Coupe to roadster conversion question

[Toqwik]

Anyone who has converted a coupe to a roadster (28-29) ever tried to change the windshield posts to roadster style? Are the a pillars the same dimensions? or is there a better way to lose the bulky coupe uprights???? Scott

[Jkustom]

I dont get it why people do that to coupes...Ive never seen one look especially good... Coupes are cool, I'll trade you my 27 roadster for it if you wanna roadster.... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif -J

[Toqwik]

Here's why...I am 6'6", never fit in a roadster. Had a good body from a special coupe, no solid rear panel. Looked like kids used the top for batting practice. To change the roof to a standard coupe type, the rear panel alone was $800, the cheapest I could find. was gonna have more in putting the top back together than I had in the car. Its not like I couldn't change back. but its what I want. Yeah, I capped my doors, didn't slice em, but who cares??? I think it looks good. If ya have ever seen Shiney's car, A28EH, that car rocks! Why build something if ya can't even fit in it? Thats why........

[DrJ]

You can NOT make a Ford roadster out of a coupe. everything except the trunk lid, firewall and gas tank is different.
The doors are different lengths so the 1/4 panels are too. the cowl is all different, getting the picture?
All you can make is a coupe with the top cut off.
I don't see anything wrong with that, after all it's amodified hotrod, but you'lll just get laughed at or make people angry(buyers, in the future) if you try to pass it off as a Ford Roadster.

[metalshapes]

What you could do is use your 1/4 panels on a roadster with lengthened doors...
That will work if you section them 1 3/4", to make the beltline line up with the doors and the cowl.

[du$ty]

there are some pretty stupid things on here..but this is it. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gifso if you cut a sedan up and make a "topless"truck http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gifsedanpickemupthingy??? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif.not everyone can afford a roadster...or even a decent coupe....hey i turned my coupe into what people call a roadster.i cut the top off because i didnt have doors and it was very rotten on the top.also a great point of being a bigger guy the coupe offers way more room...i openly say its a coupe with the top cut off...but others..including people on this board refer to my car as a roadster...get off it.give me a break.
by the way..are not all "HOTRODS" modifieds?

[metalshapes]

kart, do you think my reply was stupid or were you talking about something else?

[du$ty]

no ...you offered a suggestion.thats what its all about.who cares what i think anyway?

[metalshapes]

The reason I know that will work is thats basicly what I have done on mine...
Exept I did not start with a complete body, and I scatch build a lot of parts to make it the way I wanted it.

[bobbleed]

Dude relax, You can build a neat roadster out of a coupe if you do it right. It will never be the same as an actual roadster, and to try to transform a coupe to pass as a true roadster would be a lot of work and not worth the time.
But you can build a cool Hot Rod Roadster out of a coupe for sure.

I think most of them are kind of akward looking, but if you put care into making it look right, it will.

Then again a most of the "real" roadsters guys build look gay to me as well....... I guess it's not so much what you have, it's what you do with it.

I would put a real roadster windshield on it though.

Bleedster was a coupe. (kinda)

http://photo.starblvd.net/bobbleed/5-2-5.jpg

[metalshapes]

I did everything I could to get my car to sit as low as possible behind an uncut Deuce grille.
Mixing parts is just one of the things I did, I also made it into a Unibody car so I could sit low in it.

[Johnny Ace]

I'm glad this post came up....I've been discussing cutting the top off the 30-31 5 window body that's coming into my hands....Why? Because that's what I have within my means available to me...no doors....too much top gone to consider replacing....but sound otherwise...
I've alway s admired Bleed's roadster, and I see by the replies that I would not be alone in my approach....
Anyone here cut off a 30/31?

[29EHV8]

Scott,thanx for the good words bout my roadster with room.LOL!
I'm 6'1.5" and i'd rather push a real roadster then drive one.If you look like your in a yoga class rather then lookin like a car driver or you look like a dog shssin a football then why even get behind the wheel.
I trimmed my posts a lil bit and I think they look alright.I was gonna put roadster A pillars and windshield stantions on the car but too much work.I made a round tube windshield frame and made it look as though its leaned back.Scott just get the damn car on the road and change the posts later.Heres a pic of my modified sportcoupe/roadster w/room........Shiny http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif http://photo.starblvd.net/29EHV8/1-5-1.jpg

[Toqwik]

I'm not trying to fool anyone to think it is a roadster, and could care less if someone doesnt like it. I"m just looking for ideas to change the bulkiness of the windshield posts. Maybe if I shave the inner lip off, and round the top a little. Trying to do the "not much money for parts right now" work right now.

