What a Ford Model A Cost New, 1928 to 1931

1928: what a Ford Model A cost at launch

The figures I trust most come from the price table the Model A Ford Club of America publishes, drawn from Clymer. For 1928 it reads like this: Roadster $385, Phaeton $395, Roadster Pickup $395, Standard Coupe $495, Business Coupe $495, Tudor $495, Special Coupe $500, Sport Coupe $550 and Fordor $570.

That is a spread of $185 between the cheapest and dearest car, with a large cluster at the $495 to $500 mark. The Tudor, the two-door sedan most families bought, sat right in that cluster.

You will see other numbers. One parts supplier quotes $480 to $600 for the first year, a museum gives $460 to $600, and a Henry Ford artifact caption has the Roadster at $480 and the Fordor at $585. These higher figures may reflect delivered prices or prices from later in 1928, but nobody has shown which, so treat them as unresolved. The club table states its basis (factory, f.o.b. Detroit, no accessories), and for comparing one year to the next that consistency is what matters. If you want the background on why Ford needed a new car at all, the parent article has the details.

How Model A prices moved, 1929 to 1931

Prices did not fall steadily, as they had for much of the Model T's run. They rose for 1929, held roughly level for 1930, and eased for 1931. Meanwhile the top of the range climbed as Ford added the Cabriolet, Town Sedan, Town Car, Victoria, station wagon and Convertible Sedan.

A few patterns stand out. The Roadster jumped $50 for 1929, the biggest percentage rise of any core style, and never returned to its launch price. The Sport Coupe went the other way, falling every year from $550 to $500. By 1931 the closed two-doors had settled at $490, five dollars under where they started.

The DeLuxe trims added a premium on top. In 1930 the DeLuxe Roadster listed at $520 and the DeLuxe Fordor at $640; by 1931 the DeLuxe Roadster was down to $475. The 1929 Taxi was $800.

The Town Car is the outlier. At $1,200 in the club table it cost nearly three times a Roadster. Some sources put it at $1,400 or $1,450, and one claims it was offered in 1928; the club figure is the one I would use. For the model-year changes that drove these new styles, read more here.

Against the Model T and the Chevrolet

The Model A was not a cheap replacement for the Model T in the way the T had become cheap. The last Model T Runabout listed at $360 in 1926 and 1927, and Model T prices had bottomed at $260. The 1928 Roadster asked $385, only $25 more than that final Runabout, but most closed cars started at $495.

What the buyer got for the extra money was substantial. The Model A's four made 40 hp at 2,200 rpm in the period gross rating, about twice the Model T's 20. It had a three-speed sliding-gear transmission, four-wheel mechanical brakes and, on the windshield, laminated glass as standard equipment, which brought the safety glass to the low-price market.

The competition explains the pricing. While Ford was designing the car, Chevrolet's 1927 Capitol Series AA ran $525 to $745 across seven bodies, with the $695 Coach as its best seller. Chevrolet cut prices for its 1928 National Series AB, which ran from a $495 Roadster to a $715 Imperial Landau, with the Coach at $585. Ford still came in under it: the Tudor at $495 undercut the Coach by $90, and the $385 Roadster sat $110 below Chevrolet's. Then, in November 1928, Chevrolet answered with a six-cylinder car at $525 to $725, billed as "a six in the price range of a four." Even after its 1929 increases, the Model A line opened at $435, ninety dollars under the six's $525 floor.

"Ford priced the Model A to win the volume end of the market, not to be the cheapest car in America. The Roadster at $385 was the headline. The Tudor at $495 was the business."

David Mercer

What the list price did not include

Every figure above is a bare factory price at Detroit. Freight to the dealer, and anything beyond the standard car, came on top. I have not found a reliable published schedule of Ford's own accessory prices for the Model A, so I will not quote any.

The accessories themselves are documented. Ford's official radiator-cap mascot was the Quail. The clubs' judging standards name spring covers, a clock, draft deflectors and tire locks as Ford-authorized accessories. On the 1930 to 1931 40-B Roadster, side-mounted spares and the rumble seat were options. A well-equipped Model A could leave the showroom noticeably above its list price, which is one reason period quotes vary.

From list price to today's market

The interesting comparison now is between that 1928 price tag and what Model As bring at sale in 2026. One aggregator tracking 830 sales of 1930 Model As puts the trimmed average at $22,225 and the median at $20,000, with a 2026 year-to-date average of $32,607. Its yearly highs, as much as $218,900 in 2021, probably belong to hot rods or special cars, so I would not read them as the market for a stock sedan.

My view, and it is a judgment rather than a tracked figure: the factory hierarchy still roughly holds. Open cars and the rarer late styles command more than the closed two-doors that were cheapest to build and sold in the greatest numbers. Condition and documentation move individual prices far more than the original sticker does. For current asking prices by body style, see what Model As sell for today.

The cleanest summary of the original pricing is the club table: $385 to $570 in 1928, with a later top end that reached $1,200 for the Town Car. Any figure outside that, quoted without a basis, deserves a second look.

Sources and notes

• Model A Ford Club of America: Model A prices when new
• The Henry Ford: Model A introduction artifact ($480 Roadster, $585 Fordor)
• Mac's Motor City Garage: the 1927 Chevrolet Capitol Series AA
• Conceptcarz: 1928 Chevrolet National Model AB, original prices
• Model A Ford Club of America: radiator caps and the Quail
• Conceptcarz: Ford Model A sales data