I've been doing a little more research on the 1924 Coupe body for the book I'm writing and am confused by some notations I find for some of the parts. Some of the parts for the 24 Coupe were adopted much earlier than I would have expected. For instance, the trunk floor sheet metal. The Record of Change indicates it was adopted on Dec. 22, 1922 and it is marked 1923 Coupe. In May of 1923 they changed it to read "Coupe Ford Body" instead of "Coupe Body". Then on Dec. 12, 1923 they changed it from "Ford Coupe Body" to "Coupe Body", and added the year 1924.
I find a similar thing for the floor boards. The Coupes up through 1922 use the same floor boards as the roadster and touring, but for 1923 they used the same ones as the Centerdoor and Fordor sedan - which are the same as used on the 24 Coupe and Tudor.
December of 1922 would be the 1923 model year and would be a suicide door Coupe. I always thought they were pretty much the same as the earlier ones. Did they do a redesign of the Coupe for the 1923 model year?
Here's a photo of the trunk floor in my 1924 Coupe. Is this the same as was used in the 1923 Suicide Door Coupe? (I know the dishes where the rear body bolts are different - the earlier version just had a notch to clear the body bracket).
Dave S.
Hello Dave,
I found this thread while looking for something else, not sure if it has what you are seeking ? It may be the earlier version of the Coupe floor pan!!
Best regards, John
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/48846.html?1204149607
Dave,
I have a June '22 Coupe and it had a steel floor pan but the cut out to go around the body supports were different. The picture I have attached is showing the cut outs and a hole where you can access the bolt heads for attaching the body. The fellow who did the bead rolling for me did not follow the pattern I requested therefore it is not the factory design. My original bead rolling was much like yours. The cut outs look larger in the photo then they really are. The larger one is for the battery box access and the other small hole is for the fuel line and sediment bulb to drop under the frame to the engine. The spot filler covers the welds attaching the cross bracing. This steel floor pan ran from under the seat to the back of the turtle deck. The front floor area has wood boards
Thanks John and Dennis. I had forgotten about the earlier post.
The parts book lists this floor assembly as p/n 10692 and was used in 1922 - 1923. That would make sense since even if they changed it in Dec. of 1922, the model year typically changed in August so the early 1923 Coupes would still have used this one. Now I know what that part looks like.
There seems to be a lot of similarity between the 22 floor and the 24 floor. Interesting that it is longer in front. The gas tank was located in the trunk at this time. The 24 Coupe has the gas tank under the seat, so they had to remove the front part of the floor to accommodate it. Now I have some very very vague recollection that at some point they moved the gas tank from the trunk to under the seat, then moved it back again??? If so, that would account for the later floor being introduced earlier. Maybe that was a design change that was never implemented?? Maybe they really were redesigning the "new" Coupe that early?? That is the time that the Fordor Sedan was introduced and the Coupe and Fordor share a lot of the same parts in the front part of the body.
Now, does anyone have a later 1923 Coupe - built around Jan of 1923? Does it use the earlier floor like Dennis has, or the later floor like I posted? Does anyone have a Suicide Door Coupe with the gas tank under the seat???
Thanks,
Dave S.
I found the reference to the oval tank being used on the Coupes. Apparently it was used on some 1920 Coupes. Most used the rectangular tank in the trunk.
Another interesting tidbit. The later trunk floor had a 4" dia. knockout next to the battery opening. It would be just about where the sediment bowl would be for the tank in the trunk. I'm assuming this was to retain the option of using this floor with a rectangular tank in the trunk.
Dave S.