'28-'29 'Coupe pillars'

B

BlueSunoco

Well-known member
Did these bad boys actually serve a purpose or were they strictly ornamental, design? Seems like extra cost to have them.
 
Unless I am not on the same page as you as far as what you are calling a pillar, the door latch pocket is part of it along with a hard structure for the roof support. The quarter panel brackets are also are bolted to them along with being nailed through them. Rod
 
I think he is talking about the offset curve running top to bottom of the cowl on 28-9 Tudor, Coupes, Pickups, Roadsters, and Phaetons.
 
Ford first used that Coupe Pillar in 1915 on the Center Door and Cabriolet, guess he liked the looks as did other body builders throughout the 1920's. Bob
 
Some folks see the bottom end of that pillar, with it's carriage bolts & that "unfinished" look, & asks if there's a part missing. I've often "thought" about making a fine wood piece, painted body color, & attach it there, with VELCRO stuff. BUT, would that make it look like a HOT ROD?
Bill W.
 
They served as a transition from the cowl to the doors. The pickup and roadster cowls were the same, but the contour of the doors was different. That way Ford could not have a different cowl for each body type. Rod
 
The 'coupe pillars' were Henry's son Edsel Ford's (head of FORD Styling Dept.) effort to bring the NEW FORD into a more contemporary and 'chic' mode of styling. The forward curving, distinct 'pillar' was all the rage in Europe and was called a "French Curve". Edsel traveled extensively in Europe and incorporated as many modern stylistic features as he could 'squeek' by his more somber and staid father. (See Edsel's custom-bodied Pheaton).

Other American marques of the time, especially the up-scale ones, used many European stylistic features, including the 'French Curve', to help give sophistocated 'panache' to their styling. Edsel, with the 'French Curve' of his newly designed Model A, was just following suit with many of the other marques of the time.

There was a much stronger 'definition' and a more pronounced 'French Pilliar' in the Ford Model A closed cars of 1928-'29 than can be seen on the open cars. FORD only used this feature on FORD-made cars, while outside body builders like Murray and Briggs (4-Door Sedans, Cabriolets, etc.) did not.

This design feature did add a bit to the manufacturing cost, and as it was 'frill' rather than function, with the financial crunch of the Oct. '29 beginning of the Great Depression, this extra 'frill' was omitted in the design of the new bodies of 1930 & '31.

- Doug Vieyra, Docent of the now closed EUREKA FORD PLANT.
 
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Good explanation by Doug. Thanks.

I almost prefer the '30-'31 style w/o the Coupe pillar. The way the cowl blends into the doors, just a personal taste the '30's just look 'beefie-er' and less antiquey if that makes any sense. That style carried into the '32 Ford which is considered one of the classiest Fords produced!
 
BlueSunoco said:
Good explanation by Doug. Thanks.

I almost prefer the '30-'31 style w/o the Coupe pillar. The way the cowl blends into the doors, just a personal taste the '30's just look 'beefie-er' and less antiquey if that makes any sense. That style carried into the '32 Ford which is considered one of the classiest Fords produced!
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I've been a Deuce guy all my life, but if I ever owned an A it would be a '28-'29 for sure. There is just something about that cowl that I like, along with the tighter hood and radiator shell.
 
Same here, the 28 cowl is a model A that looks classic old style , the 30 is just like a 32 and boring.
 
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