Roadster body: Brookville or this????

I've been looking for a model A roadster for about a year- me and everyone else. I want a fenderless AV8. I already have a really nice frame. I've found several...

$900: cowl is pretty good, no windshield parts, doors are rough, rear quarters are rough, no sub rail system, no floor missing the pcs. below the trunk (nothing else) Price is right but by the time I buy patch panels, etc., I'll have quite a bit of money and time in it (not a body man but this would be a good project to learn on)

$3500: same guy as the one above, everything has been blasted and primed. Comes with cowl, doors, trunk deck, gas tank, no fenders, has seat base, nothing for windshield, looks really solid, basically a complete body just about ready to go. But the catch is, he might not sell but I asked him to put a price on it and that's what he told me

$3000: pretty solid car (nost as solid as above), just about everthing for a fenderless roadster; doors, cowl, trunk, tank, no winshield stuff. But, he isn't sure about selling either. I asked him to put a price on it too.

Not for sale yet: I know where one has been sitting since the 60's. It's all apart. However, the son is supposed to come all the way from WA state to get it. Who knows......

$5500 +tax, +going to get it, +they have a surchage right now, +no dash, + no tank, + no winshield parts. All said and done for a Brookville, $6500-$7500. A little more than I have cash to spend.

I have a buddy that deals in Model A's and he has a buddy (my buddy, my buddy and me) that sells Brookville bodies. He thought he may be able to get me a complete (no winshield, tank or dash) roadster body for about $2700-$3000, but it would be "seconds" parts.

Then there is this one for $5000 (pics attached). It's pretty complete, quite solid but there are a few places. I could sell the running gear, fenders, and grille shell. Plus I get an extra frame and some of the little odds and ends you always need. (They're too large to attach, I'll put them in my webshots folder..)

http://community.webshots.com/user/flatheadyounin


What do you think. I have about $5k to spend on the body. I have just about everything else; flatty, V8 rear end, V8 front axle, truck steering, etc.

Hey, if you know where this car is, don't say. If I p*** on it, I will gladly share the info with any HAMBr.......

 

Hey Man, If you got the bucks I'd jump on that complete car. It has all the hardware that you'd have to come up with. All that stuff adds up fast. Get the whole car and sell off the whole rolling ch***is and anything else you don't want. You'll save lots of time and in the end save some bucks too. I built up my body from pieces and repop hardware and have a bunch in all the hardware.

Good luck,

 

Brookville makes some nice **** and saves alot of time and work on the body ****TTTT here is the catch you will always know it is not the real deal. IT IS NOT THE REAL DEAL. nice but not the real deal. Buy the one in the photos or tell me where it is and I will. Useless

 

go with the complete car. the parts you can sell off will make you alot of money back

 

That original body is damn nice if you can afford it get it. Brookville metal is pretty nice stuff but you still know inside that it is repop.

 

Well to me...........it's like BIG breasts.......on a woman
The after market ones you buy (plastic surgery) are NICE..

But the real ones are just better.....

Buy the complete car......sell off what you do not need....and have a real HENRY body hot rod.....

Randy

.

 

The complete original is your best bet. Looks like lots of leftovers too.

I've found myself in the same situation. I have all the pieces to build a era correct traditional 32 or A V8 depending on which body I choose, a 32 or a A model. And Like most opinions here I'll always know the repo body even though it's steel, it's NOT the real deal.

If I was gonna totally reproduce an early style car from all new parts, aftermarket frame and all, it would be a different story. Kinda like the car So-Cal and Shine built for the Hotrod Build off. I dont thik there was one original 32 Ford part on that Black 32 Roadster, but it sure was a killer car.

I guess my point would be, if you have the foundation built from original parts using a original body would make lots of sense.

Oh and if you p*** on the complete car PM me

 

If you are starting from scratch, buy the complete. If you already have the ch***is, buy the Brookville. It all depends on whether you want to DRIVE the car or do body work (unless you are planning to drive it as is like I would!).

 

Brookville bodies seem to have gone up in price a bit. I have a Brookville 28/29 and I dont give a damn if its "the real deal" or not. I got what I wanted a whole lot cheaper than what I could piece together a car for. But get what you can afford because repro or not thats the bottom line.

 

I'd say hold out for a good deal on real Ford steel, something like this
28 Roadster on the Bay



There's also a 28/29 Brookville body on the Bay right now, sitting at 3800
Brookville Body




NO, niether of these is mine, just trying to help a brutha out
Skip

 

The one in TN is a good looking deal......I can go that far, too.....

The one in TX I'd love to have but that is just tooooooo far!

Yes, I'd certainly like it to be "the real deal" but right now I'm itching! The one that is complete comes with a ***le too. I could probably get that 4 banger running and drive the durn thing this summer while I cut on my other fame. Then, I could make the transfer to a AV8 next winter.

****, the prices are good on the bay, but the distance is killing me on all of them! What's this HAMB relay stuff! I'd be willing to pay for gas......

Fellas, thanks for the advice!!!!!! I'll end up with one of them probably!

