VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 1929 2-door coupe - what to look for?

Hi all,

I am going to inspect a 1929 2-door coupe for possible purchase soon.

It has been stored indoors for many decades and that's how long it has been since it last ran.

I saw it once a few years ago and I remember it as being quite complete. The only odd thing is that someone back in the day took the truck lid off and installed a homemade tiny pickup bed in that space.

The current owner said that the engine is not seized, but is extremely difficult to turn over by hand. He thinks the engine was rebuilt many years ago and that the bearing caps might be too tight. However, he has no real evidence of this being the case.

From what a friend told me, the Old Car Price guide says if it were a parts car, it might be worth $1600. If it were able to drive down the road, it might be worth over $3000.

I've read that the '29 heads are notorious for overheating and cracking.

That's the extend of what I think I know. ;-)

So, what are your recommendations for inspecting this vehicle?

Thanks, Dean

Hello Rustoholic,
1929 owners can advise what to look for on a vehicle, engine numbers, body numbers and specific quirks and such. But first, I believe a purchase inspection is only as good as what the present owner will allow to be put into operation and evaluated. Some owners are hands on and some are not. If you treat the inspection as a 'will it run' effort, both you and the owner will realize the vehicles status and worth. An owner that is not prepared to "let's get her running", or for anyone to lay hands on their vehicle should not expect any more than 'parts car' value.

Check for sagging doors. The wood in the pillars could be bad. Check sill plates and all visible wood. Mine had stuck valves that caused the pushrods to bend when I tried to turn it over. You might want to do a complete restoration. The price seems very reasonable to me.

Thanks guys. I'll keep your suggestions in mind when I look it over.

Ever onward, Dean

Agree with the wood. My 29 had a sagging driver door so that's where I started. More than a year later, and lots of wood (I used Oak) later the wood was fixed. There used to be kit wood options but I'm not sure if they are still available. I did my wood by hand, it was a lot of work, but that's part of the ultimate joy of ownership.

Hello Dean, If you look in your Hercules manual that you were so kind to post on the chat site a few years ago, there is a picture of a similar trunk bed. So in '28 there was not a "roadster pickup" as we would identify today. There was from the dealer an insert from either Hercules or Martin Perry to place in the trunk to convert it to a pickup. Should be the same for the coupes since the deck lids were very similar. I believe it was that way until possibly late '29*. Not many of those beds survived so if it is a mass produced bed it is rather rare. Many people made cars into pickups during WW2 so they could get more gas rations and also some were just because they needed a truck instead of a car. I have 2 friends with coupes that were done that way. One was absolutely hammered from hauling full milk cans, and the other was missing the trunk lid and drip rails when he got it.

I have a barn find '29 coupe. If you can get it for $3,000 that would be a super steal. A deck lid and the drip rails will be hard to source so it would be best to leave it "as is".

*I am sure there were some "roadster deliveries" that got Campbell, Hercules, Martin Perry, or any one of the other bed builders products on it about that time. Not much documentation exists for that model.

Thanks for all the comments.

The car I'm going to look at is not a roadster, but a two-door hardtop.

Also, if I remember correctly (I saw the car once a number of years ago), the bed did not look like it was mass produced. It was rough around the edges.

Thanks for the tip about looking at my Hercules Body catalog as a reference for the home-brew bed.

Cheers, Dean