Extra holes in coupe/roadster rear bumper arms

[wrndln]

It has been brought to my attention that some 28/29 coupe/roadsters have two extra holes in the rear bumper arms (see picture - the one with my hand on it). The extra holes are on the inner side of the standoff. My 28 special coupe does not have the extra holes in them, only the 3 holes for the cross bracket. I have a pair of rear bumper arms I bought at a swap meet, so I don't know what year the arms came from, but they have the extra holes. I suspect 1928 coupe/roadster arms don't have the extra holes and for some reason (trunk rack maybe), Ford punched the two additional holes in 29 arms. I am only guessing that 29's had the extra holes and what they may have been used for. If you know if only 29's had extra holes and what they were used for, please post a response. The holes appear to be factory punched and not drilled by someone after leaving the factory.
Rusty Nelson

[SteveB31]

Rusty,
We have seen the same thing looking thru our brackets. My best guess is at some point Ford had made the brackets with all the holes for the different riser (to body ) bracket holes for all the other cars (tudor sedan ,4 door sedan etc) on some brackets , likely brackets made later for use as replacemenets. Just my opinion.

[wrndln]

Steve,
I was thinking of emailing you to see if you knew when and why the extra holes were made by Ford. Your explanation is maybe what happened. We may never know why the holes were punched in the arms. I believe that Ford probably put the holes in maybe late 28 or more likely in 1929. I want the correct brackets for my Sept 28 roadster, so I think no extra holes are probably correct.
Rusty Nelson

[Doug Clayton]

Rusty -
Well you hit upon a small detail that took me a few years to figure out, not to mention a lot of $$$$. The extra holes were added in early 1929 to accommodate the proper location for the upright stanchion on the Taxi. So essentially the Taxi rear bumper arms can be created by moving the stanchion on a normal Coupe/Roadster bumper arm to the forward hole.
Looking at the later Ford parts book shows that the Victoria and the Taxi use the same rear bumper arms, however, the Victoria arms are actually 1/2" shorter in overall length.
Now if anyone has an extra choice left rear Coupe/Roadster 1929 bumper arm with the extra hole, let me know, so I can complete my Taxi!

[wrndln]

Doug,
You are a very helpful model A source. I assume the bumper arms on your Henry awarded 29 roadster have the holes in question. I was think of emailing you and Steve Becker, but I thought I would post the question here on Fordbarn first to see if I got any useful responses. You both responded to my post, so thank you both for that. Dudley M. is the person that brought up the "extra" hole question. I never noticed the extra holes in the bumper arms I bought at a recent swap meet until Dudley brought it up. I would have never guessed or figured out the Taxi/Victoria angle! Also I was guessing the holes appeared in late 28 or early 29. That was a close guess. I will either have to weld the holes shut for my Sept 28 roadster or try to find some bumper arms without holes in them to be correct. Thanks again for the good info.
Rusty Nelson

[d.j. moordigian]

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I thought about this ALL last night!
The only thing I could think of was the way the body shapes were designed and were
the stand-off's placements are.

With that said,..I'd like to thank the "group", in no particular order...
Rusty Nelson, Dan Partain, Tom Moniz, Pluck, Marco, Steve @ Burt's and Doug Clayton..