I must say the reproduction panels look right – until you try to fit them into the car. The panel below the deck lid needed extensive modifications so it correctly fit the contour of the body.
It was too wide at the lower bead so it was cut lengthwise and then welded back together to the correct dimensions.
Where the rear quarter panel meets the panel below the deck lid. Where my hand is pointing had to also be reshaped to match the correct contour. We also found that the holes that were drilled into the lower panel did not match the holes on the gas tank cover panel.
A little closer look – you can see the additional metal work that needed to be done in this area.
We are finding that most of the 34 reproduction replacement panels look great out of the box but they don’t quite fit and some need extensive modifications so they are dimensionally correct. Its fortunate that I started with an OEM body and have most of the original body dimensions as a go-by.
Although you can’t really see it, the rear floor pan and quarter panels needed a little cutting and shaping on both corners and then were welded back together.
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I had the same issue as you with the panel below the deck lid, it was a quality repro panel and very nice but the contour where the centre panel meets the quarter was all wrong. I sold the repro panel and had the original repaired. At the time I thought that it might be a 33 versus 34 thing or an Aussie body issue but found it hard to believe that Ford would bother to alter designs. The panel supplier stated that their panels were as original and that they had never had any issues, I am pleased that I am not the only one to notice this difference. I am in the process of restoring a 33 B Australian roadster in New Zealand and love your thread. All the Best, Michael
Michael you are not the only one who has had a problem with the panel, Ed Solari is concurrently restoring a 34 Roadster and he tells me that he is running into the same problems. Wait until you see the trials and tribulations in fitting the reproduction Inner Trunk Support. It needed to be sliced and diced so as to fit the width and then modified so that it would lay flat on the rear floor pan. I will post the details in a future Blog.
Steve, I am in the process of restoring a rough but restorable 33 roadster. My car needed the bottom 6 inches replaced. I have pieced together an original and aftermarket floor. I have McPherson subrails. I have the car sitting on top of the new subrails and floors installed now and I am moving forward. I am having to replace the rear wheelwells. I bought the aftermarket ones that you can get from Howell’s sheetmetal. They have the Crow’s foot stamped into them, even though my 33 didn’t have the crows foot. Any way my question is this. My quarter panel brace goes to my inner fenderwell. I see in the original picture you have, that the brace goes to the floor. Do you know if they made both options?
Billy, I consulted with fellow ’34 restorer Ed Solari and he confirmed the following: “The roadsters never had the crows feet on the wheel wells. We have an engineering drawing of the roadster from the Ford archives. You can see that they drew them in BUT it never made it to production …all roadster wheel wells are flat. The strut (brace) from the center deck panel to the floor is NOT the same on the 33 versus 34. Only the 34 had the strut riveted to the floor. On the 33 the strut is bent to the side, ends at the side of the wheel well, and is spot welded to the side of the wheel well. The Ford archive drawing shows the outline of the strut going to the wheel well. These drawing were originally done in 33 and late 33….obviously the production people did a few changes from the engineering drawings.”
Here is a picture of a 1933 Ford Roadster trunk area and you can clearly see the strut (brace) from the upper deck panel is spot welded to the inside rear quarter panel wheel well. Also you can clearly see the rear wheel well doesn’t have crows feet in the sheet metal but is as smooth as a babies ……… 🙂 This car has been modified but the brace and inside rear quarter panel wheel well and vertical strut are very original.