Technical Pie Cutting 29 Coupe into Roadster, will it work ?

I never said I had no experience, I said I lacked the experience to fabricate Model A Roadster Quarter Panels, which is not an unreasonable statement, this is something that even many experienced builders would find challenging. I have shaped up several bonnets, door skins and even a couple of decklid skins, so I can make these up for this project. I am just looking at an easier way to reshaping the existing quarter panels to resemble roadster ones.

 

All these are important considerations, but as I am selling this as a rolling unfinished project, this will be the responsibility of the buyer. The other thing that is overlooked is that there is no roof on Model A Coupe quarter panels, so there is nothing to cut off in the first place. As far as the make up of this project, it’s more roadster than coupe, so the strength will be the same as a Roadster.

 

Well I'm trying to think of another Hamber that is doing a Coupester......How the heck do you spell something that actually didn't exist......This in the very least with be a learning and challenging experience...

You have been here a while and no doubt in this case search is your best friend...

The one I'm thinking of is full fendered with many unique attributes...and he has a thread on it...I will post it when I find it...Don't forget to share your journey...

 

Thanks for the offer !

 

just do it!! why care what negative people say. it's your junk. if it doesn't come out right, throw it away and find another body. at the least, you will have gained some knowledge and skill. have fun and remember, "nobody was born knowing everything"

 

With your added information I can understand your direction a little better. I was quite lucky as a younger Man. I seemed to have the Drive and was Lucky enough to land Jobs in several Custom shops. I honed my skills while being paid doing what I loved. That turned into self employment and a good income. I see now your doing the same thing the easiest way you can given your Geographical location. Your not building a "Coupester" as much as just learning how sheet metal works and honing your skills. By all means, carry on and good luck. Keep us posted.
The Wizzard

 

Not a 29 but another talented Hamber @Dyce making a Hotrod...and he has some pretty cool tools and really knows how to make them work...

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/model-a-coupster-on-32-rails-updated.335443/

Like every Hamber here when they share their adventures in Hotrod/Custom you get bombarded with good options...

Credit to Photographer, Owner

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Hey Guys.

I have had a Eureka moment, I have figured out a way to get the roadster shape without pie cutting the upper section. Hopefully without any pie cutting at all. Lightbulb moments like these are a raraty in my life at the best of times, but to have them two days in a row is completely unheard of. It will be a while before I get the time to put my new theory into practice, needless to say when I do, I will be posting up the results. Sometime next month.

 

I'm getting my sunglasses......Nike time Just Do It!!!

 

Thanks Stogy for the good words. I want to have that car on the road by spring. If i would have started with a roadster body to begin with i would have been driving it years ago. I have to admit, at this point, I'm glad I didn't. I wouldn't have learned as much. I enjoy metalshaping as much as I enjoy driving the cars. Just don't think it's easy. Maybe it is for some, but I make a lot of scrap sometimes to get to the final panel.
If you want a project to practice and learn on, go for it. If you are trying to turn a profit, I wouldn't recommend it.

 

I had a roadster cowl, a running chassis, some random doors of off something, and sport coupe quarters, and I started piecing this one together. I had the roadster panel above the trunk lid so I knew what length it had to be, and I cut the quarters up accordingly, so the quarters would end up being roadster-length, based on the length of my randomly found doors.

This is what it looked like when I sold it, still pretty rough but the idea was there. I think once you mock it up, you'll figure out where the cuts need to be made. I don't like the pie cutting idea, I think you just need to move the tops of the quarters in and extend the quarters equally.

 

I have [2] '30 roadster [parts piles] up stairs...
will use new '32 rails and 4" dropped axle....
but I want and will build a chopped '30 coupster as I like to drive something different...
[bigger doors, longer cockpit = bonus]...
it is all a mater of taste... do what you like and can afford...
rather drive a coupster than sit and watch a bare frame gather dust while waiting to afford a roadster body...

 

I used that plastic infused with sawdust that are used as decking...
used the [5] quarters boards, 1.25"...
draped them over my deck rail, slid a car rim over each end in the sun...
the sun let it bow a lot, ..
I traced and cut templates of the upper surface of the quarters...
laid them where they fit and had the bow match the dip in the quarter...
cut them out with a sabersaw, because they have the sawdust they can be sanded...
if not perfect is ok...the decking bows easily with the ty-down bolts...[used stock holes and carrage bolts].
repeat pic but shows the cockpit combing...

 

It all comes down to what ever works. Luckily for mine I won’t need to extend the coupe quarters, rather I will be fabricating the roadster doors longer to suit, with my Eureka moment, I may be able to avoid pie cutting it altogether. I just need to find the time to put the theory into practice.

 

do you want to enlarge the engine bay ?
'28-'29 tudor / coupe doors are 29.25" long, the '28-'29 roadster is 24.??",
for a stock body length you would be adding about 5" to the doors...
if you added less it would shorten the body, pulling the firewall back, enlarging the engine bay...
…… $0.02.....

 

I will be attempting a 30 roadster back soon. I bought a rough door and made some copies last week. I did make up a rough trial run quarter a few months ago on a Friday arvo just to get a feel for it.

