VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 differences between 29 and 30 cars

I got my first 29 almost two years ago and have accumulated a 2nd 29 and 3 30's since. During that time I have been told by many people that 29 and 30 chevy's are almost identical and parts will interchange. While it is true that they do look very similar, I have noticed many differences in the two cars that can be easily seen, some even at a glance. Below I will make a list of the differences I have noticed and would love input from others. I don't know if these all are differences from one model year(29) to the next(30), or changes that were made during the 29 production run. Like I said I've only been in this game for a short time so I am looking to the experts to give any info you may have about the differences listed.

1. 29 cars have a lip around the perimeter of the side and rear windows which protrudes outward away from the body. 30 has a gentle radius which slopes inward toward the body. When looking for doors for my 29 coupe, I discovered this difference, although the doors physically fit, they don't match.
2. 29 has a "sight guage" for the fuel. The guage protrudes up out of the right side of the tank, tank cover has two holes, one for the guage, one for the filler neck. On a 30 the gas guage is on the dash so there is nothing sticking up out of the right side of the tank. The fuel tank cover only has one hole on the left for the filler neck.
3. 29 has three oval guages all contained in a large oval cluster in the center of the dash. 30 has round guages, individually located in the dash, as mentioned 30 has a fuel guage.
4. 29 has a straight vertical windshield, 30 is slightly slanted, it is almost impossible to see the difference in the angle of the glass with the naked eye, however it is easy to spot the difference by looking at the A pillars. 29 A pillars are cast aluminum and are the same size on the bottom as the top. 30 A pillars are stamped sheet metal and are approximately one inch wider at the bottom and taper towards the top.
5. my 29's have 20 inch rims, 30's have 19 inch, they look the same but are different diameter.
6. 29 has solid rod linkage to operate the front brakes, 30 has a cable to operate them. Additionally, if you look under the car a 29 has two brake shafts that run perpendicular to the frame rails from one side of the car to the other, 30 has only one shaft. These shafts are under the floorboard area and connected to the brake pedal assembly.
7. 29 has a smooth valve cover with only the 3 holes for mounting. 30 has a vented cover with a single louver behind each mounting hole.
8. 29 has a 2 blade fan, 30 has four blades.

These have been my observations and I am curios to see if they are all in fact differences between production years or if some of the conditions described were mid model year changes. I would also like to hear from anyone else who knows of differences I have not yet picked up on. I have caught the 29-30 chevy fever and it appears it will be a lifelong condition so I would like to absorb as much info about them as I can.

You have discovered many of the differences between the 1929 and 1930 models. In addition the intake/exhaust manifold for '29 has the three stud/nuts holding the two manifold castings that are close together. The 1930 has a much larger center section and widely spaced studs. The '29 has an electric temperature gauge and the '30 a pressure bulb type. Both have two blade fans for passenger cars and four blade fans for trucks. There is a difference in the pitch of the fan blades between '29 and '30. Though the '29 & '30 engine blocks are both 835501 casting number the '30 blocks have wider web supports on the lower part of the cylinders. The early '29 blocks have the crankcase vent in the back of the block and the late '29 and '30 have the vent about 1/3 the way back from the front. The '29 air cleaner has air opening on the side opposite the carburetor. The '30 air cleaner has the air intake opening next to the carburetor.

There are several more differences that I will leave for you to discover or others to point out.

The blue 4 door shown in your avatar appears tyo be an original survivor. Is it, and do you plan to keep it that way. Love the look of 80 years of use and reliability!

The first four blade fan on a passenger car was 1932. The 1929-31 passenger cars used a two blade fan.

1930 has shock absorbers and self adjusting shackles, internal expanding rear brakes, and although you can not see it the center main bearing is pressure fed rather than gravity fed. The late '29 had the 1930 style pistons with wrist pin busings (most early have been changed over) and the connecting rod bearings had oil groves in 1930.

A few more differences:

-- On cars with wood or disc wheels, the '29 hub caps said "CHEVROLET" inside the bowtie, the '30 was blank.

-- The bearing arrangement and axle ratio in the rear end are different between 1929 and 1930.

-- The rear service brakes are an external band arrangement in 1929 and are a conventional internal drum brake in 1930.

-- The transmission mainshaft in 1929 has a different number of splines than 1930, so the sliding gears are also different.

