I picked up this 30/31 cabriolet body from Brad Spring of 2019. He had it for sale for well over a year with no one pulling the trigger. Lots of tire kickers. I gave it a good looking at when I bought the coupe off brad and kept it in the back of my mind. I even listed it for brad to see if I could move it along for him. To no avail. This was 2018 Spring of 2019 I decided it needed to come to my house. Because I want everything... just like the rest of us. 1 isn’t enough, well neither is 4 or 5. But who’s counting and don’t tell my girlfriend. Lot of guys said it was a bit too far gone, not much there to work with, little too rough for me. Ya know the drill... I thought it was all there metal wise (except the floor). It was an old hotrod. So come spring time, I called brad said I wanted the Cabrio and wanted to come get it. Well now that the coupe is done, out of the top garage and in the big building outback. I had planned to get right back to work on the sedan. But I wanted to grease my wheels before I got back to work fabricating on the sedan. Thought I’d pull in the Cabrio body for a quick floor job. So that’s what I did. This is the body sitting by the road at Brads house. Here it is at my house a few weeks afterwards. The Body sitting on an old hotrod A chassis from the late 50’s early 60’s that I picked up in West Springfield Mass. Summer 2019 (just to keep it off the ground) Fall 2019. In the big building out of the weather. I had listed the body for sale, I had wanted to do some insulation for the new shop however no one had stepped up. My horrible makeshift conduit bracing that barely worked out. Welding on a 100’ extension cord seemed to be a bit challenging. Fast forward to thanksgiving week 2019. I moved the body into my garage. Braced everything up real good. Welded the doors set with tabs making sure my gaps were good. Got the body sitting where I wanted it. I moved an extra A chassis I got from Mike Bowling into the garage and set the body on w a 4” channel at the firewall and 3” channel at the center of the rear wheel well arch. Give it some extra rake I came up with this idea when I channeled my sedan two winters ago. It worked then and it worked now. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/mobile-gallery/e9ccb33182a8345b1f4b07ffb0b7035e.jpg[/ IMG] [IMG]https://www.jalopyjournal.com/mobile-gallery/3fb359eb07eb23c4b8e97cc6cc15cdd0.jpg You can see the stanchions in some of the pics. It helps to have the chain fall and trolley. I couldn’t do it without it, that’s for sure. Made sure everything is level and straight. I used a string form the front cross member to the rear of the body. Tacked the feet of the stanchions to the chassis. Just so it wouldn’t move around. Added a pair of old frame horns to the bobbed frame. That’s 20 pics ... off we go. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
In the last pic you can see the firewall is already removed. It was an old channeled hotrod from back when. Story has it is was pulled from the back of a cemetery in Fla and trailered north to NH. Then to brad, then to me. [emoji16][emoji1598] I removed the torch cut firewall because I have a few good donor firewalls and I wanted to get the body back to as untouched looking as possible. Even though I was going to channel it. So I removed the firewall and fuel tank. Put in a new 31 teardrop firewall and received the bottom of the tank. Day 1 Hate to say it but this tank was beautiful. I had no idea ... I would have cut a different one if I had taken the time to look at it. But, that’s life and hotrods. I discovered a [emoji360] inside the tank when I opened it up. Much nicer now. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Day 2 I decided to start at the firewall and work my way back. I wanted to add a set of cowl feet to the bottom of the firewall and cowl. They’re not pretty but no one will ever see them Even though, again. I’m channeling it. I just wanted to make it appear that everything was intact when the car was channeled. Plus I thought getting as close to “stock” would help me locate the new subrails I was going to build and thus I’d be that much further ahead of the game. Then I added that was left of the subrail extensions which got me about to the base of the A pillars I then started laying out how I would channel the car. It’s really hard to tell by the pics. When I was looking into channeling, prior to me channeling the sedan. I was always so lost looking at pictures. Nothing ever made sense. Even with descriptions. So