I have searched, Googled, and purused the old mags, and have not found much. I am interested in information regarding grafting a later model roof onto a model A. Say a late 30's or early 40's roof, something with a rounder shape. I know it can be done, and I can recall having seen a few examples through the years, I would just love to see some finished examples to determine if it would look as good as it does in my mind, or at least hear from anyone who has done it, attempted it ect. Specifically I was thinking a 46 roof onto my 29 sport coupe. I would need to cut it down a bit, but I think it could turn out really nice.
One of the guys on here did it, even came out on hot rod TV. His name's Skratch. I think if you search under "headskratcher" you'll find the post.
the guy scratch put a 33/34 3 window roof on an a coupe...and as far as the 40's roof make a drawing or cut up photo's to actually see how it would look but let me see pix im very interested
I know I woud need to narrow and shorten it. The biggest problem with the sport coupe roof is that I don't have one. No frame, no parts, nada. I think the rounded roof has real potential, but I am like you I want to see it before I get too carried away. Perhaps a photoshop rendering,.....anyone?
'46 What roof? Ford? DeSoto? Coupe? Sedan? Scratch used a '34 roof, still a "skinny fender" car. Go buy a HOTROD DeLuxe Mag. and read about it I was eyeballing an empty party Helium tank I have here as a possible source for A roof rear corners. It could be 1/4d maybe.. A pre'47 GM truck cab roof might work better than a '46 anything.
i have seen before where some people have cut sections out of scaped mini vans the ones with raised ridges on the top prefured due to strenght ..
Model A Sportcoupes were kinda in during the Restorod Days of the 70s. All these guys turning them into roadsters makes me think real Sport Coupes will be hot, and hard to find...................soon.
Wow, I'd like to see that concept in a simple pen and ink or pencil drawing. Might have something really unique or uniquely ugly, but we'll have to wait and see. Glad to see somebody is thinking outside the box again.
I think the only thing to watch with a round sloping top is where the slope winds up, if it's too low through the quarter window area you're not going to have any headroom - the interior space on these is short enough most guys have the seat about as far back as it can go.
By the time the later model roof is sectioned, shortened, narrowed, chopped, etc, to fit on the '29 body...I think it would just look like a big bubble. But I'd be interested in seeing a concept drawing/photoshop.
why dont you try early 30s sedan. i bought the whole back section from a 34 chevy for a couple of hundred bucks. used it to fix the roof on my 34 olds coupe. its closer in size to the model a problaly easier to fit and make the proportions right. if you use a 4 door it would give a quater window to build a 5 window. or use a 2 door and make a 3 window. mat
i dont think the 28/29 is the body to start with for this the stepped windsheild post/cowl post area and the downward sloping quarters make it awfully hard to get good proportions i was working on one and considering some type of a roof like doane spencers car had....but it just never seemed to look good on paper id think if your dead set on this that a 30/31 body would be better suited? good luck in any case Zach
i think theres one in the hot rod milestones book? and i think a couple in some magazines before it was most recently restored
Maybe Mike Zenor will chime in, but I recall him telling me about a buddy of his in Chi-town using a '63-65 Riviera Hood for the roof on an A. The ridge up the middle gave it a super '60s look. But I've never seen pics, just heard the story.
Thanks for all the interest guys. I agree with most of what is being said. I think that there is tons of potential with a change lilke this, but I also think it could look like **** if no done well. The main reason for my interest in this topic is one of necessity. My sport coupe body is really nice (the nicest A body I've come across), but I am not a fan of the way they look with the stock roofs. My firt thought was to find a donor top off of another 28/29 coupe, or perhaps a special coupe. That has proved to be impossible. Next I thought I might be able to make a 30/31 roof work, as they are available from time to time. Don't really want to cut it down, but I might. So far there are three examples that I have considered, take a look. I am sure you guys are familiar with at least two of them. Anyway the jury is still out and I have lots of time to figure it out.
so, do you want a hard top or just a different shape to the soft top?? you could make your own carson type top out of conduit. it's cheap and easy to work with. you could try lots of different profiles until you find what you are looking for.
I went thru most of this when I built the top for my roadster pickup. Like you, I wanted to avoid building a top with a back panel that went vertically from the car body. I wanted one that sloped up, similar to the top on 33 and 34 Ford coupes.--They look a lot "swoopier". However after much layout work I determined that in a model A, due to their relative lack of leg room, even with the seat back as far as possible, if you slant that rear panel, then it will run into the back of your friggin head!!! In order to bring that swoopy top configuration off, you have to have a car that has about 8 ot 9" of clearance between the back of your head when seated in driving position and the rear of the ****pit area. On a model A, you only have about 3". http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...ight=how+to+build+a+carson+style+roadster+top
That's Bill Kriwko, a/k/a nummnuts, who did the Rivi roof insert on the A coupe. Car's still being built, I'll see if I can find pix. Drew Didio filled the roof on my A coupe with a 59 Pontiac hood center, and I think it turned out very nice.
Oops, didn't see you were talking about an entire roof on a sport coupe... I dunno, there might be a few alternative roofs that could work on it, but personally I'd keep it as-is, or make it into a roadster with a chopped carson-style top. Brian B***'s 29 coupe uses a 32 windshield/header/posts, which looks kick***.
Sweet mother of god I didn't realize you meant the whole roof from the doorsill up. Yeah Brian B***'s '32 front treatment is very cool. Mike I do want to see those "Insert" pictures. As far as whole roof, No idea, I'll bow out.
Brianangus: Thanks for the link. That looks like a very workable option. I wonder if the yellow sportcoupe that I posted above has a fixed or folding top. If anyone knows who's car that is or has any more pic's of it please let me know.
Hotrob---Someone may correct me, but as far as I know, all sports coupes had non folding tops. The cabriolet looked very similar, and did have a folding top. I can't remember if cabriolets had a steel top on the door like your coupe and a folding top as well. I can't ever remember seeing a picture of one.---Brian
If I was looking to build a steel top on a model A coupe, but wanted a little nicer line, I would check out early pickups from 32 thru to about 52. They have nicely shaped corners, a vertical rear panel, and could be narrowed/trimmed to the right size. Since its a model A, I would stick with a visor, because a visor is really what says "Model A". It might look cool to run a 32 style header, but I think it would be a ton of work, and involve modifying the upper door frames as well to bring it off right.----Brian
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