29 & 30 model A deck lid question

[KustomLincolnLady]

We need a deck lid for our 29 (as a cow laid on it)     Rob is making one, but the other night a friend offered us one for a 30. Can anyone tell me if this will work. Rob is good with metal and he wondered if it was just the width or something that was a little off if he could modify it!

thanks
Debb

[DRD57]

We need a deck lid for our 29 (as a cow laid on it)     Rob is making one, but the other night a friend offered us one for a 30. Can anyone tell me if this will work. Rob is good with metal and he wondered if it was just the width or something that was a little off if he could modify it!

thanks
Debb

If he was going to make one, he can probably make it work but I'm told they are different.

[C9]

If the inner structure is reasonably straight or can be straightened you can re-skin the lid.

My welder friend - who's not a bodywork guy, but is a good welder - got a deck skin for his 28 A roadster from Brookville.
They do have the big radii curve rolled in, but they are shipped virtually flat.

The skin went right onto the inner structure with no probs and it turned out great.
Cost was around a hundred bucks + shipping if I remember right.

When I saw it I was struck at how easy it would be to make one.
Order the material cut close to the right size.
Mark out the cut and bend lines.
If no sheet metal shear or brake handy, take it to the sheet metal shop and have them bend it for you.
I've done this many times and it doesn't cost much if everything is ready to go.

You may want to invest in one of the shrinker/stretcher tools from Eastwood to make rolling in the curve easy.

[Anonymous]

What I have heard is they are the same size and the only difference is in the latch and how it latches.

Does he want to sell the one the cow laid on?

Doug

[av8]

. . . When I saw it I was struck at how easy it would be to make one. Order the material cut close to the right size . . . You may want to invest in one of the shrinker/stretcher tools from Eastwood to make rolling in the curve easy.

You would need a shrinker for sure, but if memory serves me correctly (what are the chances of that?) the decklid has some crown; it's not a simple (one-plane) bend.  Even back so long ago good body engineering dictated crown (compound bend -- at least two intersecting planes) be added to large panels to prevent oil-canning and drumming. Bob Galamb, head of Ford's body engineering department during the '20s and on into the '30s was one of the best in the entire industry. Not only was Galamb a standout as an engineer, he possessed a keen styling sense as well.  Good engineering aside, simple-bend panels look "wrong." Rather than appear to be straight in the unbent plane as you might expect, they appear to dip.

[58 Yeoman]

The latest Street Rod Builder mag shows how someone used a VW roof to reskin a 39 Plymouth coupe. Another take on what AV8 said about it not looking right, the Rolls Royce grille top is actually curved upwards, but appears to be straight and flat.

[KustomLincolnLady]

Hey, Thanks everyone, Rob said he's going to get it and make it work    It is a brookville deck lid. He's is a pretty good metal man (if I may say so)    He said its worth a shot, the deck lid is being given to us!!!

Doug, if you want to "really" know about the deck lid, send me a pm or let me know here and I'll ck with him, I am not sure what hes done with it or where it is. But I can sure find out for you.

Debb

[Anonymous]

Debb,
I send you a PM.

Thanks,
Doug

[Canuck]

The repro skins sold by brookville are shipped ready to install on the sub frame.  There is a crown to the skin with the centre being a inch of so higher than the sides.  The inner structure is different between the 28/29 and 30/31 with the main differece being in the shape and depth of the rumble seat latch area.  Would probably work in the opposite years if the appropriate rumble seat latch for the lid was used.

Just finished repairing a 28/29 inner structure and geting ready to install a repro skin on it.  Just have to figure out what I will be using for a latch as I do not want to use the orinal A trunk latch.

Jim

[brianangus]

I have built trunklids for a 1927 Ford roadster and a 1931 Desoto Coupe, and it is surprisingly easy. Both of these cars have a double crowned trunklid, with the major bend being in side profile, and about 1" in the cross profile. What I did was to take construction cardboard and trace the side profile of the trunk opening and of the top and bottom profiles of the trunk opening, and take the patterns in to the local welding shop, where I had them use the plate rolls to roll these profiles into 4 peices of  1" square tube with a .100 thou wall thickness. I then drilled 1/8" diameter holes thru the peices of tube and using washers about 3/16" thick as spacers screwed the 4 peices of square tube to the inside of the trunklid opening. I kept the top surface of the square tubes about 1/32" below the top of the surrounding sheet metal. When everything was screwed into place, and the corners of the tubes were "fitted" for about as small a gap as I could make it, I tackwelded the 4 peices of tube to one and other in the corners. I then removed the screws, and spacers and lifted out the resulting frame and welded every corner solid. I cut a peice of #20 ga. steel to give me the size of the frame plus about 3/4" extra all around. I clamped it all the way around with c-clamps and vice grips about every 3", and using a hammer carefully tapped the sheet metal down all around the frame untill it was flanged all around. This will pull the sheet metal into the double crown shape very good, without having to use an english wheel or a pre formed panel. Before any clamps are removed the sheet metal must be tack welded to the square tubing at the edges of the formed flange, and the corners may require a little creative tin snip work before bending the flange to prevent having a double fold of material at the corners. These trunklids turned out excellent, and did not require any filler or putty. They never had an inner structure, as the cows where I come from are trained to never lay on cars. The hinge mechanisms were attached to the 1" square tubing.

[midnight sun]

The repro skins sold by brookville are shipped ready to install on the sub frame.  There is a crown to the skin with the centre being a inch of so higher than the sides.  The inner structure is different between the 28/29 and 30/31 with the main differece being in the shape and depth of the rumble seat latch area.  Would probably work in the opposite years if the appropriate rumble seat latch for the lid was used.

Just finished repairing a 28/29 inner structure and geting ready to install a repro skin on it.  Just have to figure out what I will be using for a latch as I do not want to use the orinal A trunk latch.

Jim

I just installed a trunk latch on my A I got from Sachse Rod shop.  I believe its made by Watson Streetworks.  Its a cable release type and works really nice.  Has constant tension on it so oif it ever breaks or comes loose, the trunklid opens automatically.

Later