Howdy - I did a search and nothing popped up, and seeing it in person just now makes me think I read something many moons ago about belt line differences in Model A's. I might be imagining that though. I recently picked up a savable pair of Sport Coupe quarter panels to use as donor metal for my 30 Coupe rear quarters. As I was hammering out dents and fixing tears tonight, I kept looking at the beltline on my quarters and the beltline on my donor quarters and finally took a caliper to them to tell me what I already could see with the naked eye: The Sport Coupe quarter panel beltline is 1/4" thicker than my Coupe belt line. The Sport Coupe belt line measures 1 inch. The coupe panels belt line measure .75" That's a HUGE difference. Were tolerances that varied? Do I have the wrong year sport coupe quarters? Is this the difference between a Briggs and Murray body? What the hell is going on? Help! p.s. I now need donor metal for my coupe with the correct belt line. Who wants to buy some sport coupe quarter panels? FML.
Maybe try the Ford Barn folks if you don't have any takers here. Seems like a lot of variation, more than I would expect from factory. Good luck.
@sloppy jalopies is the guy that could help you out with this, he knows more about Model A bodies than anyone I know of.
Will trade a left coupe quarter that "needs", for the sportie qtr you have before you cut it.... i am at mile 75 of I95...
The '28-'29 sc beltline beads have squarer edges and no bead that runs across the tulip panel...also no bead around the wheelwells ... . did you buy them as sport coupe quarters or as '30-'31 sport coupe quarters ? '28-'29s have a different bead from the B pillar to the rear.... and don't have the bead across the tulip panel... they also only have one bead from the B pillar back... . please post a pic... '30-'31 sport coupe shown... . '28-'29 sport coupe cut down door and quarter.... .cabriolets were different still... oddly they used the same quarters, tulip, decklid and panel below from '29-'31... .
Interesting thread. I think that there were some differences from one sheet metal builder to the next. Just like there were differences in the A pillars and etc. This thread could prove to be really interesting. Here is an example, I got a 30/31 sedan that I am cutting up for an unrelated project. it has a double beltline, most common you see a single beltline.
That is a '30-'31 roadster quarter, check the distance between the trunk gutter beads and the lower beltline bead... the roadster tulip panel is about 10"...the sport coupe is about 5"... note the beads in the wheelwell do not touch at the top... roadster only. on coupe, sport coupe and cabriolet they do... . post pix of your damaged qtr, . i'll look to see if i have any small pieces for repair... '30-'31 sport coupe, front... '29-'31 cabriolet background... '30-'31 roadster... .also '30 roaster...
Memory says the '28-'29s had 1 flat bead across the rear panel... '30-'31s were built with 2 beads... i do not know if they could be interchanged...
Dang......thanks for the info...that right Cabriolet quarter looks better then mine...mine looks like the car was laying on that right side - not bad - but has crocodile looking skin....
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