New to Board need info on 30 model A pickup conversion

[Vince Putt]

Hi I'm new to the board Hope I'm not violating any rules here by posting my intro here. I'm a disabled Vet I have some problems with my vision and my mind acts faster than I can type so I have spelling errors and typos that I don't catch so cut me some slack. I'm not a complete idiot. My story begins back in 1964 when I was 6 years old my father took me to a place called Roadside American, http://roadsideamericainc.com/ It started me into a hobby with my older brother into model car building that I pursued all my life, and turning me into a motorhead. In early June a friend came to visit me from Texas and knowing he was a model train and model builder I took him to the place. To shorten my story The manager offered me a part time job. Dispite my mental and physical disabilities he gave me a chance to furfull a dream and work there part time. Yesterday I was asked to take a look at a large aircompressor that had not worked in years. I was taken to a old garage area and inside much to my amazement was a 30 Model A pickup. Upon closer examination something looked odd. it was a 5 window that was converted to a pickup. I was told it was done with kit that was offered along time ago. It looked as if you took a model A pickup rear panel and cutting and cold riveting to the C post of the 5 window body The bed looked like a standard ford truck bed of that era. the rear fenders looked like pickup and the only thing that looked out of place was the bottom panel where the pickup cab was mated to the 5 window body it was obviously different than a standard pickup cab because it matched the curvature of the the 5 window body and was curved forward.

It was obviously restored at one time and shy of a few dents it was museum ready. I was told theat it had not been driven in years. I was asked if I think I could get it running again and of course I think I can dispite my knowledge of a flathead 4.

I hope to get it out of the garage when I return to work and take some pictures of it. it was really cramped in the garage. It sure is a unique piece.

Can anyone give me some insite on Who made the conversion. BTW I fixed the compressor in about 5 minutes.

Vince Putt

[Bill Wright]

Vince,
Good for you! I can't offer any advise but I intend to follow this thread. Has all the ear marks of an interesting mystery!
Glad you joined up!
Bill

[Safewiz]

Also sounds like a great project, so I will keep up as well. Welcome to the Barn.

[29FordRoadster]

Sounds like an interesting project, good luck with it. I don't know anything about the conversion, but will watch for your progress. Thank you Vince for your service.

[james hitchcock]

What a job. Walk into a shed and be told "can you get her running"? I couldn't wait for my next day of work. Can't wait for pic's. Sounds like a cool project.

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

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Hi Vince. Welcome to Fordbarn, ...and thank you for your service for this great country of ours.

I would like to see a picture of what you are describing as it may give clues to who or where it was manufactured. What has me confused in this is when you say it is a 5-window. There are a couple of possibilities as there were aftermarket manufacturers who made a conversion kit to turn a Model-A Coupe into a pick-up simply by removing the deck/trunk lid and removing the rear body panel, then installing a sheetmetal bed inside of that area. Although these kits were popular in certain areas, they are quite scarce today. Another option was during the 'war years' it was a practice to take an old 4-door sedan and section the body to convert it into a pick-up. This was generally done by the own blacksmith, and I have seen some nicely converted examples. The main reason for doing this was during the 40's, there was gas rationing, and pick-up and work vehicles were able to receive more fuel than a passenger car.

Best wishes on getting it running, and maybe you can forward pictures here as you are making progress.

.

[eagle]

Vince. Sounds VERY interesting. WAY more interesting than just another "regular" antique car. Don't let anyone convince the owners of that conversion pickup to "restore" it back to its originality. The converted pickup is much more interesting and likely more valuable than an original one. Pics would be great to see.

[pooch]

gdasy from OZ Vince, I am certainly looking forward to seeing pics of a model A coupe ute.

[Charlie Stephens]

You might find something interesting on this HAMB thread: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/t...-info.1027466/

Charlie Stephens

[d.conrad]

Here's one I got a few months ago.

[Mike V. Florida]

This my provide some insight for you,

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112271