OK guys before I get way over my head has anyone out there changed a 1932 Ford 4 door sedan to a 5 Window coupe. I heard of a guy from Canada that sold parts to some one to do this and I know that they do sell a top from I think United Pacific but I would like to know how difficult it would be and I would really have a 5W after it was done thanks Merucyguy
If you are very good at custom fab work you can pull it off, IMO it’s a 1932 4 door leave it be or go to 2door sedan much easier, but in the end it is your call.
To get it right would take a bunch of original or new coupe sheet metal. In my opinion you would be better off leaving the fordor alone and outright buying or piecing a coupe together from scraps.
Do you already have a rolling 4 door Sedan? Can you do all the fab/welding yourself? If not, crunch the numbers and see how the options look. 4 dr Sedans are not cheap any more. Calc the Upac prices for coupe parts (roof, quarters, deck lid, etc). Maybe $8000, plus labor (plus a 4dr body if you don't have one) vs. a $23000 Upac Coupe body...
¼ panels, floors, subrails, rear deck, roof, door jambs, to say nothing of the inner structures and support items around the insides of said stuff. How much are United Pacific body parts? Maybe more on point given the current situations, can u even get em? Someone has to be a dickhead in this convo so I took the lead. Can you do it? Should you? Not a personal attack, I promise. Seen the $$$$$ 4dr sedans are getting lately? All legit points in this card game so, raise? Call? Fold? All in? We got your back if ya do it, it IS TJJ/theHAMB so... @Hot Rods Ta Hell I think we both had ace high straights here...
If you have to ask the question, it would seem that you probably don't currently possess the tools, skill, and experience to do it. You would probably come out better by selling what you have and then doing some kind of extra work that you can dedicate/save the money to buy a coupe. Anything is possible, but that would be a huge project. You could possibly shorten the body and then put a pickup bed behind it. Still a lot of work but much easier than fabing a trunk.
Every one says that Henry had that canvas top insert because he didn't have a die big enough to the stamping, but what I see is he used one cowl and windshield for several different bodies five window two door and four door sedan delivery, with the then seam them together over the doors. The 33 and 34 cars were the same way. So you have half the body already just find the 5 window parts from the door back. Other than the cowl I don't think your 4 door has any thing else to offer
Don't do it, sell the 4 door and find a coupe. 4 doors have become very popular and make great cruisers. Think hard on what it would take and if you are capable of the fab work.
Im gonna send you a pm that will be helpful. And I would 100% do it Ive seen some great deals on 4 doors. If your gonna chop it the 4 door doors are easily used. Granted thats coming from a guy that turned a 39 4 door sedan into a chopped coupe so take it for what its worth
They are dimensionally the same at the bottom the rear of the door top is a little different. Easily dealt with. The important thing is the B pillar location is correct. Edit: on a 34 its the same scenerio. My 34 coupe has sedan doors on it. I took the coupe doors off before I chopped it. They have the same difference in the door tops between coupe and sedan. I believe 35 and 36 have the same subtle difference when trying to interchange between 5 window and sedan
4 door to 2 door, coupe to sedan, sedan to delivery no matter what you do one thing is for certain. Youre gonna be gettin dirty and all your shirts will have weld burns haha
Having had several of each I would sell the 4 door and invest in a real 5 window. There are always several for sale.
I made this '33 out of a really exceptionally rough 4 door using no reproduction panels at all and I think I had maybe 80 hours in it total when these pics were taken. I ended up getting a better '34 4 door body on a frame to start with, so I stuck the doors on, primered it, and sold it at this point. You can see the B pillars are still kinda wonky but if you're going to chop it, you can deal with that at the chop stage fairly easily. My trunklid was homemade, I had a few bits of quarter panel top sections to use which helped. It was still pretty rough when I sold it, but it was taking shape. I'd do it in a heartbeat, 4 doors are dirt cheap and I love to weld.
Would it be better to go to a 3W if you are going to all that trouble. Im guessing front door length might be an issue though..
The whole cowl is different on a 3W coupe, the doors are hinged suicide style and the door cutout is not square, you'd be utilizing almost nothing of the original 4 door body. You can make a fairly convincing 32 3W coupe body using 33-34 2 door sedan doors and the door jamb part of the cowl grafted in but again, not using much of the original donor. Making a 5W coupe out of a 4 door is much more straightforward, you can use the whole door with minimal changes, you can make up the entire roof out of the 4 door pieces, no changes to cowl or jambs, B pillars, latches and hinges can all be reused (I think one hinge position is slightly different but for a hot rod who gives a shit). The easy route from there is to buy a couple of new quarter panels, a trunklid and a tail panel to finish off the back end, but all that stuff could be fabbed from scratch plus from what's there for the discerning cheapskate.
Here's a thread on a Fordor conversion. 32 ford 4 door + 1 saw=5 window & tub | Page 17 | The H.A.M.B. (jalopyjournal.com) I'm putting a 5w together out of parts . Found a UPI roof 650 at Pueblo swap meet the last of June and by the first of Sept had every thing I needed to put the body together. Here are some of the parts.
The referenced thread here is the one I was thinking of. A good friend of mine bought the car from Drew and drove it a few years.
The Jalopy Journal
