Thread: Spirit fiberglass bodies question

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Hello everyone. I am at the very beginning of a new build and was wondering if anyone has had any experience with Spirit fiberglass bodies. I want to build a Model a coupe on a pinched 32 frame. As I'm sure you all know, Henry Ford steel is near impossible to find. At least that is my experience here in Florida. Spirit wants $7500 for a Model A coupe and they offer several options that make them quite appealing to me. I only have experience with a Ron Pope T body, so any insight anyone has would be appreciated. I am fortunate to have a lifelong friend and teacher to help and I will be emplementing some of his chassis design in the chassis. (Torsion bars in the front and truck arms with coilovers in the rear) Thank you ahead of time for any input about Spirit bodies.

I think you'd do best to cling like a limpet to a rock to your Mr Robinson. I've seen only photos of his work; but what I've seen has impressed me greatly.
With him as your tutor I would doubt if you could find anyone better.

Let him be your Fairy God-father!

Sorry but no, haven't even heard of them.

I don't have any bias against glass bodies, have had several over the years. That said I'm surprised at your comment about "how difficult" it is to find a Model A body. Jim is a good resource for you on the built guidance, he's been around and knows his stuff. You on the other hand are just getting started. Like any other subject in your life that you started on the path of knowledge you need to invest time and energy to expand your knowledge. Get more involved in the vintage car world, meet people, ask questions, observe. If you do that I suspect you'll find more Model A stuff out there than you can imagine. The good news is most of the people who have all that "stuff" are cycling out of living so you have less competition each day.

I agree with Uncle Bob. I have two fiberglass bodied cars, a '33 coupe and '32 roadster so no bias and in the Florida environment you do have the advantage that the glass won't rust if you visit the beach. That said, they made Model A's for four years and there were a LOT of them and there are a lot of them still around. If you WANT a fiberglass body that's great, but don't jump at one because you think Henry Steel is all gone. The '32-34's are harder to find, but tons of Model A stuff is out there. Here's a sedan that popped up on a local FB site this week for $3K, complete and "ran when parked" - https://www.facebook.com/commerce/li...chment&__cft__[0]=AZWJ696C7KnMjizSVp6jswH_o3lAvihjrrBl1UVcrOlZOVC5IsTcST44H5-2T8sHAABKU0cSRurosAQAYVUr3LBaa1RJJJ28P8BeKfkEM3zuvDpLzvsTT5Rm18_GNqf5fve3P_6rSm7Id66KZ0isahCqCfHVs0w IWEF55mzYI5OyMDFtR6hloO91lywOMDhNysPNeAQ5d3q-14f_mlPf_gVV&__tn__=*b!%3A%3EH-R

As a side note, I talked to old friend Duane who used to have N&N Fiberglass and made some of the best bodies around out of Belleville, AR. I asked it he knew Spirit Industries and he told me that he'd seen a friend's finished coupe a few weeks ago and it looked nice, but he didn't know how much work it took to make it look nice. When I told him you were looking for a Model A coupe his response was, "I wouldn't even think about a fiberglass Model A! There's just too many good bodies out there, and you'll spend more time & money getting a glass body right than you will metal." He's still doing cars as N&N Hot Rods, just not making bodies any more. Also said he went to Ohio to get a 2 door model A sedan a while back and paid $4000, so that one above up here in Kansas is a good buy for a sedan.

And if had room in my garage I'd jump on it.

There used to be fellow in my area that had a shortened Model A sedan. It started out as a four door, but they cut the rear doors out and welded the two sections back together. Looked like short Vicky or a long square back coupe. The car was fenderless with a 32 grille. Big block Chevy, tunnel ram, T bucket headers and big/little tire combo. Faded Grey primer with flames. Looked wicked and had way more leg room than any Model A coupe.

I would imagine a four door sedan body would be the cheapest you could find.

It made and would make again a killer hot rod.

Smokeyco, I'm not pushing that sedan in any way, just pointing out that there's a lot of "Henry's Steel" available in Model A form. You clearly said you want a coupe body on a pinched Deuce frame. An original "A" body would be nice!

Thank you all for the responses! I have some thinking to do for sure. I may tuck away my cash and keep searching for a steel body. Time will see what I end up with!