[Kevin Lee]

I used to have a SEDAN. Now I have a ROADSTER. The super purists can go choke. The Hirohata Merc isn't REALLY a hardtop - it's a post car with the post cut out. Kenny's 58 isn't really an El Camino - it's four door with some mad skills thrown at it.....whatever.

[hammeredabone]

Toqwik,
Do what makes you happy with the means at your disposal.IMHO, I dig shiny's, bobbleed's, and metalshapes roadsters. They are different enough to represent three different ways to do the basic concept,yet all came out very cool.
There was an article in American Rodder before it changed hands where Joe Krese cut the top off a sedan and made a tub. He used a roadster windsheild and stantion assembly. I can find it and email you a scaned copy of it if you want.Just let me know. gordonb@broadcom.com

[50mercfan]

toqwik i feel your pain, some of you guys don't realize what a pain in the ass it is to be over 6ft tall. i had a 29 roadster and loved it and then someone took a picture of me in it and i looked like herman munster sitting in that damn thing so i got rid off it.

[DrJ]

That Bleedster is very cool looking, especially since Bleed's got the balls and imagination to put some tail lights on it that aren't the typical teardrops or Pontiac bullets or 40 Chevy's.

I hope you caught the part where I said there's nothing wrong with modifying a body into a different style.. I am doing the same thing to a closed car cowl. That's all I had actually. Made the rest out of scraps of wood, vinyl and steel. So if you want to open up a coupe, by all means do it. They are deeper in the area just in front of the trunk so you will get more room that a stock roadster body. There's another option, like what Norm Grabowski did with Kookie II, put a foot well into the firewall that extends into the engine area, just the reverse of the usual sunken firewall. That makes for a looooong hood though.
I have an inline 6 in mine so that's why the hoods 8" longer than stock.

[volken65]

I like when this topic comes up, especially because i was going to do the same to my coupe.
I ended up fixing my top and leaving it a coupe but it's always interesting to see what others have done.

Here's a post from months back tha Scribe posted about some old timer turning a coupe to a roadster.
Too bad it didn't get finished. Or did it get finished, Scribe?

Lot of work though but it sure is sweet work...

Link to, from coupe to roadster (http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB1&Number=98221&page=2&v iew=collapsed&sb=5&o=14&fpart=1)

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/image_uploads/98264-326_2631.jpg

[wingnutz]

This is what the HAMB is all about...! Inginuity, Ideas, and personal tastes..., thinking outside the box! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Coupes are easier to find and they do offer more room than most roadsters..., however I've found that changing the interior design will offer a lot of room in a roadster.

Got rid of the factory springs and stretched vinyl over thin high density foam rubber and stapled it to the plywood. The seat base sits on the floor with leg bolsters, and the back cushian was tight to the back metal.

I'm only 5-11 but my 6-4 friend told me this was the most comfortable roadster he's driven and riden in...! "and he didn't look like Herman Munster while driving it..."! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Mark

[Django]

One of the projects on my to do list is to find a '36 coupe and make some kind of roadster out of it for my flathead chassis. Roadster bodies aren't exactly popping up every other day and when they do, they're usually mucho $$$.

[Smokin Joe]

My old 31 deluxe roadster was great once you were in it, but I was always hooking my back belt loops trying to squeeze thru that itty bitty door and behind the stock steering wheel.
I guess people didn't eat as much back then... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[wayfarer]

There was an article in American Rodder a few years ago about making a phaeton out of a sedan. I think the windshield/cowl modifications are the same as making a roadster out of a coupe. The car they did was a model A, but I think the ideas will translate to any conversion like this. I'll try to find the magazine and let you know what issue it was in. He used roadster windshield posts and modified the cowl for them by piecutting the original bases and fitting the roadster ones inside, then made a windshield frame out of tubing.

[wingnutz]

The Coolest 36 roadster that started out as a coupe is the "Black Dalia" of the Kontinentals! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Django]

That '36 was a coupe? Cool. I think Magnet took some pics of it, but none were of the top area! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[DamnitDave]

I'm with Toquick, I have came across a '28 Sport Coupe/Opera Coupe that had already had the door frames and windield posts cut off... I don't currently have any kind of windshield posts from a roadster or anything, I thought about trying to fab a duvall style windshield, but I also want to utilize the stock gas tank....

So, what have people used in the past to put a decent looking windshield on a cut up coupe? Any pics?

The duvall thing is a good idea, Bob Bleeds "Bleedster" has a duvall style windshield, looks pretty good, someone on here has a '29 Roaster Pickup with their own fab'd duvall style widshield too... The more I look at mine the more work it looks like. Roadster Windshield posts seem like a good idea to me, but I know nothing about them, nor making them work on a cut coupe... Any suggestions would be nice.

