The Ford Barn

darrylkmc · 07-27-2011, 05:28 PM

While working on my early 1930 Standard Phaeton 35B this winter I had the opportunity to sort through some items from the estate of the gentleman who brought my 35B from Canada to Alaska in 1959. I was pretty excited when I came across Top Irons wrapped in burlap and twine that was shipped from New York to Alaska sometime prior to the use of Zip Codes. He did have a couple of 35B’s and a cut up 180A. My car is missing the entire Top Irons and Bows.
With some effort and much penetrating oil, yesterday I attached it to my Phaeton and unfold it to see what condition it was in.
Although it does not fit my car, it appears to be in very good condition. These are my observations, which consequently leads me to some questions. On either side of the front bow are the cast pieces with raised #’s A-181930/A-181931 which attach to the top of the windshield – 180A, 40B. All the iron parts are painted black, not “Buff” or Stainless. However I have not scraped any of the paint off to further investigate, but so far nothing looks like Stainless. The Bent Bows look like Oak but are darker in appearance that what I have seen in photos, with very few nail holes, which leads me to believe that it was only installed once. One of the bows has a portion where the wood has begun to separate at the radius. Around here there are no 35B's or 180A's for comparison.
Once it stops raining here I could post some photos of the Irons/Bows.
My main question is regarding the apparent lack of Stainless, did some 180A's come with all carbon steel Top Irons?

07-27-2011, 05:28 PM	#1
darrylkmc Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Fairbanks, Alaska Posts: 767	180A Deluxe Phaeton Top Irons and Bows While working on my early 1930 Standard Phaeton 35B this winter I had the opportunity to sort through some items from the estate of the gentleman who brought my 35B from Canada to Alaska in 1959. I was pretty excited when I came across Top Irons wrapped in burlap and twine that was shipped from New York to Alaska sometime prior to the use of Zip Codes. He did have a couple of 35B’s and a cut up 180A. My car is missing the entire Top Irons and Bows. With some effort and much penetrating oil, yesterday I attached it to my Phaeton and unfold it to see what condition it was in. Although it does not fit my car, it appears to be in very good condition. These are my observations, which consequently leads me to some questions. On either side of the front bow are the cast pieces with raised #’s A-181930/A-181931 which attach to the top of the windshield – 180A, 40B. All the iron parts are painted black, not “Buff” or Stainless. However I have not scraped any of the paint off to further investigate, but so far nothing looks like Stainless. The Bent Bows look like Oak but are darker in appearance that what I have seen in photos, with very few nail holes, which leads me to believe that it was only installed once. One of the bows has a portion where the wood has begun to separate at the radius. Around here there are no 35B's or 180A's for comparison. Once it stops raining here I could post some photos of the Irons/Bows. My main question is regarding the apparent lack of Stainless, did some 180A's come with all carbon steel Top Irons?