Modern Rodding TECH

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By Ron Covell Photography by Not Stock Photos & Courtesy of Craftworks Fabrication

Making a Unique Roof typography

Fabricating a Model A Insert

the Model A coupe body as it arrived at Craftworks Fabrication

1. Every project starts somewhere, and this is the Model A coupe body as it arrived at Craftworks Fabrication.

M

odel A coupes have an iconic look that has been considered cool since people started modifying them back in the ’40s. A lot of builders chop the tops on these cars, and the original fabric insert in the center of the roof is often replaced by welding in a metal insert.

Natalie Bolea wanted a traditional A coupe on a ’32 frame, but she wanted something that stood out from the crowd, so she contacted Craftworks Fabrication in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, to get their take on it.

E.J. Talik, the proprietor, has a long history of doing finely crafted metalwork, and he loves to find unique ways to add style to his customer’s projects. The top would be chopped of course, but instead of welding in a metal roof insert, he thought it might add a point of interest to make the insert as a separate piece and give it a finish that contrasted with the paint scheme.

Taking the idea one step further, the fabric roof insert on the Model A goes all the way to the windshield visor, but Talik hatched the idea of making the insert more like a ’32 Ford, which starts several inches back from the windshield.

Bolea’s coupe has countless innovative details, which led to its being chosen by Goodguys as one of the Top 5 Hot Rods of the Year. We’ll focus on just the roof modifications in this article.

With a plan in place, the crew at Craftworks marked out the 4-inch top chop by laying down two stripes of 2-inch masking tape. The cuts were then made on the top tape line and the roof was removed. Next, the lower cuts were made, removing a section of the pillars and the rear roof panel.

With the cutting completed, the roof was repositioned with its new, more aggressive stance and carefully welded back together. TIG welding was used exclusively for all the metalwork on this coupe.

The visor was removed next. On the Model A, the visor is held to the inner wooden structure with nails that go into the wooden sub-structure. A new plan was needed to make the roof seamless, so new metal was formed to fill in the front corners of the roof, and a panel was fabricated that attached to the visor, bridging the gap between the corners. Each of these panels needed a step for the new roof insert to fit into, and it was demanding work forming these so they would tie in perfectly with the rear portion of the roof.

With the visor joined to the newly shaped metal, the assembly was fitted to the roof, welded into place, and metal finished. As you can see, the work is gorgeous and this detail really adds a unique look to the coupe.

A shaped roof insert was purchased from Walden Speed Shop, and a paper pattern was made to fit the opening in the roof, so the insert could be trimmed to fit perfectly. A Mittler Bros. bead roller was used to make a bead around the perimeter of the insert, giving it some style.

Once the insert was perfectly fitted to the opening, a 1/2-inch strip of steel was fabricated to fit around the perimeter and numerous studs were welded to it, which allows the insert to be pulled down securely into the recess. This strip was edge-welded to the bead on the outer border of the insert.

There are lots of other details that help make the roof of this coupe special, which you’ll see in the
accompanying photos.

three quarter view of a matte black Model A coupe body with strips of 2-inch masking tape in prospective cut areas
2. Once a plan was in place, the first step was to lay out the cuts for chopping the top. Two strips of 2-inch masking tape were positioned to mark the cut lines for the 4-inch chop.
three quarter view of the coupe with the roof repositioned and welded into place
3. After the cutting was done, the roof was repositioned and welded into place.
three quarter top view of the coupe roof with the visor removed and wood in the interior
4. Next, the visor was removed and all the interior wood was replaced at this time.
view of the rear of the roof showing panels that are bolted together, sandwiching a T-shaped molding
5. At the rear of the roof, Model As have panels that are bolted together, sandwiching a T-shaped molding that stands proud of the metal.
view of the rear of the roof showing weld work over what was once a T shaped molding
6. An efficient way to smooth these areas is to cut the joint out in sections, replacing it with strips of body-thickness metal. This eliminates disassembling the joints and fighting to realign the panels before welding.
view of the now seemless coupe roof rear
7. You can see how much this cleans up the rear of the roof.
the header panel that fits under the visor reattached to the wooden inner structure with nails
8. Returning to the front, the header panel that fits under the visor was reattached to the wooden inner structure with nails, just like the original.
two pieces of metal are shaped to the front corners of the coupe roof
9. Metal was shaped to make new corner pieces for the roof insert.
a step roll and a small beading die were used on the Mittler Bros. beading machine to match the profile of the original recess
10. A step roll and a small beading die were used on the Mittler Bros. beading machine to match the profile of the original recess for the insert.
a strip of metal bridges the gap between the new corners
11. A strip of metal was shaped to bridge the gap between the new corners.
the new metal freshly butt-welded to the visor sits on a work surface
12. After careful fitting and trimming, the new metal was butt-welded to the visor.
the visor assembly metal finished and fitted to the roof panels
13. The visor assembly was metal finished, then fitted to the roof panels.
the front roof panels finish welded and smoothed
14. The front roof panels were finish welded and smoothed.
the new roof insert panel from Walden Speed Shop mocked on the coupe
15. Here is the new roof insert panel from Walden Speed Shop.
mechanic shapes the panel to order on a Yoder power hammer
16. Bobby Walden shapes these panels to order on a Yoder power hammer.
a paper pattern is made  on the roof of the coup to match the edges of the recess for the insert
17. A paper pattern was made and carefully trimmed to match the edges of the recess for the insert.
the trimmed roof panel installed to the coupe
18. The pattern was used to trim the insert to size.
view of the rolled roof panel
19. To roll the bead on the edge of the insert, two passes were made on the beading machine using Tank Roll dies. One pass formed the inner profile and a second pass completed the outer.
a 1/2-inch strip of steel is contoured to fit the edges of the insert
20. A 1/2-inch strip of steel was contoured to fit the edges of the insert. Studs were welded to this strip, then the strip was TIG welded to the outer edge of the bead.
close of the nice uniform gap between the insert and the roof channel
21. You can see a nice uniform gap between the insert and the roof channel.
three quarter view of the completed Model A coupe with a contrasting color finish
22. The insert was painted a contrasting color, which makes great feature on this award-winning coupe!
Craftworks Fabrication
(412) 922-7062
craftworksfab.com
Modern Rodding

VOLUME 3 • ISSUE 25 • 2022