'29 Roadster Structure

Will N

Will N

Well-known member
I'm starting to tear apart my '29 Roadster for a re-restoration. I've pulled out the interior and I'm seeing a couple of things that I don't know what they're for. The first is a support that seems to have been cut off at some point in the past. It is located behind the seatback, up under the filler panel that is behind the top of the seatback and the rumble seat opening. It seems to be wedged between that and the rear quarter panel. You can see the rough end where it appears to have been torched off. There are two like this, on the driver and passenger side. Where did this support extend down to and how was it attached there? Does anyone have a picture of an intact support? Are these being reproduced?


The second is a small bent bracket that is screwed into the center vertical wooden support for the seatback, above the clip that holds the seatback spring. I am guessing that this might have been added at some point because the horizontal tack strip is missing a chunk, and the vertical wooden support is not screwed into it like the two vertical supports at the left and right ends. I'm guessing that it started off flat, and it was screwed into the tack strip to bridge the gap caused by the missing chunk of wood, and that at some point that top screw came loose and it somehow got bent downward as it shows in the picture. Does this seem reasonable, or am I way off base and that bent bracket has some other purpose?



Finally, does anyone sell repros of the wooden tack strips? Mine are chewed up from multiple reupholsteries over the years. Thanks for taking the time to read this!
 

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Hello, Snyders sells a wood body kit for roadsters .Thetop piece of wood that the top fast ion to is usually made in 3 pieces for shipping rather than one piece as original.
 
The cut off piece that you show , is that in the trunk area? I have a 31 and the support from rain gutter to wheel housing was cut off when they repaired wheel well area . Snyders also supplied them . On a 29 this piece would connect to the body frame, if it’s the the part I think it is.
 
There were vertical body braces on both sides. Pretty much all body parts are made by Brookville Roadster. If a person purchases the rear quarter panels, they are available with or without the braces. Here is a link to Bratton's.
https://www.brattons.com/28-29-ROADSTER-RUMBLE-OR-TRUNK-COMPARTMENT-FRONT-BRACES/productinfo/35340/

With no top support, open cars need all the bracing that they can get. You definitely want to replace those. On the 28/29 cars they extend all the way down to the lower body sill (sub-rail).
 
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Thanks you guys! Yes, it's in the trunk area, and yeah, the bottom part of the picture of the support in that bratton's link looks like the stump left in my car. On close inspection, I can see where the original brace ended up on the sub rail. There's traces of brazing where the holes were sealed up. The wood tack strip must have been replaced in my car, as it is in three pieces now, not one piece.
 
I saw a unrestored A roadster at a flea market that was a barn find .The tack strip along the top of the body where the top attached was actually a two piece metal stamping with a rope like material for the tack strip sandwiched in between the metal. I don’t believe anyone makes a repro like that. As you mentioned your support will go from the rain gutter to lower body sub rail . Mine was also missing these completely,lot of body flex on that. Must be a common problem as the brackets are available as repro. I fitted new ones to my car they seemed to be a little longer but my car is a late 31 so they attached to the wheel well area rather than body sill , but this car has been reworked so hard to tell .Most Model A have been restored so hard to tell what was originally.
 
28 & 29 roadster models only had the wood rear cab tack rail that I'm aware of but there are some differences in the way the new Brookville parts are made but they're close. Budd stamped out a lot of the original 28/29 roadster body parts and their quality was next to no others.

The 1930/31 bodies were very well made and especially the deluxe. I like the look of the 28/29 but the 30/31 was starting to get to be a more comfortable car. The 1932 bodies were finally there. Too bad there was a depression. Maybe there would have been more of them around.
 
Budd was probably one of the leaders in getting away from wood framing.The 31 late pick up truck bodies were basically steel structures. I think the 1936 GM cars had the first all steel roofs but still had some wood in bodies.
 
Retrospectively it’s ironic that the lowest price body styles are today’s higher price collector cars.Model A, 32 Fords early V8 roadsters command the highest price, same thing with non Ford cars, 356 Porsche for example. With some exceptions like the A and B Convertible Sedan,Cabriolets, and Phaetons that are less common than roadsters.
 
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