And any more pics of "Coupe-sters" would me nice as well...

[Deuce Roadster]

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif


I am well over 6 feet tall...
I am well over "not petite" at 290 lbs.

My roadster is very comfortable.......
I lowered the seat about 4 inches.....
the rear section of the seat is moved back as far as possible...3 - 4 inches......
It has a tilt column.....

http://photo.starblvd.net/DeuceRoadster/1-4-5.jpg

But it is a 1932 Ford.......
Model A's are 2 - 3 inches more narrow and the doors are 3 - 4 inches shorter...... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

http://photo.starblvd.net/DeuceRoadster/2-2-1.jpg

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[hotrodA]

Round off or radius the cowl corner area where the coupe posts were cut and use chopped 34 or 36 posts. Trying to find you a picture of a 31 like that in HOP UP. Looked bitchin!

[metalshapes]

DamnitDave, the reason I did not go for a Duvall type W/S is that, with the center post forward like it is, it makes the seating area look longer.
And it already is longer by about 8" by using the Sports Coupe 1/4 panels.
I thought it was going to be to much.
In fact, I leaned my W/S way back to make it look smaller

[dondanno]

For me when a coupe or sedan is made into an open car is the doors, they need to narrowed and keep that working back to the quaters. It looks like Bleed did that on his.. My2.5 cents. By the way I wacked up a 31 Desto 4 door sedan to do this same thing.Still scratchin my head on the windshiled...Danny

[Django]

Dondanno, I read that three times, and I have no clue what you mean... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[Bruce Lancaster]

Original '28-9 posts are stamped steel. If you don't need chrome, I suspect that working them into the top of the post area by welding would be much easier than trying to replicte the structure they bolt to on a roadster. I think they just need to carry the pillar line upward, so cut and splice...

[Unkl Ian]

When they are parked side by side,there is a suprising differance between a genuine roadster,and a converted coupe.Cutting the roof off is easy.Making it look decent can be a little more involved.
And as long as it looks good,it is good.
The big sticking point,especially on the 29-29,is the transition at the top of the door into the
a-pillar/cowl.Too many guys just whack it off leaving this big square corner sticking out.

[dondanno]

The door thing? I what I meant was, where the roll up window gap is the tricknes compared to a roadster door. I think cold meds are clouding my mind....Danny

[Tim]

how about a sedan into a roadster?? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Tim]

but on the note of a "roadster windsheild"

couldnt you just take some round tubing, slice one side open so it has a vertical slot on it. pic you fav way of mounting it to the cowl,and thread the top of the tube to take a threaded plug slide the glass into the slot and screw the cap/plug in.

might want to make a center post as well becaue a completly flat glass windsheild might be prone to brakeing?--dont know why you see them all the time but i heard some one say that before so a "3" post design would fix that. would even be able to use it just to work some sort of V shape ito the windsheild.

thats the basics , weld and putty to taste till you like how it looks:)


if all else fails simplifie;)

tim

[four-thirteen]

I'm in similar spot. I've got a line on a 28-9 roadster back half, but with no roadster doors or cowl to go with it. what I do have is a 28-9 sedan cowl and doors, made into a pickup. it's all pretty damn bad, but I think I can make it work. The price is right, so i'm going to buy it. I'd like to see some pictures of what other people did to fix the windshield posts. Dave

[29EHV8]

c413a,I have a few sets roadster A pillars if you need emDon't want much for em.i also have a roadster dash rail sittin here.......Shiny

[OGNC]

I am having to do the same thing with the 28 pickup that I have. When I got it, someone had already removed the roof and tossed it in the garbage. Well, I took it down to my buddy Dave at the Lowering Block and he built new side panels and rear wall for the cab, installed the 37 dash and the pair of A roadster windshield pillars. I am picking it up on Saturday and will post a pic or 2 of what it looks like now.

[Toqwik]

as is now

[Toqwik]

I like the front profile, its just from the side, the old A pillars are soo fat, Thats what I want to change. Maybe just shave a little off the old ones....

[29EHV8]

Scott,just cut a pie down em and close em back up.It'll thin it out at the top a bunch and look great........Shiny

[Tman]

Good thing we follow DrJ's "style" here int he HAMB. After all, he is a Professor of "art" Show us the Blue Truck to really wow the masses! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[zibo]

at least slant the ws back a couple degrees,
and also slim the width of the door top,
unless you already did.
adding that round reveal across the rear top
always helps.

than drive it.

tp aka zibo