Like a lot of guys, my first impression of needing wood for my model a started with “I have a lot of wood working skills and tools, I wonder if there’s plans or prints?” Did some digging online, general consensus from everyone is that no, nothing exists, but there was a set of prints put out in the 70’s. Well, I found a set randomly on eBay and got them in the mail today. Envelope tag shows purchase date in 1979, but no supplier info. The set of plans is for 1930 coupe. My main question is, has anyone here worked with these plans?? Are they accurate? I also don’t have a 30/31 coupe so I can’t do a comparison. I would like to maybe make a set and see what I can learn from it and what I can improve upon. I ended up finding in the prints a © Rick, inc. logo. Any idea who this is? Either way, thought it was worth investigating and asking here.
So what year and body style do you have? Contact the nearest chapter of the Model A ford Club of America (MAFCA) and see what their members have to say. If you think you want to tackle making a set from your plans, pick 3 or 4 parts of increasing difficulty, buy alder or poplar at HDepot (save the GOOD wood for the real deal) and have at it. You'll soon find out if you are up to the task, and learn a lot making parts out of material that isn't too expensive. I made a complete set for my '28 closed cab pickup when I was in junior high wood shop class, using the old parts as patterns and they worked great, so if I could do it, I'm sure most guys can. Just remember as you're doing it: if you screw up and take too much off, or cut it too short...you can't weld it up! Good luck!
I have a 28/9 sedan, but might end up buying coupe parts soon. I know this wood won’t fit my car, it’s more research for the benefit of the members here.
Rick's was a supplier of Model A parts back in the 70's, located in Kansas if I remember correctly. Rick's started out pretty well, they were one of the first specialized Ford restoration parts companies out there. I remember Warshawsky (later J.C. Whitney) being kind of the only game in town before Rick's came along. Eventually they got a reputation for selling cheap parts that just didn't fit well, similar to some of the Chinese parts of today. I'm not sure if that killed them off or if something else happened but they just kinda disappeared after about 10 years. I remember the wood patterns being in their catalogs.
Ok that’s very interesting. I think I will have to transfer to some poster board and make 1/8” fiberboard templates. Then I will need to find someone working on a 30/31 and see how far off things are. Of course, I will document what I got going on while I do it!
I have replicated wood in cars using the old wood from patterns, using pictures and a ruler to figure it out and have also went with my own design for improvement. all three methods I used on a 31 model A pickup. build thread here: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/fixing-a-smashed-31-model-a-pickup-cab.1143362/
JC Whitney was started by the Warshawskys to give their business a less foreign sounding name. My dad used to get Warshawsky (wholesale) and JC Whitney catalogs at the same time. Virtually the same catalog but one company was on one side of the building and the other was in the same building around the corner.
Go to "Vintage Ford Forums" register and ask there. Many members both restore and hot rod them there and they will share their info.
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