What was this body made from?

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NitroNeal

Active member
Joined
Apr 3, 2012
Messages
44
Location
central Ca.-Hanford
I found this buried in a shop. Story is it was hacked together in the mid 60's. From what I see I believe it. I think they had torcdh, stick welder and beer, period.
It was obviously a 4 door, back doors were welded in, the sliced and moved forward and welded. The factory stamping around the windsheild stancion area and the lip around the front half of where the gas filler would be throws everyone off so far. The stamping at the attach point for the stancions and the reinforcing under has to be factory because whomever did the body mods didn't have that kinda talent. Some of the body lines in the rear wheel opening are a clue, There is no or has been no seams in the very back of the body. Alll the old Mopar pics have no cowl tank. Whatdayathink????
Thanks, Neal.
 

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i have seen that body line on the cowl. later when i get a chance i will look through some pics to see what i can find.
 
That's what's left of a Murray-built Model A Fordor Sedan. The Murray body cowling covered the tank completely, while the tank was actually the cowl top on Ford-built bodies. It's the same body used in Don's "roadster pickup from leftovers" build.
 
Murray was a coach company that built Fordor Sedan bodies for Ford. No, it wasn't a Phaeton - it was a Fordor Sedan. The Murray bodies used extensive wood framing throughout, much more than the Ford-produced bodies. The area you are asking about on the cowling is where the A-pillars attached. They were a separate piece of sheetmetal attached to the wooden skeleton that used to be underneath. Those small holes in the sheetmetal are where the nails were used to attach the skin to the substructure.
 
Blue Eyed Devil, thanks, that's the info I've been looking for! I wondered what kind of little screws were used @ the windsheild area--- duh, it was nails. Well that pretty well takes care of getting aftermarket stancions. I'm thinking I'll get some modeling clay and make em for both sides and have them cast in aluminum. I'll get into a build thread b4 long.
Neal.
 
The guys have nailed it exactly, it is a Murray/Ford body. Ford used a couple of companies to make their bodies for them, one was Briggs and the other was Murray. Strange as it might seem, the bodies did not look the same as each other.

My rpu is made from a 1929 Murray fordor body that my Son cut up and modified. People automatically think of the 1928-29 Ford body as the one with the sweeping arc on the cowl, but the Murray has a longer cowl by about 3 inches and some other differences too. For example, the window openings on the four doors are more rounded and arched, instead of being squarer, like the Briggs has.

Here is my body when it was a (chopped) fordor, before my Son made a roadster pickup out of it.

dansfordorrearview.jpg


This picture will show you the distinctive features that are the same as the body you posted pictures of. I might be wrong, but I think the Murrays might have only been made in 1929, but I am not sure about that.

RPUmotormounts003.jpg


Don
 
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lol i know it when i see it.... I've built many things out of 100% pure fail that might even be some of my past work from back before I had enough skills to simply do poorly.

"hey it's a joke...just checking your boundaries"-Jackie Martling
 
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Are you thinking of picking this one up ? Even though the body is rough it looks like some of the frame and suspension was done pretty well, at least from what I can see in the few pictures.

Don
 
Are you thinking of picking this one up ? Even though the body is rough it looks like some of the frame and suspension was done pretty well, at least from what I can see in the few pictures.

Don

Are you referring to my pics?? Yes I own this jewel. I've been rubbing $100 dollar bills on it like sandpaper. I started a build thread under "25 Dodge bucket". I haven't updated it lately, been busy @ work and rented a little shop to be able to finally be able to spread out and do some work. More later.
Neal.
 
The guys have nailed it exactly, it is a Murray/Ford body. Ford used a couple of companies to make their bodies for them, one was Briggs and the other was Murray. Strange as it might seem, the bodies did not look the same as each other.

My rpu is made from a 1929 Murray fordor body that my Son cut up and modified. People automatically think of the 1928-29 Ford body as the one with the sweeping arc on the cowl, but the Murray has a longer cowl by about 3 inches and some other differences too. For example, the window openings on the four doors are more rounded and arched, instead of being squarer, like the Briggs has.

Here is my body when it was a (chopped) fordor, before my Son made a roadster pickup out of it.

dansfordorrearview.jpg


This picture will show you the distinctive features that are the same as the body you posted pictures of. I might be wrong, but I think the Murrays might have only been made in 1929, but I am not sure about that.

RPUmotormounts003.jpg


Don

Is where your windsheild stanchions mount tne same as my body? If so what did you use.
Thanks, Neal.
 
Neal, sorry, I didn't see your post till now. Originally, the body just had the sedan windshield chopped shorter and capped, but Dan kept revising it. He wanted it to look more like a true roadster so he cut the entire windshield off and adapted model A windshield stanctions to it and (I think) a 32 roadster frame fit it exactly. I know there is a brand new chrome windshield frame that is in our shop that he adapted, and I think he said the 32 was a better fit than the model a frame.

If you would like, I can take some closeups of the area he modified to mount the stanctions.

Don

In this picture you can see what the original sedan windshield looked like before he cut it off and started over.

RPUTonneauLouvers1004.jpg
 
My Son had a ton of pictures all the way through that build and lost them in a computer crash. He did a recovery and they were gone. Pretty much what I posted are all that are left as I had a few in my computer.

Yep, the Murray bodies were filled with wood. He removed that all and replaced it with steel tubing.

Don
 

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