I always ran the splash aprons on my old coupe because it looked right. I mocked up the aprons on my roadster hoping to achieve the same "look". I don't know though, I'm not sure they look better than how it looks now without them. I like the way they cover up all the crap that hangs down below the 'A' frame but they don't seem to blend in as well as before. Maybe because their not sitting right on the car? They would be painted and sit a lot closer to car, particulary at the front, if I ran them. How it is now without.
I vote for without! very nice looking with out them. just my opinion here, but if the fenders are not on, they just look out of place. that last picture of your car looks kick ass.
The use of splash aprons without fenders harkens back to the days of yesteryear when the gow jobs and strip downs were the hot rods of the day. You will often see them fenderless with either splash aprons or made up "rolled pans" or even no roll "curtains dropping from the frame between the wheels on each side. This accomplished one important thing, it visually made the car look lower than it really was! SO, if you like the look and with stock wheels and tires, that IS the look, enjoy it.
I think a very slight trim, perhaps slightly curved, at the back would help. Make it flow as an extension of the rear wheel-well border.
i LIKE THEM TOO! TomH those 31's look topper! it's great to see something different, dresses up the car a bit.
P.S. Enbloc... does that roadster sit at the stock height with stock front axle? I believe that is the way i will do my car... just curious because i love the look of your coupe and roadster.
Run it with the splash aprons..................prewar hotrods look so rad with them hanging down......
Thanks for the comments. Interesting. Seems to a 50/50 split. Which is exactly how I feel. I'd love a proper belly pan on it, like this one which has always been a favourite of mine. The rear is an original 8 leaf spring with the 2nd or 3rd leaf removed, I forget which, to mimic a factory 7 leaf roadster spring. The front end is stock 'A' with an original 10 leaf spring. The only change to the front spring is reversed eyes. I think thats the key. The taller/higher the car sits the better it looks with the splash aprons in place.
I like your coupe with them, but I like your roadster without them. I can't really say why. I don't like the belly pan, though.
Several years ago my friend Paul (R.I.P.) had a 29 hiboy roadster and didn't like the look of the A frame,,,just something missing. He thought about building a new frame,,,he even bought a set of 32 frame rails,,, One afternoon we got to talking about the 29 glass bodys and he said,," Why not pull a mold off the rails and make some glass 32 rails and bolt them to the bottom of the body",,,he did it and 90% of the people that saw it didn't know it wasn't a frame. He had planed to make some to sell but passed away before he got around to it. HRP
If you stay with the pre-War era style I agree that the aprons need to stay. Everybody takes them off. That is one of the things that I like on Chris Elmer car. We left them off on our pre-War car just because. I don't really know whey but we did, but we did. I is nice to see era specific styles. I vote leave them on. My two cents. Great car as well. I like it. Steve Glucoft Amocat Speed Emp.
I to hesitated to mount the aprons. My good friend came over and said ya know what they used to do right, back in the day. My other buddy Ron/ with the orange Dodge modified was out at Bonneville and saw Loudpedals roadster in person . He feel in love with it . At first when I mentioned what I was doing to him he just shook his head. Now he loves it.Do it . They look great and ya don't see a bunch of them . To each his own.
Loud pedal, If I remember on your 31 you didn't step the frame in the back either. You are running pretty much stock height back there with maybe a few leaves missing and of course reversing the eyes on the main spring. The aprons drew it all into perspective & porpotion to me. Please correct me if I am wrong. Also how much of a drop was in that front axle??? Looks like 2 to 3 inches.
why are the picture deleted? I just hate it when this happens, I start reading then 'no pictures' why..?
was Paul (rip ) from Phoenix area? people talk about these plastic frame covers around here, but nobody seems to recall who makes them.
7 years,either the account ended or the pic were deleted from said.As for the aprons,i like them both ways.I wonder how they would look with a little roll on the fender and board mounting edges.