1931 Roadster Body/Frame Misalignment
 

Hello everyone,

First off, a little bit of background on my car. A couple of months ago, my father and I acquired my grandfather's (unrestored) 1931 Model A Roadster. The car has been in the family since it was new and has been passed down. In the 80s, the car was disassembled by a high school autobody shop and various parts were worked on, sprayed with primer, etc.

Anyways, history of the car aside, it's now with my father and I and we're working to put the car back together (most parts have stayed with it over the years and it is fairly complete). Our first task is to put the car back together without actually restoring any parts to "pretty" condition. We want to get everything to fit first. So, we're in the process of fitting the body to the frame and have run into a bit of an issue. Please see the picture below:


https://i.imgur.com/chYkXqy.jpg

As you can see, the bolts that attach the body to the frame mount up at the front (of the body) do not line up properly. Every hole from the rear forward lines up, except for these two. Is this normal or has the frame potentially been replaced along the way with one not meant for the 31 Roadster? Or, even less likely, is this a production mistake?

In case anyone can identify the differences in frames based on the year, here are some photos. Let me know if I'm missing a photo of anything important that would help confirm the year of the frame. Rather than resize the images down to a smaller size, I chose to leave them large and just link to them to avoid stretching this page.

https://i.imgur.com/UWeMQlL.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/VzeIsZr.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/nP6isQL.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/x0GeWqh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/qTZcXVF.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/dM5xTFV.jpg

Thanks!

Brandon

Re: 1931 Roadster Body/Frame Misalignment
 

That looks right. I think only the slant windshield cars used
both bolt holes in the bracket. You can see in the wood where
the washer was installed on the front bolt to hold it in place.

Bob

Re: 1931 Roadster Body/Frame Misalignment
 

Ah, I see. So, the extra bolt just keeps the wood in place? It just seems somewhat redundant considering that there's two screws that go into the front of the wood block and do exactly what the extra bolt is doing.

My dad and I aren't familiar with the car, so to us, it looked wrong/confusing. Thanks for the response!

Re: 1931 Roadster Body/Frame Misalignment
 

yep that's a late 31 frame
does it have the extra bracket in the rear just in front of the rear cross member?
tk