MTFCA Forum

Hello everyone. I am new to the forum but not new to Model Ts. My Son, Sam, who signed on a few weeks ago as Spyderman64, and I are working on a 1926 Roadster that I have owned since 1966. No, not a typo, 1966. The body we are using is not original to the car. I drove my Dads new 1967 Chevy Pickup to Wauneta, Nebraska and bought the body from a farmer by the name of Milo Smith.
I restored the chassis many years ago and began driving it around. It was so much fun that I never bothered to go ahead with the restoration. A couple of years ago we installed the body and fenders.
I had bought a new top and an upholstery kit and decided we could do a temporary install on the upholstery, even though the body is unrestored. I bought a body wood kit from a well known vendor and not a single piece fits without some modification. Many of the pieces were never used on a body like the one we have. This body does not use the zinc door sill plates. It has stamped steel sills that are also the rocker panel. They are riveted in place. 1926/1927 Roadsters are always lumped together for most parts, but I am sure there were differences. Can someone help us figure this out. I have a $400.00+ wood kit that is pretty much useless to me and since I started trying to make the pieces fit before I realized how wrong everything was, I would not expect to return it. Thanks.

Mike Russell

Post some pictures of what you have, they are worth a thousand words.

Pictures tell the story more clearly.

Two easy ways to tell them apart. The front door posts on a 26 are offset at the top for the front of the door. The 27 go straight up. The door sills on a 26 have an aluminum plate with the name FORD on them. The 27 does not have the plate. The name is right on the steel sill.
Norm

Those pieces are all a cut to specks, pound to fit, and paint to match, as near as I can tell for sure.

If the doors are original to the car, the side curtain post grommets will be stamped into the door skin. In ‘26, they were separate zinc pieces. Also the the latch in the door is not square and has a raised portion to grab the curtain post. Look at a ‘28 model A latch, it has same configuration.

The gas tank on the ‘26 has two canvas straps riveted to the firewall. In ‘27 the straps were replaced with a dished cardboard panel.

If you have a ‘27 body, several of the wood pieces won’t be used.

Thanks for the comments
Here are some pictures of the sill.

Here is a link to one of my older posts on how to identify 26/27 roadsters. I hope it helps you.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3730&p=81137#p81137

Well clearly, have some learning to do with regard to adding photos to my posts.
I think the body came with doors but that was a long time ago and other projects since then have brought about the mixing of parts and pieces. The doors have the tall latches.
I had gathered a few doors, over time and when I was adding doors to the body, I tried 2 or 3 on the drivers side before I found one that fit properly. It was, of course, the worst one of the lot, (with requisite bullet hole). The non fitting doors were fine except that they did not hug the body at the lower rear corner. Both(?) of them hung out 5/8 or 3/4 of an inch. To correct this, I would think that I would have to twist the door which would mean the skin would need to slip a bit on the door structure. They seem much too stiff for this to occur.

Mike