[DavidG]

Doodlrodz,

With regards to the differences between Brookville '32 bodies and Ford bodies, the big difference in the case of the 3-window coupe is that Brookville did not reproduce the original floor pan. What they use is their floor pan for roadsters/5-window coupes, etc. That is a night versus day difference. If someone had or was lucky enough to find an original floor pan and made the switch, then things would get interesting.

In the case of the Brookville roadster bodies, there are basically six areas that stand out as 'unique' to them. Some are subtle, like the shape of the mouldings on the quarter panels, the insufficient flare of the quarter panel above the wheel house, and the inaccurate relationship between the belt moulding and lower body moulding at the front of the cowl. Some are not so subtle, such as the lack of the 'C' channel on the bottom of the doors for the weatherstrips, the lack of recesses for the clinch nuts for the male dovetails on the doors (the result being that '32 dovetails won't mount flush with the sheet metal of the door), and the really easy one to spot, the lack of 'pockets' in the sheet metal on top of the quarter panels that the wood belt rail (where the top attaches) fits into on an original body.

There are numerous other small differences, but these mostly get covered up when the car is fully assembled and upholstered.

Having said that, I sincerely doubt that Brookville's goal was perfect duplication. It would have made the project more expensive and the resulting product would have reflected that added cost. Their target market clearly was not the restoration crowd, as that is not were the volume sales potential existed/exists.

There are a couple of Brookville roadster bodies around where the above differences have been eliminated by highly-talented sheet metal benders. In those cases, does the question become moot, especially if the owner announces up front that his is a Brookville body, but no one can find the telltales?

Dave