i bought a 1930 roadster that was built from a sports-coupe, originaly when i purchased the car i was told it was a coupe that had been modified to make a roadster, most people that looked and comented about it said that the look was just right. and said that most coupester didn't look right, i figured out the car was originaly a sports-coupe and the dimension are better suited for making a roadster, more interior room, leg room , we can actualy sit 2 adults and child comfortably. is there more pictures out there of some transformations like this, would like to see others. my knoledge of these old cars is still growing, i was in the muscle cars and then in the tunning with laptops fuel inj. newer cars, but in the last 5-6 years my interest has been in old school style cars, i went to a car show once and seen this old fellow adjusting his valves on a hemi in his old hod rod that he had been going around the country( actualy he has an artical on how th adjust multiple carbs in the book how to rebuild a hemi) i was hook then on the spot ever since.( i wonder if this guy is on the hamb)
Yeah, check out Matt's....he's going for the full body conversion, lengthening the rear, shortening the doors. I'm doing a conversion as well, with Lucky Burton. Mine is a little different, leaving the rear end short to have a unique proportion, but shortening the height and length of the doors, etc. I believe Matt's is a 28/29 like mine. 30/31s are easier because the body proportions are different, closer to a roadster.
Hemi Rodder, I had the pleasure of sitting in that car. One word COMFORTABLE! Whoever built that car did an awesome job, it fits like a glove. I'm glad I got to see it when I did because you bought it only a few days later. I noticed on your car that the doors are stock model A cut just below the window opening, roughly an inch taller than the quarter panel. I like it so much thats exactly how I plan to do mine. It allows you to rest your arm up there so your nice and comfortable. I'm collecting parts to do a '28-'29 coupster right now.
I'm building one right now for a client. Check it out at .... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=741762 Yours is one of the best proportioned that I've seen. Very nice job. If you search my build threads I've done five or six now, and I agree, the extra leg room is a God send!
i went and found my book, The Complete Chrysler Hemi engine manual by Tex Smith's, and the gentelman the sparked my interest is Skip Readio, he even mentions in the artical the trip he made to Canada to the Canadian Street Rod Nationals, imagine my suprise when i read the book and recognise the car and then he mentions the trip true Maine to Canada
Hillbilly4008, i have only taken the car out 3 times for short drives, it has been cold here, and i also drive with my arm resting on the door and holding the steering wheel and other hand on the shifter, verry comfortable, the car will be in my basement for the winter getting a 354, ross piston's 10.5c/r and isky cam, and other upgrades(gears, sthall torque,dual master cylinder, steering columb ect...)
how could i tell, i kno when i tilt the windsheild there is a vent all the way acrosse that direct the air down to my feet
That's a GOOD question. Depends on if you want to just cut the original A pillars like some coupesters have, or do legit stanchions. I saw one where a guy used 27 roadster stanchions that mount to the gas tank/cowl right in front of where the pillars are, then did a sort of Duvall type deal. For mine, we got 28/29 chopped stanchions and Lucky has modified the pillars to be like roadster pillars, and the stanchions mount like they would have on a roadster. The problem comes up in the "kickout" made at the A pillar. On roadsters that was MUCH more narrow and form fitting to the body. SO, you can cut those and move them in, the way that Project Mattitude has......OR, you can do like we're going to do, and get a 30/31 roadster windshield and do a little narrowing along the bottom to taper the windshield frame in more to fit the stanchions as they currently mount, flaring out a bit. I'll post pics when it's done.
can you tell by these pictures if it is a roadster cowl, or i will have to take more. were i am from there aren't to many car's to compare
So I have a 30 roadster body that really could use new 1/4 panals. I have nice doors and cowl section. Would there be an advantage to using the back 1/2 of a sport coupe instead? Is a sport coupe longer from the door opening back?
The roadster doors are actually shorter, so you need to lengthen the sports coupe rear quarters about 3 or 4 inches.
Skip is the first guy I thought of when you mentioned a guy adjusting the valves on his Hemi. I think Skip could just about rebuild that Hemi on the road. He stayed with me on his trip to the Canadian Nats when they were in Sarnia Ont.
So are you saying if I use my roadster doors and cowl and then the rear section from a sport coupe that I will have no extra room? In other words that the sport coupe is the same length as a roadster from the latch side of the door opening back?
nice coupster! The trick to making these look right is to trim the doors at the body line, and thin them down. Then use a real roadster windshield. I sold the body and I think it's for sale again in the classifieds. I miss it sometimes. The body I started with was ROUGH.
Yes you will have about 6 inches of extra room, the roadster doors are shorter than the sports coupe doors so you have to lengthen the rear quarters to bring the body back into proportion.
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