Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Nice drawings, I only have one comment. I doubt that the material is oak. Oak is horrible when wet/damp at all. I have my car all the way down and am rebuilding the wood. It is much more likely that you have ASH - which looks quite like oak, but has different properties. My whole car is made from Ash, and some maple which is consistant with all of the literature that I have read.

A agree with Ray, oak would be a very poor choice for auto body framing.

Here are the followup photos that I promised. They show how the bows look and how they are fitted to the top of the car.

While you can't see it, there is a wood screw that comes down from the top to hold the tenon that is a part of the bow on the right side of the car. On the left side there is a spline that goes into the wood on the main part of the roof. The spline sticks out and the grove in the bow allows the bow to be slipped on to the spline. There is a wood screw that holds the spline to the main part of the roof with no screw being used in the bow through the tenon.

Attach file:

---

  (67.09 KB)


  (82.71 KB)


  (78.08 KB)


  (65.40 KB)


  (41.77 KB)

Lovely pictures,

It is remarkable how different your '32 is from my and the posters '28 526. I can't supply pictures of my car as I am deployed. Not that it would matter much as my roof had rotten and collapsed anyway. Forensically, I believe that ours were just coarsely cut and then plane formed in place to blend into the rails.

opent the PDF at the bottom, it shows how I found mine constructed. I apologize for the crudeness of the drawing, and the fact that I can't seem to rotate it automatically.

Attach file:

---

  (15.67 KB)


  (10.84 KB)

Size: 40.31 KB; Hits: 66

Not my car, (its a '29) but as I am rebuilding ALL my wood, and with the help of folks here, I have a bunch of pictures.

Attach file:

---

  (43.49 KB)


  (43.85 KB)

Ray,

Thanks for your service and keep safe. Yes, 4 years makes a world of difference.

I found this little bit of info on the web about ash versus oak in car construction;

"Unlike the oaks, however. Ash lumber has no tannic acid. This means that when it contacts metals, it will not cause corrosion. This made it the wood of choice for car companies when wooden frames were the standard. The lack of tannins makes it unsuitable for exterior use, though. It has no built-in rot resistance. This was the trade off for the makers of the model T. Wood was actually fairly common in cars until the 1970's. The "Woodie" station wagons exposed their members. Volkswagen beetles and Mercedes continued to use wooden ribs in their convertibles (usually maple) until fairly late. The Morgan company of England
( www.morgan-motor.co.uk ) still uses ash frames to this day. "

atalamohardwoods.com/ash-lumber-alamo

I have these remnants of roof pieces from a 526 that could be used as patterns if you are interested.

Attach file:

---

  (117.53 KB)

Thanks for the photos. The roof design of your car is a little different than the 28. Your soft top area if bounded by metal curved edges where the 28 wood framing goes all the way to the top of the doors where the drip edge is added. The framing and wire, cloth and vinyl is similar but the joinery is different. When I get to the body tear down, I will provide photos of the existing configuration and will describe how I will go from there. This initial inquiry has been great as there is very little information of the joinery of closed car roofs. Thanks to all.

I am currently stripping all the wiring and plumbing from the frame in preparation for engine removal.

Bob

Dan,
I would be very interested. I seem to lack all of the cross pieces and the two longitudinal pieces of mine have been cut up and spliced very poorly. Please contact me at 253-797-4687 to work out details. Thanks.

Bob