Hi I have the opportunity to buy a 1928 AR tourer that has had the back cut to make it a farm vehicle. I am thinking of replacing the rear section with a gl*** roadster section. Is there much difference between the A and AR I dont want to end up with something that is impossible to get parts for. Thanks Brendan
the bodys are the same... almost, not enough to make a difference but gl***????? just buy the brookville stuff and make it an AR roadster
AR is the first run of model A's in 28 they had different things like fluted head light lens, parking brake handle by the door instead of by the gear shifter.ect.ect.
The coolest thing on an AR is the front fenders. The line that follows the hood shelf curves out at the rear, and, to me, is a much nicer looking fender. Don't know why Henry changed the dies, but he shouldn't have. This 28 Sedan I built in 72 is an AR. It had an AR and a later 29 front fender when I bought it. Took some hard lookin' to find a left front AR fender back in 72 when there were a lot more of 'em around! If your AR has a pair of AR front fenders, treat 'em right. They are RARE! And don't use any gl*** on it.
AR is early stuff. Handbrake by the door on the left of driver Model T style, different trans and a powerhouse gen. Front fenders called tea cup style and open cars had no outside door handels, fluted head lite lens and rear drum tail lite mounted off of body. Running changes as production was going. Early AR had open end bumpers like T's. Sheet metal will interchange. As stated above Brookville has everything. Could even make it a roadster pickup! Not sure on rearend gearing. Sounds like a fun project. No telling what has been done to it after all these years. Great book is Henry's Lady. Breaks it all down with pics of original A's.
Isn't the subframe on a pheaton wider than a roadster and RPU? You'd probably need to do some more modifying to fit either of those back halfs on the pheaton front.
i was told that my 28 Tudor Body is one of these..it has the provisions for the hand brake on the left, near the cowel. Over its 80 years of life many things had been changed, the original fenders ( i think), the engine, and the trans were changed to a 31, so the left hand parking brake was gone by the time i got the car. does anyone know what month in 28 or when the AR's were no longer made?
"AR" is a Ford code for REPLACEMENT part. many of the early 1928 parts were upgraded and the new replacement parts carried the AR prefex. Years ago restorers started calling the early '28's AR's. Other than front fenders I think all the tin is the same.
I agree the AR front fenders are nice, but I think the tires hit them and that is why they were redesigned. Not a problem with a Hot Rod.
Never heard the real meaning or AR before. Interesting. I always thought the front fenders were changed because of a stamping/cracking problem. Other sheetmetal that is different on an AR: beavertail rear fenders on coupes & roadsters, high back windows on pickups, a few different versions of hood sides, side splash aprons without the "hump". As for mechanical peculiarities, it seems as if there are DOZENS. But most parts are absolutely interchangeable with the later part. Things like cast vs. stamped. Or a funny bead added or removed.
AR (and there were BR's for B too) actually means a version of a part that has been obsoleted in production but kept in the replacement parts catalog because the new version does not interchange readily. Ford generally seems to have tried to make new versions of mechanical parts backward compatible when possible, in which case the old version would simply disappear from the catalog. If you look at late catalogs, in many cases a third or fourth generation design has replaced all its ancestors for service. Many features of the earliest A's, like most of the brake system, were too different to interchange with the later parts. Some parts like the earliest starter and the multi-disc clutch were pretty much considered design failures, and were usually swapped out for later ***emblies, with the early stuff quickly dropped because replacement was considered almost mandatory. The rear end ratios of early cars were different as stated...I believe the most used one was 3.70 instead of 3.78. You can't generalize...Model A change between the odd earliest cars and the standardized late '28--9's was continual and done piecemeal. Also, it would be unusual to find a very early one with all the early stuff still on it.
My Bro is collecting AR parts to build an AR pickup cab my Dad has had for decades. I know he has some beavertail fenders, wedge-louvered hood sides, cast hood latches, lefty hand brake, and other unusual cast parts. I found a front fender for him last weekend, but it was a bit spendy. But this car will definitely be a hot rod with all these unobtainium parts on it. I think my Bro is doing what a lot of restorers are also doing. Gathering all these odd parts to "fix" an AR that some Ford mechanic thought he was "fixing" seventy years ago by taking the faulty parts off.
