Hey guys! Has anybody on here ever built a 33/34 Phaeton out of a 4-door sedan?? I just finished soda blasting my 4-door sedan, and OH MAN!! the whole area above and around my drivers side rear quarter window looks like swiss cheese! I think it must have been sitting on its side and collecting water for awhile. The rest of the body looks really good! But I'm having a tough time here, first I thought maybe just find a donor panel and graft it on. then, I thought maybe I could make these panels. Well then I got thinking some more, Maybe cut the top off and make a Pheaton. I'm not talking about some hack job, or RAT ROD chop! but doing it correct and really making look like Henry's version! Any help and feed back would be great! Thanks
I'm making a roadster out of a 5 window. the lines on the closed cars and the open cars are the same. The biggest problem is you may have to thin the doors. Roadster doors were always thinner due to the lack of windows. There's also a place in the midwest (I believe) that makes the door tops and cowl top to make the transformation easy. Clark
The top of the cowl from a closed car is really hard to make look right. Unless you could find an open car cowl to use or duplicate, it will always look like you just cut the top off a closed car. My .02.
I agree, it is very difficult to make it look like something that was not made from a four door. You have to assess your metalworking skills or ability to pay someone to do this type of work. Why not just search for the panel you need to replace and keep it a four door. 34 Ford four doors are cool cars!
Both front and rear doors on a sedan are suicide and on a phaeton the front door is suicide but the rear doors are not.
It takes some serious skill to cut the top off a car and make it look like a real ragtop. Yes, it could be done, but many a body has been ruined in the attempt. If it was mine, I'd find a donor roof section, and graft it back on while doing a 2 1/2" chop. Of course, I might be a little bias since I'm currently building a 33 Fordor that will be getting a haircut. If you can't find a donor piece yourself, let me know. I might be able to help locate something.
Any chance you could put fiberglass on the inside and smooth it off where it squirts through the holes? I have never seen a sedan turned into a phaeton or a coupe turned into a roadster that I liked. Charlie Stephens
Go for it...but make sure you build all the steel parts to look like it is factory! Find someone with a real phaeton (there's one in the classifieds) and see if he can or will send lots of pics and maybe even some paper templates of the different areas that need changed....or sell me the 4dr cheap and go buy the real phaeton!!!
SAR has the open cowl top http://store.realsteel.com/19rocotoppaw.html and also various other roadster parts (doors,etc) but it'll cost you some bucks. I believe Mcpherson (Midwest) has some other parts-possibly roadster doors or tops. Making it look factory will definately take some $ for repop/Henry open parts and/or lots of fabricating to pull it off.
I saw the cowl tops from steve's! I will look to see if I can find mcpherson's for the door tops, I already figured how to do the hinges on the back doors (moving them from rear to the front) The biggest thing I can find now is the panel behind the drivers seat, I just need to look at one to copy it. I think this can be done, but I will sleep on it awhile before I make any rash decisions!!! I don't take the sawsall lightly!!!! I will let you guys know what I decide and keep you up to date. Thanks for the feed back!!!
Chris, you really like making things into roadsters huh? Weren't you talking about doing it with my old 35/6 pickup cab too? sounds cool to me.
Hey Dan, I would leave this a sedan if the top did'nt look like swiss cheese on the drivers side!!! Does that guy you sold your 34 to still have the back half of that 4-door? I hav'nt done any thing on the 36 yet! maybe this winter! So how is that 32 doing? And your diving school? I'll talk to you soon.
Here's some inspiration. There's a guy on here wanting to convert his phaeton into a roadster. Maybe he could give you some door thickness measurements to see what you'll run into. I'd ask for a measurement at the beltline. Clark
Well, I did some more looking around! I found the open car cowl top, the open car cowl sides, and open car front door tops. This means a little cut and paste work, but also there will be some fab work too, Mainly the panel behind the drivers seat and some bracing in the rear. I was even thinking of lengthing the doors and making a 2 door Phaeton, I'm pretty sure Ford only made them in 4-door, but this would eliminate having to do some fancy foot work to get the hinges moved to the "B" pillar since the rear doors on a Phaeton are not suicide. I don't know! Still kicking it around in my head and my pocket book, those open car parts are not cheap!!!! Maybe I should just hunt down a new quarter!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Keep the feed back comming!!
Everyone's covered it. You have to do some badass metal working skills to make it ever look correct. I wouldnt do it! Fordor stuff is easy to find and cheap.
You are correct sir!!!!! Yeah after standing back and looking at it, I finally came to the conclution that I was just dreaming!!!! First of all, I don't have the time, skill?? maybe, but it would take me some time! I thank you all for talking me down!
Naw, can't be done. You can't cut the roof off. Never work. I didn't ever intend this to look original, but if I'd wanted to, it would have. You just have to be confindent in your ability, don't be shy with the sawzall and cut off wheels, and have a buddy with a brake, shrinker stretcher and a bead roller. It's a lot of work, but if you want to, and you've got a wasted 4dr and always wanted a pheaton, start cutting.
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