Purple 34 Coupe

Much as I love the AMT '34 coupe kit, it has a few serious flaws. Not the least being that when it's built as a highboy, the relationship between rear of the body and the chassis is nothing at all like the real car, it's not even close. Likewise the relationship between radiator and grille.





I did this one simply because it had to be done, but I've never been totally happy with the way it looks.



I reckon a channelled version of this build would look much better.



In the real car, the chassis rails clear the lower body by about 2 inches. In the model the clearance is about the same, but if it was a scale 2 inches, it would be maybe a sixteenth of an inch for real.


The part I like most about this build is that I used a Y block for motivation.

it looks cool, ready to hit the drive thru's then maccas... are the rims the heads off a flat headed screw??? great idea, very cool...

It is a high rider but that's not bad - reminds me of a paddock car I drove once (and only once) before it rolled over??? Nice colour scheme and yes it would look good channelled, but this is nostalgia and it's OK in my book.

tjjr07 wrote: are the rims the heads off a flat headed screw???

Nope, they are the single bar flippers from the AMT '40 Sedan Delivery kit.
RM also had them in the 'custom' version of the '50 Pick-up.

The AMT units are complete wheels, so the red rim detail has to be painted on. In the RM pick-up, the wheels are used with stock caps or the flipper caps.

like the colour,great build,me have 2 to build one day.

Love your work Carps
At the risk of over exposure, here is my version of the High boy 34

Chris

This is 1:1 I used to own, a long time ago. Sorry about the poor pic it was taken from and old colour slide.

Chris, that version of the coupe is really cool.

Did you use the entire Revell Monogram '32 Chassis?

I figure you sanded the reveal off, how much more modification did it require?

The deuce is 112 inch wheelbase compared to 114 for the 'model 40, interesting that the wheels seem to be in the right place relative to the '34 body in scale.

Frank, your old coupe looks very much like another I havce started with the rear fenders moulded higher on the body sides, deeper channell. However my plan was to fill the top and use anaother Y block Ford engine.

Peter
I used the 34 kit chassis and the Revell 32 front and rear ends.
Front end was lowered into the chassis as was the rear. It is hung using the coilovers from the 32 kit.
Rear tires are Aluma coupe with widened American Racing TT11's

Chris

Cool, thanx. Did you use the same method to widen the wheels as sown in the latest Scale Auto Mag?

I also notice you used '33 doors with a '34 bonnet and grille.

Got more pics?

Both of these models look good. Franks old Rod is a great blast from the past.

Carps, whats the difference between 33 and 34 doors?

In the '33 models the door window rolls straight down.

For '34 Ford came up with a neat idea to counter the fact that Chevrolet now had a vent winodw that could be cracked open to allow fresh air to enter the car without winding the window down.

The Chevy idea was complex and probably expensive in manufacture, and Henry being the wiley old cheapskate he was, came up with a budget variation on the same idea.

For the '34 model year Ford's front door window cranks had a two step function, that couled move the glas bacwards to create an opening at the leading edge. This meant the glass had to be shorter (another costs saving I'm sure) and would have left a gap at the B pillar end of the glass when it was fully closed.

Thast was easy fixed, the door tooling was modified to include a filler section to cover the gap.

If you look closely at the purple coupe you can see the filler still in place. Then look at Chris's version and you'll see he's removed this filler.

Whilst many people can't tell the difference between a '33 and '34 there are some of us who know ever last detail, yup, right down to the number of rivets used to mount crossmembers into the chassis.

In terms of my comments re Chris's car,, if it were a '33 it should have curved louvres in the bonnet and instead of the two handles only one oval shaped handle in the middle of the lower edge of the side panel. Additionally the front of the top panels would be curved where they meet the grille and the reveal would continue frm the lower side panels all the war around the grille shell. The '33 Grille shel is much finer than the '34 with curved bars. '33 Headlamps also longer than '34's, the bumper bolt spacings are different as is the cowl vent. There's heaps more, but that'll do for now, I have to get out into theshed and put the rear springs back in my 1/1 '33 model.

