1930 Sport Coupe Panel Above Deck Lid

[zwomack]

I am in the middle of restoring a '30 Sport Coupe. At some point in history, one of the previous owners replaced the Panel that spans from the top of the Rumble Seat lid to the Belt Rail Wood. They used a flat piece of sheet metal bent at a near 90 degree angle to make the base, then put a solid 1/2 inch thick line of Bondo on it to form out the bead and such.

I've done a bit of looking around, and it doesn't look like a 'correct' replacement panel is available for sale.

My question has 2 parts:
1.) Does anyone have any pictures to how the front portion of the rain gutter, the panel above the deck lid, the two side quarter panels, and belt rail wood all mesh together? It looks like the previous owner did 'what ever worked' to get everything to fit together, and I'd like to get something close to the correct setup going.

2.) Do yall think it's feasible to just buy the panel above the deck lid for the Coupe, (which is allegedly commercially available here), and use that as a base. Then fabricate a piece of sheet metal with the 'correct' bead dimensions and contours, and then weld it to the base part to get it to fit into the Body? Obviously, Bondo would still be used to smooth everything out, but I want it to be 'close' to correct without using a full jar of Bondo...

I can post pictures of what the previous owners did on request.

 

[rotorwrench]

I won't swear to it but some sources indicate that that panel is interchangeable with the roadster of that year. Brookville makes those but I don't know about accuracy. The front section of drip rail attaches to that panel and incudes the corner bumper rubbers. Maybe an owner of a Sport Coupe of that vintage will clarify things. I've had to massage a lot of repro panels to get a good fit so I've come to expect that.

 

[Bob from Northport]

Here are some photos of a 30' Sport Coupe I nearly done with. I have a ton of photos as I went through it. Email me if you have specific questions and will try to find a photo.

 

[gdmn852]

Hello, I have a roadster with the repro panel, had to rework the molding areas due to incorrect fit and die distortion . Probably better that what you are describing on your car .Still working on mine

 

[rotorwrench]

The roadster panel appears to be longer from front to back like the 28 & 29 panel differences between coupe and roadster. That makes sense due to the shorter belt line and the way the deck lid fits the two different type bodies. A person might be able to shorten one but it would take a fair amount of work and tweaking. The production figures for the Sport Coupes dropped off after the depression got started so there are less of those models than the first two years. That piece from Mikes looks like just the rear lip. If that is a section that rusts then it could be used like they say as a repair patch. It would take some careful fitting and welding though. It depends on what you have left of the original parts if any. Fabricating one from scratch would take a long time to just get the bucks set up to form the different shapes. There are folks that do this stuff every day but they have all the good sheet metal tools and they charge a pretty penny.

 

[gdmn852]

Hello again , the channel is a separate piece that is spot welded to the upper deck panel. You could shorten the repro panel to use the molding area , I had to remove the channel from the old panel, it was really rough with a big patch welded in in center. If you could find a good sheet metal guy maybe be able to shorten the panel and relocate the channel mount area.If you want I can take some pictures of mine if it helps, let me know.

 

[zwomack]

I appreciate the comments and advice, and I'll take as many pictures as I can get!

Thanks everyone!

 

[Tinbasher]

Try Bert's Model A parts. They will probably have a good original at a fair price. Talk to Steve Becker. Jp