29 pickup build, is it possible?

Hi, im an engineering student in the uk and with nothing to do over the summer i decided to start building my dream. I've been interested in hot rods all my life, and can't get enough of 1929 Ford Model A pickups.
However after doing much research over the internet i've realised that it is impossible to get hold of any remotely Model Aish without paying big money, or having to ship it over from the homeland (USA)
So that settles it then, it'll have to be built entirely from scratch.
After searching the HAMB i've found a link to wescott auto so i alredy have all the chassis dimensions i need.
and also seeing the Model A scans on image station.
SO i also have brief idea of the body dimensions.
However no where can i found more detailed dimensions for instance:

The grille shell height, width, and depth
The height and width of the doors and the windows
The cowl and firewall
and the dimensions of the roof
please note i would like all these dimensions as stock if possible
ooh and if any one knows any good websites detailling a build let me know
and just to give you guys an idea of what i want to achieve i've attached this photo



cheers me dears

 

This is really weird but Taildraggin's next project is a 29 model A pick up and we have a stock steel one here so which measurements do you need. Where abouts in England are you??

Here's some pics

Daisyduke

 

i'v got a deuce a grill shell if you want those measurements

 

IM IN LEEDS,

+ Any measurements would help


TA

 

Basically i want to start by building a skeleton similar to this one...

 

Hell, England is only as big as the county I live in, drive over there and measssure the damn thing!

 

.....

 

Hey TMAN believe me i would but i can't drive yet so any measurements you guys can help with is a bonus as i don't have to get off my fat arse, besides i only need to now the basics such as the firewall dimensions to help get me started. Then i can draw up the plans from that

 

Wow, that is quite the undertaking. I just want to let you know that its gonna be a tough project. My dad and i put the metel structure inside of a fiberglass 32 and that was hard! Let alone building a structure without an actual body! I wish you the very best of luck. If it gets tough, dont give up. If you set your mind to it im sure you can do it. hopefully everyone on here can give you any measurements you need.

Nick

 

So length 1. the length from the front of roof to the back.

length 2. Width of the roof.

length 3. width of the windshield.

length 4. height of the cab from its base (is this the same at all four corners.)

length 5. from base of length 4 to the rear corner.

length 6. from base of length 4 to the firewall

length 7. height of firewall

length 8. length of firewall

angle 9. radius or degree of bend of the cowl

sorry for cruddy drawings but i hope they help you help me

 

don't fool yourself... anyway you slice it, it cost a lot of money. in my experience the most exspensive way is build it from scrach yourself. cheapest way is to buy a finshed car, let the other guy take the hit.

had i done that i could have saved 10k and 5 years of build time.

 

lots of work...its possible, but why triple your work when you can go buy one?

The only way I see it being beneficial is saving a few bux?

Is this a school project?

 

it's not a school project no, but it is away to put my new engineering and welding qualifications to the test and have something to get up for on a morning over the summer or next few summers.

 

I'm building an all steel 27T modified on a 21 T One Ton Truck chassis here in Wrexham UK (see below). It is difficult but definitely possible. You've just got to want it that bit more.

There is a 27T pickup cab on eBay Uk at the moment - £500 would buy it.

 

Buy yourself a Model A pickup plastic model and scale it up.

 

It's good to see young guys interested in Hot Rods. Too many bite off more than they can chew and get discouraged quickly.

Not to discourage you but a closed cab pick up would be a hell of an undertaking for a novice. How about trying a roadster pick up for your first build. A 28/29 wouldn't be too hard to do. You could get away without some of the compound curves and it would still look OK.
Clark

 

figure up all your cost, then multiply that by 7. thats your cost..... if your lucky.

 

that pickup photo you posted looks DAMN familiar... maybe built by Charlie Titman?

if its the same one, the owner lives in wisconsin and is currently building a scratch built roadster.

 

it cant be done...better build a tuner.

 

Do you have AutoCAD, if you do, then I have dimensions.....

PM me with an email address and I'll see what I can come up with tomorrow....

Note: I agree with Clark, lop off the roof and you'll give yourself a massive head start.....

Cheers,

Drewfus

 

buy a 28-29 pickup body in glass and copy it if you need it in metal, or run it in glass. if you can't get ahold of an real steel body run it in glass,

put your time and money into the chassis and running gear instead of spending huge amounts of time building something out of scratch, especially if you do not have an real deal to see and copy in the end the body will probally not really look 100% like an pickup ford made, doing meassurements just like that will not get you all there.. unless you have some real blue prints...
not that glass bodies always is 100% accurate either or not alla steel bodys are 100% alike but,
if i would build a steel car out of nothing i sure would get me a glass body or heck find someone with a steel body to do measurements off...

and besides finding an pickup body or even with chassis etc in the states and having it shipped over aint that expecive.. save your money for a couple of months and get yourself a real steel one ienstead, genuine...

if you ever wanna sell the car you will probally get more money with an real steel body then a homemade body

 

i agree to chopping the roof of would safe time and effort but the weather isn't brilliant over here meaning i would only be able to use it for about 3 days every year.

 

measuring a model is a great idea! but i don't know if there that accuratley scaled. they could have just made the sizes up for all i know.

 

There has been a 29 cab for sale over here for a while now check out the NSRA sight.

I will be happy to sort you out measurments off my cab. I will sort it out when I get home from work.

 

I agree with Clark. You can buy repro A model panels (skins only) all over the place and they're not expensive. If you did a RPU it would be easy. Tack all your skins together then build the internal structure to hold it together. All new steel, cheap, do-able, and enough of a challenge for a first time builder. Good luck.

Pete

 

Shipping a whole Model A pickup to you would be expensive, but shipping just the cab would be far less costly, or if you just took the cowl and doors, even if you cut them in half, they could be shipped through the mail and you'd be years ahead in the project. Once you have the cowl and doors, building the roof and back panel would be very do-able and the finished product would look like the real thing. You would need literally thousands of measurements to build a reasonably-correct looking Model A cab, unless you want it to look like a phone booth on a chassis

(someone please insert a pic of the plywood Boyd coupe here)

 

You do know they are called SCALE MODELS?

 

You are insane!!! Be sure and post progress pictures and also Journal entries so we can keep tabs on your mental health...

 

and multiply your build time by 3 and you might get close!

 

scrach built