MTFCA Forum

Hello folks:
I was wondering what kind of wood you guise use or recommend to go around the seat backrest of a 1926/27 roadster
where the upholstery and roof material attach?
Thanks for your insight on this matter.
jim

The wood needs to be strong, stable and straight. I would go with a piece of 1”x (3/4” thick) poplar, that can be purchased at Lowe’s or Home Depot. Poplar is a good, dense grained hardwood. I have a 1926 coupe but the seat shelf is upholstered and it is hard to see the construction. I found some pictures online by searching, 1926 Model T Coupe seat shelf, MTFCA”, which also brought up a very helpful 2014 MTFCA thread. The shelf goes all the way across and connects to a curved piece of steel which is upholstered over like the wood shelf. There is also a groove on the center front of the shelf that is reinforced by piece of steel that the back of the seat hangs from. Jim Patrick

PS. The upholstery is wrapped around the wood, pulled tight and stapled to the backside of the wood? It can be stretched over the metal piece and secured to the back with Gorilla tape or contact cement.

But Jim's question is about a '27 ROADSTER--completely different animal than a coupe. I haven't looked at an "improved" body, but the earlier ones fastened the upholstery and the light spring back unit to the belt molding wood that the top also attaches to. A much simpler arrangement.

You can get a good idea of how the wood fits in the late T roadster by looking up the parts in one of the vendor catalogs online. There isn't much wood in them, but it has to be in good condition for the top and upholstery to be installed.

You can also go to Fordwood.com. They make wood body kits and pieces for Model T Ford’s.
They have wood body structure drawings of T body wood. They can be helpful in seeing what body wood is in the bodies. The 26-27 Roadster bodies don’t have a lot of wood in them and isn’t real complicated. Good luck

I was just on the Ford Wood site last evening looking for a complete wood kit for a 1920 roadster and noticed that the 26/27 wood kits are the most expensive kits they sell, so I don't know how much the little wood impression is accurate. Maybe it's just a lot of smaler pieces due to the belt line. But I recall that they mentioned that all their wood pieces are ash, oak or maple depending on the purpose and year. so if the OP went with any of those three woods, he should be OK. But I am sure that poplar would be just as fine. Stay away from soft woods like pine and the ever popular home improvement stores generic "white wood", which is probably Chinese Kudzoo.

Thanks to all who replied. I am leaning toward Poplar if the big box stores have it? Out here in the boon docks there is not too much wood choice available.
I purchased the Ford wood kit a while back and there back rest strip was a black plastic of some sort. It is easy to bend to fit with a little heat.
I would prefer wood as a 1st choice however.
Jim

If you go to a big box store, you will see all the PT lumber and other pine boards and moldings in seperate sections, but look for a section that they keep the "good" stuff in. They normally carry oak and cherry and some other nice woods in smaller dimensions for wood workers or shelf or cabinet makers. And, depending on the finished look you want, some plywood they carry is birch or cherry veneered on one surface to look like a nicely grained wood. But even plywood is getting expensive. Bottom line is you want a hardwood vs. a softwood to hold your staples or tacks and to prevent as much moisture and warping as possible.

Original wood tack strips on the '26-'27 were steam bent wood, 3- 4 pieces. These had a routed step in the outer edge, to allow the backrest upholstery to lay below the top cover, so the trim looked neat.


Have used kit wood and it does need a lot of work to fit right. Oak is strong but hard to shape, needing to cut on radius to make the curved pieces.

Pictures is a '24-'25 strip, original below and repro by J P Anderson on top, he makes these steam bent. Plastic is shown to the top left. For my use the plastic trim is easy to shape with a hot air gun, and holds tacks very well, easy to drill holes to mount to the metal. In this install used cut-down kit wood on the sides, as the bends didn't fit well to my body, and then used plastic for the longer back piece. Prefer the plastic.

This wood will not show, so you need to buy a strong hardwood. The picture looks like ash, but I think poplar would also be good. There are three pieces. The center piece is almost straight and so cutting it should be quite easy, however the two side pieces are bent. Any type of cut other than bending the wood would cause some cross grain which would be prone to splitting. I did a 26 Roadster and a 26 Touring , both in the '90's. i bought the kits. I think they were from Lang's or Snyder's. They will make the curved pieces correctly. The seat, the top, and the trim all tack to that wood, and when you are driving along in the wind, they need to be strong enough that the tacks will stay in place and also when you put up and down the top, there will also be some tension on the tacks, so you need good wood there. Staples are good for quick fastening when fitting, but you need some good tacks in place to keep everything together.
One other thing you need to attach to the wood is the support straps which hold the rear top bow in the proper position.
Norm

Jim, I dont see the average bear steam bending hardwood on a compound curve. I have not made roadster trim strips, but I do a lot of woodworking. I would consider making a stiff paper template using the roadster body to determine the shape. I would transfer the pattern onto thin strips of hardwood about 3/32" thick and glue up the strips using the roadster body as a form. After the glue sets up remove the wood strip, rabbit and shape. I would use maple or ash, Poplar is OK, but for that much trouble I would use better.