway driving and being pounded every day. They are hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Snow tires are virtually impossible to find. The windshield and Windows are impossible to defrost properly. Parts are available but more expensive. And remember most garages can not or Will not repair them because they don't have qualified staff. In my opinion they become daily drivers because the drivers like the attention. A show off type of mentality. Wayne
 
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Driving an A year round is doable. You may get tired of working on her in the cold if you don't have a garage-that is heated in your area. But I think the cost were stated fairly well by Kevin. It has been done by a guy in Michigan(?) who wrote a blog about it. Sorry I can't remember the fellows name but I think it was '365 days of A', you may google it.

Mike
 
1930artdeco said:
Driving an A year round is doable. You may get tired of working on her in the cold if you don't have a garage-that is heated in your area. But I think the cost were stated fairly well by Kevin. It has been done by a guy in Michigan(?) who wrote a blog about it. Sorry I can't remember the fellows name but I think it was '365 days of A', you may google it.

Mike
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During this time, he had to replace his motor.
 
It was indeed 365 days of A. The fellow was a Hagerty Insurance employee and has a number of youtube videos of driving the car in the dead of winter. It is fun to watch.
 
DON'T DRIVE THE CAR IN SALT !!!!

Please, just don't do it.

I did. I ran my '28 Special Coupe through four seasons, including a NE PA winter, and the salt & brine from one season really took a toll on the car.

It ran fine in the cold (started easily at -2* F in February), didn't have traction worth a damn in snow w/o chains.

Please don't sacrifice your A to winter road treatment.

I will never do so to another old car. :(
 
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DJ S said:
During this time, he had to replace his motor.
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And later he will have to replace a lot of sheet metal. The salt will do the old cars in. I use to live close to that area. In those days cars were showing plent of rust after 4 years if they were driven in the winter. Washing them does not stop the rust. It gets in all the seams and then rust its way out. New cars do much better.
He lives in Traverse city Mich
 
a_crazy said:
Hello fellas , so lets say a gent wants to run a 30'-31' tudor sedan ( ford model A of cource) as a four season daily driver, what do you suppose the yearly operating cost would roughly be in New England. Generally speaking...Would runing an A be more or less expensive than a modern car?
Click to expand...

Crazy, what fun can you have by driving a model A daily, everyday of the year ? Especially on the busy roads and while everyone is in a hurry.
The "gent" that wants to do that must be Crazy...
 
Quote "DON'T DRIVE THE CAR IN SALT !!!!"

That is the real fly in the ointment there, applicable to about any older car. Especially in the northeast, where sometimes the salt is deeper than the snow!
Second year maintenance will involve replacing the body and having the frame sandblasted.
Mechanically, if you are enthusiastic and hand it seems very doable. Salt is just plain a stopping point.
 
As I said previously they don't drive for go they drive for show! They want to be noticed. Give the A a break drive it for recreation only. Wayne
 
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Yea, Id say hands down modern car is much cheaper. For those of you who have a car newer than 8 years old what was the last thing you had to do to it? Brake pads? Set of tires? Supposed to change fuel filter and air filter every 30-50K miles too same with plugs and wires 80-100K but I bet 98% of the cars out there havent yet...

a comparable car to the interior space is something like the fiat 500, fiesta, aveo, etc. Those cars are pretty bare bones too but only $11K-$12K new! and get 40 mpg.... and safer...and cheaper insurance... ___________

without question............................... times 3!
 
I'd have to agree with Ronn's assessment...

For my experience (11,000 miles in 2.5 years in a mostly unrestored 1928 Special Coupe), it was certainly my most "fun" auto... no question, but it was also "tired-iron"... it needed a new radiator, new tires (got some ancient Garfields from a club member who bought new rubber), timing cam gear, really needs new brakes and drums, front and rear axle re-builds, etc.

It's been mothballed for a couple years now , waiting for an engine re-build.

While you can still get "anything you need" to keep an A on the road, the parts are not necessarily cheap (how about $80 or so for a set of re-lined brake shoes for one axle ?); tires are upwards of $100 / each, and are usually bald in 10k-15k miles, unless you have fitted your A with a good modern air-filter, the engine life will be less than it could be... an oil filter also will only help extend engine life...

It's kind of hard to justify the economics for doing running an A as an everyday driver, but I don't think there's any question in my mind that doing so has a higher fun-factor for me.

Your best bet for making it feasible would be to find an A in "factory-spec" condition, as Kevin in NJ described, and be meticulous in its maintenance. That would mean a lot of money up-front, and a fair amount of time every week taking care of the car.

That's my take on it... I've been driving ancient iron for nearly 30 years now, mostly 1940's thru '60's stuff... it's been fun, but it hasn't been trouble-free or necessarily cheap.
 
The only thing I'd worry about in New England is salt during the winter season --- maybe there's a way to counteract that.

Once you get all of the initial cost out the way regarding Model A ownership, I feel that Model A cost of operation is competitive with modern cars 10 plus years or older. This is assuming that you do most of the upkeep yourself. And, it doesn't hurt to maintain your modern car to keep cost down.

If I lived in a small town, I would feel comfortable daily driving a Model A. I don't feel it's even unsafe here in Jacksonville. When I hear friends complain about the cost of major maintenance on their modern cars, I'm flabbergasted. Actually, my daily driver is a '73 Standard VW Beetle with over 190,000 miles. It's really just on par with our Model A. Just a bit more economical and faster.

If you can figure how to keep the rust at bay, go for it.

Peyton
 
It's been nearly 90 years since the Model A was designed. There have been some pretty smart engineers working on improving cars in that time and their efforts have born fruit. A modern car, apart from the economy, safety and comfort of it is way ahead of a Model A. IMHO, if that weren't so, there'd be lots more As out there every day.
 
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