VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 29 Phaeton wood

Hi Gents,
I need to replace the wooden strips between the body and chassis of my 29 Phaeton.
Any advice, drawings and/or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Do you mean the main floor sills?

Yep, the main fore and aft wooden beams between the chassis rails and the body.

Chris, what you are talking about is a VERY large project. Normally, if the sills are rotted out, so are the lower parts of the vertical wood. Therefore, it's normally best to replace virtually all of the wood in the body. Doing this requires removing the body from the frame, removing all of the sheet metal from the wood, replacing all damaged wood, reattaching the sheet metal to the new wood and then reinstalling the body on the chassis. There are far, far more details and lots of work involved in getting the door alignment and spacing correct, etc, etc. I have done three of them and others here on the site have also done several.

The bigger issue is that if you're not an expert woodworker, you will have to find someone who has the patterns and the skills to reproduce the wood. The guy in the USA who used to do that for the early Phaetons passed away a couple of years ago. His patterns were passed to another guy, but I'm not sure of the new guy's skill levels.

Closed cars are much easier -- there are still several people making the wood for them. But our old Phaetons and Roadsters: It's getting harder.

I'm sure others will jump in and may know something I don't know about this issue -- a couple of the guys on this site are experts on these wooden bodies. Sure hope it works out well for you.

All the Best, Chip

Hello again Chris,
I have a facebook page "Automotive Wood Bodies" and on it I have pictures of a 1924 Star Touring I am re-wooding. The Star has a simpler wood structure then the 1929 Chevrolet but the pictures will give you an idea of the scope of work required.
Cheers,

Thanks Gents,
I am afraid, not good news. However, much appreciated.
Have a great weekend.

Chris..........the main sills are probably the easiest wood parts to duplicate. Use ASH WOOD or another wood , hard wood common to south Africa., that is workable. Its should have a tight grain and rot resistant.. Talk to your specialty lumber supplier. If you can remove the piece without damaging it, you have an excellent chance to make a quality copy.

Coat it with EPIFANES VARNISH from Holland.

If you can purchase a HOME small bandsaw 9" you can carefully cut the pattern out by drawing on the wood with carpenters heavy pencil. The thickness of the sill will need to be planed down to right size.

Using a belt sander 3 x 24 on hand unit or a 4 x 36 machine with a side 8--10" disc sander. A selection of wood chisels comes in handy.

Remember this..........ITS NOT A FISHER BODY , its made by an outside supplier to Chevrolet, I believe to be " Hercules Campbell." Body lines are different, door hinges are hidden, locking mechanism is different .

mike lynch

Thanks Mike,
Much appreciated. Yep, mine is not a Fisher body and was assembled in South Africa. It seems as if the bottom quarter of the beams are rotten but the uprights are fine. I am busy repainting the mudgaurds, running boards and splash plates. That is how I noticed the rot.
Could anyone give me an idea of the dimentions of the beams required and how the uprights are fixed to the beams, please.

Okay, you have a Hercules-Campbell body, it may have been made here in Canada or shipped to south Africa plant. Should be a metal plate nailed to seat riser or the floor in front of seat riser..........right hand drive I would think plate is on left passenger side. If number stamped into plate first one is 2..........then was made in Tarrytown NY usa plant.

Car could have come from Canada due to customs taxes, S A part of Commonwealth so would be duty free.

If you only have the bottom quarter thickness of the MAIN SILLS rotted, you should be able to remove each sill and reproduce it yourself. Measure the sills you have for thickness. Its a pretty straightforward piece of wood. Use a rot resistant wood, mahogany is a tight grain. My 35 roadster from Argentina had black walnut various wood parts.

Home bandsaw 9" throat, grinder with sanding discs, hand belt sander 3 x 24 belt size.

Uprights would be door posts. Mudguards would be fenders

mike lynch

TKS Mike,
Yep, the first number is indeed a 2.
Much appreciated.
Regards
Chris