Could someone with a Model A Coupe and Roadster of the same year of manufacture sitting side by side answer this question. The deck lid and panel under it interchange, please name another sheetmetal part. Bob
Roadster and coupe body's are completely different , deck lid , firewalls and gas tank are the same... That's it... So no they don't already have all the pieces.... Sport coupe and coupe are the same so roof pannels to convert sport coupes could be a small market
What about the panel below the trunk lid, the lower cowl sides, and the floor, and the toe board. I would also think the quarter panels could be used with slight modifications?
The floor is different. Quarter panels aren't even close - Different lengths, wheelwell ribs are different and the Coupe quarter also includes the quarter window and above door panel. It's a large and intricate stamping. Inner structure is different throughout. Dash rail is different. LOTS going on with a Coupe that doesn't jive with a Roadster. It's just not that easy, or it would have been done already. Trust me, I know.
I'm a Model A owner and see different prices for different venues. I also believe, in fact sincerely believe, that the A is still what it was from 28 to 31, a cheap car. Some of us love the lines and simplicity and others look to improve what it is by dropping it on Deuce rails and moving things around to make it something it never was. While I would love to be able to add a 30-1 coupe to my project list I simply can't for all the right ( or wrong) reasons. Nearly 5 million As were built over that 4 model year span, and like the T the sun never sets on a Model A. I think like other replies to this topic have said in that there's still a pantload of real As around. A good workable body runs anywhere from 3 to 5 grand, and a whole car is way less than most new coupe bodies on the market today. The incidentals that don't come with new coachwork can also be of considerable cost. I've never run the numbers and don't have the expertise to do it, but what's the real cost of a new 40 coupe when all of that is added in? How about a B'ville 32? Some of this stuff when it's all in and ready to start far exceeds the cost of a whole car before you ever pick up a piece of sandpaper or a wrench. I can't see a Model A fitting into that ilk. FWIW, this isn't a bad discussion. Nice topic, next...?
I know there is a HUGE demand for the coupe roof section. Especially the rear window, 1/4 window and don't forget the obsolete tulip panel!. Brookville should seriously consider makin these and '32-'34 truck drivers doors, another obsolete item that people seem to always looking to find.
I bought an "amateur" restored 31. I kept the body and sold my buddy the complete chassis, Model B motor , fenders,hood, etc. He put a Brookville roadster body on the chassis and hopped up the 4 banger. Here's how it turned out. Tom...
That would be a good start.....making some coupe replacement panels. Just like they did for the A roadster way back when they were called "Antique Auto Sheet Metal". They kept on making the different replacement panels and eventually they had most of the panels needed to build a complete roadster pick up. At that point, the of building a complete bodies started. After that came the roadster quarter panels, trunk lid and stuff. The 32 -33-34 truck door replacements would make a lot of guys very happy!
I hope they make them and make them affordable. Whatever it takes for an enthusiast to get on the road.
I don't know the prices on Brookville bodies. A friend bought an A body a few years ago. His reasoning seemed sound. "Why pay $4000 for a decent body and another $3000 straightening it? when I can buy a new, straight, rust free body from Brookville." There is a guy who shows up at SpeedWeek each year and parks the the Bend. He brings a bunch of cars and bodies. Most are what my generation would call shit and the prices are what my generation would call a kings ransom. A new rust free body makes sense to me.
I have no first hand knowledge, only what I've read from various sources - here, Vern tardels book, magazines, other web sites, - those bodies need plenty of massaging, bumping, cutting and tweaking welding, mud work to get into shape. Seems all sources are consistent and agree though. Getting close is pretty easy, getting it right is where the pay grade and skill level increase exponentially. Every patch panel ive ever had my hands on needs work, some is a little tweaking and some is so much its better to start from scratch.
I always looked at repo bodies like this...they are REPO's. If you dont care that Ford didnt make it thats fine but its not a real 32 or Model A. Its no different than a glass one to me.......dare I say kit car?!?!
How good is a reproduction body? First thing you have to do is educate yourself and compair the details of an original. Some people have a lower acceptance level than others. Some people accept mud over metal finishing. We're all building cars that didn't exist back in the day, we just collect parts and build cars we would have built back then if we had the time and skill. As long as the builder is happy it was a good project. Bob
My 2 cents. If we didn't have access to some repo parts, more than likley the cost of building a Henry built car would be unattainable for most of us on this forum. The fiberglass market and the steel repo cars have in some way, satisfied the masses to the point of keeping the cost of a Ford built pre war car out of the stratosphere. As for how many modifications before it is no longer a "Henry built" car.? I don"t have a good answer, maybe no one does. My reasoning has been and will always be, if the owner of the car you are looking at COULD have been sitting in the driver's seat and heard the news that Pearl Harbor was just attacked, then in my mind it qualifies as a REAL Ford built car. As for the original topic, the model A market will soon dry up as well, and that old tin[reasonably priced], will be hard to get as well. That may be when we see a steel coupe repop.
It will definitely be a while yet. The coupe a-pilars & dash rail are a lot more difficult to repop that the more simple open car pillars & rail. The doors are way more complicated than the roadsters. The coupe roof side rails and rear sections will probably be the next items to be repoped since they are smaller parts and could convert a sport coupe to a special coupe or something of that nature. The belt rail moulding for the sport and special coupes was a relatively simple set of stampings but no one currently makes good ones to my knowledge. Corporate America does not venture into the small mundane markets to often. Most of these ventures are by folks that either already have to tooling to work with like Mack Hils's truck beds or persons that are driven by obsesive compulsive behavior and will hand fabricate things over long periods of time . I'm probably in the later group.
A Model A coupe is not a roadster with a roof. Almost every panel is different. BTW, Kirksite is a metal also.
Yes it's metal, actually zinc is the base, with alloying elements of aluminum, magnesium, and copper. I don't know how many parts are different, but "almost every panel is different" is far from true.
We told you in earlier posts the Deck lid, Panel below it and the Gas tank are the only parts that interchange, I'm not counting a handfull of nuts and bolts. Bob
It's funny to me...new people to the sport ....when you tell them it's glass, they say ..oh, it's a kit car....but if you tell them it's a Dearborne or a Brookville...it's like Edsel Ford had built it from scratch in Dearborne, Mi.........go figure
As far as how much can be replaced and still be original thats as much debatable as if you should build a repo to start with. The Camaro guys I have seen start with nothing but the original "A" pillars and start replacing from there and this debate is in that world to.
So, by that logic, are Fords with bodies made by Murray or Briggs or Budd or Baker-Raulang or Cantrell or York-Hoover or Waterloo kit cars too? Must be, since Ford didn't make the body.
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