VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 Floorboards

Does anyone know if chevy used a particular make of wood for their floorboards in the 1928 one tons....Thanks Terry

Somebody can correct me if I'm wrong but the toe boards & floor boards I've seen are plywood....Joe

Howdy Joe.....What is there now are 3/4 in boards and I'm lousy at figuring or knowing the kind of wood in front of me. I do know that what is there is close grained and maybe hard, but that is just vague guess. It would be nice if Chevy used plywood then, but in 1928 did we even have plywood. ....Terry

Plywood it is. The Romans are credited with inventing plywood, cement too. I think the floor board plywood is seven layer 3/4" sanded - so it ends up about 11/16" thick. My original 29 coupe floor boards look like Douglas Fir plywood. My dad used to work at a large GP plywood mill in SW Oregon, nothing left but a big field by the Coquille river.

I suppose they used what was cheap and available. Henry Ford used to buy parts in a crate the size of which was just right to cut up for floorboards. In Australia they used Tasmanian Oak, it being local and available and hard. We would never have used Douglas Fir (we call it Oregon) because it was soft and expensive (imported). You use what works.

Thanks guys...I like the idea of using whats available and I can use fir for that unless the store has something harder. Thanks a lot....Terry

My 1925 Roadster was 5 ply plywood. Each ply was NOT the same thickness.

What ever you use be sure it is exterior grade.

I am of the opinion that there was a transition from boards to plywood and some overlap. Probably depends on body plant and what was available and least expensive. I have seen examples of either plywood or boards glued together with strips underneath screw on to hold them together. In the teens all seem to be boards. By the mid-20s seems that plywood was mostly used. In early 30s boards are rare. The Boss's '31 fire truck has boards. It is a Luverne body not Chevrolet.

My 24 Roadster is boards as Chipper described.

Howdy...This cab was made by Canadian Carriage and Coach. Maybe it was Fisher that used plywood. I thought that a particular kind was used, apparently not, so if I used some kind of hardwood, or close to hardwood, that wouldn't be out of order......Terry

I have made an executive decision....I'm going top shelf and using birch for the floorboards. I'm spoiling my Chevy.

I have the original floor boards from my '25 K touring and they are ply. They were also painted black, maybe for sealing purposes, revealed under the start switch, accelerator bracket and footrest. The car was built in flint and RHD for export, if that might make any difference.

Al

Howdy Al.....I think it probably comes down to who made the cab and what was available at the time. that could be anything from plywood to packing crates or whatever was around...