Technical Model A Deck lid Question

On our 29 Model A Coupe it appears that at one time the car was hit in the back,the deck lid is in bad shape and is sprung.There are a few venders that are selling the entire trunk lid,( Repos). From past experience with body parts on other cars,I' ve found many don't fit properly; imported body parts !! Back in those days of car manufacturing '1929' body parts produced weren't consistent or exactly the same from piece to piece.What are my chances of dropping a bunch of money for a new reproduced one and having it fit and match the contour of the car ?

Finding a ( good) used one now-a-days is almost impossible Gene in Mn

 

Chances are that the lid opening is also sprung from the hit the car took originally. Lots of 85 year old cars have been violated, repaired, and poorly repaired. Although Henry cars had mass produced parts a lot of his service parts were so-so for fit. Buy one and make it fit, or make the car fit it. It is what it is some would say.

I repaired a 30/31 coupe a couple years ago that had the rear half cut off once in it's life and it had a less than desirable deck lid. The new one from Mac's was contoured well but I had to cut the back off again to fit it around the new lid. Such is life.

 

By your own description, sounds like no matter which lid you get, you are going to have to make it fit. So, syche yourself up for it , it may not be the most fun part of the project. I built one (two) for my cabrio so I know what your headed for. Show us some pics while your doin it. Have fun. Tim

 

Gene you answered your own question.. If you can not find a used one , what other choice do you have , but not purchase a complete dealer one..

 

I think the repro deck lids fit pretty good right out of the box but everything needs a little tweaking...

 

the repro decklid may be what ya need to set the surronding panels right.

 

Someone told me that Brookville bought the Ford dies and used them to make new ones. Maybe someone will agree or set me straight. They have a good reputation.

 

You could cut a contour gauge [each edge(?) front to rear] from a good 'stocker',
and see how far off the quarters are on yours. You may end up having to 'split' the skin from
the inner back panel, bend back panel to suit, and retack them back together.

 

Find an inner panel or make one and fit it to your car and make your own skin. I made my deck lid out of .080 aluminum. I first built the inner frame and hinged it and latched it to fit within 1/4 inch all around. Then fit the skin with about 1/8 gap. Not show quality but it looks pretty good, total cost was about $55.00. Plus the struts.

 

I built one too, because they are non existent over here in Aus.

I used a length of angle iron (i think 25mm x 25mm), cut slits into the sides and bent it to the shape of the quarters.. and then welded in the cross bits. Took me a couple of goes to get the sizing right. I then louvered an ally sheet and put that on top. It isn't perfect.. infact it's pretty shabby underneath.. but it'll do the job.

I honestly hated every minute of building it.. which is why it looks shithouse underneath. I got to the point where i stopped giving a fuck and just got it done.

I did have to cut some slices in the bottom to curve it out to follow the contour of the below decklid panel also. Not that hard.. just did some slits, and yanked on it till it followed the shape.

While it's totally nugget underneath, it looks awesome on the outside and does the job. Maybe one day i'll take the skin off and finish it nicely, or just build another. I don't know. Probably not..





I used a '37 Ford sedan trunk latch for the bottom of it. It has a Model A deck lid handle on the outside. It has another plate on the other side that the latch bolts to, from memory.



And here's before it got sheeted. I welded some plates in the top for the hinges to bolt to.

 

Mine came from Brookville. Had to figure how to get A hinge points drilled - that was a PIA. But the fit and finish is good and I tweaked the rear quarters to fit the lid. If I had a shrinker stretcher, I might have tried that instead. Come to think of it the s/s tool and some 18 ga. would be cheaper than the lid... Hmmmm

 

wow, many different ways to skin a cat. i love the ingenuity on hot rodders when we have to make something!