29 roadster,Brookville "Quality" issues

Does any one have a real Henry Ford above trunk panel , for a 29 roadster? Ill take one in any repairable condition. this Brookville junk just doesn't cut it. it's the wrong shape at the lip, has the wrong arch. this thing throws the trunk alignment out - too wide of trunk gap.

 

Sorry, I can't help with the tin - but that's just about the coolest '28/'29 I've seen.

 

damn brookville. y dont u get a pryor built trunk panel haha. n nice car

 

I've had 2 complete 28-9 brookville bodies and both of them have had that panel severly wrong, the belly of the panel infront of the trunk was just sunk down way too low. and the one that I assembled from parts was just like yours at the body line also....
Wonder whats up with that piece thats so hard to make?

Good luck!
Zach

 

yeah, funny, when I ordered the panel I said don't bother sending it if it has a round lip, like the junk they were making 10 years ago.

 

wow..that's really off..most of their stuff is really nice..not sure why they haven't fixed that problem..I'm sure they know about it

 

This gets back to the issue of repro parts being wrong and continuing to made wrong year after year and sometimes for decades! Surely people complain?

 

Well let me tell ya Pilgrim their exact replacement parts AREN'T !! I built a 28 from their pieces. I have untold man hours making the direct replace meant parts fit their direct replacement parts!!!!! My buddy has a 29 Brookville body on his roadster and the gap at the top of the door on the drivers side is 1/8 in on the pass side it is 3/8 in, Now I thought this just might this one particular body but at LARS I looked at their display body, THEIR DISPLAY BODY!!!! the one they show the world how great their shit is and it was the same way.
Granted when Ford made the bodies their tolerances were no where near what we make them today but DAMN that shit is way off !!!!!!
Maybe thats why they want 4000 to assemble the body for you ????

 

When did Brookville start to make Model A roadster steel bodies?
Maybe 20 years ago??
Today people expect perfect quality, but 20 years ago??
I have a 28-29 brookville body and everything fits nice
and I'm soo happy that i have the chance to buy a steel reproduction. rather than
rusted and beat up overpriced original parts

 

So all the panels to reassemble a 28-29 body are just $2000 ?????

 

I'll take a dozen!

 

A new brookville 28/29 roadster body is 6500. I think I paid close to 3500 for all the pieces. And anyone with any brains knows when you buy things in pieces they cost more than if bought whole.
So just what is your exact point????

 

Nothing says tradition like Henry Brookville model A parts.

 

I got my 29 Roadster in 02 From Brookville. Complant, YES, I took 12 weeks for them to build the body I ordered, then deal with the shipping process to the Islands. But those concerns were gone when I opened up the crate and there she was, ready to be painted. Thats the way to go. If you want a perfect fit, buy a 80yr old Lexus. LOL. Get real, these were Fords that were in the low price line. Never intended to last 80yrs, and never had the fit and finish that a lot of billit guys want today. Paint it and drive it and have some fun. Your number might be up tomarrow. Iceman

 

So go find yourself a rusted out / bent / twisted / original panel. Problem with Brookville solved.

 

I hear ya, but being honest, I could walk up to a roadster, B or H variety and probably couldnt tell the difference. I like the looks of certain style cars and thats what I'm attracted too. If they look nice, then I really dont care or couldnt tell real original or not, it just doesnt matter.
I'm also the guy that couldnt tell what year one is w/o the hamb, they just look cool and fun or they don't and the 32 thats so expensive at the local shows etc looks as cool to me as the 29 or so at 1/3 the cost sitting next to it, it just doesnt matter.

and, I do see the alignment issues he is showing, I think B should be able to correct the issue, fairly easily, hope they will for him.

 

I think some of you guys are missing the point. If you look at the original posters pics you will see the replacement panel is not even close to resembling the body roll at the top. I would bet Brookville would not put this on any of their complete body's. I think this is the point he is trying to make !!

 

Hard to believe Brookville could make that panel so far off the original shape. Did it really come from Brookville or a middleman parts supplier that may be slipping in parts from other makers?

 

Maybe he should call Brookville and "comment" on his bad part to someone @ Brookville instead of Griping about it here...
They may not be aware that the mold is fucked up or...

Since they are not aircraft parts, QC isn't near what it should be...

 

In the Brookville catalog it lists an option that states: for the '30-31 body "Deck former-(area around top of body, rolled to form a smooth look, for use with a hot rod seat", for the '28-29 body, "Deck former (labor to roll form the area around the top of the body to create a "smoothie deck", for use with hot rod style seats".

Obviously, the panel in question is intended to be used with the rolled quarters. I'm wondering if this is simply the wrong panel, or if Brookville prefers to build with the rolled panels, to the extent that they don't even offer an original style panel.