 

Cut the roof off a nice inexpensive coupe

 

Bttt

 

to me, once its done, and you are driving it, it shouldnt matter if its orig or repop...

but for some reason I still lean towards an orig body!

One thing to check into with the repop body is to call and ask for a price on a "knockdown" or unasembled body. they sell them, minus the labor to put it all together, as well as less on shipping.

 

I have an original body on my 30........Id suggest this-SCREW THE RUSTED **** --buy the Brookville.
It[THE REAL DEAL] WILL always have some areas that are pinchwelded that will always have corrosion/rust in the recesses........besides the repop is nicer N hell anyway.

 

Bttt one more time....

 

Hi Flathead,

Firstly as a lot of blokes here can testify, might sell isn’t equal to will sell.

So you got a definite Brookville for $6500/$7000

vs a seconds Brookville MAYBE for $3000 + windshield, tank or dash and lights = whatever $$$ that adds up to

vs two on epay BUT note reserve price has not been met on either

vs a real steel Henry for $5000 with a whole list of stuff you can sell off it to reduce the price down + it’s got a good looking grill, lights, windshield etc.

I know which one I’d already have bought!!! And I can’t put it any better than Randy did! haha

Only other advice is to take the pictures over to the two maybe’s and say this is what I can buy today, here’s my cash, do you want to sell or not? Then you may get another real option into the mix.

Good luck.

 

i started with a $200 body---put another $2000 in it and it came out ok

 

And now for sale at $25,000 thats a pretty healthy profit

Great looking car man. good luck with it.

 

By your own admission you said you're not a bodyman and would be learning on the car or body you have to repair. That is fine, but it takes time to learn, and the chance of making something worse and redoing it 2,3 or 4 times is a fact of life. Buy the Brookville and be on the road in two years less time, well worth the money you'll save.

 

Deuce,

I'm with a buddy at a ***ty bar watching this babe with unleashed big 'un's .

He says, "Ya' know there're not real?"

As I slide more $dough$ in her g-string , my reply, "Yeah. So what's your point?"

MD

 

Perhaps, on the other side of the coin, YOU WILL know it's not a real Henry (Brookville), BUT will your buddies and die-hards, IF you don't tell them?

Doubt it.

I'd take the easy route, why kill yourself when it's not necessary?

R-

 

hey... guys... this thread is almost a year old.

 

Go with the stocker. The other guys are right; all the little hardware bits & pieces add up, plus you can sell the parts you don't need to quickly recoup some cash. If you want to learn bodywork, it's your call, but I'd rather learn on a less expensive & desirable body. That is, unless you have a buddy that can bail you out when you start to screw up, because you will, guaranteed, everyone else has.

 

whoah!! a blast from the past......

just as an update for you guys.......i went with a brookville that didn't sell on e**** and BenD delivered it about last March.......

 

I looked for a body I could afford for three years. What I could afford would have taken a lot of money to bring up to my standard. The rest was just junk.
I went with the Brookville and haven't looked back. I was on the road in 1/3 the time and I'm happy.
I don't keep it a secret that it's a Brookville either. If someone compliments me on how nice the body looks, I tell them it's a re-pop. It's nice when you can use original, but there's only so much of that around.

 

My lawn mower cable broke. A new one was $14. A generic was $8. I bought the generic then by the time I bought all the brackets and junk to make it work I had spent $15 and it dosen't work very well. Buy the whole car.

 

Maybe I am dumb, but I cannot find the pictures of the potential car in your webshots folder...but if it is only $5,000 I would buy that, it's got a soul. Not sure how old you are(I am 29) but, you know these original bodies aren't going to be around forever. I thought you already had a roadster? Good luck with your decision...

Adam

 

this is a thread from back when i joined and just started.....the pics are now gone...

i'm 31......and i went with a brookville that didn't sell on ebay......got a BUNCH of goodies with it that were basically free after purchasing the body...

 

I've been reading everyone else's opinion, so here's mine. Remember, they're like ***holes, everyone has one, and they're all smelly...

I've been into Model A's since my late teens...All I could get was a very rough 30 Coupe for $25 when all the good ones were $500..And everyone then wanted a roadster back then too.....

And today, and if you want, I can show you where a 28 Roadster still sits in the swamp where it was towed in the early 40's after being wrecked...The day it was wrecked, that car had my grandfather's engine in it--it was owned by my dad's buddy...Maybe you'll want that one...put into it a lot of sweat equity...learn how to form sheetmetal, do leadwork...Old School talents...build the Ultimate Hot Rod...

It's very far gone..yeah, it'll save..with a whole bunch of Brookville parts and a whole bunch of work...I don't think I have that much time or ambition for that anymore...at 51 I don't think I'll live that long to save that one...

I don't think that you do either....you yourself admit that you have zero talent/ability at this point in time....

Believe it or not people--Original Ford bodies are not the Holy Grail....You won't die and go to Heaven because you owned one of them instead of a Brookville product......as much as some people would like you to believe...the same guys with the $3-5K asking prices...Their Dog is Bigger Than Your Dog...

They're just old cars..built by Ford, who's ambition as the World's First manufacturing engineer (yeah, I completed half of my second Batchelor's Degree at Western Michigan University in Manufacturing Engineering...) was to put every working Joe behind the wheel of one of his Flivvers...The more he made, the cheaper he could sell them...

