1919 Roadster Body Design?

[PaladinBirdy]

I bought a 1919 roadster recently. One I picked it up, I noticed some interesting details on the Body.

The back of the cab seems to simply cut off, and there is a point on the side that looks like it was welded on. It also doesn’t seem to have spacers under the turtle trunk.

These are old pictures, as the car is dissembled and the body pieces are currently in storage.

Are these common modifications, or some kind of trashy repair job?

[PaladinBirdy]

More pictures:

[PaladinBirdy]

More pictures:

[SleepyT]

You have a touring that someone cut the back seat off of. This was a fairly common way to turn you touring car into a pickup.

Russell

[Steve Jelf]

As Russ says, it was a pretty common modification to cut the back end off a touring car. What's not so common is to see it converted to a roadster and not a pickup.

[PaladinBirdy]

Okay, how should I go about making this into a proper-looking T? Should I make it back into a touring? Or should I replace the body parts for a rodaster?

[PaladinBirdy]

Would I be able to get new production Roadster panels and make a proper cab myself, while keeping all the compatible existing parts I can?

[Steve Jelf]

If you want a proper touring or roadster, the easiest (cheapest) way to achieve that would be to buy it and sell this one. Yes, you could study up on what parts it would take to "fix" this one, and scrounge all the required pieces, but the project would cost more in time and money than selling it and buying a complete car in similar condition.

[Wayne Sheldon]

The trunk/turtle deck is a 1924 and '25 version. It may have been used in part of 1923 also. It was not used in 1922 or earlier cars.
Your choice. Sell this and buy something more like what you thought this was? Maybe find a mostly complete runabout body? Building up the rest of the touring car body, top and all else could get really tricky, finding the right matching parts. They were not all alike, and some cobbled together mismatches wind up looking really bad.
Yes, it can be done, and done nicely. However???
One popular option would be to continue with the cutoff touring theme, and put a nice wooden pickup box behind the touring car front seat. That has been done many times, and usually can look really nice. And it was something done to hundreds of touring cars when they were only a few years old. And quite practical too!
One can even adapt a runabout top onto the touring front seat for a nicely finished little pickup.

[PaladinBirdy]

Alright. Here’s what I think happened here.
This was a 1919 that was found in a barn in Wisconsin.
There is a birdshot blast in the back of the car.
Given the time and place it would have been used, and the fact that it has japanning over the modifications, as well as the pickup modifications themselves, I believe this was a bootlegging car.

It was found in Wisconsin, an epicenter for bootlegging trade because of the rivers stretching down from Canada that could be used for smuggling. What if this car was involved in that? What if it was cut off into a pickup to carry alcohol? Would that explain the shotgun blast in the back of the cab?

Anyway, to make myself feel better about this, I’m going to go with the Touring pickup style, but fill the pickup bed with crates of bottles and mason jars labeled “not moonshine” for tours and shows.

It’s unfortunate that I can’t go with my original plan of restoring a Roadster, but if this car just might have a bootlegging history, why shouldn’t I still have fun by making it back into what it might have been used for?

[TXGOAT2]

I think it could be made very attractive either as a pickup or a roadster. I'd be inclined to do that. If you're set on a touring car, they're out there. I'd look for a complete one in decent shape, and keep both, if that's an option. What you have appears to be in good condition. If it's an original build, that is, if the body and fenders are original to this vehicle, I'd be inclined to keep what's together together, whether you decide to commplete it as a roadster or a pickup or commercial van or whatever.

[Steve Jelf]

Sounds like a plan. You can make it a no-nonsense, straight ahead pickup, or you can go all the way and make it a rustic, with barbed wire plug wires and a crate of chickens on the running board.

[KWTownsend]

My 1919 had a cut-off touring body that I nested a '23-'25 turtle deck up to the seat back, so it "looked" like a runabout.

I found a back seat section.

Cut the wood and added it on.

Then did the upholstery and top.

The body was pieced together with part from three states. That was before I realized that there were a half dozen different body manufactures at that time. I was in a family way, so the cut off pick-up would not have been big enough. If I were to do do it over again, I would start with a complete body!

: ^ )

Keith

[KWTownsend]

Here is a nice complete body...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1478371 ... 9857385139

I wish I had this 30 years ago...