Re: the roof top

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2009/5/28 15:38:27

Rusty, no problem with our near-duplicate responses, and thanks for the added information. Perhaps availability of large steel sheet was an issue though US mills produced much larger sheets than any car roof for the shipbuilding industry even before WW I, though of course in thicker gauges and no doubt of different mechanical properties.

I think if you reflect on it further, you'll come to the conclusion that economics were a larger reason, especially for the low-volume producers. Some of the early 30s Packard body styles didn't even account for 1000 units over several years, some considerably less than that. You could never reasonably amortize the cost of a die over so few units.

My own 34 Eight roof appears to be 4 individual steel panels, front, back, left & right, welded and then leaded over the joints.

Point to remember, labor was cheap during the depression! In the short term at that time it no doubt made economic sense to invest in cheap labor rather than expensive capital equipment.