1936 Ford Luggage Rack

blucar

blucar

Well-known member
:
A couple of months ago I was surfing the Web and came upon a rare rear luggage rack for a 36 Ford. I don't recall ever seeing one up close an personal.
The seller was asking a pretty hefty price for the unit, I called him anyway to get more info on what he had. The pix posted with the ad looked good and talking to him sparked my interest. With the exception of the required fastener's the unit was complete with all of the stainless trim restored and the pieces that were chrome had been replated.
During the course of our initial conversation I told the man I lived in Ventura and that i had quite a collection of old car parts. We agreed to met at my place in Ventura on the following Wednesday.
When we met I discovered that the rack was very nice with the exception that is was completely disassembled, all of the assembly fasteners were missing and the paint was very poor.
Showing the man my parts inventory he got quite excited.
I ended up with the Luggage Rack and a sizable amount of his money for the parts he bought from me.
I had to do a lot of research to figure out how the rack brackets fitted together, the two special bolts that attached the arms together and allowed them to slide and rotate I had to have made. I bought a 3/4" stainless steel carriage bolt and had a machinist friend of mine turn it down to the required size.
Now that I have the unit all assembled and functioning I am going take it apart and have it power coated.
The Luggage Rack I have is exactly like the one shown on Page 124 of the 1935-36 Ford Book
 

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Bill: Did you get the 8 stainless strips? If I remember right there were also 2 different mounting bracket depending on if it is a slant back or touring sedan. Dave/Green Bay
 
The '35 and '36 racks are the same except for one minor change in the fasteners inside the outer edges of the sides of the rack. As I recall, the '35-'36 rack was not released for use on cabriolets, coupes, and roadsters.
 
Dave; et al.. I got all 8 of the stainless strips, they were refinished to as new condition.. The upper two have a slight curve to match the radius of the upper portion of the rack.
The 'thumb bolt' fasteners, one on each side were a real challenge to figure out and reproduce. The thumb nuts minus the attachment bolt came with the assembly. It has a 5/16 SAE thread and a square shoulder adjacent to the rounded carriage bolt type of head. The shaft of the bolt below the square shoulder is smooth, un-threaded.

When I got the whole rack assembled, prior to taking it to the powder coasting shop, the unit worked very smoothly.
The research I did on the Luggage Rack prior to making a deal on it revealed that the same rack and mounting hardware will fit the trunk backs, coupes, convertibles and roasters. The slant backs require special mounting bars.
When I get the rack back I'll assemble it and ad pix, etc., to this topic.
 
Yup, they’re not see often. I continue to scrounge for the final remaining components for mine.
 

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Due to the limited luggage space in most 35 and 36 Ford sedans, an accessory trunk rack was made available. An early accessory folder shows a five rung luggage rack with straight continuous stainless strips on each rung. There are only a few examples of this rack that have survived so its availability must have been short lived. The more common four rung design soon replaced the earlier model and this design remained basically unchanged for the remainder of the 35 and 36 model years. The four rung racks had two individual stainless steel strips per rung. Part No. 48-18575 was assigned to this accessory.

Engineering Release drawings and chassis parts lists indicate that these racks and brackets were designed for sedans and phaetons only. Early brackets carried Part No. 48-18590/91-A. A longer set of brackets was later made for touring sedans and is listed as Part No. 48-18590/91-B. By Aug. 1935 Engineering Release drawings show (2) complete Luggage Rack Assemblies: 48-18575-A for phaetons, convertible sedans, and sedans and 48-18575-B for touring sedans.

This luggage rack apparently was a popular accessory and many factory letters indicate that it was available in either basic black, or body color, or it could be painted to match the accessory stripe and accent wheel colors.
 
Don Rogers said:
Due to the limited luggage space in most 35 and 36 Ford sedans, an accessory trunk rack was made available. An early accessory folder shows a five rung luggage rack with straight continuous stainless strips on each rung. There are only a few examples of this rack that have survived so its availability must have been short lived. The more common four rung design soon replaced the earlier model and this design remained basically unchanged for the remainder of the 35 and 36 model years. The four rung racks had two individual stainless steel strips per rung. Part No. 48-18575 was assigned to this accessory.

Engineering Release drawings and chassis parts lists indicate that these racks and brackets were designed for sedans and phaetons only. Early brackets carried Part No. 48-18590/91-A. A longer set of brackets was later made for touring sedans and is listed as Part No. 48-18590/91-B. By Aug. 1935 Engineering Release drawings show (2) complete Luggage Rack Assemblies: 48-18575-A for phaetons, convertible sedans, and sedans and 48-18575-B for touring sedans.

This luggage rack apparently was a popular accessory and many factory letters indicate that it was available in either basic black, or body color, or it could be painted to match the accessory stripe and accent wheel colors.
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Don, If I understand this properly, the rack was NOT intended for roadsters. Correct?
 
Well now! An interesting chain of events has arisen as to the fitment of the rack I have fitting on my 36 coupe. The man I bought the rack from assured me it would fit a coupe.
Initially I was a little confused as to how the mounting brackets for the rack I have would attach to the '36 bumper bars, due to the fact that the '35-36 rear bumpers do not attach to the frame in a conventional manner, using only a very large bolt through the end of the frame in lieu of two large bolts through the side of the frame, which is the common way to attach the bumper bars.
I now know, thanks to the enlarged pix that 'petehoovie' attached, the rack attachment bars mount below the original bumper bars, extending up to mount on the exterior side of the frame.
Since I never actually attempted to mount the rack to my car before I took it to the powder coating shop, I'll have for wait to see how the installation goes.
It might turn out that the luggage Rack I have is one of those " Always and Never" deals, which can be solved with the aide of a Victor Wrench.
 
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This car, a 35 cabriolet is in the LeMay museum "annex" in the former Marymount military academy in Tacoma. There are a fair number of volunteers at the facility and I'm sure should you give them a call, that one would take some detail photos of the mounting configuration. I would think it would be similar to that of a coupe.
It is interesting to note that although this appears to be a quality restoration, no one took the time to buff off the grade 5 markings on the hex bolts.
 
Thank you "petehoovie" for the enlarged photos of the luggage rack on the '35 Cab.
My rack did not come with any fasteners so I had to be creative. I used stainless steel 5/16 bolts, washers and nuts. ground off the head markings and re-polished the heads.
Reviewing the pix in "petehovies" enlargements, I noted the four square holes in the vertical bars. As to what the purpose is or was I have no idea. I cut down four stainless steel 5/16 carriage bolts, the square shoulders of which fit the square holes perfectly and provided a finished look to the rack.
I would make a guess that since the large thumb nuts that control the movement part of the rack have 5/16 SAE threads, I'll bet the rest of the original bolts were SAE threads.
 
Don Rogers said:
Correct. It was not designed for coupes cabriolets and roadsterd
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Don, I'd sure appreciate it if you'd share a bit more of your expertise on this luggage rack subject.
I know that you have studied these thoroughly.

I do understand these were not designed for coupes, cabriolets and roadsters. Still, they are seen on these models time and again.
On the concourse, should I expect a point deduction if I decide to install one of these on any of my cars (coupe, cabriolet, roadster)?
Thanks in advance.
 
I have one on my 35 Cabriolet and it's staying there. With a rumble seat, the luggage rack and trunk is the only place to store anything.
 
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