Hot Rods Model A roadster with removable body?

I'm starting to get some stuff together for a 28/29 roadster project, and one of the ideas I had was to make the body removable for servicing the chassis. I've seen pictures of cars like this, but I'm wanting to see some good ways of securing the body to the chassis that can be quickly unfastened. Maybe Dzus fasteners or some kind of hitch pin? What would have been used around the mid 60s? How many points would be optimal?

Here is one of the inspirations for wanting this feature, but I'd love to see some more pics from back then as well.

 

Steering wheel/column, clutch and/or brake pedal, hydraulic lines to master cylinders, throttle linkage, seat, floor board and any/all safety restraints, wiring for gauges, floorboards... even if you could make it work you'd have rattles and squeaks everywhere due to lack of body structure and leaky anti squeak, and weatherstripping. I'm not saying it's impossible, but highly improbable without 99 access panels in the floors, 4 buddies to help you remove the body every time, and a body with the structural integrity of a fabrige egg. I'll watch other opinions from the sidelines.

 

Why?

I ask because there are a whole mess of solid reasons why you don't see a lot of people doing this, and did not, back in the day.

 

Much easier to build in 1/24 scale than full size.

 

IF I was going to try it....

1- I'd have the wiring all come into one main loom somewhere near the floor where I could disconnect the body from the frame wiring, much like car manufacturers do today.

2- I'd use a frame mounted master cylinder that had the pedal thru the floor, I'd build a small panel that went around the pedals (clutch too if manual) that actually mounted to the frame with a hole in the body floor pan that matched the pedal floor plate. You could mount a small gasket or seal on the pedal floor plate that sealed against the hole in the body floor.

Now that would take care of wiring and and floor mounted pedals.

The biggest problem I see is the steering column.

Maybe run the column low on the firewall exit and build that into the pedal floor plate also. Then when you lift the body that would leave the pedals and steering column on the frame. If the steering wheel is small enough you could lift the body and guide the steering wheel through the floor pedal hole.

All doable but a pain I'd think, but that's where I'd start. Either a cable that could be easily removed from carb or just install a floor mount gas pedal to mount to the pedal plate already on the frame.

That would take care of alot of "mechanicals" (brake lines, wiring, steering, gas etc).

.

 

Go the extra step and just design a tilt body that gives easy access to everything. Some heavy duty hinges and a bulkhead connector for the wiring and 'Bobs your uncle'. That way you don't need help to tilt it and you wont damage anything storing the body somewhere. Won't allow for driving while tilted though.

Kinda reminds me of a job I had in the late 60s driving school bus chassis about 5 miles to a storage lot. They didn't have the bodies on them yet. Had to sit on a wooden crate and bounced a foot high going over bumps. We were in convoys of a half dozen or so at a time. Fun stuff!

 

Bulkhead connector for your electrical
Keep your body to frame bolts accessable
Have it so your brake pedal can be removed easy.
Have your m/c on the frame.
Be able to have easy access to the DD steering shaft for quick connect/disconnect.
If you have a clutch, well, you're on your own.

 

Just having looked at photos of a car that a guy had to remove the body on to pull the trans out in the past week can see the logic.
The guys pretty well nailed it. Design the connections to have to have items so they can be easily disconnected.
Running the body to chassis/engine electrical system through one bulkhead plug that can be easily unplugged.
Steering column that can disconnected from the box or shaft easily at the firewall.
Brake pedals that are easily removed with maybe a panel below the pedals that can be removed after you pull the mat/carpet back.
Throttle cable linkage that is easily disconnected.
Car set up so you don't have to take the whole interior out to get to the bolts to remove the body.
outside of major work like removing the trans or engine and trans I don't see why you would remove the body just to do a minor service. Unless your idea of "servicing" is show prep.

 

Think past how you think it should be done and do it so it works. Mount the Dash to the Firewall and mount the Firewall to the Frame. They stay in place together. No electrical or throttle to mess with. Mount the total floor pan in two sections with 8 fasteners (4 in each section) solid to the Frame. Now build a flange on the Body that sits on top of the Floor pan and fasten the 2 together. Steering goes T-Bucket style through the Floor not out the Firewall. The rest is easy to fine tune. The real Question is Why not How. You'll spend days taking it apart and putting it back together so you can do a couple Hours of work instead of a 1/2 hour jacking it up to slide Jack Stands under it. You'll need a spot to sit the Body while doing said work as well as 3 good friends to help lift and then someone is going to damage your Paint and there goes the Friendship. Save your Friendship, bolt the Body solid like it should be and make it a real Car. The Green Hornet was a Race Car, back then you didn't need a floor. Wouldn't cut it today.

 

Secure the floor pan and the firewall to the chassis (And perhaps the front face of the dash fixed to the firewall.)
That way pedals, the master cylinder (everything on the inside and engine side of the firewall.), the wiring harness, and steering column are not affected so will be no problem. If you want wipers, it's a coin toss whether to attach the motor to the dash/cowl or the body/cowl underside. Just the headlights and tails will need to be unplugged when the body is lifted. Have the dash top stay with the 'body' to act as a lid for the dash area. You don't need a lift or a gang of helpers, just a block and pulley.

Pist-n-Broke beat me to the post. I like his style.

