Strange Fordor at New England Meet

Will N

Will N

Well-known member
I've been meaning to ask you guys about this but am just getting around to it. Coming home from the New England Meet last week, I got a brief glimpse a a Fordor that had some strange features. I was leaving the gas station and it was pulling in. I should have pulled over and asked the owner about it....


Anyway, it was a blindback (steel) with looked to be a Briggs body with the straight window tops. But the fabric treatment on the roof was kind of similar to a Tudor, where the fabric wrapped down to the drip rail. Toward the rear of the roof the fabric made a right angle as it turned toward the top. Kind of hard to describe. But the strangest thing was the radiator shell. It looked similar to a '30 shell- the area around the Ford oval was was stainless. But there was a raised bead that ran all around the edge facing the front. Picture the thin raised areas on the right and left sides of the shell being extended upward and meeting at the crest, below the radiator cap. The area where the blue oval is was sunken. I don't recall if the shell had the dip along the top edge or if it ran straight across (like a commercial shell).


I was thinking maybe this was a Russian GAZ, but none of the pictures I found had that roof treatment or radiator shell. Anyone have any ideas?
 
A picture would clarify this. None of the '30 Blindbacks had fabric to the guttering but what is to stop someone doing this like the '28 '29 fabric back Fordors?
The 'shell sounds like a '31 [3 piece] but with the top insert polished or similar? Anything can be done to a car over 90years, usually not as it was new. What made you think it was Russian? Nearly all their production was trucks & not for the working man. Cheers
 
Will N said:
I've been meaning to ask you guys about this but am just getting around to it. Coming home from the New England Meet last week, I got a brief glimpse a a Fordor that had some strange features. I was leaving the gas station and it was pulling in. I should have pulled over and asked the owner about it....


Anyway, it was a blindback (steel) with looked to be a Briggs body with the straight window tops. But the fabric treatment on the roof was kind of similar to a Tudor, where the fabric wrapped down to the drip rail. Toward the rear of the roof the fabric made a right angle as it turned toward the top. Kind of hard to describe. But the strangest thing was the radiator shell. It looked similar to a '30 shell- the area around the Ford oval was was stainless. But there was a raised bead that ran all around the edge facing the front. Picture the thin raised areas on the right and left sides of the shell being extended upward and meeting at the crest, below the radiator cap. The area where the blue oval is was sunken. I don't recall if the shell had the dip along the top edge or if it ran straight across (like a commercial shell).


I was thinking maybe this was a Russian GAZ, but none of the pictures I found had that roof treatment or radiator shell. Anyone have any ideas?
Click to expand...


Sounds to me like a regular 60-C Fordor body. Only 3 months in production, but not all that rare when compared to bodystyles such as the Deluxe Phaeton or Conv. Sedan. Search for a 60-C Sedan to see if that is what you saw.
 
Ok, the roof fabric treatment on the 60C is like what I saw, but the 60C was a 1929 model, and what I saw definitely had the 1930-1931 style hood and stainless radiator shell. The Budd Radiator shell is close to what I saw, but the beads continued to the top and there was no raised area where the blue oval would go. The indented area was not painted black (it was stainless) and there were no raised ribs in that area- it was smooth polished stainless. It wasn't like a '31 shell where you can see the joint between the painted insert and the stainless shell. It was all one piece and it looked more like the raised bead on the edge of the fender. Could it be that like the early eyebrow fenders, there was an early eyebrow radiator shell? I wish I had stopped and talked to the guy and taken some photos.
 

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Will N said:
Ok, the roof fabric treatment on the 60C is like what I saw, but the 60C was a 1929 model, and what I saw definitely had the 1930-1931 style hood and stainless radiator shell. The Budd Radiator shell is close to what I saw, but the beads continued to the top and there was no raised area where the blue oval would go. The indented area was not painted black (it was stainless) and there were no raised ribs in that area- it was smooth polished stainless. It wasn't like a '31 shell where you can see the joint between the painted insert and the stainless shell. It was all one piece and it looked more like the raised bead on the edge of the fender. Could it be that like the early eyebrow fenders, there was an early eyebrow radiator shell? I wish I had stopped and talked to the guy and taken some photos.
Click to expand...






The car you pictured above is a car that we restored several years ago for fellow Fordbarn-er Tom Witten. I am not sure what you are saying when you say 1930-31 style hood. The biggest giveaway at a distance on the typical 30/31 vs. 28/29 hood is the raised body moulding that is embossed on the 30/31 hood (-and not present on the typical 28/29 hood) however the Fordor Sedans (-along with the 68A) in 1929 used a hood that had this embossed body line much like the standard 1930-31 hood. Maybe this has mislead you some?


There were several styles of sporty accessory (aftermarket) radiator shells available back then, and it might be that the vehicle you are referring to was equipped with one of those. I have not seen a factory drawing for an "eyebrow" Radiator Shell when I have looked thru the factory prints.
 
Yes, the Fordor 28-29 hoods have the horizontal bead like the 30-31s. But the 30-31 hood is broader at the cowl than the 28-29, and it tapers to a narrower radiator shell, and it is a couple of inches longer than the 28-29 too.
 
No one has raised it but could it have just had the ubiquitous 'stone guard'over the shell?. But none of the Fordors mentioned had roof fabric to the drip gutter except the '28 '29 Briggs Fabric backs. Cheers.
 
Tudortomnz said:
No one has raised it but could it have just had the ubiquitous 'stone guard'over the shell?. But none of the Fordors mentioned had roof fabric to the drip gutter except the '28 '29 Briggs Fabric backs. Cheers.
Click to expand...

Better look again. The 60-C was not a "fabric back" yet had fabric to the drip gutter.
 
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