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To be honest, in my lifetime I've seen closed carriages only in films and museums, which makes me suppose this expression was coined very long ago. Was it a foreign expression (French, for instance) which somebody translated into pt-PT and was brought to Brazil by the Portuguese? Is it a genuine Portuguese saying? Or is it just a Brazilian expression? Can you think of any contemporary expression in Portuguese having the same meaning?

"pelo andar da carruagem" translates as "the way things are going..."

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    Esta expressão ainda se usa (vi um manual de redação que diz pra não usar, lol), então, ela pode ser substituída pelo seu significado: "pela maneira como os fatos estão se desenrolando", "do jeito que as coisas vão (acontecendo)", "pelo jeito" várias expressões
    – André Lyra
    Commented Feb 22, 2017 at 12:00
  • @AndréLyra "pelo jeito" conveys exactly the same. I like that.
    – Centaurus
    Commented Feb 22, 2017 at 13:53

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According to several sites (e.g., this and this) it's part of a proverb:

Pelo andar da carruagem se vê quem vai de viagem. or

Pelo andar da carruagem se vê quem vem nela.

And I find no reputable source, but this site and this paper claim that this proverb is of Portuguese origin.

A more common expression with the same meaning is "Pelo jeito [que as coisas vão]."

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