Making Roadster More Narrow

[Lona]

Since I've owned my '31 roadster, the doors did not align well. When they are shut, the top edge and the bottom edge touch the body but the center of the door shows a gap of about a half inch. Getting the car ready to paint, I decided to try to fix that problem.

I recall many years ago reading on this forum that the problem is common on roadsters because, over time, the sides of the car tend to bow outward at the top. To verify this, I attached a come-along to the two convertible top attaching brackets and cranked it up. I was able to pull the sides inward about a full inch, making the car more narrow at that point. After doing this, the doors fit perfectly.

Loosing up on the come-along, the car sides went back almost to where they started. All I ended with was an eighth inch better than before and not enough to get the doors aligned. Cranking up the come-along again to go past the one inch I pulled the sides together before, the convertible brackets started to bend, telling me to stop that idea.

Can anyone who has done this before give me some input on how to permently pull the sides together? There must be a way to do it.