Another rare one

Dave Mellor NJ

Well-known member
Ever seen a roadster stake truck?
 

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Seems easy enough to plop an open cab on an AA? Could have been at the the dealer or at home. CCPU and open cab have the same footprint from cowl to back, no?
Perhaps the term "roadster" implies a folding top, and no side glass, as opposed to "open cab", or fixed soft top and no side glass. I helped restore a "roadster pickup" last year and am working on one right now and it seems like the "76" or "82" would have been used to designate either an A or AA.
I'm not the oldest Model A guy around but I've never seen an open cab on an AA. Certainly seems like a good idea for hot climates and surprising it didn't happen more but maybe hauling a loaded big truck with nothing over your head but some cloth isn't the smartest? This truck has a sturdy headache rack built on the flatbed so it probably occurred to the guy who used it. He definitely means business with that horn going straight through the the dash! -Chris, also in Boulder.
-side note- Neil, I just moved to your side of town. Sold my CCPU recently but I cruise by your place in my T all the time. Hopefully we'll see you around!
 
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Look at your body types in either the chassis parts catalog or the body parts catalog and you will note that open cabs, closed cabs, pickups (bed only) were all separate body types. If you wanted a pickup or a stack truck, you ordered a chassis, either an open or closed cab, and chassis-compatible body (pickup or stake, etc.) I am sort of surprised that all Model A hobbyists don't already know that.
 
Seems easy enough to plop an open cab on an AA? Could have been at the the dealer or at home. CCPU and open cab have the same footprint from cowl to back, no?
Perhaps the term "roadster" implies a folding top, and no side glass, as opposed to "open cab", or fixed soft top and no side glass. I helped restore a "roadster pickup" last year and am working on one right now and it seems like the "76" or "82" would have been used to designate either an A or AA.
I'm not the oldest Model A guy around but I've never seen an open cab on an AA. Certainly seems like a good idea for hot climates and surprising it didn't happen more but maybe hauling a loaded big truck with nothing over your head but some cloth isn't the smartest? This truck has a sturdy headache rack built on the flatbed so it probably occurred to the guy who used it. He definitely means business with that horn going straight through the the dash! -Chris, also in Boulder.
-side note- Neil, I just moved to your side of town. Sold my CCPU recently but I cruise by your place in my T all the time. Hopefully we'll see you around!

No open cab pick ups left the factory with a folding top, only a fixed top.
 
Yes they did, the 76A open cab AA. The closed cab was the 82A.

Ford made an OPEN cab and a CLOSED cab truck body. With the OPEN cab trucks the tops were fixed and did not go down. Nowhere will you find in Ford's records/parts list or body classifications it was ever called a roadster cab.
 
The picture shows open top commercial roof and not roadster roof.

As in - the chassis/body came likely as a unit?

I'm thinking the flat bed was NOT Ford production but likely added later. It seems a bit "high" off the frame.

VERY common to make your own.

I once "dissolved" an AA 131 wheelbase truck for the parts - the truck had been fitted up with a "bakery box truck aspect" to the rear of the cab. As I found it the roof had rotted out and the box sides were in the progress of dissolving themselves out as well.

Like a barn - once the roof goes soon the structure follows.

Interesting truck in that someone had put some SERIOUS money into that truck repairing (sistering) the frame. Like 3/4 inch "reinforcements" at the frame damage - welded into place after bolting. Like supplying it with post 1932 "cast iron brake drums" Once I got into it I truly regretted the oxy-acetylene spent to cut up that frame. The drums/axles/smile crack ******/anything worth saving got saved and turned over to the later owner of the 26K original miles AA (which at that moment is why I cut up the basketcase.)

But when you have an easier path to follow...

Time value of effort invoked.

Joe K
 
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