I had an A restoration book when I built my 28 Tudor. If I remember correct, the 28 AR's were just the first 3 months of production. It is my understanding that all, or nearly all months of 28 production had the fluted headlight lenses. The AR's also didn't have the hump in the splash aprons to clear the brake rod brackets.
Why not keep it as a phaeton rather than a roadster? The rear doors and rear quarters are probably available out there somewhere. I found some when I needed them for my 28 phaeton a few years ago. I believe the rear panel is being repro'd.
well than that counts mine out..at leat 1 out of 3 things.. I have the bump in my splash shields (if they were the originals to begin with) My One remaining head light when i got the car has the fluted lense..bummer i only have one, and im going with re-done 29 lights anyways. and my fenders were kinda ****ed up..Got better ones. But the left hand brake thing..well that still is there..or whats left of it anyways. oh and my car was built near the end of production for 28..its in the high 500,000 numbers.
Repro 28 fluted lenses are avilable, no more $$ than 29's. I had a rock break one of my originals a few years ago. Got a repro lense from CW Moss, it is so nice I have forgotten which one I replaced. If your A is a 28, go with 28 lenses. They are much cooler looking.
Old T and A lenses used a different sand in the gl*** than is used in modern gl***. Some kinds of sand would turn purple over many years of exposure to the sun. When looking for old lenses with the purple tint, it is hard to find two that match. The repros are clear, and won't turn. If you want a tinted lense, have a window tint shop do a light tint on the inside of the lense. It will look similar to the old ones.
Nope. All are the same. I used a AR roadster body from the doors jambs back and a '29 phateon doors and cowl
The AR ch***ie has a solid motor plate in the front as well. Wow I have ar fenders and didn't even know it thanks. The Pheaton is a cool car and I see the back ends come up now and then. The rear doors are just knotched out fronts if needed but finding rears is not the hard. The back panel is repoped but needs plenty of work more to be used and look good not correct but good. I have a buddy looking for a *** end and not sure if he has found one or has any leads,I'll ask if you want. Roadster are a dime a dozen build the Touring body.
Thanks for the advice guys. I will be having a look at the AR tomorrow with camera in hand so I will try and post some photos next week. It seems the wheels are not intercangeable with later wheels, does this mean if I want to go to steel wheels instead of spokes I will need to change the brakes and spindles, I have had a sniff around the www and it was implied the brake drum was part of the wheel. Has anyone delt with these early wheels? Regards Brendan
In the US, the brake drum is not part of the wheel. Don't think they would have done it differently down there. Pretty sure AR drums are special (rare) too. Don't cut them up. If you want to use stock A mechanical brakes, get some regular drums and grind the small nubs near the studs off. This will allow your steelies to mount correctly. If you just want to mount 30's Ford wire wheels, they will go on the stock A drums with no modifications. But, most guys retrofit '39-'48 hydraulic brakes to their A's.
The wheel/drum combined is shown in the patent drawings for Ford welded wheels, but never reached production. All brake parts are different from regular A, and probably all are desireable to restorers. A car labeled by the seller as an "AR" could have anything, though, as the various changes were incremental between the really strange first few hundred A's and the late '28's which were mechanically similar to all future A's. How the numbering system worked: I'll cover 2780 Emergency brake handle, which had lots of changes... First Model A's had all four brakes worked by both hand lever and by pedal, like a deuce, hand lever was way over on left. This stuff was all dropped from the catalog early on, and has vanished from the book in 1932. Second design had the separate emergency shoes, lever in front of shift lever. This became A-2780-AR. The second A means first design--essentially a falsehood, since they were ignoring the first one! Technically, THAT should have had the A suffix and the one above should have been BR... Anyway, the R means that it is in the book marked as a REplacement part only, superceded in production, held in the parts book because current part could not be used to replace it. Next in the '32 book is A-2780-F, replacing all '29-31 with the familiar handle on the right of shifter. Now...F would denote 6th design change! WTH happened to B, C, etc.?? They were dropped because they were only minor variants with slightly different dimensions, chrome instead of nickle, etc. and the latest design, the F, would replace all of them. So, if you needed a new lever for your '29, you would have received a '31 part at the counter...proper handle for resto would have to be researched in an older edition of the catalog!
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