Thread: Body demesions?????

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I am going to make my own body out of fiberglass and I'm trying to find body demensions of a ????? 29highboy or a roadster....30,31,32??

Any help is appreciated!!

If you know how to make a fiberglass body then you wouldn't need the dimensions so I'm assuming you don't know how it's done.
Most fiberglass bodies are made by making a mold from an existing body. You put a lot of wax on the body and cover it with fiberglass. Glassing in a wooden or steel frame will reinforce and support the mold when you pull it off the car. Then you wax the inside of the mold and lay fiberglass inside it. It works best if the mold is made in pieces that bolt together.
The other method is the Ed (big daddy) Roth method. He would make the body out of wood and wire mesh that he would cover with plaster. after shaping and sanding the plaster body to perfection he would cover it with fiberglass and then break up the wood and plaster.This gave him the female mold. The one piece mold had to be cut up to remove it from the body so you can only make one body from it.
It's a lot of work but the good news is you can buy a fiberglass body for much less than it would cost you to make one of equal value.

I don't have an existing body to use............That is why I need some demension's!! IF I had a body I wouldn't need to make one


I can make the body myself for 1/4 the cost of a retail body, and belive me, I do know how to fiberglass. I am in the process of making the plug and just need some demensions and obviously you don't have them so let someone else respond that does!

It seems like your statements are straight out of a book and not from head knowledge.............Hmmm.

Whatever.............

You'd have to find a body that sombody will let you copy unless you don't want the body shape but just dimensions so it'd bolt to a Model A frame, I'm shure that if you ask Al nicely he'd probably go and measure his '31 roadster when he got time. You also did say ANY help was apreciated and he did give you useful info, You cannot depic if he has book knowladge or head knowladge by the way he wrote the information.

What dimensions do you want Buster? There's got to be over a thousand things to measure on a Model A. I can measure one of my model As tomorrow but I can't do all of them. If you want a blueprint with all the dimensions I can do that but it will take a few weeks and if you could afford to pay me you wouldn't be trying to make a cheap body.

Usually when a newbie is rude to a member of the board he doesn't get much help here so be nice.

Sorry bout that....................
I just took it wrong I guess.


The main demensions I need are the full length of the body from firewall back, and width of cowl area at the firewall. The rest will be altered to fit my needs.....and my tube chassis.

This is going to be strictly a street/strip car and not to "exact" proportions.

I humbly beg for your forgiveness and will think twice before I type!

Ok Buster apology accepted. I'll get those measurements for you tomorrow.

I just read my first reply and "Damn" I sound awful sore for no reason!

Really sorry and thanks for your time.

The cowl is 30" wide at the bottom. It's 29" tall at the center. From the firewall to the back of the body is 8' 5" but my body isn't stock. I think the model A is shorter maybe by 5" but I need the extra leg room. The firewall to the dashboard is 16"
How about some pictures as you go to help others who might want to try it.

Perfect! Thanks again...............
I'm taking pictures along the way and will share them when I'm done.

Congratulations buster, you've shown a maturity that's far too rare around here nowadays. Welcome aboard.

Welcome to CHR Buster:

I once built a fiberglass tilt front end for my 40 chevy only because no one had one available. It took me the better part of a winter to finish it working nights n' weekends. I salvaged the old front end with plenty of welding and bondo to make the plug. It turned out purdy' good for my first attempt. The "Chevrolet" stamped in the molding above the grill even came out clean. I'd like to see pics. too when you get em' posted. An entire body would be a major undertaking for sure.

I agree......this WILL be some work but compared to the prices I'm finding for bodies, it will be well worth it.

One good thing is that it doesn't have to be a perfect replica, just close to the look. (that statement might get me shot by the diehard fans)



If I could just find a fiberglass shell that is reasonable I could save lots O time!

Some of the main dimensions and a good picture of a '29 roadster are given on the "Rod and Race" site for the factory in Md. Sometimes if you xerox a computer printout, say from a screen dump and put graph paper in the printer you can "pick off" some measurements from the graph scale, but the contours may be impossible without an original or a mold. Then again if you are only trying to get something roughly like a roadster you can make your own shape. Maybe with Al's additional measurements and graphical pickoff you can get pretty close. I remember reading about someone who built a replica of Henry Ford's very first car (the one he had to knock the wall out of his garage shop to get it out!) by going to the Ford museum in Dearborn but they would not let him touch the car or get inside the case so he put tape on the outside of the glass case and sighted across the case to get the measurements and it turned out great, BUT(!) that was a simple buggy design with mostly straight lines. The '29 A roadster body has some subtle compound curves, but again maybe you can make a "mod-replica" with just the main curves and forget about the belt molding and other small details. Maybe a wedge cowl and a rounded rear deck with a sharp right angle edge could capture the overall shape and still look like a roadster.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Actually Rodnrace does have a body for $1900 and some change which is getting closer to my kinda price.

Know of any other places that have cheap bodies????

We are on the right track!!