Australian wood sub frame 28-29

The description is curious. A phaeton body could be called a touring such as the model T touring but the phaetons generally have a steel sub frame. I know that Canada supplied frames, bodies, and knock downs in that time frame but a lot of descriptions could vary between different countries. Most wood sub frames were associated with Fordors or other sub contracted bodies. Did Ford of Australia make their own bodies of this type?
 
The body style you guys call a Phaeton are locally known as a Tourer. They were BY FAR the most common body style sold here.
 
Basically, the story, as I know it, is that after WW1 there was a shortage of ships, so it was decided to import chassis only.
In the Model T days dealers built bodies, so we had our own look. Ford Canada came and investigated and didn't like the variable quality, so they setup a Ford factory here.
The open Model A built here looks mostly, on the outside, like every other. However, underneath is a lot of wood framing for the body, which might have been sub contracted out, for local content laws.
Local content laws were pushed for mainly to protect our Sunshine harvestor factory and promote home grown manufacturing (of which there wasn't much), so large tarrifs were applied.
Open cars were the simplest to build. Tourer was a British term.
 
Thanks for the information. It makes sense that this would have been done. The sub frame in the link looks a lot like some of the Briggs and Murray subframes for model A bodies. It would also take some braces to hold the B pillars & rear quarters. The normal cowl and possibly pillars would be a package that would be easy to ship. The rest would be standard wood frame and sheet metal tacked on as was still common in that time. My 1947 Triumph 1800 is built that way so this practice was around longer anyway.
 
Last edited:
There are a few brackets that are different on the Australian RHD tourer. The main one that comes to mind is the bracket that connects the centre pillar to the subframe. It is made from thicker steel and is of a different shape at the base because of the wood. Another body with high Australian content is the roadster. It also has a wood subframe. The panel across the rear of the roadster is steel clad wood, whereas the equivalent panel on the Australian tourer is steel, the same as the USA phaeton. We also had a few fabric covered Fordors, essentially the Fordor wood frame clad with fabric instead of steel panels. Many years ago, dad had the chance to get one of these, but he thought it couldn't be a Model A as it was a fabric body, just one of the few A's he didn't chase down in his youth.
 
The Australian made cars always had alot of wood, it was something about employing people and making the parts in Australia, even the 34 ford they changed the body style for this reason

The Newzeand made Fords and other Colonial body vehicles are way nicer then the Australian version and thy didn't mess with the original style.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top