-- If you are a VCCA member and need advice from the VCCA Technical Advisor for a 1929 it will be free, but if you need it for a 1930 you have to provide a can of "Alpo".

All the Best, Chip

Gunsmoke: The 4 door on the avatar picture is an original survivor. It sat from 1947 to 1971, my dad bought it in 71, drove a few hundred miles and it was put away again. Sometime in the mid 90's he wanted to go for a ride and he and a couple friends tried cranking it over but the rocker assemblies had frozen up so they bent up the pushrods and pushrod cover pretty badly. I got it in 2007 and had to replace the pushrods, tires and radiator. In the last 2 summers it has given me almost 2000 trouble free miles. Guys at the car shows love it, it looks like it just got pulled out of the barn. I have never even washed it because I love the old patina. I will need to replace the roof fabric but haven't decided what to do. The Lebaron Bonney roof inserts look so manufactured with the faux pattern and the high gloss finish, doesn't really fit the look of the car. I had thought about using black convertible top canvas for a dull look. Does anybody know what the substance was that was brushed on the original roofs? If I bushed something over the top of the canvas it would look much more original and authentic.
Thanks to everyone who has pointed out a difference between 29 and 30, if there are more, keep 'em coming. It seems to be a very common misconception that these cars are the same. This thread could be a valuable resource for members wondering which parts will or won't interchange from one year to the other.

Nope....that is not correct. It should be a can of "Coors" instead!

OK - Now I know what car this is. Saw it at the Wisconsinn Region car show last summer.
The black - top dressing was a thin tar like liquid but dried hard to the touch. I would suggest getting the proper top material and coating that with some thing dull. You will find that a canvas will "blow-up" when driving with the windows open and this will make it tend to pull away at the sides.
For the first top material on my '34 (and on a friends '32) we used the vinyl roof material that was popular in the early '70's. This stretched and balooned up in the same manner and I finally replaced with the proper stuff.

I have an all original 1928 Coach. The original top had a very dull look from the age and time out in the sun. I bought a can of top dressing from Macs Antique Auto Parts because I didn't trust the old top to keep the water out so I wanted to seal it. The sealer was brushed on outside on a sunny day. It made the top somewhat shiny again. Not as much as new top material would have but it did add some shine.

Gene, The show you referenced must have been the bergstrom chevrolet show? I was not a VVCA member prior to that but decided to join after talking to a guy at the show. One fella there got extremely argumentative with me because I wouldn't tell him where my trailer was parked. I told him I had no trailer and had driven over 50 miles one way to attend the show. I never did convince him, he thought I was a liar. In retrospect he was probably a ford driver and not used to the reliability of a chevy!
Does anyone know of a top material other than LeBaron Bonney/Hampton coach? The pattern on that stuff looks so manufactured to me, I could deal with the gloss if the pattern was more random. I would like the top material to look old when put on so it matches the car. Do you think the canvas would still inflate even if painted with a tar like substance as original? Maybe the tar would add weight and limit stretching? If not a heavy canvas, what was the original material?

The original was a "coated" fabric. It did have a pattern to it similar to the HC material. From my experiance the HC really isn't that glossy and a little dust helps to dull the shine.
Thats the show. I am a Wisconsin Region Member and have been for the last 40 years. I did talk to you that day but quite a few others did also.
We will be having another show in June at Andrew Chevrolet and again in Sept at Bergstrum.

Filling Station has the fabric, bought one for mine. Does look shiny when new, but expect once in use it will dull up somewhat. Not sure how it compares to the HC stuff, but it comes with all the trimming pieces, admittedly not original but what can one do eh!.

Anybody know if the front fenders are interchangeable from 29 to 30 to 31?

1929-1930 passenger cars, and 1931 trucks are the same. They are also listed in the 1929-32 parts book.

Dear Junkyard,

The reason I asked... and hope this is the right forum to ask... is that I bought two Fender Wells from Macsauto.com which are made for a Model A.

Plan to cut the 1929 chevy fenders and install. Need to find someone to measure the distance for the hole, from the running board. If all chevy fenders are the same, 29, 30 and 31 it will be easier to find someone with wheel wells to measure the distance for the hole.

Hope the purists are not too upset with this.... wonder if anyone else ever got the measurements and tried this?

Tim
Chevrolet Service News 1929 page 28 gives all the dimensions and instructions on installation. The Filling Station has the Service News if you need it.
ArtM

Thank you Art... This VCCA is an amazing source of information.