How likely would it be to see model As and Ts driving around in the late 40s early/mid 50s? Would it be as common as seeing 1977-1986 model vehicles driving around now?..which isn’t too frequent in northern NJ anyway. My thought is it might be more frequent due to fewer choices in manufacturers and economic considerations. Thoughts?
More common than today. The great depression and World War 2 interfered with comsumer spending and basically eliminated it until after the war So from 1929 until roughly 1946 consumers either didn’t have the money or couldn;t get the products. As a kid born in 1945 my dad was lucky to have a 1838 Buick bought third hand until 1953 when he got a new Buick Special. I can remember at least two kids who drove Model T’s in high school in 1963.
It would be far less likely than finding them in a back forty, tucked in a fence corner with weeds growing around them. Somewhat rusted, perhaps the glazing gone or shattered. We are talking nearly 40 years, a long time in any era…more than a full generation, and nearly two.
You would be far more likely to see dad’s 44 Chevy handed down to No. 1 Son sitting in the driveway, maybe even up on blocks.
At least, so I would expect.
44?
CHUCK
I somewhat depends on where you’re talking about in the U.S.
Some areas were more afflent then others. In those areas you would be less likely to see such a thing.
Also, no new vehicles, outside of military vehicles, were constructed between early 1942 and and 1946.
Some model A’s & Ts, even some 1930’s cars could have still been on the roads in the late 40’s yet, but not in any numbers, because of the post war boom. One of the first things bought by those returning from the war were new cars. Also the end of rationing spurred a boom in cars sales.
Cars from the 40’s would have been very common in the early to even late 50’s into the 60’s. A lot of country folk tended to repair rather replace something
Now this is from rural Illinois, can’t tell ya anything bout back east.
I suspect that where ones lives might affect the answer. Could have been more common out in a rural farming area.
I was born in '47, so my memories of cars in the early 50’s are pretty good. I was brought up in southern Connecticut (a fairly urban area) and I don’t ever remember seeing a Model T, Model A, or anything that old actually out on the road when I was growing up. My folks had a '41 Buick that they kept until '56 when they finally got a new car. It was common to see cars from the late 30’s at least into the early 50’s.
But it’s your railroad. If in your scheme of things there were still a couple hanging around, then there’s certainly no problem in using them.
Just one more data point.
Ed
Very unlikely. I just looked at some photos of the main streets of Marysville, CA in 1943. Out of more than 100 cars, none appeared to be that Model T or A. The oldest were probably from "35or6 and most probably newer.
Definitely more Model As than Ts. Model Ts probably hung around longer in very poor, rural and/or backwoods areas of places like WV and the Great Plains.
Tom
Oops! [:D]
I agree. I was also born in '47, and I grew up on Long Island, outside of New York City. Remember, back then they didn’t have plastic or aluminum body parts or rustproofing. So, cars would really get eaten up by the elements, much faster than they do now. The OP’s question about whether 20 or 30 year old cars would be as common then as 20 or 30 year old cars are now should probably be answered, “No.” The concept of “planned obsolescene” was just starting to be understood by the auto makers, and after they finally figured out how to make cars last longer, they didn’t do it. They wanted their cars to wear out, so you’d buy another one.
You could go to online Libraries or Provincial or State Archives that have scanned photo collections. Just type in the name of a town or street in that town along with the year and have a look at what’s on the road in the photo’s
Wow!! I bet that 1838 Buick was a collector’s item !! [:D]
You brought up a couple of points I was going to make…
High school and college kids in the forties and fifties would often buy old cars, either to run “as is” or to hot rod. Model A’s and Chevy “Deuce Coupes” would be likely suspects for hot rodding. Before that, in say the thirties, the Model T “jalopy” was common - a LOT of them were made, so it usually wasn’t too hard to find one. Kids would always be a generation or two behind; I remember 1950’s-1960’s cars being common in my High School parking lot in the mid-70’s.
No cars were built during the war years, IIRC there were 1942 model cars but none for 1943-4-5. In the fifties when we moved out to the suburbs my dad drove a 1930’s “straight 8” Packard.
BTW my dad’s first car in 1933, when he was 15, was a 1924 Gardner he bought for $5.
