Rich's Roadster

mjw

mjw

Senior Member
Hey everyone

I've been around prior to FordBarn being acquired by Ryan, mostly lurking and buying some things. I am a Hamb'er too since 2006 so I know there is some cross pollination between the two. I am one of them.

I finally was a able to get a 30 Roadster from the estate of a friend and neighbor of mine.

If you are interested in the story I posted it here:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=513953

So now my short term and maybe long term goal is to put it back together and drive it. I am not really a restoration kind of guy but I will probably at some point take off the fenders, put in juice brakes and fool around with the motor a bit. I won't hack up the original parts but rather store them so it can be returned to original. But more likely will want to eventually trade it for a Tudor so I can take my kids for a ride.

It has a lot of sentimental value to me so for now I want to get it going and give Rich's ghost a ride that Rich never got.

So anyway I will be posting some stuff here for sale that I think is decent enough for at least drivers from the stuff I have collected, and now don't need now that I have a complete car. I wanted to post this first as I really think it is not right to just post stuff for sale and not be active. (At least I was a lurker) I will be posting a bunch of questions as I get going as Rich had a ton of stuff and I want to make sure I get all the stuff for the roadster he had.

I've got the mechanics handbook I and II but it doesn't cover all my questions especially body parts.
 
mjw said:
i am not really a restoration kind of guy but i will probably at some point take off the fenders, put in juice brakes and fool around with the motor a bit. .
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why?

Let me give you a quiz.

There are four owners of Model A's. Let's call them A, B, C, D.

They push down on the brake pedal and the car slows. If they push harder the wheels lock up. Which one has juice brakes?
 
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Didn't Henry stay with rod brakes 'till 1939? I think I heard he also sold a lot of cars up to that point when most other cars had juice brakes. Hmmmm.
 
Mike V. Florida said:
why?

Let me give you a quiz.

There are four owners of Model A's. Let's call them A, B, C, D.

They push down on the brake pedal and the car slows. If they push harder the wheels lock up. Which one has juice brakes?
Click to expand...
I don't know who has the juice brakes, I just know that our original Coupe with stock brakes and steel drums will lock them up tight!

the hydraulic brakes on our 37 Plymouth were a lot more trouble and did not stop any better than the Model A.

my 2 cents and worth every penny of it.........
 
Mike V. Florida said:
why?

Let me give you a quiz.

There are four owners of Model A's. Let's call them A, B, C, D.

They push down on the brake pedal and the car slows. If they push harder the wheels lock up. Which one has juice brakes?
Click to expand...

Actually its not so much mechanical vs hydraulic its drum brakes on the front I hate. My first car was a 68 mustang (in 1986) with front drums and they were a pain to adjust and never stopped very well. I put on a set of Discs when I changed the 200 straight six to a 289 as the front drums were not adequate to stop above 60 without fading or locking up.

I have driven a few A's and as long as it is stock in the motor dept with a top speed of 45 or so the mechanical are more than enough to stop but above that I prefer hydraulic and discs.
 
Chris in Jax said:
I don't know who has the juice brakes, I just know that our original Coupe with stock brakes and steel drums will lock them up tight!

the hydraulic brakes on our 37 Plymouth were a lot more trouble and did not stop any better than the Model A.

my 2 cents and worth every penny of it.........
Click to expand...

My Grandfather had a 37 Plymouth when it was new (still have the original NJ registration) and before that a 31 Pierce Arrow the only thing he had trouble with was his pre WWII (maybe WWI) motorcycle handlebars coming off and running into a fence. :eek:
 
mjw said:
Actually its not so much mechanical vs hydraulic its drum brakes on the front I hate. My first car was a 68 mustang (in 1986) with front drums and they were a pain to adjust and never stopped very well. I put on a set of Discs when I changed the 200 straight six to a 289 as the front drums were not adequate to stop above 60 without fading or locking up.

I have driven a few A's and as long as it is stock in the motor dept with a top speed of 45 or so the mechanical are more than enough to stop but above that I prefer hydraulic and discs.
Click to expand...

Are you saying you're going to put disc brakes on the A?
 
Mike said:
I would never put juice brakes on a Model "A"
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Mike
If mine was or could be made to be as nice as your Avatar I wouldn't either, but isn't and cannot.

Not only that I love to tinker and can't leave anything alone.

It won't ever be a big dollar Hod Rod, at least not by me, but I think it would be cool to run it without fenders and pretend that I am something I am not, at least for a little while, and then pass it on.
Mark
 
I may as I have the parts for it but most likely not, as I really want to drive it stock for a while. I have a pile of parts that I was going to do a Hod Rod with but a Tudor not a Roadster so if time allows (which it probably wont) I will trade it on.

But for the time being everything is there frame and motor but not the body which won't take long to paint and put back together.

Here is not too good a pict of it as it stands in case you did not click on the link to the hamb.
 

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Quick update. The Roadster is coming home with me this weekend. I found a garage to rent in town for the winter.

I still need to dig through all of Rich's stuff to find missing parts. It's confusing because he had collected stuff from 28 to 31 so I am not sure what goes with what.

I really want to find all the parts for the top but I am not sure what to look for, same goes for the floors, seatpans and rumbleseat parts. I am going to have to find a standard and deluxe 30 roadster nearby to take some detailed photos.
 
My first "A" was mechanical and the one I have now is juice. All I can say is leave a lot of space between you and the car in front of you regardless of which one you have. JMHO

Jack
 
Nice looking Roadster, I'd get it running first before spending money on upgrades if you plan on turning it over for a Tudor some day down the road. Sure would like to see you post some photos of the inside of the trunk. I'm converting my '30 Roadster from a rumble seat to a trunk and the inner pan at the back attachment needs an illustration. Happy to help answer questions, good luck with the project, I'm on the HAMB too.
 
Roadster62 said:
Nice looking Roadster, I'd get it running first before spending money on upgrades if you plan on turning it over for a Tudor some day down the road. Sure would like to see you post some photos of the inside of the trunk. I'm converting my '30 Roadster from a rumble seat to a trunk and the inner pan at the back attachment needs an illustration. Happy to help answer questions, good luck with the project, I'm on the HAMB too.
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There are no pans or floors just the bare subframe. I think I have the pan for both the trunk and rumble but I am not sure which is which without a photo.

There were 4 lids, the originals are toast it might be possible for someone to cut them all and make one good one but I am not sure. I took what I think is a repop that has the hole for the handle filled in with brass brazing and the latch at the top looks to be cut out with a torch. There are no holes for the side hinges which make me believe it is a repop.

When I get it home I will take some better picts. Thanks for the offer of help. Do you have a top? If so can you send me some photos of the mechanism? Thanks.
 
Nice looking project but if it was mine I would keep the mechanical brakes on and rebuild them and also add new cast iron drums. Much easier to adjust and balance out mechanicals. I kept mechanicals on my roadster and 29 coupe and have no problems stopping with either.
 
:rolleyes: If it was me with this car and did not come with top iron or a chrome windshield[if it did it's shot i would guess in the corners] then i would do a STANDARD roadster:D. Easy to find a good orginial standard windshield and top iron. The repro's on the standard are much better then Deluxe .Plus you would have a rare car in a STANDARD roadster and more head room.:)
 
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