I was out in my 29 Tudor one day and a guy comes over checking it out and mentions there's a "old car" in his mothers barn that belonged to his dad before he passed away and they needed to sell it, all he knew was it was a convertible and had a rumble seat, of course I perked up and made arrangements to come look at it because it's less than 10 miles from my house. When I got there we went around back to an old chicken house that can't be seen from the road and that's where it was, along with tons of other parts and junk. At one time this guy had around forty cars, I knew because this was the last one left it must have meant something to them, she said they drove it home in 1955 and he had tore it down and started restoring it before he got sick. I found most of the parts I would have wanted scattered here and there, except the hood and windshield frame. They wanted me to make an offer on it but I told them to just think about and let me know because I don't price someone's stuff, especially something that meant something to them. Of course they thought it was worth three times what I wanted to pay for it but they finally come down and we made the deal. From what I've gathered it's a pretty rare car, being a late 31 model. I know it's not a roadster but I've seen several nice Cabriolet hot rods built and I look forward to building it. I can't decide what direction to go with it, the original chassis is in great shape and I think the engine was rebuilt right before he quit working on it because it has good compression. So I could try to find some hop-up parts and go that route or an old six, flat head or later V8. Adams Hot Rod Shop is here in town, he builds some of the finest 32's in the country today and I could get them to build me a deuce chassis for it, I just don't know if I want to drop that much in it right now though. Any help or thoughts from you guys would be greatly appreciated, this is my first post on HAMB, glad I found this site!
Wow, that's in great shape. Welcome to the Hamb. I'd throw it together for fun, and maybe drive it a little, till I figured out how I'd like to hot rod it, if I was you, but since I'm not you, I'd drop a SCoT blown Ardun in it give it a wild chop, some nice chrome reversed rims with big n littles........ Its getting late. I need to go to bed.
Yummy!!!! Slant Window Cabs rule. That is a pretty rare Model A, like Vicky, A-400, Deluxe Phaeton rare. Unless your totally in love with it I would sell that body to a Restorer. It's worth a really shiny penny. Then you could buy a roadster or ?
Congrats - right place at the right time - sounds like you want to build and not sell - give it the good ol' hot rod upgrades and hit the highway.
The subrails on these were all wood. You need to look at what the kits costs to replace before making a lot of decisions. Make sure you are sittng down when you are looking...they are not cheap.
Is there something special about them? I did a quick search for grins and you can buy subrails for about $340.
It's like finding a hidden gem, I'm happy about it but not so that I wouldn't sell/trade for a roadster. How much is a really shiny penny worth Tiny?
I'm not sure but to restorers that car is on the must have list. I had found a standard cabriolet body that was totally disassembled just a body lying in a flat pile of parts. Quarters, Doors, Cowl, Decklid, etc.. He wanted $4500 for it and he got it. Not from me that was to steep for my budget for a car body that needed to be put together. You may go back and hunt for the top pieces those would add a lot of value to the package. It's hard to put value on stuff you only see in pics but my guess would be 8k+ to a restorer. If the numbers on the engine and frame match and match for a late 31 even more, maybe. One of the guys in the Oilers has a nice looking Cab I forget his name on here though. He's "Jason in TX " on the Fordbarn. He would be a good one to talk to. Hold on to your shorts before you open this link http://www.ebay.com/bhp/model-a-ford-cabriolet
Wow, I've searched 31 Cabriolet and there really isn't much that pops up. I actually have the top that goes with it, and the original seat! I'll look him up, thanks for the tip. And I'll check all the numbers, there's one complete engine and a couple spare blocks and parts laying around too. I'm thinking that the seals are all there, looks like he either rebuilt them or had some when he restored the chassis!
Loads of parts are unique to late 31 Cabriolets only. The more you have the more money it's worth. That's on my dream car list one day. I would love to have a restored bone stock one.
Sounds like a great find. If you're considering selling, do you have enough pieces to clean and reassemble it? I've changed plans a few times when I found something was a special car to the restorers. OT ratty 68 firebird with a 12 bolt, I bought for a drag car build, started looking it over, checking numbers and found it was a 400 4 spd with special paint codes. My $700 car turned into $4000 with no work and I was able to buy a more complete street strip car that took less to get completed. I stayed in touch with the guy and it got a frame off etc, won a bunch of awards.
Since no one has given you the traditional HAMB response to this situation, You Suck! Seriously, that is a great find, looks to be in very good shape. For all the guys that just have to have a roadster, I'd prefer a cabriolet over a roadster any day of the week. K6
Good luck what ever you do. As mentioned there aren't many left so let that help you decide whether you want to cut it up and build a modern look alike rod. Welcome and enjoy the group. We're all in it for fun.
Yes you suck and so does your car. I'll give you your money back. It is a 68C designation given by Ford. It also has an indented firewall and that likely puts production after April of 1931 . Query on Model A Ford 68C and you will get more hits. There had been fires in the passenger compartment from leaky fuel shut off valves and the shut off valve got moved to the other side of the firewall. There is discussion with not much agreement in regard to the production numbers of the '31 Slant Windshield Cabriolet but it is less than 3500 is a number that I hear pretty consistently. If you take the accepted 10% survivor rate well that is 350 or so out there still. Score the windshield frame if you haven't already. A repop is way south of $1000. Get the frame too and hopefully it matches the engine number. This all adds value All the top parts including the landau arms are like hens teeth and because of the low numbers they are not reproduced though some for the parts on the Cabby are the same as on the Sport Coupe. You have joined an elite group of Slant Windshield owners. Mine was a 'barn find' too and you are a lucky dog in my book. It is the best looking A model ford and you can see the progression to the '32 in it in my mind. Here was mine in the horse barn in April of 2013 Feel free to PM me for any questions you may have. Larry
This is great info Larry, and thanks for all the "you suck"awards guys, I'll take them with pride! If they are so rare maybe I should see if a purist wants to correctly restore it back to its glory and find me a Roadster. It's not eating anything right now so we'll see.
I'll take my 'you suck' too. I really like the car because it is a 'closed car' that the top goes down on. I have Roadsters and when I go to car events or just for a drive, when it rains I get wet in them. When I take the Cabriolet, I just roll up the windows....after I put the top up and stay dry. You build a hopped up banger and you can run with the V8's. You keep the car 'mostly stock' except for the bolt on stuff that can be easily removed, the 'purist' crowd will likely leave you alone. That has been my experience. I like the Hot Rod crowd better anyway. It is your car and if you are really a Roadster guy you should be able to turn this into a really nice one If you are really Cabriolet guy you should be able to turn this into a really nice one too. I that when I go to events in a Roadster I'm in with other Roadsters but in a Cabby it is in a minority. I'll be interested to see what you do because I believe that if you were just to re-assemble what you have and make it run and drive, you would be hard to part with it I suspect. After all you already have the transmission in it.... Larry
I might do that, I was just looking over there and noticed there's a guy that keeps up with the 68C's, I emailed him so he can at least know there's another one that's been unearthed. Maybe I should just pre WWII hot rod it and beat the crap out of it
Watch out one of those old codgers over at the Fordbarn might take you out if you do that How about a full fendered banger powered mid to late 30's look?
no problem like I said when we were looking thru that chicken house for all the parts for the model a this is what a car guy dreams of finding a rare car in a barn glad you let me help and be part of it.
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