I don't think I've seen one of these bodies that didn't have the rolled option. Obviously, it's a huge problem to try to use this panel without it. I would think that customers should be warned if this is the only panel they offer. If someone had the skills and tooling to fix it, they would be better off starting from scratch. Comparable to tolerances in Henry iron?? No way.

 

Excellant piont Rick. Are the rolled panels setup to accept the wood top attaching strips?

 

heres a couple pics of my stock 29.

 

I don't think you have a problem with the Brookville sail panel.

Here's why.

My pals gennie 29 roadster with virtually no rust had problems with the drivers door staying closed.

Even when trailered in my enclosed reasonably soft riding 20' box trailer.
I towed it 400 miles for him and the first two stops we found the door open and lying against the trailer wooden wall panel.
Fixed with a temporary bungee.

What we found a couple months later after all the moving and setting up our respective Arizona shops was that the front of the quarter panel - which is the rear door gap - was bent out.
Apparently from the previous owners tendency to lean on it when driving.

It was fairly obvious after measuring and you could also look at the passenger side and see that the quarter panel didn't have any lean-out at all compared to the drivers side.

We got the panel cranked in to where we thought it ought to be, braced it with some 1" square steel tubing and the door staying closed problem was cured.

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My Brookville 31 roadster body has an excellent fit between sail panel and quarter panel.

May not help you with your 29, but maybe.

Measuring from the gap next to the trunk lid where sail panel and quarter panel join up top, it measures 36 3/4".

Measuring at the top it measures 37 5/16".

The gap between sail panel and quarter panel on my body is virtually non-existent.
A thin 5/16" stainless flat washer won't fit down in there.


A while back I measured cockpit dimensions in 29, 31 and 32 roadsters.
They're all virtually the same except that the 32 cockpit is 2" deeper.

Which kinda kills that old wives tale about A roadsters being more cramped than 32's.

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I'll agree with the good looking 29 comments.
Nice stance and I am curious as to how tall the tires are.

 

Here's the only pic I have of that area.

 

You got the trunk lid they make for the '68 Baracuda. NO wonder it doesn't fit Sometimes those guys in shipping get confused and ship whatever they can get their hands on....................NOT!!!!!

When Brookville first started making their A bodies they put a "restored" car together using their body and entered it in a national Model A show. It won best restored and when everyone found out it caused quite a stir. Point being.........if the best judges in the hobby couldn't tell the repo from an origional what does that say about the "quality". Now........it's obvious that you weren't involved in the hobby before Brookville existed. People were taking parts that were run over by a semi and were thankful to find anything to work with.
Now....I'm sure that your 80 year old body that was run hard and put away wet couldn't possibly have anything to do with your current disaster......right?

Frank

PS Brookville is reluctant to sell Model A bodies unassembled for the very reason that they are way more dificult to get right than say their '32 roadster. A visit to their facilities and watching one being put together will readily reveal that to be true. If you don't have about 10 complete Model a builds to your credit your just being lame coming on here and complaining about a great company that's always put the customer first when they are approached in the right manner. You have discussed this with Brookville.............RIGHT?

Frank

 

The panel that I used from Brookville on my roadster was not like this one. So Maybe the shop that sold it to him sold him the wrong type. I agree with you all He should call Brookville!!

 

Ya I'm sure that 80 years of being abused made the profile on the top of the body different and that Brookville has the right one. Its amazing how metal can reshape itself over 80 years

 

I bet this panel fits a brookvile body just fine, just not a original body.

I bought this same panel 10 years ago, couldn't use it then.

this time they were told Not to send the panel if it was not updated to the correct shape. I guess I assumed in 10+ years of people sending their parts back they would take the time to make a panel that would actually fit a 29 roadster, bad assumption on my part.

forgive me if Im not grateful for a $200 doorstop I told brookvile not to send.

 

I don't see the problem with letting others know if something is junk, or if a place ripped you off. You shouldn't have to call back to get what you paid for..Personally if I had not delt with them before I would want to know. That panel is junk period, its not even a good starting point to make one from, and certainly not worth $200. I'd want more than $200 to make one so if I bought that pile thinking it would save me and the customer cost and hassle, I'd be pissed off too.


I have to agree with you, Brookville is not what people try to make it out to be. They just know they happily bought their way in, instead of putting in the work to build/rebuild something and/or have lower standards. Brookville does make some cool stuff, but for the money, quality and history I'll take a rusty old Ford any day over a street rod body in vintage dress. The "winning A" people keep posting about must have had some serious effort put into it from their standard parts they otherwise put out. You have to care or know what you are looking at to tell the difference but it's still not a Ford.

 

Lots of Brookville parts need tweaking to work. That one sucks, since you asked about the profile the bad is on them.