Hmm, were you scanning the Straight Dope Message Board, as this very question was asked a few months ago, and the same answer appeared - Model A’s were rather rare on 1950s streets in most (urban/suburban) areas, and unmodified Model T’s…forget about it. Now, interestingly enough, living in the aforementioned Long Island, NY, I have in the past year seen 3 different Model A’s on the streets (not in car-shows), one parked in front of a hardware store (not bigbox, a local store) in my home town, and one cruising down Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow (in the left lane too, dangnammit), and third I forget where.
I personally think there’s a inversion in…well, somewhere - it’s fairly easy to find automobiles from the ‘Muscle Car’ era (say mid-1960s to early 1970s) in decent shape on the roads…but it’s rather harder to find vehicles from the mid-1970s to early 1980s (and even rarer to find them in good shape). Yes, that period of cars was notorious for crappy performance, uninspired designs, and poor reliability, but antcedotally (so it must be true) it seems there are more 1968 Chevelles out there running on the streets nowadays than 1977 Fairmonts AND 1981 Escorts put together (both recent model releases).
I can only give you a sample size of 1 but here it is: I was born and rasied in western CT (New Haven Railroad country!!) and I have a photo in Danbury dated 1953 in which there’s a model A parked at the station — and if it’s not exactly a model A it’s something of the same vintage.
Cars of 1930s vintage were seen on the streets into the mid 50s anyway. My parents had a 1938 Chrevrolet when I was born which they kept as long as it ran, — about 1954. I remember seeing others of the same vintage even later in the 50s than that. I realize the 1930s vintage was not what you aksed about but I thought I would throw that in anyway.
A Deuce Coupe is a 32 Ford 3 or 5 window coupe, not a Chevy. 
as far as 1930’ cars rusting out. No way! they had as much steel in them as four cars today. I was in the car when my mother slipped off the clutch and took out about 4" of a 12x12 holding up our brick row home in Philadelphia with the bumper and fender. After we bounced off it and got out there wasn’t even mark on that beast but a foot long up to 4" thick chunk was missing from the column. This was when the car was at least 12 years old. The couple of model t cars kids had in high school both had wood floor boards which I suspect were to replace the rotted floor boards in them. They were getting pretty rare though. Trucks were a different story and there were still some using solid tires on steel wheels and I can vividily recall Mack chain drive trucks for local deliveries. They made an almost impossible sound to describe. You didn’t even need to look to know what it was. That chain drive let you know any time it moved
Wood floorboards were original equipment for the model T. Here’s a link to some replacement parts: https://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/modeltparts/Floorboards. The firewall was metal, but not the floor. Matter of fact the T contained a lot of wooden parts. Buried in and amongst this list of parts are many “natural” parts to the T: https://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/modeltparts.
Just for giggles, check this out: http://www.barefootsworld.net/ford-t-4-beginners.html.
OK, here’s my $.02 worth! Born in '42 - lived in Brooklyn NY 'till 47, then Northern NJ. Most kids then rode in mom & dad’s 38/39 something - Mom had a '38 Olds coupe with a rumble seat!! Uncle came home from the Navy from Cal in a '39 Plymouth that died 2 weeks after getting here!! In High school, ('55 to '59) The thing to have was a '48 Merc - lowered of course! - a '51 to '53 Ford flat-head V8, or if your family had some bucks and were willing to help, a '55 '56 or '57 Chevy or Ford! I had a 51 Chevy, 49 Olds, 48 DeSoto (turned out to be an ex NYC Taxi!!) and a 51 Ford V8! I pass a Model A pickup every day going to work, but it’s an advertising piece for a roofing company, but it does run & has plates. About 10 years ago, my youngest son took me to an antique auto show - I was expecting Model A’s & T’s - darned if they weren’t all from the '50’s & '60’s - and I think I owned at least half of the models at one time or another - should have kept them!!![:(!]
In Connecticut in the early 50s, I drove a 38 Pontiac sedan and traded it in on a 41 Chrysler Club Coupe, My roomate drive a 1925 Packard Sedan which I did a ring and valve job on for him and he drove it for 2 more years. My second roomie had a 32 Ford Model A Fayeton, and my third had a 1932 Lincoln rumble seat convertible. Another drove a 1929 T station wagon.
After WWII, the used car lots were loaded with refurbished 30s cars, because it wasn’t until 1946 that some new cars became available. And they were mostly made from 1942 tooling.
In the suburban areas, a lot of familys had a “station car” that the commuter left at the station all day waiting for his return trip at night. They were mostly 30s cars as well. Consider that a 1939 model was only 11 years old in 1950.