Whether you build the body out of sheet metal or glass, make it a double-wall construction and fill the space with injectable, expanding foam so you aren't dealing with a "Slinky Toy" every time you lift the 'body'. A metal (square tubing?) perimeter all around the bottom of the body with tabs or flanges to fit over studs in the floor pan.
If you can dream it, you can build it.

 

There are dozens of reasons not to do this, as you can tell from the comments above, versus just about nothing on the chassis that can't be "serviced" easily from below the car with the frame on a lift or stands. But if you just absolutely have to do it, you'll need to make a one piece body that has a wide flange around the lower edges, brace it well on the inside, and figure a way to hinge it somehow from the tail. Use threaded bungs on the top of the frame rail with rubber cushions and bolts with flat large washers to hold it down. Sounds like a lot of work for about no reward.

 

Call me a wise ass but... / ya wanna do chassis work? Check out an electric 2-or-4 post lift. Then let your neighbors and friends know that they can rent it for $8 an hour or $6 for a half hr. Good luck and best wishes

 

The body on my '26 T roadster can come off with a couple hours of work. The clutch and brake pedals are all mounted under the floor to the chassis, and the floor "pan" is wood and unbolts like the factory pieces did. The turtle deck is bolted to the frame with the gas tank on it but it can come off separately from the body tub. The steering column is bolted to a bracket on the frame so it could be unbolted, then you still have to disconnect the (minimal) wiring and throttle/choke linkage but I've had to do it a couple times and it's not too bad. Body bolts down to the frame with bolts and has rubber insulators in between, that part is easy.

I don't think I'd try to make it quick-release, but with some planning ahead it would be very possible to make an A roadster body that could come back off easily in an afternoon if it ever needed to be. The big keys are going to be pedals under the floor with a removable floor plate and a steering column that can be unbolted from the frame with the body in place, so you don't have to lift the body over the column.

 

Here is how we do it in Oregon

 

Just mount everything off the frame. Weld up the doors and trunk lid. Easier to make it tilt than removeable. Think Orange Crate. Get tricky with an electric ram or screw jack and it becomes a one-man, push-button operation. Nothing at all wrong with not wanting to lay on the floor to work on a car. Designed and engineered correctly the benefits will far outweigh any lame excuses as to why it won't work. Did it myself about 35yrs ago to a 27 roadster. Used a 3ft long, 3/16 thick, homemade piano hinge mounted to the rear pan. One electric screw jack lifted it and I locked the firewall down on rubber biscuits using bulkhead latches. Very solid with no flex or rattles. Made working on the car so easy it spoiled me.

 

Just because you can doesn't mean you should. A glass body drag car with seat and cage frame mounted is one thing. You are strapped to the frame and usually survive the crash and the flying car body parts are fairly light. Envision yourself in a crash in the car you are proposing and build accordingly. You don't want the body flying off. Be safe.

 

Build it like a funny car with a full cage.

 

Didn't say anything about doors. If you want doors to open and close correctly, the body needs to be stiff. So it would need a framework of its own. I'm on the side of discouraging it.

 

My question is why would you do this? Reminds me of my motorcycle and sidecar. Everyone thinks that you just take it off and you have a motorcycle. When you own one and have done all the work to mount it, you realize that it just isn't coming off when the whim strikes you.

 

It's traditional

 

You and Pist-n-Broke are thinking in the same wheelhouse as me. Firewall and dash would be chassis mounted and stay there when the body comes off, leaving the steering column and everything still hooked up. The body I have is just skins that are welded to a very crude cage (I think it was a jalaopy type roundy round car in a past life) so I'm planning on making a light inner structure out of small tubing, and then making a real cage that us welded to the chassis. No opening doors. My reasoning for wanting the body easily removable in the first place is that I'm planning on using this car as a test mule of sorts when I build an engine for something else, and taking it to the track. It isn't going to be a daily driver or anything, I have other old cars for that purpose.

 

But we do it that way so we can tune ups in the rain.

 

I can't imagine what liability insurance would cost for your buddies & their buddies to use / rent your lift would be

 

Falls under the heading of " you could but should you" .

 

Dzus fasten the body panels onto the interior cage, hinge the doors off the cage...just do a street version.

 

This was a running frame. Note the temp. gauges laying on the engine. I could have driven the frame with some kind of seat, installed the shifter (the mount was already on the trans) and the steering box and column assy. with 3 bolts. I left them off for convenience, but they could have been mounted on the frame. the pedals were installed. Easy to make up bulkhead connections for wiring if I had wanted to. Body only has 4 bolts to frame. No, my son isn't that strong the steel body is hanging from a chain fall.

 

Test mule for engine’s implies it won’t be driven, just trailed?
Just trying to wrap my mind about this

 

Reminds me of when I was at Race of Gentlemen last year. There was a guy running a T there and when it came time to run brackets him and his buddies lifted off the body and ran it as a rail dragster. Took like 3 minutes. Seems very straight forward to me.

 

In 1960 this little unit raced both Modified Roadster and Dragster class. It set and held a national record. 6 fasteners did the job. The silver haired guy in the Green shirt was the Shoe then and the modified Truck is his driver. This is a 3 year old photo. Yes it can be done. It don't have to be over involved.