The first repo-body was made in Sweden by Scandinavian Street rods. Its now i Los Angeles, as erik Hanson moved his company to USA. Lars
Outside of the one off's by Erik Hansen and Marcel and maybe a couple of others I think Brookville brought out the first production repro steel body. If memory serves right Brookville did the Model A roadster body for a number of years before they did the 32 body. Their website probably shows the dates for start of production on both. This has the usual self back patting you can expect on any website but does give some of the history at Brookville. http://brookvilleroadster.com/brookville-story.htm I can remember seeing a write up on the first Model A bodies they produced and remember reading that they caused a bit of an uproar with the restorer bunch because some guys were lifting stock Sedan bodies off Stock Model A's and putting the repro roadster bodies on the cars soon after.
I remember asking the Owner at the Brookville booth, 1992 Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, if they were ever gonna make a '32 body. They had made the A's for quite a while at that time. He said they'd never do a '32 because it was way too complex, and would cost a million dollars in tooling. Guess they changed their minds (thank goodness).
No. The reason I asked, I'm looking for a 32 and don't want to be misled on buying a re-pop. Not that there's anything wrong with a Brookville, let's not go that road. If I have a time line on when steel bodies started it would help in determining if it's an original car or not.
1997- After more than twenty years of continued customer loyalty we had another great idea. Since we already had all the separate components to repair any Model A roadster and roadster pickup, why not buid complete replacement bodies? Thus, Brookville Roadster, Inc. was born. Starting with what we knew best, we first introduced our 1928-29 Model A roadster and the 1928-29 roadster pick-up complete bodies in 1982. Soon after came the 1930-31 bodies and then our exclusive extended cab versions of the roadster pick-ups. The Model A continues to be a major part of our business and has remained popular with restorers and rodders alike. In fact, Street Rodder Magazine's Chief Editor recently built a beautiful red '29 roaster which you can see on page 5 of this catalog. In 1995, we turned our attention to the grandaddy of all hot rodding, the legendary 1932 Deuce Roadster. Perhaps no other car in American history has meant so much to performance enthusiasts since the day it was first produced. The beautiful lines and rodding legacy are etched into the minds of rodders of all ages. In producing this body, we knew the stakes were high. Over the two year research and development we studied original cars, consulted original blueprints and talked with everyone who could help us produce the most perfect reproduction body possible. In 1997, all of our efforts were rewarded with the National Street Rod ***ociation's "Best New Product of The Year" award. And more importantly, the Brookville '32 Roadster has been in constant demand by the country's most respected street rod builders since its introduction. http://www.brookvilleroadster.com/brookville-story.htm
If you can see inside of it, it's pretty hard to mistake a 70 year old body for a 10 or so year old body...
One way you can tell the difference on a roadster is the wooden tack strip around the deck. A Henry body is slotted so the the end of the wood slides into the body. A Brookville doesn't have that, and also Brookville makes a perfectly smooth deck former and and you can order a cowl with no vent. If you find a roadster body with no cowl vent and you look under the cowl and see no metal work, it's probably a repop. One other tell tale sign, a Henry body has 2 rivets on either side of the cowl about where the styleline is, you can only see with the hood open. Brookvilles don't have those.
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