VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 1934 Roadster Rear Window

1934 Roadster rear window

that's a good size rear window, and because your driving a roadster your close enough to it to be able to see out thru mirror and over the right shoulder to see whats over there.

Your a long way away in a touring and the view out a phaeton is critical..

By the way as a point of interest........the panel between the rumble seat and rear top area , at the corners, plus the area below the rumble lid at the corners. I can see these areas on a north american body are not welded up on the seams like the
Holden body is.

The north American idea is not a good idea IMHO as it allows water infiltration causing rust out of the floors.

mike lynch

Even on a sedan such as my 32 the interior mirror is of questionable use. On two lane highways in the "old" days it might have been OK but with two or three lane same direction highways changing lanes is a risk as you can not see what is behind you in the other lanes.

Mike very good point and true with the distance plus the Phaeton window is a bit narrower about 17 inches wide!

Very good eye for detail!

I had come across this letter written in the 40’s of the cars that were built in 1934 between USA Chevrolet GM and Holden Australia on the internet and I cannot find it again to email to you guys!

It was about the corporate office here in the USA was upset that those dam Aussis would just not listen to them on how to build these Roadster! In that same letter had stated that the Aussis were way ahead of the times with technology for building cars especially in the great depression!

So I guess that my car shines with those better features!

How many would you guess that there are remaining in this world?

Let’s see they had only made qty, 31 DC Standard Sport Roadsters over 80 years ago! If I were to guess I would estimate 2 remaining!

I have been around old cars my whole life and like and love all makes and models from stock and original to modified Hot Rods from the late 1800’s to now!

A lot of people think that Hot Rods started in the 50’s! Wrong!

When they built the first horseless carriage they found out if they by removing the fenders and body’s off and mounting a wooden seat that they would go faster! Which became known as the Speedster the first form of early Hot Rods!

These old timers had told me when growing up there was a formula for loss of these vintage cars with every 5 years over time calculation for hard tops and a calculation for convertibles/roadsters.

Would you or any other members know that ratio of loss formula?

It’s funny I was a great learner but that was one thing I should had retained!

Rory

Steve your best bet might be to rely more on your side mirrors and maybe this will help!

Here is a tip I use on my 33 Ford 3 Window coupe hot rod which has a very bad blind spot on the passenger side. My passenger side mirror I only have about 2 ½ inch diameter size mirror. I stick on this convex curved mirror over the flat mirror. I know that it is deceiving with distance but at least I can see a car or truck if they are on that side!

I forget if you modify your car at all even for safety reason the judges will deduct 10 points off for not being factory stock and original! Just Goofing! LOL

Rory

Yes Rory the side mirrors would be the answer IF my car had some. I did install directionals with LED taillights so perhaps the mirrors will be next. I don't participate in judging so that is not a problem but I do tour with it. The tours are great but when you have 100 or so people then it usually means accommodations are located in heavily traveled areas.

Steve they make all kinds of mirrors and sizes with great adaptability for any model cars for easy removal if you would like when id and when you sell!

RE SIDE MIRRORS........on my phaeton it has 4" round I & I repo side mirrors that normally clamp on the top of the closed car doors..........in lefts and rights.

On the touring phaeton it has those same mirrors, BUT THE PRIOR OWNER PUT THE LEFT ON THE PASS SIDE AND THE RIGHT ON THE DRIVERS SIDE, USING THE TOP IRONS SIDE BRACKETRY AS MOUNTS.

For my 35 roadster under construction I found some really nice cast aluminum bridge style multi adjustable motorcycle handle bar mirrors. I plan on making an aluminum bracket and mount that too the door wood on the inside and stick up about 2" high. 3 simple triangulated holes in the wood. NO drilling holes in vintage sheet metal . I have left and rights.

mike lynch...........

According to the information I have Holdens built 222 DC sports roadsters. Survival rates for pre war Chevs in Australia seems to be around the 10% mark and I reckon over the years I have seen close to 20 roadsters and no doubt there are still some more hidden out there. As for Holdens being ahead I think it was a case of necessity being the mother of invention being bought about because of the small population. ( Less than 7 million in 1935)and no export markets. How they did what they did is beyond me. In the meantime here is photo of a fairly new 1934 roadster.

345chevy guy Nice pic of that 34 Holden Roadster! I started another thread in the 34 - 36 Technical section as again we morphed from rear window to production figures!

Rory