Thread: Question about Brookeville roadster

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Hello,
I have a chance to purchase a brand new never assembled Brookeville 32 Roadster. It is in boxes. Completely apart how it comes from their factory. Question is,has anyone here assembled one, and if so how extensive is the process? Any finer points I should know ahead of time? I a TCI chassis for it to go on.


Thanks,
Scott

Scott...you might want to do a search on the forum. There are some pros and cons that some members have expressed about Brookville Roadsters.

I personally own a 1930 Brookville Roadster, but was fortunate enough to have bought it completed.

Pat

I did not know you could purchase them in pieces. Everyone I have seen was mounted on a pallett. A friend of mine is in the process of assembling one and it was delivered to him all in one piece.

Do a search on the jalopy journal - a few guys have assembled their own. Good advice. This probably isn't the type of message board for your question.

It is really involved, I'm not sure it is a good idea if you have never dis-assembled / assembled a Ford body before. There would be no instructions, etc..

i own one , if you do assembly make sure your a good welder and build it right on your frame . im currious to see how cheap your getting it as the best way is to buy assembled but there is a wait time ,,,or buy my entire car for 35k has quick change , muncie 4spd and all done right , save a bundle

It isn't for the faint of heart. We bought a '30 roadster pickup body from Brookville unassembled. It is a much less complicated body than a '32 roadster, and we still had fits getting it together. Brookville has pretty foolproof jigs that they use, but we had to build ours on a simple platform we built from plywood. We aren't exactly new to this game, and aren't afraid of a challenge, but there were times we had to sit back and wonder if part A was really going to fit into part B.

Before the body came I made the comment to my Son we should consider buying these unassembled bodies, putting them together, and taking them to shows to sell. That is now the joke of the shop. He keeps saying to me "Hey, why don't we buy these unassembled and put them together to sell??? " We got ours together finally, and had to do it this way because we are channeling it and would have had to disassemble it pretty far anyway, but it was not a roll in the hay by any means.

Bob Parmenter on here posted these pictures of the jig a company near him has to assemble the roadster body. You can see how it would aid you in getting things lined up. I can tell you, once the cowl is straight, everything starts to fall in place, but getting to that point is the hard part.

If you want to read of our adventure, here is the thread:

http://www.clubhotrod.com/forums/sho...oadster+pickup

Don

Thanks guys for the input...it really looks like a whole bunch of work I am not set up to do. I wil keep you informed as how things go.

I'm late here but here's my input.

Mine is a '31. It was factory assembled. They did a terrible job of putting it together. Disassembled is the only way to go but not for the faint-of-heart. If you need more info, I can forward my letter to them with the major problem points I found.

I agree with Dave that if you are shooting for perfection in gaps and fit we can afford to take extra pains in assembling a body that a production company like Brookville probably can't. I know our body will end up being tighter than what they can afford to crank out on the assembly line, but we also took two months to get it done, and it still has more to go to completely finish it up.

We also have to remember that Brookville is working from Henrys old presses, from what I understand, so they are true to what his fit and finish would have been in 1932. All of us who have played with these things know they are no where close to being like 2008 cars as far as tolerances and being dimensionally correct. Cars of that era were different from side to side by a big margin many times. Hot rodders are the ones who take the time to tweak them and make them look perfect.

Overall though I have to give Brookville props. I know Jack has had some issues, but for what they charge the bodies are pretty much a bargain. I also found them to be helpful when contacted for info and advice, but maybe I just got lucky and got the right person on the phone. I would buy from them again, and probably will. My Son Don has his eye on their '32 coupe body and is starting to talk about buying a Deuce frame at Turkey Run this November, so we might be doing one of those.

Don