Projects 29 Model A Couprielet, A Phantom Sleeper

These were found on the 1931 Cabriolet doors and look far more attractive than its coupe counterparts.

 

Memory says the '28-'29 roadsters used a sill plate that bolted to the subrail… it had the lower reveal.
will be too short, but may give you some ideas on fabbing your cabbie sills...
I am building a coupester, had never seen the hand drawn cabbie pix you posted, they answered a couple questions already, keep it coming thanks...
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the bottom pic on pg. 9 is a '31, a completely different body except for a few parts [panel above deck, etc.]...

 

any progress pix of your rear quarter build ?

 

Sorry for the lack of updates, I have been flat out with other projects but I did find time to get a bet done. I stripped back the rougher of the two quarter panel to find this.

 

With so much ugliness, it’s going to be a battle to cut it all out especially with all the reinforcement underneath. One thing I have started doing is fabricating the patch panels, this is the first one.

 

It was run through the bead roller first, then the shrinker/stretcher and English wheel to get the shape.

 

The bead flattens out as it gets closer to the top like the original and once I have fine tuned the shape, I will screw it in over the top of the damaged area.

 

By doing this, I will be able to trace around the perimeter and mark the area for removal. The new panel will be butt welded in using tack welds. The other area, I will need to do this is at the base of the wheel arches.

 

These are so badly damaged that I am thinking of buying a set of bottoms and cutting these ones off. The ones in the first image have two different swages that do not line up, so I need to know exactly where the fracture starts before I attempt repairing it, but to do that I will have to cut all the rubbish reinforcement away.

 

Hopefully this will fill in the gaps. I also got your message and replied, sorry for the late reply, I keep forgetting to check the message column.

 

Hey Guys.

The damage to the quarter panels is so bad I have been trying to figure out if it worth getting them sandblasted so I can see whats original and what’s been added. This would make it easier for me to see what needs to be cut away as well. I have a sinking feeling there will need to be a larger area removed than I first thought. Sand blasting involves money of which I have none at the moment, what I do have is plenty of steel so I have decided to focus on making all the bracing and brackets that tie the quarter panels to the subrails, gutter rails, beaver panel and tulip panels. All these panels are easy enough for me to make but not having the original, I can use as patterns means I need measurement. I sourced some excellent images of another Cabriolet that was being restored to fill in the blanks.

 

The yellow brace is very important as this one will tie the tulip panel ,rain channels and sub rails together. For This one I need an overall measurement and a verticle measurement.

 

This is an illustration of the required measurement.

A is the measurement of the profile of the brace.

B is the actual verticle height of the brace.

C is the actual verticle height of the brace above the second bolt hole. The is particularly important as it will determine the angle for how the tulip panel will sit.

 

The other reason these measurements are so important is because they will enable me to put together a jig so that I can construct the rain channels, which is another thing that is missing from this body.

 

On any A bodies I've had the yellow brace flattens, turns back into the wheelwell, and has 2 rivets holding the bottom of the brace against the wheelwell… but mine have had steel subfloors... wooden subfloors ? ..
pix Saturday if wanted...
if you are not building the cabbie with a rumble maybe make your gutters to follow the quarter all the way to the floor and into a drain hole... instead of letting the rain just splash onto the trunk floor...
… go c34u go...

 

Good stuff. Keep it coming.

 

From my understanding it’s getting harder to register any automobiles with rumble seats here due to safety issues. There are so many laws in regards to how you travel in or how you drive or ride vehicles here. It’s illegal to ride on the bed of a truck or pickup. It’s illegal to ride a motorcycle without a helmet, it’s even illegal to ride a bicycle without a helmet. It’s illegal to not to have a licence plate on the front of your vehicle. It’s even against the law to toot your horn !

 

Pretty much what laws we have here except I don't think they have outlawed the rumble seat rides/

Good work there.....

 

Yeah I think rumble seats are still legal for vintage cars but if you want build a street rod it’s another story.

 

Our yankee '30-'31 coupe / sport coupe bodies used "this" style brace...
I have not owned a wooden subfloor cabriolet...
they may get extra support by adding to and spreading out the brace to subfloor mounts..
went back and checked... Arron D's '29 coupe has the full length braces...
I have 2 pair of '29 sportie quarters but the bottoms are frozen in about a foot of ice...
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I'm in Calif., building a T Touring.
(Calif...open car...it's probably ALREADY illegal HERE!) I hate this place and its laws to protect us.