VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 1930 Coach

Have some questions about a 30' coach. I'm looking at another car to restore.
1. solid or wire wheels? If solid, can they be found? It has wire wheels right now.
2. What should engine casting number be?
3. How hard to get parts in general?
4. Anything I should know particular to the 30' vs. a 31'?
5. Don't believe it has the windshield regulator. I know some parts are available. Can a complete unit be found?

Note: I might have called it the wrong name. It is a two door sedan but I believe Chevy called them a coach.

Well since you are BORED i have a 1929 that is in process :)

based on the WORK you have done

1. Both. The early models, except for the sport models like the roadster and sport coupe, used disc wheels. After April of 1930 all models used wire wheels. Since the car in question has wire wheels leave them.

2. 835501

3. About the same as getting parts for a 1931.

4. Restoring a 1930 is about the same as restoring a 1931. Same problems, same headaches, same fun.

4. Complete windshield regulators are available. You will just have to advertise and look around to find a complete, rebuildable unit.

You had the terminology correct. The vehicle is a Coach, not a 2-Door Sedan.

Thanks Dog,
This is exactly what I needed. Spoke with the owner today again. He said he took the regulator board out and thought the crank handle was for the wiper and I now believe it has the regulator. He tells me it is complete and only has a small rust through spot on one splash apron. Runs and drives very good but needs the tank cleaned. Needs new roof and interior, paint, couple small dents on rear fender, etc. Comes with spare engine and radiator. He has dropped his price and it is very reasonable I think. Needs the ws header wood replaced which he has. Has a roof material kit also. I build furniture as another hobby so I'm not afraid of the wood work. How big of job is replacing the header?
My buddy who owns the paint shop and I are going to try our hand at going into the restoration business and this will basically be our third practice vehicle. The first was my 83 Blazer and the second was my 31'. His body and paint shop is already lucrative but he feels the everyday scratch and dent repair business has taken it toll on his craft. He believes the restoration work pushes him to do the work the way he loves to do it and helps him perfect his craft. Together, both of us are pretty particular on our work. He will be building a 30x120 addition in the next two years and will move more into the restorations. Of course, more will be later cars and we assume a lot will be resto-mods. I have already started talking with companies like Lebaron and Bonney about becoming a distributor and installer of their kits. That's our plan anyway. Mechanics and interiors will be done in my garage right now and paint in his until this becomes official. There are not many restoration facilities in New England and there are all kinds of people constantly inquiring at my buddy's shop about it.

If you like my work and my buddy's paint, ship it to us and we will complete it for you. I will give you a break on the interior and installation of the interior for your written testimonial. Need to get about 5-8 cars out there with our work to start advertising our business. If you are interested let me know.

Ted

Went to look at the 30' coach today. As I've come to realize is that people really don't describe things anywhere close to what they are. Here is what he originally stated and here is what I found.
1. Car is complete: Yes it is from what I can see, including the windshield regulator and all tags
2. car only needs a little wood work: OK, way off here. Both main sills are gone, rear roof piece(the "little" work)is gone but he has an original to go in. Windshield header needs to be replaced but not rotted real bad. Both door jambs are rotted at the bottom too. ONLY A LITTLE WOOD WORK, Ya, right!
3. Only one small rot area at the running board: Back bolt edge of pass fender is rotted, but is not a hard fix. Both splash aprons are rotten all along the top and basically will require more work than just replacing them. Both rocker panels have rotted areas but they can be repaired. Front windshield header metal is rotted but he has another from a 31'(not sure if they are the same). At the rear of the roof top someone cut off about an inch all along the back edge (the area where the oblong holes are to nail the roof into. This can be repaired easy enough. Not sure why that was done other to get out the rotted piece of wood. Doors are actually great with no rust or wood rot I could see. Chassis appears very good with plenty of grease/grime but no rust could be seen.
4. Car needs very little work to finish: This is an understatement as mentioned above. Along with all I've said, there's plenty of dents in both rear fenders and a couple tiny ones in the front to knock out. The wire wheels need blasting and the normal work.
5. glass is all there: yes, but plate. All regulators worked decent and the windshield went up and down by hand.
6. Spare motor and radiator: Yes, numbers appear to make it a 30 and it has the bell housing with clutch assembly. It has a drum on it to run a wide belt. It turned by hand enough to say it's not stuck. No carb, starter, but has a gen. Radiator is an original honey comb one and I didn't see any area that would say it's bad. He said they had it with the spare motor and used it for that motor.
7. He's had many look at it: I believe that as he was asking $5K and the price was high but not crazy I thought. Now, the price is $3,500 and I still feel it's too high. Am I wrong? This is not a huge project but not the project he described. Not sure if I want to tie up this much time and money for a car that would bring $18K done right if I'm lucky. I am looking for another to do for advertising our upstarting business. Don't think it's the right candidate. Maybe I can find someone who wants a nice car and we can restore it for them.
8. Car runs and drives good: Car did start fairly well and it probably needs some carb work. It stalled and the starter then didn't want to turn it back over. He said he had it re-done and it must be the battery but the starter turned it over real good originally. The amp gauge showed 18amps when he had it running which is high I thought but at least the gen and gauge worked. Oil pressure was about 6lbs and there was no smoke.

What do you guys think on this project? Is the car worth the $3,500?

Hello Chistech,
I would say go for it. With everything being complete and also the extra parts along with it I think it's reasonably priced. You might restore half of the vehicle to advertise your workmanship and claim it toward business expenses. You could put it up for sale right now for alittle bit of profit or restore it completely all in good time. There are a number of options there. One thing, I would never go into partnership with anyone if I was not prepared to include them in ALL the business dealings. Bad feelings come easily.

From what you describe it sounds like the car is going to need a ton of work. The car may be worth the asking price of $3,500, but, if I were you, I would look for a different project. You will have more money in the car than you can proably realize out of the vehicle if you were to sell it since the car is a 1930 Coach and it won't bring as much on a resale basis as do some of the other 1930 models.

Pretty much what we've thought too Dog. It might be something to buy and work on as a time filler, here and there, and possibly get a buyer as we're working on it. Something to pull out of the back from time to time and do some on in between other projects if you know what I mean. If he came down another $500 we might consider it.

yeah a LOT of work and MAYBE a little return on it.

I never believe what I am told only what I see. lot of these people selling have NO clue to the work or time involved, or maybe they do and that is WHY they are selling.

you guys going buy, restore, sell or buy restore, enjoy >?< if selling have to make sure you can get more then you paid for it and time & materials put into it.

take any pictures or just mentally ??

We were thinking it for a candidate to do another car, do some car shows with a for sale sign on, and show more of our work for advertising. We fell even if we broke even it would be worth it for the cost of advertising these days. So, buy, restore, show for a while, then sell. Will try and get up some pictures of it. They are his, not mine so don't really show the problem areas.

Having gone through all the trials, tribulations and time restoring your Sedan, I'm not sure you would find as much interest second time around. Your Sedan is a great advertizing item for a business, so my 2 cents worth would be to look for another type of car dissimilar to your Sedan. Asking price is to high in my opinion for a vehicle in need of a full re-do. $2,000-$3,000 range would be my limit.

I bought my Deluxe '31 Coach (including sidemounts and all new rubber) in 2008 in about same condition for equivalent today of $3600US, and after I found all the previously hidden rotted wood (a major problem to replace), felt I should have paid $2500US or less. As everyone knows, if you got the car for $0, you would still have trouble getting a full restoration investment back.