 

I have a similar pile of scrap sheet metal so I understand the struggle. I know if you cruise the hamb it seems like lots of guys are doing this but in reality to almost everyone else besides you, me and @wheeldog57 @sloppy jalopies it is nothing but scrap and if you cobble it together it will look like just that to most buyers. You may or may not have noticed that beyond the length, height and lack of upper body bead there is one other often overlooked issue...the body line beads are different. The roadster body line bead is round the coupe/special/sport bead is flattened. Assumptions get made because they "look similar" and use the same trunk lid but other than the shape of the area where the trunk sits (on coupes it sits lower) they are a different animal. Here's my 2 cents using rdstr doors on a coupester is a waste theyre rare (if you have 'em sell 'em they're worth a good buck) the idea of adding length to the 1/4s is a good way to drive yourself nuts you'll still have the flattend bead and the lower trunk position to give it away. Use your coupe door outers and narrow the jambs to the thickness of a roadster door, cap them (don't forget the curve) and build new inners ( or set the old inner in the narrowed jambs) next and most important build a combing around the back of the seat area similar to the roadster that makes up the height between top of doors and quarters, use the rdstr cowl posts and hinges and coupe above (with added combing) and below trunk panels. A nice finishing touch would be to add the body bead at the bottom of the coupe doors & 1/4s like the rdstr at this point you'd trim any excess height from the bottom not by extremely invasive pie-cutting

this is a '30-1 coupe ass with a '28-9 rdstr cowl it's a bit easier because they already have the bottom bead (but also over wheel wells) and round upper like 28-9 rdster

 

Pretty much all that are left in the woods and fields... '28 -'29 sport coupe quarters...

.
'30 tudor cowl, a '30 fordor & a '31 coupe door [exhaust pipe door tops] and '31 cabbie quarters... you can make them fit...

 

before you do any cutting those rdstr doors are hard to find and expensive sell them to finance your project! I thought you had some cut off coupe doors? use them they are longer... the right length to keep the body the same over all length as original. Once the door thickness is reduced and tops are capped (ala @sloppy jalopies) line up the square bead at the top of the roadster door posts with the bead on the coupe doors and trim excess off at the bottom and add bead...no pie cut necessary

 

Not to be a smartass, but it seems that you have most of the important parts to build a roadster - all but the quarters and lower rear panel - so why not just raise some cash, buy some good quarters and complete the body as a roadster? Doesn't seem like a rocket science question to me.

 

Hmmm....
- subframe rear crossmember (cpe/rdstr only)
- rear subframe ends & crossmembers
- above trunk panel
- rumble/trunk floor pan
- spring hump pan
- rumble or trunk lower inner panel
- trunk perimeter frame/ rain gutters
- inner 1/4 /trunk hinge mounts
- trunk/ rumble hinges
- deck/rumble lid
- handle/lock/latch mech.
and i'm sure i'm forgetting about 20 other parts....

 

Just bought the back half of a B'ville roadster .took me a while to raise the xxxx cash.

 

go 48 go !

 

Nor does he have these parts for any other body style. But my point is that if he cobbles together a coupester using the coupe quarters and other related coupe parts it will have zero value to anybody else. A roadster body, on the other hand, could be quite valuable depending upon how well he builds it. His goal, keep in mind, is to put the parts he already has together and then sell the resulting creation - hopefully for a profit, otherwise what's the point?

 

Australia is a massive arid country to which there were tons of model A's and T's, chevvys etc. shipped... in my imagination I picture every sand dune littered with rust free ancient tin but I guess they were big on scrap drives or something?? cuz it seems to be all gone... on the one hand you've got guys finding '32 roadsters for $1,000 then building it for free by selling bits off old cars found in ditches and on the other several guys who have to sell their 1st born just to get a panel or two...I guess if I were to fabricate all those missing pieces I'd do it on a coupester cuz once you bust out the wallet for those new 1/4's you might as well go whole hog

 

That’s some effort, I look forward to seeing how it works out.

 

There weren’t that many to begin with. Locally built bodies for Chevs and Fords were only built in the hundreds, and due to the tariff laws, US made bodies never made it here. We had locally built coupes and roadsters that had timber frame construction up until the mid thirties, which meant the already rare bodies would fall apart if left out in the elements. And by the early seventies most of the roadster and coupe bodies had been used already for street rods and hot rods.

 

Hey Guys. After careful consideration, I have decided to restart this project. This was what I started out with.

 

It was basically junk, the doors were beyond repair and the cowl had major damage at the base. Last week I tore the cowl down and started repairs. At the start of the post I asked if I could modify the quarters to suit roadster doors, but since the Roadster door are stuffed, I have has a re think. I have decided to make the doors to suit the quarters.

As the coupe quarters are taller than Roadster quarters, I have thought about mildly channelling the quarters to bring them into line with the beltline on the doors. I know I will have my fair share of detractors over the idea which is why it just an idea.

Nevertheless it worth the thought as the wheel wells are rotted out at the base anyway. This time I thought I would try it out with a couple of models. Both are 1:25 Scale. The Revell 1930 Coupe and the AMT 28 Roadster.