just a stupid question. I always hear of 29's on 32 rails but never 30-31's. Do those get made often and are they worth as much money.thanks
Check with C9, he has a 30-31 on 32 rails. Detailed buildup pics too. Was in the first run of shop rag. I can scan the article if he doesn't see this.Hope this helps.
[ QUOTE ] and are they worth as much money.thanks [/ QUOTE ] !!!! ummmm.. if money is what you look to find .... I would try to open a food franchise!!! maybe a WALMART!! I hear there is BIG MONEY there!!!
That statement about the money also makes me wonder? Oh by the way I have a 30 on 32 rails and its worth $3.72 more than a 29 on 32 rails.. In truth mounting the bodys 29 or 30 is the same work.
Get a hold of Gary Dagle at Dagels street rods and check out the beautiful 32 frames he builds pinched for model A bodies. I have one of his frames for my 31' coupe and it is one solid unit!! Best of luck! www.dagelsstreetrods.com
Superbell, I beg to differ, there is no need to pinch the rails for a 30/31 body. They still dont sit flat though, still need spacing up or the front mounts modifying. Dont know about the value, but There are some who say they prefer the subtle curvature of a 30/31 roadster body over the 32. The people that say that are normally the ones that can't afford a 32 and buy a 30/31 instead. Here's a pic of my 31 on 32 rails, "Old Rusty" Mart.
I agree with Mart. No need to pinch the frame rails up front. It creates problems if you're using a big engine. Things are tight enough as it is. I disagree with Mart on the 32 comment. I have one and I still think the 31 on 32 rails is the better looking car. It has that small and racy looking "roadster-feel." Mart's car says "hot rod" quite well. Fwiw - the 31's cockpit is - for all practical purposes - the same size as the 32. All except for depth, the 31 is 2" shallower which is no big deal if you use or build the right seats and get down in the car out of the wind. The 31 has more legroom as well. That due to the way the 32's seats are built, I should have sunk the back cushion into the trunk a bit or made a thinner cushion. You don't need much of a cushion on the back. Here's a pic of the 31 as it sits today.
dang,those pics look bitchin. Thanks for the help, I think I', headed into buying a 31 so I'll keep up the stupid questions when I run into trouble.thanks
This belongs to my buddy Kramer (kramer stitched both my cars). The grill shell is lowered down two inches but it is still stock height in total length. I hate it when a 32 grill is higher than the cowl....especially with a hood.
Im also doing a 30-31 on 32 rails. Where do the front mounts need to be modified? Isnt there a book written specifically for doing such? Pete-
money? lil bro,when i first saw YOUR chevy pick up project i totally dug it,it acutally inspired me,,, man,but i hope MONEY isnt your main objective in this hot rod thang,,,,you build some cool things, but i like to think that most of us do it for the HOTRODS.....
One of the sweetest roadsters I've seen of late is this '31 on Deuce rails -- with spring-in-front suspension from a '40 just to make it more interesting.
Mart where did I say that you had to pinch the rails? You have me confused with the poster after me. I am painfully aware of the pitfalls of a 30 on a 32 frame as well, by the way yours look great.
That's a nice little car Mike. Thanks for posting. Gives me an idea of what mine would look like done up in black. Is it my imagination or is the hood and probably the frame longer than stock?
[ QUOTE ] Is there a difference in the 30 and 31 roadster bodies? [/ QUOTE ] There are a few very minor differences. The late '31 firewalls have a teardrop-shaped indentation and some '31s also have a slightly different dash layout, but I believe they're identical in all other respects.
Butt Reynolds- I made it sound like I am in it for the money, but it couldn't be further from the truth. I am only 18 and have to pay for college by Feb. and am trying to build is much cars as I can and sell to pay for it. I'm almost there. I would build cars for free. I have so many Ideas but I am only trying to be profitable right now. When that is payed for your going to see me make a bunch of crazy cars. Probably turn out really ugly but I'll have fun building em. Don't you hate it when you think of a good idea or come across a killer deal and you can't go to sleep, you just stay up and think about how to build it or what to build next.Lots of sleepless nights.
Superbell:, Sorry, my mistake. I must learn to read properly. Your car looks great too. In fact they all look great. I think between us we have discovered the elusive model that Henry never built that looks better than one of Henry's.
I just realized the two cars in this picture give a perfect example of the hood angle, check out the car in the background and its hood angle.
The guys are right on the money about the hood line. Take a look at the 31 in the pic below. This is during the hood sides building and hood top extravaganza last summer. I'd go so far as to say that hood line - meaning the line from cowl near the windshield to grille shell - is more important than the ever-elusive 'stance'.
Here's another pic of the same hood line, this time sans hood. The hood line not quite as noticeable as with the hood top installed, but very visible nevertheless. Note the difference between this car and Hatch's very well done, sits right, good hood line black flame painted roadster in the pic a few posts above. If Hatch pops a hood top on this car it will fit and look right. One of the reasons my 31 ended up this way is not rolling it outside the garage so I could step back and look at it. The other reason being, the supposed to be correct radiator for the 31 on 32 rails car - a 32 radiator chopped 1" - turned out to be a radiator for the 32 and not the 31 on 32 rails. It came in a sealed box with the correct parts number, but I never noticed that the radiator was too tall for the 31. During the time I had the car mocked up, I figured I needed to get some thinner neoprene cushions for the radiator mounts, but even those didn't help. Once I did figure the radiator deal out, I made some brackets so I could mock-in the height and adjust it to several different heights, roll the car out and see exactly what was what.
Here's a pic of the mock-up bracket mentioned above. Construction is fairly self explanatory. As far as the actual radiator mount goes, I like neoprene pads. You can buy the stuff in sheet form at a lot of places and it makes for good radiator mounts, body mounts and even engine mounts if desired. I have the 32's radiator mounted on a pair of 1/2" thick neoprene pads and no problems in the 40,000 miles I've driven the car. Including more than a few rough roads.
The frame appears to be stock length, Jay, and the hood is a couple of inches longer than stock It looks longer than that, but that's probably because the axle sits about 3 inches farther to the rear than it would with spring-on-top suspension.
I've seen the spring in front highboys before and they don't look right. This one does. After I posted the question I thought perhaps the owner had moved the front crosmember forward a couple of inches similar to what Jay Fjastad did on his red Deuce roadster a few years back. In fact, when Carl - Jay's brother - built the Deuce factory frame for me in 85 he asked if I wanted the crossmember forward as it helped a lot as far as making room for engine components. Jay's roadster was probably done for clearance on the blower drive et al. I opted for the stock front crossmember placement cuz I didn't care for the locomotive look it gave to the highboys. It sure works well - if that's what was done - on the black one in your photos. Hot rod cleverness and a bit of out of the box thinking for sure.
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