Hot Rods Victoria (190-A) and Coupe Cowl and door Swap?

Is anyone aware of someone who has used the cowl, doors and initial roof section maybe back to the B pillar from a 30/31 Victoria (190A) married into the rear a 30/31 coupe body? It appears the Vicky door as longer so it would result in a slightly longer wheel base if keeping the original coupe dimensions in the rear. I had an attempt and trying to pull together what it might look like in MS Paint with a chop.

Personally I like the no visor look, slightly longer doors of the Vicy and like the sloped A pillar but the rear of them has never worked for me and my next car will be a coupe. Maybe something slightly different.

 

I advise caution here. The Murray body and the Briggs body don't play nice with each other. The doors are very different because of the slant windshield.The doors are longer on the Victoria as compared to the Coupe body. Longer doors means shorter rear quarter panels to maintain the standard wheel base.

i would recommend watching the build thread by Scootermcrad

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/modified-murray-the-last-build-thread.956908/

 

another thing to think about is the door fit. The Slant window doors close flush where the coupe doors don't close flush. will take some real wrangling to get the door to close properly.

 

It could be done. How about on a 32 frame so you don't need to worry about the wheelbase issue?

 

Ive got a Victoria body and was thinking of building a 3 window coupe out of it. I believe the factory 3 window coupe prototypes were built by Murray or Briggs

 

I believe their was one from each body builder. Check some old issues of Ford Life Magazine, by Lorin Sorenson .which has been out of production for many years.

 

I have a slant window cowl and the front doors of a Fordor as well as Vicky doors. The Fordor and coupe doors are within 1/4” if I recall. I can double check if need be. I am actually brainstorming the same idea with the remnant of a 34 or a 32 header that I have laying here. They are all just a bunch of parts from other peoples scrap piles so I figure what the hell.

 

I'd put a 32 header and windshield on it and be done.

 

If you could measure them that would be great thanks. Was told on another forum the Vicy doors are 6 inches longer which would have a pretty dramatic impact on overall wheel base if using the coupe body from the B pillar back. Maybe you can confirm that?

 

4 dr front 27 7/16
Coupe 27 5/8
Vicky 33 5/8
All measured at center of large bead of the belt line.

 

Thanks justabeater. 4 door front 1/2 looks to be a much better option.

 

That’s my plan. Should be easy right? Ha.

 

Well other than making the roof work.

 

Wonder how different the roof profiles are behind the B pillar.

 

What are you trying to accomplish? A slant windshield coupe? Sounds like a lot of work.
Note that the Vic had a chop compared to the coupe/sedan. Windshield and door windows are not as tall. As stated above, Vic had flush fit doors at top and B pillar.

Phil

 

Sounds like an interesting plan, mixing and matching Ford parts to build a body that never existed takes some time. I should get back on my Steelback project. Bob

 

Cheers Phil, yes aim would be a slant pillar coupe with no visor. Appreciate the info re the different heights of the doors etc as didnt know that! Much appreciated.

 

When you look at a Coupe and Victoria door note the Vicky has a flat top to the window and the Coupe (and 4Door Slant Window) have an arch. Bob

 

It CAN be done. I built my old Phantom '32 Sedan delivery from 3 Ford Bodies

Started with a ’31 Murray S/W Fordor body and a '32 Sedan & a 32 Vicky (both the 32s were unsalvagable junk)...and combined the 3 bodies. Used the 31 S/W because from the windshield back, the 31 SW Fordor shared a lot of same dimensions as a ’32.

A LITTLE HISTORY
It seems the Murray ’31 S/W fordors were only made for the last half of 1931 and were the pre-curser dimensionally to the new ’32 body…with no body support wood and had full metal floorpans. Murray was competing with Briggs, both trying to get all the new 32 Ford body contracts...Murray did get the 3 Window, Cabriolet and Vicky contracts.

Anyway, "31 Slantwindow was the base of the build, including the A pillars, thus the "squarish" windshield frame...which I was OK with...looked more like a 32 truck, which is why I went with a commercial grill.
32 sedan donated some upper body parts, the rear of body and rear wheel wells, and a lot of hardware
32 Vicky donated top of cowl & vent, door parts, and parts of the upper 1/4 panels.

 

Like that Sedan Delivery! My Briggs SW doesn't have any structural wood. Bob

 

You’re almost ready for wiring Bob

 

There’s a build thread here,,
Guy is building a 3 window coupe with slant windshield and Vicky doors.

This is where you’re going to have trouble and work to get right.
It’s very hard to section an egg shape making anything longer or shorter. It winds up lumpy or flatspots or needs to get proportions changed. This will show at the bottom, the bead line and the roof. Then everything in between vertically will need to blend in. If you could get an MRI style sliced view from floor pan to roof it would be easy to envision.

The profile side view will be pretty easy, pretty much what you’ve already found in MS paint. Looks pretty good. The doors being longer and slightly shorter increases the visual proportions to a more drastic chop. Setting it on a 32 style frame without fenders or using fenders the aprons and running boards would look best.

You’ll need the 4dr, B posts to make the flush fit door jambs go easy.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1931-ford-3w-build-marilyn.1039982/
​

 

Yep that it
Thanks stogy

 

I think it would be a straight forward build if you use a S/W Fordor cowl, doors and B pillar (for the flush mount doors) and a 30/31 coupe quarters and roof. Any window height difference could be addressed in the chop.
BUT, as The37Kid noted, you would have to use the top of coupe doors to eliminate the S/W door arch.

Although I was going for more of a '32 look, you can see the front of the side window is considerably shorter than the back...even though the chop was 3" front, 3-1/2 rear

 

Not in my lifetime, grandkids can deal with that. Bob

 

Here is a normal cowl and a chopped door of unknown origin and a slant cowl and 4 door front door with the back of a sport coupe I have sitting here.

 

Like the looks of that, wonder why the door got that cutout?