Thread: model a 3 window

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Yeah, It looks like its coming along real well. Excellent work Jim.

I agree with Don Shillady---30 or 31 cowl, 28/29 fenders and splash aprons, 32 grill shell. I think that the earlier shot of the Briggs bodied roadster is misidentified---I think it is a 30 or 31, not a 29 as captioned.

It is a 1929 briggs body. They made the cabriolets for ford. It is the same cowl as a 29 4 door, but it is all 29.

Thanks Jim, you really got the look nailed on the coupe. Outstanding work !!!!!!!

There must be something that I don't understand here. Ford made model A's for 4 years. The 1928 and 1929 models had a "stepped" cowl, in which the front door jamb stuck out about 1 1/2" past the cowl on each side of the car, and the 1930 and 1931 series had a smooth cowl, that is to say, the sides of the cowl ran in a smooth line from the hood side panel back to the door opening. The roadster you show in the post has the smooth cowl sides. Did some body manufacturers have a different style of cowl within the same model year?

Brian,
Yes that is exactly it. The fordoor and cabriolet were made by a body company called Briggs. These cars had thier own style. The cowl looks like a 30-31 but the firewall is the same dimensions as the 28-29. If you look close at the pics you will notice the cowl widens out a lot more than a 30-31. I hope this helps.
jim

I'll try to wiggle out of this dilemma noting I said "seems", but in the back of my mind I remembered that the cabriolets were special and different. In my copy of "Henry's Lady" by Ray Miller there is a picture of a 1929 Cabriolet (Type 68 A) on page 127 which clearly has a smooth cowl. In addition on page 133 he shows a 1931 Cabriolet with a slanted back windshield. It would seem the cabriolet model was advanced in styling. Of some interest to me if I try to use a wild paint job is that the cabriolets used a darker color above the side molding including all of the rear deck. When this was brown and the bottom part of the paint was a light color it resulted in a really "jazzy" appearance quite daring in an age when almost every other car was a dark color, if not outright black. Actually, we can recall that '28-'29 models were on the economic bubble of the Flapper Era so I guess a two-tone cabriolet with a fox tail would have really been "IT"! So it would seem the Sibley body was a '29 cabriolet with a smooth cowl. I can supply a picture if anyone wants it but it would only be from a scan of a book picture and might not be the greatest quality. Anyway there is photographic evidence of some '29 Fords with a smooth cowl. Maybe someone from this thread will answer my question about a pie-cut windshield for a related '28 roadster on the other thread "piece of pie"????

Don Shillady
Retired Scientis/teen rodder

Well as far as colors goes. Im gonna paint it black with as close to the McMullin flames as I can do. Only with a better fade, I hope.
Jim

Here's a pic of a '28 leatherback town sedan, probably a Briggs that has the "smooth" cowl sides.

Murray also produced the town sedan body, again with the "smooth" side cowl;

Here's the '29 Cabriolet with the smooth side cowl, though the spare is in the way.

Thanks Bob. That last one is what mine is supposed to look like.

There was at least a Model A 3 window coupe prototype built.

no offence, but I like mine better.

Originally posted by JimSibley
Heres the latest pic of the 29

Man, FANTASTIC job!!!!! I've got to ask..... looking at the "latest pic of the 29", is that where your engine is going to set, and if so, how's the back pipe of the exhaust header gonna work out for ya?

Keep the pictures coming.........