Brookville vs. original OCPU Body...

Steve Plucker

Steve Plucker

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Are there any telltail signs where one can distinguish a Brookville OCPU body from an original OCPU body just by looking at it?

Thanks.

Pluck
 
You will find the main body is 3/4" taller than the original bodies. Also rivet head marks are missing in the floor board area. But Brookville makes a great body!! And their guys are the best!!
 
I dont have a way of telling them apart. But a friend has a brookville cab on his truck, and i had no idea until he told me. They look really good.
 
I guess ocpu stands for open cockpit pickup? Was this the official Ford designation? I always saw them refereed to as a RPU.
 
Just looking at the body it is difficult to tell. Brookville has done a great job and their parts are nicely made. We visited their facility for the article in the Model A Time and ordered our pieces for the Roadster Pick Up project. There are a few small details and LeBarron Bonney needs to know if it is a Brookville or original when ordering an upholstery kit.
 

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I guess somebody is making ccp bodies in Africa. I have not heard much about them and I do not know if they are 28-29 or 30-31. I have a couple of 28-29 "AA" trucks that need doors.
 
sturgis: I believe they're made in australia, 28-29, Sacramento Ford has them in their catalog I think, std or ext cab avail, also have the doors.
Paul in CT
 
satans angel said:
Dudley that's way interesting. Could you elaborate or describe the different look a little bit.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Part of the reason I didn't post earlier is there is no real obvious signs that the casual observer could easily spot. However almost everywhere I look I can see that shapes differ from the real thing. There is just no way to describe the subtleties. In fact in many cases we could have both side by side and many folks would have trouble seeing what I see even if I point it out, but others areas would be slightly more obvious. Generally the only folks that will see these things are those that have restored every square inch of an original.
 
I was re-assembling my 31 Roadster when I decided to use a Brookville 1/4 panel on the right side.
When I got it on, it was about 3/4 " too wide.
I had to move the left panel over and the under- rumble panel to make it all center proper.
The difference in width is apparent when I point it out to someone.
I'm still happy with the way it came out.
 
I remember reading an article on the 1932 roadster bodies when they came out. It stated that when Brookville started the development of these they measured 3 original untouched roadster bodies, and all were slightly different dimensionally. I guess that would make it difficult to decide which one was 'correct'.
 
One difference noted by a bodyman friend who has experience with restoring original Ford sheetmetal and preparing Brookvilles for finish is that the steel is dramatically softer and more malleable in the Brookville...probably some dead soft stuff chosen for use with the type of dies used to avoid rapid wear of low production tooling. The original seems almost like spring steel in comparison.
I think that original stampings must have had a bit of spring-back in the stamping process and that dies were shaped to compensate...the soft modern steel probably hass little resistance to what the dies tell it to do, and this surely has some shape implications in the subtle contours of old Fords.
 
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