Special coupes

oldspert

oldspert

Senior Member
Been seeing a lot of posts where owners of Special Coupes post questions or comments. Just wondering if the total number of this body (49A) were built. I have one that came from Canadian manufacture.
 
A lot of special coupes were built. They were built from July 28 to July 29. This was the hay-day for model A's before the depression occurred. I have a late 28 special coupe I restored.
Rusty Nelson
 
I have a '29, researched to a May engine, with a June assembly at the Louisville Ky. plant. Somewhere I heard a figure of approximately 18,500 in the production period, not sure if that is correct, as they were numbered as Std. Coupe in production records (?). kb
 
Steve Plucker has done extensive research into Model "A" production, and he indicates in his book, "The 1928-1931 Ford Assembly Plants And Their Production Of The Model "A" Ford Passenger Cars, Part 1" that there no known Ford production figures for the 49 Special Coupe.
 
The 49A Special Coupe and 45A Standard Coupe production numbers were combined in the Ford records so no one has been able to get an exact number.
MAFCAs Coupe Book has a couple mentions on the totals - that vary.
One article says "Using L. Henry's data, the author (Roy Reger) estimates that 92,010 Special Coupes may have been built in 1929." Another article cites Roy Reger's article and adjusts it for monthly engine production quantities and estimates that 53,000 were built in 1928 and 108,560 in 1929 for a total of 161,560 or 62.5% of all the Standard/Special Coupes were 49A.
 
The Standard Coupe had a fair start but used more complex forming processes for the top. The Special Coupe started slowing on sales so Ford brought the Standard or Steel Back coupe back for the rest of the 1929 model year. The design changed for 30 & 31 and popularity was fair on sales of them.

The Special Coupe design allowed for nailing of the top metal to the wood internal support structure. This made the lower body very much like the Sport and Business Coupes. This simplified manufacturing by a fair amount. Finding the upper belt rail band in usable condition is not an easy task. A fellow was fabricating them for a while but he retired some years ago. I have a friend that purchased one from him and it didn't fit quite right.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top