So until now I built custom cars for customers and myself and restored classics for customers. I had my eyes on this French model A for pretty much 7 years ever since it appeared in a junkyard, but the guy wanted too much for it for an uncomplete car without title. The car was rust free... The junkyard owner became a friend. I was telling him from time to time that it was sad to see the A like this rusting away. Fast forward to 2 years ago and I stumble accross him at the tech inspection center and he ask me if I wanted the A for €1000, in my head I was ecstatic but needed to figure out the paper work (very problematic in France) before buying. I get the infos and it's not too difficult if you lie correctly. I buy the car and he delivers it at my shop for the same price! Really cool dude. I put a set of Renault wheels in 400mm (almost 16"), find a '31 AA engine with trans 5mn from my shop, best part is that it has a B head and a wehrmacht plaque on it so I can start the title process. But... In January everything came to a grinding halt because our wise government decided that from now on people need to restore completely a car (i.e. absolutely bone stock : we're not allowed to modify cars over here) before asking for a title ... without the possibility of knowing if it will be accepted prior, so if someone is using your lost title : you're fucked, you can't register the car you just restored and who knows the consequences of wanting to register an already existing car? Fortunately I got lucky and now have a title in my name. Now I can really move forward. The plan is for a full fender RPU (yes I'm selling the body), 3.9L French Flathead V8, T5 trans, '37 Matford banjo rear end, 4" dropped tube axle, juice brakes, the same Renault wheels, Hallock windshield and a '32 grille and gas tank. I'm keeping in a corner of my shop the A engine, banjo and axle, maybe for a futur build. Progress will be slow but it should be regular and with plenty of pics.
Now thats a good deal you got there. You say your wheels are 400mm . Would that be from the Renault Colorale/Prarie ? I sent four of those to the scrapper because the 16 inch tire was a loose fit and the 400 tires are just to expensive. Besides that i have enough original 1940 Ford wheels so the 400 mm wheels were allways taking up space.
Ford never sold the '40 in France for obvious reasons, so I can't get my hands on a set, the Renault are from one of my Frégate, same wheels as the Prairie. Right now the white walls are 16" and they're tight. Some 16" tires fit on the 400 wheels, some don't. The Renault (actualy Michelin if I recall) wheels are almost identical to the Ford wheels, maybe a little wider. Matford used wide fives even after the war but juice on the later one if I'm not mistaking. I just checked : in the €150 range you can get Michelin X 400mm tires.
Tear down started, I'm very surprised that not a single nut or bolt is frozen, everything is coming off super easy. On the wall there are 2 X members from once again 50's Renault. The smaller one is already modified for a '32 ford frame, the bigger one will be for the A.
So I assembled an empty banjo from a Ford E-83 center section and '39/'40 bells with a pair of radius rods. I'll be using an extra roached radius rod for a torque arm (if I remember where the hell I put it away). What I like about this set up is that it allows me to drop the rear end very efficiently, I just need to lengthen a little bit the frame, which will be usefull later on I believe for the '32 gas tank. I do have a question though : right now with just the main leaf the shackles are horizontal, do I need to flatten a little the end of the leaves or do I need to wait until everything is in place with the weight on it to see if something needs to be done?
The weight on it will make a lot of difference. And then after you drive it 100 miles it will settle even more.
Nice Model A. Glad you finally got it. Gotta say... I love the old buildings in Europe. Talk about ambiance.
Great project! I lived in St. Germain en Laye for a few years back in the ‘90’s. Loved driving up to Normandy to be with the super nice people. Such a relief from around Paris. Keep the updates coming!
The frame once everything useless is taken off Yep it's an early '28 A with the E brake on the left, I'm gonna try to retain that, we'll see. For now I'm gonna have to cut the front crossmember engine mounts to give some clearence to the V8 A quick and dirty mock up of the Simca Cargo V8 to have an idea of where I'm going to place the Renault X member so I can trim it down and modify it to have a bolted transmission support That X member has the perfect dimenssions, I will even be able to place the radius rod support on it. For the mock up I had only a clevice, it will be replaced by a proper heim joint. I will also use a third '46 Ford radius rod as a link, the rear is way too corroded to be used to locate a rear end, it's free and it's a Ford piece. And I have enough room to move the engine forward if needed and room for a fatter radiator. For now it's smooth sailing. I will need to level the frame properly before going any further.
The Renault X member before modifications After being cut to size I left tabs at the ends because I'm thinking about riveting it to the frame. I'm not sure I want to box the frame. I'll see how rigid it becomes once the X is in place. What do you think guys?
Make double sure the rails are straight on top before adding any bracing. It’s common for them to have a kink near the cowl.
