Howells sheet metal

1

1929

Well-known member
Is it safe to order model a parts from Howells sheet metal, called numerous times, no one answers the phone?
 
hard to get ahold of, slow shipping, mediocore sheet metal, but they do have stuff no one else has, there products, when you can get them, fit close but you will have to do a lot of reworking to get the part to fit, an iffiy company to do business with some parts of poor quality, ive ordered from them before and this is my opion
 
There are several Model A parts vendors that carry Howell's stuff. I know when others were complaining about the service when ordering direct, I was getting stuff in a timely manner through a vendor. BTW, the vendor price and the Howell direct prices were exactly the same.
 
Remember - when they are the ONLY ones making a product, besides being the WORST manufacturer - the are also the BEST manufacturer. Don't throw the baby out with the wash !
 
I ordered some Model T sheet metal from Howell's a couple years back. Six weeks went by, no show. Luckily I had ordered it through Bob's Model T parts in Loves park IL. So Bob refunded my $ and I patched up my original rusted out stuff. Today I spotted 28-9 Phaeton body wood kits on ebay for a hundred bucks cheaper than Snyders, etc. The ebay ad said it was from Beaumont, Texas. Googled Model A wood kits in Beaumont ,Texas. It was Howell. Run!!! Would rather give Snyder an extra hundred and get the stuff. IMHO.
 
Mike Peters said:
I ordered some Model T sheet metal from Howell's a couple years back. Six weeks went by, no show. Luckily I had ordered it through Bob's Model T parts in Loves park IL. So Bob refunded my $ and I patched up my original rusted out stuff. Today I spotted 28-9 Phaeton body wood kits on ebay for a hundred bucks cheaper than Snyders, etc. The ebay ad said it was from Beaumont, Texas. Googled Model A wood kits in Beaumont ,Texas. It was Howell. Run!!! Would rather give Snyder an extra hundred and get the stuff. IMHO.
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Aren't those the kits that Paul Dominguez makes? His company is called CarLine Manufacturing and they are in Beaumont too.
 
As one can read here and if a search is done one can read MANY people that have had a problem with Howell if contacted directly either buy phone or ebay. You have also read that some of the parts are only made by them and you have no choice for new metal other then them.

If you need a part made by them, order it through a parts vendor so you can at least cancel the order if you have to.
 
BRENT in 10-uh-C said:
Aren't those the kits that Paul Dominguez makes? His company is called CarLine Manufacturing and they are in Beaumont too.
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Paul doesn't make wood kits anymore. The guy doing the work died a year or two ago, smoked himself to death. Someone has hauled off the woodworking tools and is making the parts again last I heard. When I lived in Beaumont I ordered all my Model A parts from Paul.
 
6 months later with 28 closed cab rear quarters that were made 3/8" each too wide, sent picture of 2 sets of orig ones . picture & measurements of new one to show the differance , just get the run around , Least he could do is front up and admit his are wrong & make them correct from now on , Im looking forward to meeting up at a swap meet , Why would i complain if they were correct .???
 
Re: Related sheet metal Question

Because this is about sheet metal. Is there anyone out there who would know how to go about converting a Sport Coup to a Cabriolet.
The car is a 1928 Aug 8 1928 Sport coupe that I have had since 1965, I have a lot of memories with this car, and plan to do a complete restoration on it when I retire in June of 2015. What I would like to do is buy new doors cut and fabricate hinges and top Bows and make this car into a Cabriolet. I will keep the old doors and original Top wood so that in the future it could easily be converted back. I just want it to finish out the rest of my days with me as a Cabriolet. Anyone who owns a 1929 Cabriolet I would love to talk with you, or anyone with info on how to do what I am attempting please get in touch with me. billmessmer@msn.com
 
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I agree with Vince about trying to convert a coupe to a cabriolet. It would be a shame to ruin an original coupe to make a highly questionable conversion to a cabriolet. Why don't you just sell the coupe to someone who would appreciate it and buy a cabriolet. Make sense.
Rusty Nelson
 
NOT ALL BAD. I ordered a pair of Howells 34 coupe/ roadster rear body corners on Ebay. I messed up the order and could not correct it on line so I called Ebay. The girl said I needed to call the dealer to straighten it out. I called Howells, got the machine and left a message to call back. I didn't hear anything but it was Saturday so maybe not open, I'll give 'em a break.
Called Monday, left a message again and (voila!!) Ryan called me back within fifteen minutes. He straightened out the order and said you're good to go. I sent a check and received the parts within five working days. These are die stamped parts and would be very challenging and time consuming to make so all was good.
 
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