# Were there still a lot of Model Ts on the roads in the 1970s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2007, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801 "2007-05-12T03:13:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/21 "2007-05-12T08:14:52Z")
I did see a few on Tours, but never as daily drivers even back in the Sixties. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/22 "2007-05-12T08:58:08Z")
I still see them occasionally on tours and sometimes like 5 of them along with newer cars from the 20’s and 30’s. Southern California is old car heaven and people like to cruise up the Pacific Coast Highway. I didn’t see any more of them in 1972 and certainly they weren’t daily drivers then. ---
**Author:** ![aguirretherathofgod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@aguirretherathofgod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aguirretherathofgod)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/23 "2007-05-12T10:46:52Z")
My cousin got rid of her T back around '48. Would they even pass a modern vehicle inspection? ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/24 "2007-05-12T11:11:58Z")
Having travelled the interstates a fair bit over the years, I noticed that up until the 1980’s it wasn’t uncommon to see a good variety of “vintage” iron, particularly pickup trucks, and particularly in rurual areas, but also cars, from the 1950s on up. I hardly ever see anything more than 10 years old these days outside of a parade. A fully “restored” T or A would be a pretty good value, as everyone knows car restoration is, or can be a money-pit. Perhaps $4 or $5,000? The obstinate could have a lot of fun tweaking the DMV and other associated entities. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/25 "2007-05-12T13:52:38Z")
Looking at eBay T prices seem to be running in the 15,000 range, with a few show quality units asking upwards to 40K T buckets were not uncommon when I was a kid, and stock Model Ts and As were also seen from time to time. When I was in college (1971) a girl in my dorm wanted an old car to drive. She started going around to the nearby farms and asking if they had any old cars. After a few weekends of looking, she found a 1928 Model A for $50. We hauled it back to the dorm, did a tune up, radiator repair, cleaned the fuel tank, and had to replace the cylinder head. (a new head with shipping was \<$20) Anyway after a few pulls on the crank, it fired right up. So if you would like to include Model As I know of one daily driver in the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/26 "2007-05-12T14:08:37Z")
In the 70s or 80s, someone made a kitcar version of the Model-T that used a Pinto as the donor car, just to bring this thread full circle. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/27 "2007-05-12T15:51:00Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] It’s not uncommon today to see a gleaming 1960s car driven to the supermarket by an elderly couple, and it’s clear they are not car enthusiasts, but that this is the car they bought new when they married in their twenties, and they decided to maintain it well and keep it for a lifetime rather than upgrade. [/QUOTE] Do you live in Cuba? That doesn’t happen at all in the U.S. There are some unrestored antique cars in the U.S. that you will occasionally see someone driving around as a novelty value or as a test to restoration value but I have never seen individual people use 20+ year old cars because they are just more comfortable with them and that is what they have always owned. That is the stuff of the Brady Bunch movies and we all agree that it is psycho. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/28 "2007-05-12T15:58:40Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] Do you live in Cuba? That doesn’t happen at all in the U.S. There are some unrestored antique cars in the U.S. that you will occasionally see someone driving around as a novelty value or as a test to restoration value but I have never seen individual people use 20+ year old cars because they are just more comfortable with them and that is what they have always owned. That is the stuff of the Brady Bunch movies and we all agree that it is psycho. [/QUOTE] Uh, **Shag** , I see it pretty often. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/29 "2007-05-12T16:26:32Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Uh, **Shag** , I see it pretty often. [/QUOTE] Where? How? I didn’t exactly grow up in one of the wealthier areas of the country and no one drove carefully loved cars from the 60’s and 70’s as everyday drivers even when I left in 1991. They certainly don’t here in Massachusetts especially because it wouldn’t make sense. It isn’t economical and seems to be painfully oblivious in that Brady Bunch kind of way to me. They only relevant example I know of this is older pickup trucks. People do use those for utility and they seem to do fine for that. I can’t imagine an area of the country where people are trashy enough to want to drive 60’s and 70’s cars into Tomorrowland yet have the money and smarts to keep them restored as daily drivers but not show cars. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/30 "2007-05-12T16:37:15Z")
I see it occasionally even up here in the car-killing rusting wilds of upstate New York. The farther south you go the more noticeable it is. I wouldn’t say it’s common even there. But any close observer should spot them. Certainly not unheard of. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/31 "2007-05-12T16:54:59Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Uh, **Shag** , I see it pretty often. [/QUOTE] I almost never see it. Back in my old hometown, in the 1980s in one suburb practically every senior citizen drove a Dodge Aries or Plymouth Reliant. Now such cars are exceedingly rare now, and the ones I do see are usually beaters. When I lived in New Mexico in the early 1990s, and the times I’ve revisited, the sight of crusty old rancher-types driving 1950s-era pickup trucks wasn’t that uncommon. That’s about limit of truly vintage daily drivers I’ve seen, though. I see a far greater-than-normal amount of 1970s big Detroit iron in … uhhh, lower income, predominantly minority inner city neighborhoods, but again it’s not the little old ladies driving such cars. Around these parts, a disproportionately large number of old farts are behind the wheels of 1990s and newer Buicks and Oldsmobiles. Head to Shaker Heights, Beachwood or the old-money Chagrin Valley 'burbs, and there’s still quite a few 1970s-era Mercedes on the road as daily drivers. Again, though, I’ll say that the sight of 1970s-era cars on the road in the 2000s isn’t that unusual, while back in the 1970s, a vehicle from the 1950s was rare enough to turn heads. