I bought a beautiful 26-27 cowl today( gas tank in it), that I got cheap 50.00! I was wondering as far as scratch building a modified body...what kind of ideas should I use for doors. Any model t or Rpu doors longer? What about rear door jamb and rear of body? I would really appreciate some ideas and tips for keeping it simple yet not fugly! Thanks everybody for your help.
Bide your time and get the doors etc off ebay - look for bits and pieces from the front half of a touring car, everything in front of the touring car rear doors. The rear doors won't help you as they were cut for the rear fenders and the lower hinge is shorter than the what you need. The front doors, intermediate panel and seat rear panel is what you need. Good score. 26-7 are very special years.
I wish I had it, my '26-'27 cowl is all bent up. I got door skins from Howell's(they have better service if you buy them off ebay)and made inner structures out of 1" square tubing. I'll post the link to my build thread.
Knocked together some doors for the roadster today, here's how I did it. First, I got door skins from Howell Sheetmetal in Beaumont, TX. They are pretty simple, some one with experience with a brake, bead roller, and shrinker/stretcher could do it. I have everything but the brake, and little sheetmetal skill, so I bought them. I measured around the doorskin and cut a piece of 1" thinwall square tubing, a few inches longer than needed. I bent it in my vise to match the curve of the doorskin. Put the tube in a vise before cutting and bent to shape, a little at a time. I measured and notched the bends. Made patterns from the old tried and true beer box for corner gussets. I made them a litle oversize to I can hammer the edge over for a cleaner look. I just tacked everything together for now; I'll weld it up solid after we get the cowl connected to the rear half of the body, there will probably be fit adjustments. The inner structure is pretty close to the curve of the skin. Latch edge: Hinge edge: Bottom: Really wasn't too difficult, only took about an hour. I'm off to do the other side now.
Sure it's a 26 / 27? I'm not a T expert but I was sure they had a cowl vent. Maybe you have an A cowl.
Richard, nice job. How are those Howells skins? I lengthened my doors 3" so i could get in it. How were you going to set up the hinges? mark...
I like the skins but have nothing to compare them to, no original doors to test fit. Here's a pic of my '26-'27 roadster cowl, I always figured it was a vent: Notice the shape. The difference between a coupe and roadster cowl is similar to the difference in a '28-'29 and '30-'31 Model A cowl. Also the coupe cowl on the silver 713 car has a seam right above the cowl steering pitman arm.
The 713 pickup is a A cowl. They made the rest of the cab from the doors back and I thought it looks pretty good, doors are big enough to climb into easily. Yours had a gas flap/door there also, it was probably cut out at some point. The gas tanks on 26-7 model T's mounts under the cowl with two straps, it's offset to the passenger side. The T coupe cowl is mucho bigger than your roadster cowl, although the firewall's are interchangeable between the two.
No,this has a gas tank in the cowl, gas cap in the middle. Measures 31" wide at very bottom. Has a T dash and gauge pod unless those were used in 28-29. I don't have anything to compare it to. For everyone's info there is two flatheads for sale here on Maine Craigslist for 350.00 for both. One spins easily.....complete motors!
Hi Richard, thanks so much to everybody for the tips! This is what I like so much about this forum. I have had plenty of street cars but never built a car from a truckload of old parts before. A lot of fun!
FWIW, It seems there are alot of rear halves of tourings. I thought about hooking one of those up to the cowl, fabbing up some doors to go between and be done. The rear ends up looking nice and finished as its rounded off. And they're cheap! I found 2 out in my uncles field. Thought they'd be worth something but found them to be plentiful and cheap.
To be more clear, is the top of the cowl the gas tank and is the filler neck threaded on the outside? This indicates Model A. A T has the tank mounted inside the cowl with straps and the filler neck has a rectangular "cup" around it which uses a rubber seal on the top edge to seal to the cowl top at the filler door. The tank filler is threaded internally.
You were right in your assessment! It has been definitely identified as a 30-31 closed car cowl with the windshield posts lopped off! Still an excellent start to my project. Will the open car doors sold by Brookville fit this cowl? Brookville has a nice rear cab section in their catalog that they use on their 30 RPU body they sell... Perhaps combining those pieces with my cowl? Suggestions? Thanks for your input....appreciated
Nope, not without some work to relocate the hinges. I think if that's the route you are going to go and opening doors are important to you that starting with a pair of closed car doors would be a better bet. Coupe doors are about 2" longer than tudor sedan doors, so that might be a way to bulid some space in the car with out loosing proportion. Personally, I really wouldn't worry too much about opening doors on a modified. The whole idea behind the cars was simplicity and usually doors were filled or at least bolted shut to stiffen things up. Most modified are built pretty close to the ground so stepping over is pretty easy to do. Maybe a simple brake pedal pad welded to an axle housing (that's what I'm doing with mine) or wishbone can save a bunch of fabrication. I also have to comment on the wheels on the previous page too. They aren't "rare Argentinian" anything. Model "A" Fords in '28 and '29 had 21" wheels, by '30 and '31 they were 19" The last "T"s used a different wheel, but 21" as well. I wouldn't recomend them for anything much humpier than a stock drivetrain though...
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