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Projects 1928 Model A project

Discussion in 'Traditional Hot Rods' started by WillieRides57, May 10, 2015.

  1. WillieRides57
    Joined: Sep 22, 2013
    Posts: 24

    WillieRides57
    Member

    I'm gathering parts for a build of a roached 1928 Sport Coupe depression-era banger . I'm torn between a full-scale old-school build or leaving it in as-is condition, sans the stock suspension/brakes. Will be using 1939-48 spindles, brake stuff w/ a dropped 4" front axle and split the 'bones. Same with the rear axle, using 1940 Ford backing plates and hardware. What method works best to lower the rear with the stock axle? I know there's a lot of new stuff out there but would prefer some older, used parts; maybe a reversed-eye spring or one with less leaves. Would I need a spreader kit to R&R this? Kinda want to keep it old-school but am open for opinions/suggestions. I also was thinking of lowering the windshield about 2/3rds of stock. The previous owner cut the b door posts. Would I be too crazy to make it look roadster-like by sectioning the doors? Any help is appreciated. I posted a couple of pics as it came off the trailer from Colorado.
     

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  2. dentisaurus
    Joined: Dec 11, 2006
    Posts: 399

    dentisaurus
    Member
    from Boston

    reversing the eyes will but you an inch, you might look at a model T spring to drop the rear further. Getting the front axle dropped would give you about 4 inches or so with a reversed eye spring. You may not need to split the bones at all if you are keeping the 4 banger. The Tardel book is a pretty good starting point for old school "how to" for any model A hot rod.
     
  3. WillieRides57
    Joined: Sep 22, 2013
    Posts: 24

    WillieRides57
    Member

    Thanks for the tips doc. I am just now getting it off the ground to pull the front axle apart and bead-blasting the '40 backing plates I bought from another H.A.M.B. member. I'll keep posting my progress on this once I really get moving.
     
    slv63 likes this.
  4. slv63
    Joined: Aug 4, 2008
    Posts: 151

    slv63
    Member

    If this is your first big project, I would say do it in bite size pieces. Start with the suspension, get it running, driving, and then worry about the body. That way you don't have a huge overwhelming project that is 100% apart. Looks fun!
     

  5. panheadguy
    Joined: Jan 8, 2005
    Posts: 1,086

    panheadguy
    Member
    from S.E. WI

    Was the rear of the body hacked to make a pick-up bed? Many of the coupes were to qualify for additional gas rationing during WW2.
     
  6. WillieRides57
    Joined: Sep 22, 2013
    Posts: 24

    WillieRides57
    Member

    Yes, I'm sure that is the case. My dad was discussing the very same reasoning calling it a Depression car.
     
  7. WillieRides57
    Joined: Sep 22, 2013
    Posts: 24

    WillieRides57
    Member

    I'm going to do exactly that because let's face it-driving the sucker is what its' about right?!
     
    slv63 likes this.
  8. classic gary
    Joined: Sep 24, 2009
    Posts: 504

    classic gary
    Member

    sport coupe, YEAH. the paint color on the firewall looks like the green on my car. keep posting the progress.
     
  9. That's an old myth that will never die. Gas rationing coupons were issued to individual people, not cars. Your occupation, not your vehicle, determined how much gas you got. Old cars were cut into trucks because the owner needed a truck
     
    volvobrynk likes this.
  10. panheadguy
    Joined: Jan 8, 2005
    Posts: 1,086

    panheadguy
    Member
    from S.E. WI

    Seemed like a plausible explanation for the hacking to get gas rationing. Were you alive then? I wasn't.
     
  11. WillieRides57
    Joined: Sep 22, 2013
    Posts: 24

    WillieRides57
    Member

    I never researched the fact...just what I was told by a couple of older car guys-my dad and wife's uncle. Made sense for a farmer on the plains with no other means of buying a truck. One could store a lot of Jerry cans in there.
     
