MTFCA Forum

Greetings to all,

I have a question about converting/ restoring a Speedster to a coup, Let me explain;

In 1938 my dad bought his first car, a 1925 Coup, and drove it to high school. At some point he quit driving it and it sat outside but covered for many years.
In the mid '80's my dad wanted to restore the car as it was originally. The condition he was told was too far gone to restore as a Coup so it was restored as a Speedster. The body and windows were shot up by kids, not me, but those living on farm where car was stored for years.

My question is whether or not I can convert the car back to a Coup using the same wood base/ floor of the Speedster and build the Coup up from there?
I thought that perhaps I could purchase the parts, a little at a time and begin a restoration on the Speedster base. I have a few parts, but not many.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. If I have to start from scratch, from the frame up, I will be too cost prohibitive for me, and the car will remain a Speedster.

Thanking you in advance for your advise and recommendations.

Rick

My first question is: Has the frame been modified? If the answer is yes, it probably would be cheaper as well as much quicker and way less aggravating to just find and purchase a coupe. If the answer is no, then if you are looking for a long-term project, the answer would be a qualified yes. The real issue is that you will need to find a good coupe body. If I had a good coupe body, I would be looking for a frame or a car like yours to put it on. I don't remember if you touched on this in the OP, but the first thing that I would do if I were in your situation would be to get it running. If it will not run decently, fixing the mechanical problems then finding another body is going to cost mucho dinero.

I know car may have memories, but John has it right. Cheaper to find a good 24/25 coupe. Then restore the speedster. That way you will have a car to use while working on the speedster.
You may start memories of your own.
Good luck. Dan

Pictures would help the forum understand the current state of the car and in which direction they think the restoration should go. Not sure what your motivation is in restoring it to a coup - do you want a coup for yourself or are you wanting to memorialize your Dad's vision. One thing for sure, you will never get your money back - so don't let that be a reason for doing what you need to do.

I would like to eventually return the car to its original form, a coup. When my dad had it "restored" he expected it to be the coup he bought in 1938.
Over the years while stored covered up outside, the body and glass was shot up, and it continued to rust. For that reason Dad was told it was beyond restoration to the coup, so it was restored as a Speedster.
I prefer the look of a coup as well, and in memory of Dad and his high school days I would like a coup. I will try to download a pic of car as it sits.
The car runs now, and ii can drive it.....but a coup would be so much nicer. I didn't know if I could build up from the standard wood Speedster has, as no modifications have been made to chassis/ frame.

I have tried to download pic but can't seem to get it into this reply.

Thanks,
Rick[image][/image]

I think John has the best advice. You need to take it down to a chassis and then add on a coupe body. Hopefully you can still use the old firewall, but it depends on how far it is gone. There was a post a couple of days ago on how to upload pictures. Read that, let us look at the pics, and we can all give you our thoughts on how to proceed. Coupe bodies are out there. Best of luck.