Thanks, I checked they're straight. I didn't know that. I just checked if there were no damage when I got it. It's super clean, not even a crack on the front crossmember. I'm happy, it wasn't easy to put it in but it is and fits like a glove, next up is gonna be riveting. It clears all the original rivets and the hand brake mounting points which I'd like to reuse on the left side as it came from the factory. Since Ford stuff is hard to come by, I couldn't just get another donor frame so I fabricated new rear horns to extend the frame for the spring behind rear axle. I will rivet my original rear crossmember on these once they'll be spliced in. After that I'll be able to put the frame on wheels.
Very creative. Have to say, I like your work space, from what I can see. Seems appropriate for your build.
Thanks to all. Ford was never super popular here (100% import tax at the time plus high gas prices and tax on engine size) plus WWII took it's toll on cars amongst other things. So to build a trully traditionnal hot rod as it's done in the US with localy sourced parts is nearly impossible. The Renault Prairie is quite a popular Hot rodding material here. So we could say it's Euro traditionnal.
I got a little break from the customer cars so I finalized the frame lengthening. I cut at over 45° to maximize the welding surface, I still need to weld some fish plate on the inside I don't advise to do this kind of modification without a jig : it's way too easy to screw things up, it's time consuming and it overcomplicate things. But I couldn't wait until my other frame is done. Now a less fun stuff, I received from the speedshop who's name shouldn't be spoken many parts, unfortunately one of the water pump came broken: It's in a bag, that's in a box, that's in a bigger box, yet a chunk was missing. I tried to talk to their customer service but being on hold for 10mn until someone picks up who doesn't understand the technicality of what you're talking about then puts you again on hold for at least another 5mn : I just gave up and hung up. I decided to fix it : Took it appart, bead blasted it but couldn't braze it because of the missing chunk. I tried the TIG to see if it was foaming or not : just a little of foaming so gave it a go with stainless steel rod, I didn't use the broken pieces, I built up material until the correct size was obtained, then grinding, then surfacing, then drilling and voilà: Everything is reassembled and the pump are on the block. Now I have a problem, both water pump pulleys don't align perfectly with the crank pulley, it seems they need to come out just a hair, maybe 1/16 : is it normal or is it Sp...ay legendary quality and I need to either move the whole shaft assembly which will bring the water pump impeller a little closer to the pump body? Or move only the pulleys out?
So I received some parts finally: For once in my life I'm gonna deal with clean metal, no rust whatsoever, no dents, no botched repairs. Just a big puzzle to assemble, I chose that to save a lot on shipping. I already figured out where everything goes but not where rivets or spot welds if any are used. For now I mock up everything with nuts and bolts so I can see what needs to be tweeked, modified and primered. I ordered the shorty bed but am disapointed that it's smooth, had I known, I would have ordered the stock length and shortened it. Parts quality is really good compared to what I usually deal with Porsche, Jaguar or worse Alfa Romeo. It's not the first time I work with Brookville products but damn it's nice not to take the grinder and hammer to make the parts fit together. Only the side panels will need some tweeking : They don't line up really well with the tank, they protrude a little too much and they're a little too flat compared to the A pillars. I checked the A pillars with the doors, it's not them. I also will need to cut the front of the flange of the cowl side to shorten them, because it's at least on the paper work and gas tank an early '28. The only other problem I found is this : I never seen such a gap on a Brookville body that used the Brookville cowl top and never used an original gas tank with the Brookville dash rail and A pillar, also I don't know if it could be a difference between early '28 and later ones or a difference between a sedan and roadster gas tank? The dash top fits perfect so it might be the part that's a little short... Anyway I'm going with the Hallock windshield so I don't care since I'm not going to use the dashrail and associated parts. Thanks to member Enjenjo I have now what's needed to assemble my banjo. Thank you Frank!
The original gas tanks are all the same. I’d say that’s a Brookville issue. Does the windshield post cover up the gap?
Thank you outback. @alchemy here's the dashboard that will go in. Superbe quality big enough for 5 gauges. Not sure yet if I'm gonna put some kind of insert or just polish it. I solved all the fitment problems on this side. There's still a bigger gap than what it should be at the top of the A pillar but 1/2 less than what it was, but it doesn't matter. Speaking of some parts not 100% as they should be Left A pillar Right side A pillar I guess it was friday afternoon. On the front of the bed can someone tell me what does the second hole bolt to? Is there something missing? I also need a picture of the inner left side subrail to know what needs to be cut for the early 28 handbrake because I'd like to keep it on the left side. I'm missing the bracket to mount the handbrake on the frame so if anybody has one laying around or at least a picture of it to see if I can fabricate it, thank you.
So I wanted to check if everything was like I pictured it in my head with the '32 gas tank. And it's better than I hopped for, since I lengthened the frame for the spring behind the axle I don't have to fabricate that ugly tube structure between the A frame and the '32 horns. I'm still on the fence on fabricating new '32 horns at the A heigth to blend in with the A chassis or do something different. Right now the bed needs to move back a little, it sits too close to the cab. Can someone tell me the distance between the cab and bed? I'm missing the rear frame holes because of the lengthening and the front I don't know what I'm missing.
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