  12. Dick Stevens
    Joined: Aug 7, 2012
    Posts: 3,710

    Dick Stevens
    Member

    Using Google to research gas rationing in WW2 revealed the following on the web site

    http://www.ameshistory.org/exhibits/events/rationing.htm


    [​IMG]
    There were heart-tugging reminders urging
    participation in the war effort for those still
    on the home front.

    [​IMG]
    The OPA established the Idle Tire Purchase Plan, and could deny mileage rations to anyone owning passenger tires not in use. Voluntary gas rationing proved ineffective and by the spring of 1942 mandatory rationing was needed. To get your classification and ration stamps, you had to certify to a local board that you needed gas and owned no more than five tires.

    [​IMG] By the end of 1942, half of U.S automobiles were issued an 'A' sticker which allowed 4 gallons of fuel per week. That sticker was issued to owners whose use of their cars was nonessential. Hand the pump jockey your Mileage Ration Book coupons and cash, and she (yes, female service station attendants because the guys were over there) could sell you three or four gallons a week, no more. For nearly a year, A-stickered cars were not to be driven for pleasure at all.
    [​IMG] The green 'B' sticker was for driving deemed essential to the war effort; industrial war workers, for example, could purchase eight gallons a week. Red 'C' stickers indicated physicians, ministers, mail carriers and railroad workers. 'T' was for truckers, and the rare 'X' sticker went to members of Congress and other VIPs. Truckers supplying the population with supplies had a T sticker for unlimited amounts of fuel.
    View a T Ration Card.


    [​IMG] Since a gas ration sticker was affixed to a vehicle's glass windshield, the reverse side was visible to the occupants. This offered the opportunity to give advice to the driver and passengers.
    Is this trip really necessary? Share your car. To save tires, drive under 35.


    [​IMG]
    Ration Booklet for 'C' stamps

    [​IMG]

    The national maximum Victory Speed was 35 miles an hour, and driving clubs or carpools were encouraged. The main idea was to conserve rubber, not gasoline. The interior side of the sticker issued for the car's windshield instructed the driver on this point. Every citizen, military or civilian, was to do their part. Even in the popular Warner Brothers cartoons, Daffy Duck exhorts the audience to Keep it under 40! Bugs Bunny's plunging airplane halts just before impact, out of gas as a consequence of the `A' sticker on its windshield.

    [​IMG]

    The 'R' sticker was for non-highway vehicles, such as farm tractors.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG][​IMG]
     
    patmanta likes this.
  13. I had heard that the larger cars would also get a "B" sticker as they were expected to transport nurses doctors and others when needed. So I put a "B" sticker on my '37 Cadillac.
     
  14. WillieRides57
    Joined: Sep 22, 2013
    Posts: 24

    WillieRides57
    Member

    Thanks for posting that Dick. It explains some things I never knew about the state-side effort.
    Looks like my Sport/Coupe was owned by a poor farmer that needed a truck instead.
     
  15. WillieRides57
    Joined: Sep 22, 2013
    Posts: 24

    WillieRides57
    Member

    Just scored some '41 Ford spindles from Bob in CT. Looks like it's gonna rain this weekend so I'll be cleaning up the backing plates, brake hardware and spindles instead of working outside.
     
  16. sloppy jalopies
    Joined: Jun 29, 2015
    Posts: 5,256

    sloppy jalopies
    Member

    sport rod 1 002.JPG sport rod 1 008.JPG If you are leaving it a sportie you can do a little to make up the higth difference between the '29 door top and the '29 sportie beltline...
    i was building a 1/2 '30 A + 1/2 La'salle coupester, found that they made 2 different size la'salles that year... 3" diff... bummer !
    so i cut the la'beltlines off and modified them to fit my '29 ford sport coupe quarters to give it a cockpit combing...
    i piggybacked the 2" la'beltline on top of the '29's squarish lower bead... not exactly the same as the '30 A but close...
    i will use a piece of another '30 door for the section just behind the b pillar and then taper it down to the new beltline...
    needs some serious grinding but should give it more of a cabriolet look...
     

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