I don’t expect anyone to really understand how I’m doing this channel. There’s always so much going on in the pictures. I started by measuring the bottom of the body in the best places. Then measuring to the top of the frame and adding 3/4” because that was the thickness of the material I was using for my subrail. You can see the 3/4”x1.5” stock laying across the frame. The bent sheetmetal is a Z that goes from the top of the subrail down past the frame to the top of what I will use for my subrail/ inner rocker or door sill. (I guess you will call it). Technically it would be the position of the original subrail that the body would have been attached to. (Riveted at the body at the base of the A and B pillar. In this pic (drivers wheel well) I’ve got the 1.5x3/4” stock from the orig rear subrail crossmember all the way to what would be the base of the b pillar. I did this on both sides. I used sheetmetal to hold the tube stock up so it would not protrude below the side of the body. As it would have been. I’ve also got the drivers side subrail from the cowl to the rear of the frame laid out at this point. Making my cuts as needed to follow the contours You can also see the Z shape of the sheetmetal. The drop of the body or lift of the floor. However you’re looking at it Day 3 You can see at this point I’ve got the subrail across the rear of the car and have fabricated it down the pass side. Enough to have started running perpendicular supports across the body. Few more shots do you can see how I’m going about it. My stanchions did end up being slightly in the way. I had to cut the tack welds and lift the weight off the body. Moved them slightly inward so that the tube stock would clear past them. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Day 4 After making the subrails for the car and getting the structure in the rear of the body welded. I was able to start removing some of the rebar braces. Reason being, they were in the way. I left the stanchions welded to the body. However I was unable to move forward with the sheetmetal work to construct my floor and channel. So my subrails I’m using aren’t designed for a coupe, Roadster or Cabriolet. They happen to be the rear portion of Sedan subrails. I was unaware of this until things just weren’t lining up nor looking right. I ended up google searching images of model a ford subrails until I found what I thought was what I had. I ended up having the rear portion from the B pillar back, Sedan subrails. Nothing like what I needed. So I cut them up and made them work. I spun them end for end and reversed them. Using the pass side as the drivers side and vise versa. I don’t have any pics of this because honestly. Why would anyone ever do this. Lol. I am building the body with parts I’ve acquired and accumulated over the past 4 years. Mostly the past year if I’m being honest about my swapmeet spending habits. ♂️. Long story short, they worked out after some measuring and cutting. If I didn’t say anything no one would ever know I added some quarter panel braces to the rear of the body. The old ones have been torched out. The remnants are still there. I used them as locators for the new ones. Mike B had given me this metal tube from a net of some sorts. Think he stole it from his neighbors kids. Cranky old man. I cut it down, sectioned it. Decided it would make for a great body hoop and something to start tying the body to as I went along. In the last pic you can see At some point in the Cabrio’s lifetime someone had added round tubing at the rear wheel wells. They made for great material to add bracing from the body hoop to the quarters. To start getting the body in position for the floor. Tied in the rear support to the hoop. The rear of the car is really starting to stiffen up at this point. Before the night was over I started fitting a set of inner wheel wells I got as part of a parts haul with the old 50’s hotrod chassis from West Springfield mass. The pass side was good to go. This drivers side has had the bottom 3” cut off of it. Guessing someone used it as a patch panel at one point in time. It’s okay... I’ll fix it. Pass side. Dry fit End of day 4. Wednesday (thanksgiving eve). Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Day 5 thanksgiving morning ... not cooking this year. Kids are sleeping ... I’m making good progress so I’m in the garage early. I worked until 12:00 then ate. My kids went to their moms and I went back to the garage. As everyone expected I would do. Over the summer I picked up another parts lot in New Bedford Mass. An old timer working on a sedan, Never finished it and had passed. I purchased the remnants of his sedan project Lots of good pieces but I moved most of them along. Kept a few parts for moments like this. This is a 30/31 sedan rear seat riser. I don’t have a 30/31 sedan and have no need for it. I had it listed for sale (pre rust), however like some things, it didn’t get sold. So I cut it up [emoji16] Removed the hump because the crossmember now sits far too high for it to fit. I drilled out so many spot welds !! Holes everywhere. But I needed to separate the seat risers and the hump. I fabbed up some risers and raised the hump 1.75” to clear the rear crossmember. This damn seat riser pan fits perfectly within the new subrails /floor structure and rear quarter braces. It was like I pre built everything for this panel. Some things just work out like that. Joe (51box) had given me and sold me some parts and pieces from his 28 coupe he had no need for. One was this rumble seat rear pan that goes below the decklid. He used the top half for his coupe and discarded the rest. I used it and Perfect fit again [emoji1360][emoji1362] You can see in this pic the tabs I made to brace the body to the hoop. Just twisted those up in the vise and bent them on the horn of the vice to radius around the hoop. I had been given an old F1 seat frame a few years ago. I had intended to use it for the sedan however I decided to use a mini van seat for the rear. The F1 seat was 8” too wide for an A body. So out came the cutoff wheel. And viola it fits. You can see in this pic it’s sitting just a touch higher than the body line. With the channel the floor height to the top of the body is 21”. My sedan is 22”. The seat will look good once the body wood is installed behind it. I believe that was the end of day 5. Time for leftovers [emoji16] Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
good stuff... going to be a neat hotrod... is that the correct dash ?, Vicky and the slant w/s's are different... was the cowl originally a slant wind shield ? filler panel between the tank and w/s frame is shallow, '30-'31 closed cars except the slant w/s cars... [twice as tall] inner doors look odd maybe '31 only cabbies... '29, '30 +'31 cabbies used the same rear quarter... '29 cabbie,'28-'29 coupe, sport and special cpe, '30 and '31 cabbies all used the same above deck panel... it doesn't look like you need any panels... . go mike go !
You are a wealth of knowledge Mike. [emoji1373] Thaw cowl was not a slant windshield. It was standard from what brad told me. He chopped it and sectioned the doors after removing the window frames and handles Dash...my addition. No clue. Doors. Are Cabrio specific. Like I mentioned, parts are all off the storage container shelves. Only thing I’ve bought is the tube stock and sheetmetal thus far. Whatever I have that I can make fit, is going on the body. So far everything has fit one way or another. [emoji375] [emoji375] [emoji375] [emoji41][emoji1360] Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Wow! You are a go-getter! Looks like you know what you’re doing and the car is looking good. Thanks for sharing all your hard work. You make it look fun!
Great thread! Like getting the Readers Digest version instead of having to wait on the story in real time.
Mike you are an Olympic Hotrodder... This is Fun Stuff to watch...it's like a trip back to say...1957. You need hockey pucks for mounts to keep the roll bar Happy... Quite the creative mind and you get it done... Thanks for sharing the Hotrod Journey...Christmas comes early around here... Here's a thought since it was a Cabriolet a Formed and Riveted Aluminum Top, Removable or a Carson Style...Still All Hotrod either way and it compliments the Cabriolet and Sport Coupe in its past...I really like the Trunk Full open is ample enough eh!... This is one of Hamber @Koz's Tops and it Mimics the Cabrio/Sport Coupe Canvas with a WW11 Aviation connection and Highlights lack of a Quarter Window of course... I think very fitting to Post War Hotrod...polished or not...
Gonna be real cool, I see the window slots in the doors were saved... if you run glass check out the mid to late '30s pick ups, they had a stamped steel border around the glass that could be modified to work on the CABBIE... if not running windows try using the armrest section of a late '40s tudor door garnish, they are considerably wider and may fill the gap the window used... got a couple if you want a measurement...
