model a 3 window

Well here it is. A few updates on my 3 window. Thought you all might enjoy a few pics.

Well it looks neat to me since as far as I know there was no 3-window A built so you had to do a LOT of metal work. Since I missed the previous description can you recap the parts? Does the top lift off? Was it originally a 5-window? I know there is one fiberglass 3-window ghost replica but it is like $11K so you might as well get a '32 3-window unless you already have an A-frame.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Ford built a model a 3 window prototype, and there is a picture of it in a early ford book. Dont remember which one.

Looks good so far though, would like to see more pictures of it.

Yea Im pretty stoked on it. As far as parts go. The roof is made from a 1937 chevy truck, with a 4 door 29 model a side window for the back glass. The center of the roof is from a 1951 chevy coupe, and I made the pieces above and behind the doors out of sheet metal. I am really excited about the body lines behind the doors. Those were just hand formed with a die grinder a welder, and a hammer.
The car started as a 1929 briggs bodied cabriolet. Pictured are a couple of shots in progress.

pic 2

last 1

Danged, Jim, you are good with a hammer and a welder. That thing looked ready for a crusher when you started. And now it looks Top Notch. Good on ya.

Thanks a lot. Its an honer to be given a compliment from real rodders.

Excellent work--You are doing a marvelous job. I have removed tops from coupes in the past to make them into roadsters. You are the first person I have seen reverse the process. Looks like you are developing some very nice metalworking skills.

The car looks great, Jim. Keep us updated on the progress. Fantastic tin work !!!!!

Thanks dave. I will post as soon as the roof is done.
Jim

Heres the latest pic of the 29

Looking good Jim, keep the pics coming. :toocool:

Hey Jim, which cowl did you use on the car??? My "A-bone" identification skills are down a bit. Would that be the '29 or is it a newer one???

Well, it looks good anyway (very good), but If I had to guess it seems like '28-29 fenders on a '30-31 cowl with a '32 shell. Still the three window effect with the deuce shell gives it what I always thought of as a neat hotrod appearance. Makes me think more about a metal body for a roadster. Maybe there was a smooth cowl on a '29 cabriolet (??), but most '28-'29 Fords had a "step" in the cowl. So maybe the title is a '29 (late '29) and the cabriolet had the '30-'31 style cowl??

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Yeah, It looks like its coming along real well. Excellent work Jim.

I agree with Don Shillady---30 or 31 cowl, 28/29 fenders and splash aprons, 32 grill shell. I think that the earlier shot of the Briggs bodied roadster is misidentified---I think it is a 30 or 31, not a 29 as captioned.

It is a 1929 briggs body. They made the cabriolets for ford. It is the same cowl as a 29 4 door, but it is all 29.

Thanks Jim, you really got the look nailed on the coupe. Outstanding work !!!!!!!

There must be something that I don't understand here. Ford made model A's for 4 years. The 1928 and 1929 models had a "stepped" cowl, in which the front door jamb stuck out about 1 1/2" past the cowl on each side of the car, and the 1930 and 1931 series had a smooth cowl, that is to say, the sides of the cowl ran in a smooth line from the hood side panel back to the door opening. The roadster you show in the post has the smooth cowl sides. Did some body manufacturers have a different style of cowl within the same model year?

Brian,
Yes that is exactly it. The fordoor and cabriolet were made by a body company called Briggs. These cars had thier own style. The cowl looks like a 30-31 but the firewall is the same dimensions as the 28-29. If you look close at the pics you will notice the cowl widens out a lot more than a 30-31. I hope this helps.
jim

I'll try to wiggle out of this dilemma noting I said "seems", but in the back of my mind I remembered that the cabriolets were special and different. In my copy of "Henry's Lady" by Ray Miller there is a picture of a 1929 Cabriolet (Type 68 A) on page 127 which clearly has a smooth cowl. In addition on page 133 he shows a 1931 Cabriolet with a slanted back windshield. It would seem the cabriolet model was advanced in styling. Of some interest to me if I try to use a wild paint job is that the cabriolets used a darker color above the side molding including all of the rear deck. When this was brown and the bottom part of the paint was a light color it resulted in a really "jazzy" appearance quite daring in an age when almost every other car was a dark color, if not outright black. Actually, we can recall that '28-'29 models were on the economic bubble of the Flapper Era so I guess a two-tone cabriolet with a fox tail would have really been "IT"! So it would seem the Sibley body was a '29 cabriolet with a smooth cowl. I can supply a picture if anyone wants it but it would only be from a scan of a book picture and might not be the greatest quality. Anyway there is photographic evidence of some '29 Fords with a smooth cowl. Maybe someone from this thread will answer my question about a pie-cut windshield for a related '28 roadster on the other thread "piece of pie"????

Don Shillady
Retired Scientis/teen rodder

Well as far as colors goes. Im gonna paint it black with as close to the McMullin flames as I can do. Only with a better fade, I hope.
Jim

Here's a pic of a '28 leatherback town sedan, probably a Briggs that has the "smooth" cowl sides.

Murray also produced the town sedan body, again with the "smooth" side cowl;

Here's the '29 Cabriolet with the smooth side cowl, though the spare is in the way.

Thanks Bob. That last one is what mine is supposed to look like.

There was at least a Model A 3 window coupe prototype built.

no offence, but I like mine better.

Quote:

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Originally posted by JimSibley
Heres the latest pic of the 29

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Man, FANTASTIC job!!!!! I've got to ask..... looking at the "latest pic of the 29", is that where your engine is going to set, and if so, how's the back pipe of the exhaust header gonna work out for ya?

Keep the pictures coming.........

Thanks to Bob for the picture of the '29 cabriolet with the wild two-tone paint job. All it needs is a fox tail! I don't know if I can go for this paint scheme and it seems traditional for rods to have solid colors, but it is refreshing that in that era they did have some paint schemes other than Ford black. I'm glad to get back to cars again after several days of "computer hell" caused by a combination of adware contamination and a long series of downloads converting from MSN v7 to v9. For those who like the 3-window A, I believe there are at least two mfgrs. who make fiberglass 3-window bodies but they are almost double the price of a roadster; still in a rain/snow storm a 3-window looks like a better idea than a roadster!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Fantastic! I echo Tech's sentiments. The original looks like some of the stuff I've seen at the fairgrounds swap meet here in Springfield at the end of August. Just didn't look salvageable.

Great work Jim, looks just like Henry would've made it -- if he made one!

Boyd aint got nothing on ole Jim:)

here is another pic of a prototype 3 window '30 Ford coupe. They look more like a olds or something imo..I like them. not sure why Ford never produced them.