I've searched, but I can't find the right term for the part of a '20s/early '30s front fender which closes the space between the fender arch and the top of the frame rail: web? apron? skirt? The bit I mean was a separate panel on Ts, beaded to the rest of the fender up to 1925 and welded(?) in '26-'27, but part of the fender pressing on the A and subsequently. Can anyone help me here? In the course of conceptualizing something else (more on which hopefully soon) I got to wondering about the possibilities of cutting that part of a front fender away, exposing the diagonal part of the fender brace. That pattern was common enough in Europe on cars of sportier character up to about 1928. It was also not unusual on early American speedsters. I was wondering if there is any precedent out of the prehistory of hot rodding, the years before WWII, or even more recently? Has anyone got pics? I'm thinking earlier because the advantage I see is that it frees up the positioning of the fender entirely, making it possible to move the fender up, down, in, out in relation to the frame without having to resolve how it meets up with the frame. This is more of an advantage when you have to accommodate taller, pre-WWII tyres when lowering a car. Once hot rodders began to run smaller-diameter front tyres there was a lot of lowering which could be accommodated within stock fenders. There might also be aerodynamic considerations of less or more dubious validity. The idea appeals to me because it's a sort of transition between cycle fenders and full fenders: the elegant S-curve of stock fenders combined with the exposed, mechanical quality of a fenderless car. Of course, if there is indeed any precedent there may be examples of someone making a total mess of the idea. No matter: I'd like to see those too.
Some examples: Depending on enforcement of fender laws at various times and places, competitors at early speed events did sometimes remove fenders, running boards, lights, etc. at the event and put them back on after competing. That would have limited how low they could build a car, though building low didn't seem to be such a priority in the early period. To be honest, if there is precedent I'd expect it to be found at the edges of the hot rod world: speedsters, those obscure pre-war customs which tended to get only passing mention in the early magazines, "Man Builds Natty Sports Car" pieces in the mainstream press, etc. Exactly what I mean! Thanks. I see plenty of triangulation in the side elevation; less in plan view. I'd expect that one intermediate brace in the middle of the sweep would do the job?
Looks good to me. I like early style Speedsters. But are such fenders functional? If the guy in the wood bodied car hits a puddle, he's getting wet.
Well now you’ve gotten me excited about my speedster project again Rolled it outside today and did some mock ups
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