door bottoms sticking out
 

The doors are fitting well and lining up correctly on my 29’ cabriolet, however they still stick out away from the body at the lower rear part. I’ve noticed that in pictures of your A’s that some of your doors do the same. It doesn’t seem to matter if it’s an open car or not. Although, the open cars seem to have a bigger gap. I figure that this is due to the upper body spreading over the years so the doors no longer fit correctly.

I’d like to correct this problem, but I believe that some of it is caused by the new convertible top being a little wider than it should be.

How much trouble am I going to get into if I try to cinch that body together about an inch or an inch and a half? Also, where would the best place be cinch the thing without doing damage? Also, how flexible is that top? Even if I get things lined by cinching it will the top just push everything out again?

Mike

Re: door bottoms sticking out
 

There are a lot of people more knowledgeable than I am since I don't have experience with this part of my Cabriolet (1930) yet, but from taking my doors apart, I know that the shape of the doors is set by both the wood pieces inside the doors and some tensioning strips made from metal...it seems that the door shape might be somewhat adjustable through these tensioning strips--tightening would bring the rear edge in, but I don't know what other counter effect that might have...just a suggestion, and again, there are many others who have much more experience and insight than I do...good luck!

Re: door bottoms sticking out
 

A turnbuckle with heavy wire anchored and running diagonally from the outer bottom edge to the top inner edge of the wood inside the door can be used to pull in the corner. I did that in two 1929 Cabriolets I restored. This is the only way you can bring the outer edge up against the body for a nice fit. After almost 90 years of abuse, the body's sheet metal panels just don't line up as nicely as they did when the bodies were assembled in the Briggs Body Company factory. Installing new wood in the doors alone usually is not sufficient.
You'll also need to adjust the turnbuckle anchored at each quarter panel's upper corner to match. Experiment to achieve the best fit. Of course, the upholstery panels have to be removed to do this, which why it is best to make these adjustments before the upholstery is installed. Apparently your predecessor neglected to do that - too.
Marshall