Ive got to go look at a hardtop that had the roof removed. By description by the owner, it sounds like a sport coupe that had the door frames removed. My question is this; besides cleaning and capping the leftover door post's, does this body covert to a roadster well, in terms of the area behind the doors, or is it too differrent from an A roadster to even screw around with? Thanks for any help given.
it's been done before. Try a search for "coupster" They look ok to me, but you can tell it's not a roadster...
Keep it a Sport Coupe. Check out Clark's build. I LOVE this car -- and probably should have bought it when I had the chance too! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=237693&showall=1
It will never be a "real" roadster, but there's an awful lot of good looking "coupesters" out there. If all you want is a topless hot rod go I'd say go for it!
I see no one has answered your question yet The only thing you'll have to do is clean up the top of the doors as you mentioned..also the area right behind the door had a post that ran up along the rearward top frame of door...this probably was cut off to..but it's only about a 2 inch square to patch..nothing major. Other than that there is no really serious area to fix. The sides of the quarters and the top edge that runs along the back have a 90 degree lip..so basically you have a finished edge. If the front window area is still intact you should leave it be. It's an easy chop if you'd like to lower the profile and is the easiest way to get your glass situated. If that's cut off to you'll have to do some patching and some thinking as to how you'd like to mount your windshield frame. If you go this route you'll probably wind up using an actual roadster windshield frame with roadster posts. Hope this info helps
Here ya go Top edge of quarters and back of passenger compartment. Those holes can be easily welded up and finished or left as is The post I was talking about that originally held a triangle shaped bracket for the top wood. you can see this in the pic below
The rear deck most likely needs to be stretched for the proportions to look correct. Otherwise you have alot of room behind the seat and the look of a looong interior , short backend and short front end... the doors have to be thinned to look decent in my opinion, also... on a 28-29 the cowl posts stick out alot too... which looks a little odd if not modified. a 30-31 is easier to do the job on then a 28-29. I've done it with moderate success, but in the end... its not a roadster. heres the one I built from a 28 sport coupe.
In the dumb question depatment, are there any major differences is cockpit length (ie comfort / legroom) between the real roadster and either the coupster 5w or sport coupe? Just wondering, Gary
I have a '29 Sport Coupe that will stay a Sport Coupe. I'm curious though. Where are they different from a roadster? In the doors? Quarters? Trunk area? I have always wondered if you used a roadster cowl and doors, what else would need to be changed to pull off the illusion? Kevin
no but thanks..I like pictures..............the question asked was is it a noticable difference from a roadster?...............The only BODY parts shared are fender wells, deck lid,lower deck pane,l gas tank, and lower cowl panels What I'm saying is ittakes more work to make it a roadster than fillin' door tops.
you have to stretch the quarters and the upper deck panel. I've seen it done but for the work involved you could just start with a roadster in just about any condition. I've seen some cool coupesters they aren't tryin; to be roadsters and that makes them cool.
Differences in the coupe and the roadster start with longer doors on the coupe....this is a good thing. Roadster doors are too short and make it a little hard to get past the wheel. The doors are thicker on the coupe to make room for glass....to pull off a good coupester you need to thin the doors or it just won't look right. The cabin area is longer on the coupe too. This would be if you measure the inside of the car from the dash to the area behind the seat. Not really needed most of the time. How many coupes have the seat pushed all the way back? Would help to shorten this a bit....maybe 6 inches. I like sport coupes left alone and i like coupesters. It just takes a lot more work to pull off making a coupester look right. Clark
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