I know this has probably been asked in the past but is anyone aware of the availability of templates or drawings of the body wood for a 30/31 Model A coupe? I have a pile of parts that I am trying to reassemble into a coupe body and none of the body wood is present or has survived. Based on the quality of parts I'm starting with, I can't see spending over $600 for the wood. Thanks.
some of the wood patterns are in the Les Andrews model A handbook series. Vol. 1 is mechanical stuff every A owner should have, vol.2-3 cover different stuff like wood and performance ideas. Check at Brattons antique auto parts
Not sure if it is a option for you? I think I would want to replace the wood with metal, unless was going for a full restoration. I could only point you at youtube videos. While mat has the old wood here for a pattern, you could make one out of cardboard & transfer it to metal or even wood if you wanted to?
Thanks for the tips, I’ll check those sources and see what I can find. My car is definitely not a restoration. Who knows, it might eventually end up as parts for other peoples projects or just scrap. I’m starting from scratch but I’d like to try and make something out of it.
Most of the places that “sell” the wood kits seemed to have been back ordered with long delivery times even before 2020 so my advice would be figure out what you have, save what’s good and make templates from the rotten. Or even patch it as has been shown before. what your missing I’m sure you can source a photo or Rolf reverse engineer. 30/1 regular coupe? I’ll go see what I’ve got for photos of the wood skeleton for ya in just a few. Gotta go inside to the library
I don't use any wood when I build a model A coupe. I locate where I want the body to sit (I always put them on 32 frames) and lay out some sub rails connecting them to the cowl and I weld the body panels together and fill the top with the roof skin of a 90's gm extended cab pickup. By the time you get the body all stitched together, it's solid. Ford used wood because he was building bolt together bodies and needed the wood for structure. If you weld it together the only reason for wood is to anchor upholstery and there's ways to do that with steel too. For the guy with a nice survivor body with wood in it, by all means preserve it like it is but if you're piecing together a body without wood, just weld it. Here's an example that I welded together using a 32 firewall and cowl vent and 30/31 sedan doors for 1 1/2" more leg room and a 5 inch chop. It's already setup for a 32 frame. This is one of my dozen projects waiting their turn to be built.
I would replace the support wood with steel tube, 3/8" shallower [left to right] than the stock wood... 3/8" hardwood trim moldings [lowes, home depot others]... then drill through the wood and steel, tap the steel, and screw the trim wood to the steel... later the upholsterer will use the trim wood to tack his material to...
This isn’t exactly what I was looking for but it’s a 29 coupe and a 30-1 sport coupe to get some ideas I know I’ve seen a page with a skeleton of just the wood I’m just not grabbing the right book yet
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/60s-era-street-strip-model-a-coupe.1159568/ Pretty positive I shared the wood photos to @-Brent- thread if you feel like digging threw it.
Here's a link to the post where details about chopping and fitting the window portion kit starts: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...p-model-a-coupe.1159568/page-26#post-14182375 There are close-up pics that might be of some use.
The Jalopy Journal
