Projects Building new roof bows

Has anyone built roof bows before?

 

Most are made from Ash, start with nice dry straight lumber. Buy the best tools you will need for the job.

 

You said "roof" as opposed to "top" so I assume closed car as opposed to open?

 

Closed car or open? Stationary or folding? HRP

 

Do you have old bows as patterns or are they totally missing?

 

I show the process I used to make the wood in this pickup. it is not a Dodge but should be similar.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/fixing-a-smashed-31-model-a-pickup-cab.1143362/

 

I remember seeing a tudor Deuce sedan that used old hockey sticks in the hole in the roof and I have collected a few to use in my Austin.

 

We can offer suggestions for making metal bows for a touring car or roadster. And we can offer suggestions for making wood bows for a closed car such as a coupe or sedan.

but you're only going to need one of these types of suggestions. How about some more info? and some pictures of the car as it sits

 

I wanted to put a suspended headliner in my '40 pickup instead of the cardboard pieces that Ford used. That meant making 3 roof bows. I cut a 2x6 on the bandsaw to the shape I wanted and then cut/planed some clear ash into 1/8" strips. I glued and laminated them onto the the 2x6 mold with lots of clamps. After a couple days, I removed the bow from the mold and there was no springback. Turned out excellent.

 

Many. early tops use a combination of metal top irons with wood top bows , the old way of making the wood bows was to use steam bent ash , others have accomplished the same thing by laminating thin strips of wood on a form . Former H.A.M.B. member ( now deceased) Langy from England did a nice write up some years back of his SS top irons with steam bent wood bows , I'm sure there are others in the archives . Perhaps someone who is proficient at using the search function could help . There are / were a few aftermarket top manufacturers out there that you could look at to get some ideas , as well .