Thanks for that carps. Were the aussie coupes the same? I knew about the grill, the handles on the the bonnet, but i`ve missed the shape of the louvres and the head lamp differences.
I also knew about the aussie body difference were it meets the frame. Is there any other changes on the aussie body i should know about, as i want to turn the AMT stocker into a aussie.

Carps wrote: right down to the number of rivets used to mount crossmembers into the chassis.

"Ahh Haa" court ya counting bloody rivets Hehehe..........................................sorry could'nt resist!!

Seriously you learn something new everyday here! thanks for the info Carps

Carps
The body is a 34 as evidenced by the dimples in the top of the firewall for the hood sides to sit in.
The left hand door was mashed when I got the car and when I went to get a another door, I was offered a pair of really good 33 doors so I took those.
I sold the old green right hand door to some bearded guy. Apparently he is restoring a rusty 34 5W coupe. He was buying up bits everywhere.

Hope this explains why the car has a 34 front sheet metal.

Chris

Steve
The differences between the US and Aussie bodies are significant.

The roof is completely different in window shapes.
It slopes outward from the belt line to the top whereas the US one is straight up or even a tucked in a little
The belt line swages are completely different - especially at the cowl
The doors are shorter (top to bottom) because of the spears use on the Aussie bodies
Aussie Coupes were built on a wooden floor frame - US were all steel floor
Aussie doors/bodies are wood frame - US ones use more steel.
Good luck with your conversion

Chris

Here are a few of pics of a US coupe that should be in my shed by mid July

A few more pics

Yup, that explains a lot. :LOL:

Nice find there Chris, but it's got 2 too many windows.

The Auss model 40s started their life in Canada and arrived in Australia as a complete rolling chassis with firewall, bonnet, grille, fenders and running boards etc. The bodys were made locally by Ford's coachbuilders at Geelong. Because they didn't yet have the technology to build an 'all steel body' the Aussie bodies are nothing like the US versions. The Aussie bodies taper out all the way to the top of the windscreen frame whereas the US body is more rounded and pulled in slightly by comparison at the top of the windscreen frame. The reason for the side spears to fill the gap between running board and body is also a result uf the way the bodies were built. To save some bux, the most expensive pressing from the '32 Ford sedan was carried to the '33/34. That's the back of the roof, which explains why Aussie '33/4s have a '32 back window and the window 'reveal' matches the deuce not the US model 40. It also explains why the roof doesnt lean forward like the US versions.

A bigger cost saving was made by using '32 sedan rear doors, which because the '32 chassis was exposed were shorter than the US model '40 doors. In fact they are a completely different shape, thus the lower body was designed to align with the doors and the side spears filled the space between body and running boards. Because of this, the front doors are also nothing like the US cars.

The coupes use the sedan front doors, and because of the shorter door the roof was made shorter than US coupes in an effort to keep the quarter glass properly proportioned. The roadsters used a US winsdcreen unit, but again all the bodies were built using the same design principals as the other local cars.

Interesting was that Lew Bandt's original '33 prototype for the Coupe Utility, used a unique roofline, although by the time ift came to production that had changed and it used the same pressings and glass etc as the production models.

It's funny how we covet the US bodies as they are a more flowing design compared to the Aussie cars, but my American buddies think my old sedan is pretty radical as it's part '32 and part '33. And to be quite honest the stylists and engineers of the day at Ford geelong did a rather sensational job to pull it all together. Had they not been able to we may have been stuck with the '32 for another 2 years until the 'all steel' '35 models arrived.

The Aussie '35s were much closer to the US models but there are still some significant differences. One of the key identifiers is the bodyside reveal on the touring sedans, the Aussie version flows straight as it runs around the C pillars, whereas the US models have a slight kick-up.

Now I really am counting rivets, so maybe I should quit while I'm ahead.

Thanks for the insight on the '34 window thing, I just bought one of these kits last week and I thought there was too much flash around the windows until I did a bit of surfing and noticed the same thing on 1:1 coupes. Had me stumped as to why they were like that until tonight. Like Paul said, you learn something new every day...

Carps & Chris, thanks for all that, i think my brain just exploded .

We aint even got started yet, eh Chris?