37 Ford Cabriolet vs Roadster Question

[40]

I am looking at a 37 convertible....Trying to determine if it's a Roadster or Cabriolet.My recollection is that the roadsters had the snap-on side curtains and the depth of the door was considerably less than the cabriolet do to the fact that there was no regulator installed.I seem to recall there were other differances in the doors as well????The car in question,has the snaps on the top for the side curtains but has doors similar in depth to a coupe and it appears that at some point,years ago,there was a cap fabricated to cover the opening....if so,it was done nicely and is hard to detect.I would like to pop the door panel off and have a look......Any thoughts,opinions on which it is??Any other tell-tale signs to look for??Thanks!!

[tom36]

I can't speak much about '37's, but '36 roadsters, as you say, had snaps for "side curtains" .  The Distintive feature on a '36 roadster was the way that the dash "flowed " into the door--similar to an old Chris Craft boat.  I can't imagine if someone had a '37 cabriolet with roll up windows, taking them out and putting in side curtains!   '37 roadsters are relatively rare and if I could take a guess, maybe Henry  used Cabriolet doors and capped off the glass channel opening?  Tom..

[40]

Are you insinuating Henry was a cheap SOB I have no idea why this posted twice.....it did not post at all when first submitted?

[Pope Downunder]

I am looking at a 37 convertible....Trying to determine if it's a Roadster or Cabriolet.My recollection is that the roadsters had the snap-on side curtains and the depth of the door was considerably less than the cabriolet do to the fact that there was no regulator installed.I seem to recall there were other differances in the doors as well????The car in question,has the snaps on the top for the side curtains but has doors similar in depth to a coupe and it appears that at some point,years ago,there was a cap fabricated to cover the opening....if so,it was done nicely and is hard to detect.I would like to pop the door panel off and have a look......Any thoughts,opinions on which it is??Any other tell-tale signs to look for??Thanks!!

Pep will know more than me, but I did look at a gennie Club Cabriolet (Argentinnian)and a gennie Roadster (Australian) a couple of years back.
The doors looked the same, except for the slot in the top which is completely absent on the Roadster.  They both have the extra 'drop-down' swage that mimicks the drop in the top of the rear quarter to accomodate the top.  If the doors on the one you are looking at look like a Coupe, they probably are Coupe doors cut down.   In fact, I think the 'Downs' Cabriolet looks like that, leading me to believe it was moulded from a cut-down Coupe; but the 'Gibbon' one appears correct.

The roof mechanism is quite different (between the Roadster and Cabriolet) as Pep has pointed out.  If the roof is on, this will show up clearly as the Cabriolet is more enclosing; wrapping right around to the door, whilst the Roadster is lighter and more open, with a separate curtain in the area above the quarter.

[40]

Hey...The wheel's on the wrong side The car in question does have the indented area at the top of the door and the top rolls around similar to the photos in your post.I sent the photos to Pep....I would post one here but they appear to be too large and I have NO IDEA how to re-size them

[mrloboy]

Darryl;

I thought the '36 was the last year for a roadster from Ford. Was the cabriolet not the only soft top for '37?  rj

[Dolly]

I can't speak much about '37's, but '36 roadsters, as you say, had snaps for "side curtains" .  The Distintive feature on a '36 roadster was the way that the dash "flowed " into the door--similar to an old Chris Craft boat.  I can't imagine if someone had a '37 cabriolet with roll up windows, taking them out and putting in side curtains!

Of course the 36 and 37 bodies are completely different.

'37 roadsters are relatively rare and if I could take a guess, maybe Henry  used Cabriolet doors and capped off the glass channel opening?  Tom..

Old Henry was indeed a cheapskate, a fact that is well documented.  Like who else would use the packing material components were delivered in, to make the floor panels of his car for the masses.

As for the '37 Roadster doors, the skins and upper inner panels are unique but they do use some other peices of the cabriolet and coupe inner door panels, again to save money in production.  

[Dolly]

Darryl;

I thought the '36 was the last year for a roadster from Ford. Was the cabriolet not the only soft top for '37?  rj

Nope, the '37 Roadster was built by Ford in the US and Australia during 1937 and as best I can tell, the numbers quoted by Pep are so close that there's no need to argue over the variations of a few units dependent upon where you look for the build numbers.

However, in Australia, roadsters continued to be built right up to 1941, although most of the '41 Roadsters were utilities built for military duty.

But then we also had slopers and Chevy even continued with a Touring or Phaeton model through '37 and '38.

[cornfieldrodder]

Isn't the roadster windshield frame removable?

[Pep]

Darryl;

I thought the '36 was the last year for a roadster from Ford. Was the cabriolet not the only soft top for '37?  rj

Nope, the '37 Roadster was built by Ford in the US and Australia during 1937 and as best I can tell, the numbers quoted by Pep are so close that there's no need to argue over the variations of a few units dependent upon where you look for the build numbers.

However, in Australia, roadsters continued to be built right up to 1941, although most of the '41 Roadsters were utilities built for military duty.

But then we also had slopers and Chevy even continued with a Touring or Phaeton model through '37 and '38.

I'm still not sure if the US models were the same as ours. I get the feeling that they may have indeed made their roadsters with the business coupe rear and a * seat and the hood irons may be indentical to the cabriolets...So I may have to retract my original assessment of "40s" car. If you do look at the last picture on that link I posted. you will see a * seat and the hood irons look exactly like a cabriolet. So the only difference may well be the sealing up of the window slots. I bet the mechanisms are still capable of being mounted...Just an added piece of information I have found.  Here in Oz, the 37 was the last year that Ford called these cars roadsters. From 38 on they were called convertable coupes. The "R" was no longer used in the body numbers.