Phaeton Top

[Klattu1929]

When lowering the top on my '29 phaeton the irons bind up and won't lay flat in the stirrups, if I pull the clips located on #3 and #4 bows the irons will then lay flat. is this the normal procedure when lowering the top? Never had a top before and haven't seen a procedure written out for this. Don't have the covering on any of the bows or the top material installed yet, just trying to get the irons set before procceding any farther

 

[alexiskai]

When lowering the top on my '29 phaeton the irons bind up and won't lay flat in the stirrups, if I pull the clips located on #3 and #4 bows the irons will then lay flat. is this the normal procedure when lowering the top? Never had a top before and haven't seen a procedure written out for this. Don't have the covering on any of the bows or the top material installed yet, just trying to get the irons set before procceding any farther

Is this a photo of your irons or are you just using it to illustrate where the binding happens?

 

[Klattu1929]

These are not my irons, they were easier to use to ask my question. I didn't want to remove mine from the car, remove the wood bows to get a good picture. I got lazy I guess, but they are an accurate representation. Just trying to get a bit of knowledge.

 

[alexiskai]

These are not my irons, they were easier to use to ask my question. I didn't want to remove mine from the car, remove the wood bows to get a good picture. I got lazy I guess, but they are an accurate representation. Just trying to get a bit of knowledge.

No worries. I took that photo, so I was momentarily confused.

 

[Dick Carne]

The irons should fold relatively flat without having to disconnect any of the fittings. Our ‘29 touring car wil fold flat without any disassembly, but the leather “hold down straps” that attach to the top rest saddles are most helpful and in fact necessary to keep the irons, once folded, from scratching the reveal on the side of the body.

We also have a ‘28 roadster, and at some point one of the side bars broke at its connecting point and was slightly shortened. On that top assembly we need to disconnect the connecting bar at that point in order to fully collapse the top - not a problem but you might consider checking the lengths of all of the connecting bar hardware to make sure that a shortened bar somewhere is not the problem.

Good luck and let us know of your .findings.

 

[Klattu1929]

Here is the distance from the body mount pivot point, to the bracket mounted on the forward edge of #4 iron. Mine is about 11" center to center. Maybe a Phaeton driver could measure their car and see how it compares. I have a blue print of the irons but it is impossible to make out any measurements.

 

[Keith True]

Now that's interesting.I have a July of 28 phaeton in my cellar,6 feet under my ****.I just measured mine,that 11 inch measurement on yours is 9 inches on mine.I always thought the irons on the 28's and 29's were the same.I never paid that much attention to the changes and details of the first two year cars,I always preferred 30's and 31's.

 

[Keith True]

Pictures are on and off for me here.I'll give this one a try.

 

[Klattu1929]

So if I move mine and clamp it at the 9" measurement, the irons will lay down flat. Looks like someone modified this set of irons at some point. Altho don't have a clue why, even if these were on some other car, wagon etc., they would never lay down. Now time to integrate the #1 irons into the set and see if there are any more surprises. Thanx a bunch for checking your cars for me.

 

[AYooperA]

Klattu, mine measure about 9 3/8” center to center. The very early ‘28’s has a different setup as shown in photo. Could your set be from very early almost pre production bows?? John

 

[Keith True]

I see the difference in the early ones.I never had reason to look before.The early ones pivot on a tab sticking out of the top body sill,like the roadsters and roadster pickups,and the later ones like mine pivot on a post sticking out the side of the body.Before you do any cutting maybe you should try to find just what those irons are really from.

 

[AYooperA]

Maybe a long shot, could the rear bows be repurposed from a roadster? I don’t know the dimensions but maybe someone could check their roadster bows.

 

[Klattu1929]

I have no irons available to check and try to figure out if the irons I have are a mixed hodge podge of parts from different cars or years. Without measurements of every part from a known source to compare to mine to see if there is a difference. This set were not installed on my car but were jammed into the inside behind the front seat. As I bought the car from an auction house I don't know any of the history. The front passengers side iron that attaches to the windshield is a repro item, but is dimensionally a duplicate of the drivers side.

Another item I noticed is the rear iron should be straight up from rear tack strip I believe when extended, mine is slightly forward, and seems a bit shorter than normal, when I hold up the rear window frame to simulate where it will be located. This is all just a guess from looking at stock photos on the interweb. Getting a bit long winded here I think.

 

[Klattu1929]

Here are my irons. window setup shows height above tack strip and relationship to window, with a temp bow installed. Another shows bracket with 2 screws where it was originally mounted (blue tape is marked 8,9,&10 inches). Then just an overall picture. Kind of busy with all the junk in background, sorry about that.

 

[AYooperA]

It looks like you have the correct top bows for your Phaeton. When you put the top up to position you need to push upward on the curved portion of the horizontal bow on each side. Bow #3 (counting from the back of car) should be lower and this will also move that 1st bow in the back of car more rearward.

 

[AYooperA]

I probably should have said push upward on curved portion of bow #3 (counting from back of car) so it’s more horizontal and spreads out that 1st bow.

 

[AYooperA]

My old ratty non original top but you can see that #3 bow should be lower than the first two bows, with #2 being the highest.

 

[Klattu1929]

Good info, I'll stick my temp bows back into the irons and massage the top to position things better. Now that I have a better base line to go from with the bracket on the rear iron. thanx a bunch.