No glass. All the internals were removed. I was thinking of building a Carson style top for it in the future. For now it’s just going to get the floor treatment inner body structure and rolled out on a set of stock A axles. Some added touches so it recognizes itself as a traditional hotrod. [emoji1360] Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Day 6. I had to add bracing to the floor where the seat would mount, I modified the seat brackets and made some feet to now mount the new seat. Allowing it to be adjustable using the orig adjustment mechanism. Cut a sheet of 18ga for a floor. No fancy beads no fancy bends. Just a straight forward floor After the floor was in and the subrails were complete. Day 7 I fabricated the new B pillars that would follow the contour of the body. Off the B pillar I added another brace that also contoured to the body. I made sure I kept it low enough to allow me to install the wood on the rear deck. Tied it into the body hoop Lots of cuts and welds to get the tube to take the shape I needed. Without a bender that’s my only option. Heat just collapsed the box tube. The B pillars attached to the box tube that I installed from the rear sub rail crossmember that went through the wheel well into the lower quarter and extended to the bottom of the B pillar. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Day 7 Time to attack the drivers side wheel well Cut a piece to fit Using my jump shear I used the sharp edge to hammer the crows foot beads into the sheet. I don’t have a die for that reveal for my bead roller. So I improvised as I usually do. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
I may steal the little bent strap from wheelwell to vertical brace idea... x 2... should help hold the lower qtr where it need be... mostly for when I weld on the patch panels... will let me push a little when tacking them on... … keep those good ideas coming … we can use 'em...
Next came time to locate the fuel tank. I made sure I added additional support in the sub rails for the tank when I built the floor. This tank came with my sedan when I bought it. It has been waiting it’s turn to be used. I wanted to get the tank in place and the seat located where it was going so I can build the bulkhead. (I have everything to build it, just haven’t got there yet) Maybe today. I wanted to cover all the holes I had to drill to separate the sedan seat riser. So I cut some 1” strips and just tack welded them every inch. I’ll seam seal them when the floor gets epoxy. I had a set of door handles and a matching rear trunk handle. I modified and few things, drilled a hole in the decklid and installed it. I heated and bent it to follow the contour of the decklid. Worked like a charm. I’ll make a latch for it in the future I had picked up a pair of Pontiac tail lights from a parts haul. The gentleman bought and never used them. This went in nice and smooth And fit the eta the car will be representing Threw on an old yankee plate holder and the back of the Cabrio looks great. Then I decided to add in insert to the 30 grill shell that will go on it. Not sure where this metal grate came from but it worked and gilt like a charm It’s a storm door screen. [emoji1360] Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Then I added the bracing to the cowl so I could remove the doors and get to work on making them open. Not sure when the last time the doors functioned on the Cabrio. But I think it’s been quite some time. Got the tabs cut off and the doors off of the body That’s where I’m at. Build my own hinges out of round bar stock and flat 1/4” x 1.5 steel I can work on my rocker panels or door sills at the doors. (I’ll take pics) I’m now able to access the points at the base of the A pillars and B pillars to finish weld the structure. Thanks for the compliments and following along. The reason I’m putting time into the car was to sell the body. I had tried selling it but as I mentioned before, no one was willing to take on the task. Hopefully this will show some people that may doubt their skill level or knowledge. Anyone can do this stuff. The major part is time. The more time you spend doing something the more confident you’ll become. My confidence level and skill level has grown tremendously over the past few years. I’m challenging myself with projects like this. I’m still new to metal fabrication, however I’m not afraid of a challenge. As you can tell. I actually enjoy the process ... I know. I’m crazy [emoji12] ***UPDATE*** The body has been sold. Along with the chassis it is sitting on. The new owner is having me finish up the doors, bulkhead and a few other items. He will then take it to his garage and pick away at it, with my help. He is a close friend and like some, does not have the tools or know how to to the work. However he has a new found passion in vintage hotrods. I’ll be helping him install his rebuilt 59ab Flathead V8 , 39 top loader and the V8 banjo rear. This car will be on the beach in Wildwood in the fall of 2020. Saved another one [emoji41][emoji1360] I’ll continue to post as progress is made in my shop as well as his. Thanks again. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Ditto on the good thread ! I like it... I have a bunch of the '30-'31 closed car oddball cowl hinges... common on cabbies... kinda like knuckles.. instead of the normal male / female style... the 2 styles do not interchange... they are free if they help... not a great pic, but there is one of the oddballs on this cowl...
I would absolutely take you up on that offer. I’ll message you my info. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
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