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/32 "2007-05-12T17:25:29Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] Do you live in Cuba? That doesn’t happen at all in the U.S. There are some unrestored antique cars in the U.S. that you will occasionally see someone driving around as a novelty value or as a test to restoration value but I have never seen individual people use 20+ year old cars because they are just more comfortable with them and that is what they have always owned. That is the stuff of the Brady Bunch movies and we all agree that it is psycho. [/QUOTE] A good friend of mine has a 1970 VW Beetle that she has owned since new. It is her only transportation. It’s not a novelty. It’s in good condition, though never restored. (Resprayed once, or maybe twice, though.) She is comfortable with it, and it’s what she’s always owned. She’ll never get rid of it. And she’s not a Brady Bunch movie or a psycho. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/33 "2007-05-12T17:33:15Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I can’t imagine an area of the country where people are trashy enough to want to drive 60’s and 70’s cars into Tomorrowland yet have the money and smarts to keep them restored as daily drivers but not show cars. Ever been to L.A.? Many people drive old cars because that’s what they can afford. It’s often cheaper to keep up an old car, if it’s always been kept up as when someone has had it since new, than to buy a new one. Take my friend’s VW. It runs reliably, is cheap to insure, there are no car payments, and gets good gas mileage. Keeping it in good condition probably costs a few hundred dollars per year, rather than a couple/few hundred dollars a month for car payments. And the SoCal climate is kind to cars. Low humidity, no snow, no salt on the road. I can’t tell you the number of 20- or 30-year-old cars (especially early-to-mid-'70s Toyota pick-ups) I’ve seen on L.A. freeways. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/34 "2007-05-12T17:45:20Z")
Hell, I _still_ see the occasional Model A. (Those bastards were built to last.) Don’t think I’ve ever seen a Model T out on the open road, though. And I still see some 60s cars in these parts, _being driven as everyday cars_. Even older cars are not rare, but those are the domain of devoted hobbyists these days. I saw a '49 Mercury out on the interstate on Wednesday. Saw a circa '49 or '50 Pontiac on the road out in the country the week before. More old cars survive in the South because they’re not exposed to salted highways. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/35 "2007-05-12T21:49:26Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] Where? How? I didn’t exactly grow up in one of the wealthier areas of the country and no one drove carefully loved cars from the 60’s and 70’s as everyday drivers even when I left in 1991. They certainly don’t here in Massachusetts especially because it wouldn’t make sense. It isn’t economical and seems to be painfully oblivious in that Brady Bunch kind of way to me. They only relevant example I know of this is older pickup trucks. People do use those for utility and they seem to do fine for that. I can’t imagine an area of the country where people are trashy enough to want to drive 60’s and 70’s cars into Tomorrowland yet have the money and smarts to keep them restored as daily drivers but not show cars. [/QUOTE] Santa Barbara is full of old people who carefully maintain their cars that they bought new in the 60’s or 70’s. It was de rigueur to be an old fart and drive around an air cooled VW beetle in my neighborhood. My next door neighbor just got rid of his about 5 years ago. My mechanic works on a pristine bone stock '56 bug driven by an 80 year old woman. It looks brand new. There’s a 64 bug up the street that’s had a for sale sign about two years. It’s been beautifully restored, and there are dozens of air cooled bugs rolling around town as daily drivers. I see 1966 and 1970 Novas driven by senior citizens. These cars have sentimental value for people and they see no reason to get rid of them until they stop running. Cars that old don’t need to pass smog either. I think they look pretty sweet. It’s just amazing that these old farts haven’t wrecked the damn cars yet (they drive about 20 miles per hour around town). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/36 "2007-05-12T22:05:48Z")
Don’t forget the WW2 scrap metal drives, either. A lot of cars that were essentially used up by then or before became tanks and battleships. The T’s control layout had become pretty weird by then, and therefore hard to learn to drive too. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/37 "2007-05-12T22:31:08Z")
[QUOTE=Darryl Lict] they see no reason to get rid of them until they stop running. [/QUOTE] The cars? Or the people? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/38 "2007-05-13T01:10:27Z")
The decline of the model T was already in full swing in the 20’s. [http://www.memagazine.org/backissues/membersonly/may03/features/henryford/henryford.html](http://www.memagazine.org/backissues/membersonly/may03/features/henryford/henryford.html) > [@](#): > > Jokes define the beginning and end of the era. An early one was about the man who was going to be buried with his Model T, because they were never in a hole they couldn’t get out of. At the end, a Model T was like a bathtub: You were embarrassed to be seen in one. > > People had cherished how the Model T had provided them with an undreamed-of mobility. It helped the country become prosperous. Rutted country roads became paved highways. > > By the 1920s, the children of those people wanted style and status. Henry Ford had offered the Model T in any shade of black. He surrendered to a variety of colors, but that was too little and too late. > > From 1927 through the early '30s, Ford produced the Model A, an updated four-cylinder car. ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/39 "2007-05-13T01:21:24Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Uh, **Shag** , I see it pretty often. [/QUOTE] I see it pretty rarely, _very_ rarely. ---
**Author:** ![AlwaysFresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@AlwaysFresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlwaysFresh)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2007, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801/40 "2007-05-13T02:03:55Z")
[QUOTE=Spartydog] On the upside, it wasn’t a Chevy Vega! [/QUOTE] Ha, my mother had one of those. She loved that car but I always thought it was a tin can. [QUOTE=Operation Ripper] Heh, I had a '78 Pinto once. Actually ran like a mf, in that it never broke down, was easy to repair myself and it could maneouver well on ice, etc. Kinda wish I had one now to see how big an engine I could jam in it, as its body style kinda called out for rodding. Even had a Nike swoosh down the side, blue on silver. 4speed manny iirc. Wore that mother out! [/QUOTE] Reminds me of the time my dad put a 350 V8 into an old MGB. Could barely drive the thing because visibility was impaired by the engine sticking out of the hood. But damn that thing was fun! Sorry for the hijack! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-still-a-lot-of-model-ts-on-the-roads-in-the-1970s/403801.md?page=3)