He raised the working man's wage to $5 a day because he realized that if he didn't give something back, nobody would be able to buy his product...

And he pissed off the rest of the manufacturors in Detroit City by doing just that...

And as for Henry Ford...He was a Total ****...He was no friend of Labor, and was the last to settle with the then new UAW...and his contract with his employees was the best contract with the Big Three...

Why?..Because his old lady threathened to divorce him and take half his **** if he wasn't fair with the working man who made him what he was!

I might be new on this discussion board, (Grenade Inspector)...but I do go back a long time in this hobby......I bought my first patch panels for my first '30 Model A coupe from Ray Gollahon in 73..I was 19. I spent about $50 that Saturday... At the Kalamazoo Antique Auto Restorer's Club's swap meet on Groundhog Day in 73..The panels?..well...they fit , kinda..but it was all that there was back then...and I didn't know any better when I worked on that car. Now I know better. And his quality also improved in time...He was known then as Antique Auto Sheet Metal. Rod and Custom magazine profiled his parts back then too...right before they folded...

In later years he made more parts, a larger variety..Model A and V8 models as well.....better parts, Die Formed...not hand formed....This was a sideline job, for his bread and ****er he worked for a sheet metal shop. One year, in 77, he showed up with the complete floor pan for a 32 Ford. He told me that he had 4 32 Roadsters at home.....and he'd love to someday make the entire body for one...

He started out with the open Model A's...The rest is history....you guys out there know that. you've bought his parts, and you've bought his bodies...yet you continue to ***** about the high prices.

Maybe you should go into the business as well and show us what you can do. Maybe sell us a complete A or 32 Roadster body for $500 bucks...Maybe have them made in China...We'll buy them from you. And maybe even ***** a little about the high cost of Chinese junk......and the fact that your name isn't Ford...

Be glad you can even buy a new body. And in steel no less.... Knowing what I know about tooling (30 years in the Trade, Journeyman Tool and Diemaker...) he's not getting rich on this..the commitment on just the tooling costs alone, not to mention the manufacturing costs make his bodies a bargain!

Mr. Gollahon told me he uses Kirksite tooling because of the cost...(We used Kirksite for the "soft tool" phase of a project--the prototype phase)..he says he can rebuild them for much less and keep production going...he has the stones..he just rewelds and respots and keeps the production going...not like he's making a million new bodies for your old car hobby...so they're less than perfect...get an education in manufacturing and you'll understand why things are as they are...

So are the Original Ford dies..less than perfect...none of the dies are the same, the panels are all different, depending on which dies made your body in the first place.....Trust me, I've got 4 30/31 coupes, two of the bodies are different from the others...and the other two aren't even close to being the same to each other!...From what I've been able to determine, there were at least 6 sets of Ford coupe bodies used in 30 and 31....all I know is that mine came out of 3 different sets of tooling....

Yeah, his name isn't Ford...and it's not a Ford body, but I've used Mr. Gollahon's parts and they're right on..a set of his cowl panels fit right on my early 28 "AR" Woodie's cowl...I can't tell them from the originals...except that they're not rusted to pieces...and I've got a new set of his cowl panels for my 29 Tudor sedan as well...even though the price has doubled since I bought the first set.....they're still a bargain at that cost.

Maybe you should just buy a new body in fibergl***..that material doesn't rust out...(I'm just kidding here....but I have bought Wescott fenders in 'gl***..) and as for the steel fenders available they aren't even close to fitting...you need to redo the fender..and use a lot of filler too...They're made by Funk's in OH. Gaslight Auto parts also sells Funk's fenders...For all I know, Brookville's fenders may possibly come from the same source. But I do know that Albrecht's Towing makes right on rear Fenders for Model A Coupes...

Don't get upset about buying a New Brookville Roadster, just because it isn't all Ford Steel..Chances are that the other guy's Real Ford Roadster isn't all 100% correct and original either...hand-formed parts, reproduction parts, whatever...Bondo and lead is hidden under the paint......it's just a part of working with old steel that probably should have been recycled years ago...

FYI, Coupes and Roadsters had the highest mortality rates to rust out due to their poor design...Rain water goes straight into the trunk area and gets trapped in the sub-rail ***embly/quarter panel area...No drains there...As if it's designed to rust out....And now we can only restore what is a flawed design from day one...

Remember, it's the Journey, not the Destination. Get it together, get it on the road...Cut yourself...draw some blood, burn yourself...Get the s***ches....paint it flat black...put a Mexican blanket on the seat....

I did, and it's been a world of fun, working on all this rusty old stuff...I'm raising my two teen aged sons to be Hot Rodders as well...

Probably better than a stamp collector...Hey!..My dad collected stamps!...he worked for the Post Office for 31 years!

But he didn't have half the fun I did as a Hot Rodder..but he did teach me how to double clutch and shift my first Model A..he said he grew up in these cars...

Just don't let the other guy tick you off because he's trying to convince you that his Dog is bigger than your Dog...

Mark aka Abonecoupe31