MTFCA Forum

Gents and ladies, it has been a while. Progress has slowed down. But not stopped.

My biggest issue right now is the body sills. I’m attempting to reuse the ones a previous owner made. I do have wood to make new ones but that new wood is 1 and 3/8ths inches thick, which leaves me only 1/16th of an inch of playing room on either face. (1 and 1/4th inches final dimensions).

I’ve drawn a set of plans for new ones based on the original remaining pieces I have of the original sills. Discovered the re-made mounting holes are in the wrong places.

Presently trial fitting the cowl uprights for eventual final placement.

Here are some pics

Some more pictures

More information can be found on my blog:

army30th.wixsite.com/centerdoor-ii

Will,

Looks like you are making progress!

I have not done a rewooding yet of a touring let alone trying to do a Center Door. But looking at the "Ford Owner" reprint that used the Ford Price list from Sept 1, 1922 – for the touring body it states: “There are some variations in dimensions of Ford Bodies as, for instance the width of the body, where half the width (measured from center line to one side) is given as two dimensions, these being 25 7/16 to 25 9/16 inches."

And since that is only half of the width (i.e. from the center line of the body) the actual variation could be 50 14/16 to 51 2/16th (no guarantee I did the math correct but you can see that would be about ¼ inch variation. I would guess (I do NOT know) that similar variations could occur in other bodies. If they do – I don’t think that small difference in your wood will be an issue. But you should talk with some Closed Car folks to make sure.

Have you had a chance to review Joe Fellin’s 8 part series In “The Vintage Ford” where he documented his rewooding and restoration of his 1923 or so Center Door? It is available as part of the Club’s “Vintage Ford” digital collection on a thumb drive. I have about 4 pages about the door restoration on my computer that I could send to you so you could see the quality of the article. Currently we are remodeling our house so 90% of my T books and references are in boxes – and all of them are brown.

Looks like you are making progress. From memory (not as good as it once was) there is a lot of trial fitting before you nail any of the panels on for final assembly. Oh and if you click on my name -- you can send me a Private Message via the forum with your e-mail and I will send you some rewooding articles that might give you some help. The are NOT of a Center Door -- but some of the ideas may still be helpful.

Good luck and please keep us posted.

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off

Hap,

Yes, I reviewed the Fellin series. I only use it to see what he did. There’s a few things in it that I do not agree with. I’m attempting to do my wood as close to exact as the body builder did, since a majority of the wood still exists.

I’ve been in contact with several owners and have gotten measurements from their cars and have noticed the discrepancies you mentioned. One of my friends has one and I make regular trips to his place and measure/photo several alignment points since my body maker is the same as his.

The remade body sills, for example, have the front pillar notch 1 inch too long and I’ve had to correct that.

My touring was completely rewooded from a kit by me, assembling each side of the car as a subassembly and then attaching it to the frame.

Will,

I looked at your blog, but I didn't see or I may have missed it, which of the two Center Door makers (Fisher or Wadsworth) produced your body? That is a question I've wondered about for years -- how do you tell which body maker produced the body? In Bruce's CD version under the Center Door body parts it has several parts listed as "specify make and year" as well some that said "Fisher or Wadsworth specify make and year" as shown for the 1916-1923 rear lower body panel:
Again you are doing great work!

Respectfully submitted,

Hap l9l5 cut off

Hap,

There are two blogs.

army30th.wixsite.com/centerdoor

army30th.wixiste.com/centerdoor-ii

My body is not indented at the bottom front quarter and neither is my friend’s car.

Other measurements have come from cars that have the indent but those measurements are for body attachment locations and width between the body sills which match each version.

Thank you for the kind words.