What's the difference between a 28-29 and a 30-31 Model A?

Many of the changes Ford made were incorporated into production as the developed them. The 28-29 pick-up (Phone booth cab) was actually built part way into the 1930 model year, so some are titled as 1930's and had the 1930 style headlamps. The painted upper insert on 1931 grill shells didn't appear until a bit later into the 1931 model year. The 1931 indented firewall wasn't until may 1931, The steel roof pickups didn't appear until August of 1931. Another common practice is someone can use a complete set of 28-29 fenders with a 30-31 body. The Alexander Brothers pickup did this as many people like how the front fenders curve around the tire. A parts catalog form Brattons outlines many parts by what month and year of changes.

 

I didn't know about this until after I had the upper firewall/ tank blasted for my car. I was actually gonna call it a 28 because it seems all 28-29 As are refered to as 29s. It turned out mine was assenbled on July 19, 1929. Pretty neat to find it there.

 

Someone said the windows on the 28/29 Tudor are larger than the 30/31? And the 28/29 Tudor quarter panels are longer than the 30/31? Is this true?

 

that model a coupe with the extreme chop is a friend of mine, it is a 1931 model a coupe called the GREEN GRANADE. it now lives in texas.

you can tell a model a sedan (30-31) appart by the fenders. a 30 model a has a split finder. and a 31 has a full finder.

The first picture is a 30
The second a 31

 

Sedans can be bodies by Murray or Briggs, the difference most obvious in the squareness or roundness of the window tops. I'm not sure which have blind quarters or not.

 

Or you can take a 31 sedan, turn it into a roadster pickup, then put a 28/29 fender package on it!!! (I like the curvature of the front fenders on the 28/29 better than the 30/31). This pic is from a photo shoot I had with Brush this past summer. (Thats his coupe).

 

Sorry for bringing and old thread back to life but i've always wondered this as well ... As far as the bodies of say a 29 and a 31 are they the same?

 

No
28/29 Basically the same
30/31 Basically the same
Virtually no body panels are the same between the two series of "A"s. The coupe trunk lids are the same, I think

 

This is my ar 28 rpu. Left hand e brake , forged apron and fender braces, front fenders are different to. They are rounded at the bottom by the apron versus squarish. Top did not fold. It was fixed. Does come off thou 2 people can remove it but you have to leave it at home if your cruising. Many other little things. But as a rod...who cares

 

I know I am drudging up an old thread, but I have a question on this topic... Will a 30-31 gas tank line up and fit the 28-29 cowl side panels? I know the stampings are not the same etc. for matching the doors, but I have a junk 1930 tank and firewall and was considering building a low budget "hot rod / cruiser" with it. I planned to fab the rest of the main body, so the reveals, body lines don't really matter. The main question is whether or not the firewall and gas tank will line up with them to build a cheap cowl assembly.

Thanks

 

Looking at the 29 cowl I have and my 31 Vic I'd say no, not even close.

 

40 posts over 12 years and no one has mentioned the bumpers are different. Easiest way to tell on a stock car. Of course, my '31 has been chopped, has a '32 grill shell and rear fenders, cycle front fenders, no hood and a modified firewall, pushbar rear bumper and non-stock lights, so you have to look at the front bumper-which is stainless, but the original shape anyway. Oh, and the Model A VIN was vacated by PennDot who issued titled it as a 1931 Model A but sent me new VIN tag in 2004.

 

isn't the cloth top insert different between 28-29 and 30-31?

 

Also there is one difference between the 28/29 and 30/31 chassis and it is the front cross member.

The difference is the height of the pads where the radiator sits on the 30/31 it is just a little bit lower than the 28/29.

That is because the 28/29 has a smaller radiator than the 30/31. So the pad height was dropped about a 1/4 inch on the 30/31. I know that isn't much but if you are running a stock hood it wont fit to the cowl properly bigger gap at the bottom than the top.

Don't ask how I found out ;(

 

I think they’re called square headed screws. LOL


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Pretty much anything mechanical will interchange, although there are slight differences on many of them. Trim pieces like handles, lights, dash inserts, etc will fit, but are different. I cannot recall a single piece of sheetmetal that will fit or interchange, unless you are talking about pickup beds.

 

Forty five years ago my Dad gave me two Floyd Clymer Model A handbooks and told me to memorize the changes, so I could scout parts for him under briar thickets and up in washout gullys. Maybe further back than that, actually. I got to where I could tell you almost to the day when an A was built, who built it, and now all that information is gone. He had his A stash stolen when I was twelve and never touched another one again.

 

A very sad story. Those Clymer books were great. He had quite the life. I like that he said his mother never worried about him-he was always out in the "auto shed". And, that's what I've got, an auto shed.

 

My father learned the hard way when he purchased a "1930" coupe in the early 70's. One serious collector in the area with a 29 Roadster took one look at it and said my father purchased a mongrol as it had a 1930 body, 1929 fenders, rad shroud, headlights, 1928/9 engine and seems to me the rims were also incorrect as 28/29 & 30/31 have different sized rims.
The fenders for 28/29 are a sharper steeper rounded slope compared to the gradual on 30/31. The rad shroud is nickel plated stamped steel whereas the 30/31 is stainless. The 28/29 headlights are quite conical steel plated whereas the 30/31 are stainless bowl shaped. Also the instrument panel is slightly different as well. The engine you may ask? Being a 1930 it needed a star at the end of the serial number stamped on the block. The one in the car didn't have the star and my father wondered where he could get a star metal stamp. The 1928 and possibly 29? , I forget after all these years had a cone style clutch and my father converted it to the newer conventional styled clutch assembly. In the early 80's I came home and it was gone. Some damn flipper conned him out of it because he thought I wasn't interested in it