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Trunk Lining Question


CraigD

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I'm interested in lining the trunk of my '29 Speedster.  The outside is in good shape but the inside is bare plywood.  Is there a particular type of fabric that I should use on the inside? 

 

Thanks, 

 

Craig

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Craig,

 

Look at master drawing 43164 on the HHFC website.  It has the specs for Series 137 Speedster trunk for the lining in the note section as well as the rest of the trunk.  My '30 Speedster trunk is new and not finished either.  I'd be interested to know what you do with yours.

 

Thanks,

 

Dan

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Dan, 

 

Thanks for the reference to dwg 43164.  I looked carefully through that drawing, but I did not find any reference to a lining material.  I began to look through all the trunk drawings to find any notes at all about lining material.  On drawing 33592 (dated 6-19-25) I found this note:  "cases to be lined with figured cretonne to match sample approved."  Then on dwg 35137 (dated 11-12-26) there's a note: "lined with blue tewell sateen".  Dwg 37558 (9-26-27) and 39546 (4-20-28): "lined with MBL Moirre".  On 41358 (8-21-28) and 42988 (1-19-29) the drawings note a "creton" lining. 

 

I did find this note on several earlier drawings: "inside of lids to be lined with the same material as the outside of trunk".  Drawing 43164 almost says the same thing, but not quite... it says "inside of lid to be lined with the same material as the inside of the trunk".  I found a few misspelled words in the drawings, so it makes me wonder if this particular difference was intentional, or was it a typo by the draftsmen???!

 

Lots to consider...

 

Craig

Edited by CraigD (see edit history)
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Does anyone have a picture of the fabric in their Franklin trunk?  I've heard for the '29 Speedster that it should be a herringbone pattern, but research I've done on classic car trunks suggests that fabrics in trunks were often a floral pattern.  Are there any photos from Franklin cars?

 

Thank you, 

 

Craig

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  • 2 weeks later...

It is a dark blue oilcloth with an embossed pattern.  I was very fortunate to find a near perfect original trunk in which I used as a pattern for my 1930 - the original trunk went on Art Kennif's 1929 Speedster (I traded trunk for a set of NOS front fenders).  Do not know who owns Art's car now - it was black.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Here are pictures of the finished results.  Thank you very much to Don Reddaway for all the help on this project!!

 

I considered that the drawing calls for blue oilcloth (thank you John!), but I did not really want to put a blue fabric in a car with an opal cream and black exterior.  So with the belief being that a Franklin buyer could put in a special order for a different color cloth in the trunk (spelled $... ;) ) I put in color that I think compliments the car better.

 

With Don's advice, I also fabricated the 2 leather belts to finish off the outside of the trunk.  I like the results!  I'm about to order a sheet metal bottom to complete the project.

 

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post-143142-0-13286900-1440786346_thumb.

Edited by CraigD (see edit history)
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Eli,

No the straps don't secure the trunk to the car. Per the drawing, the upper strap is attached to the back of the trunk, and the lower strap is attached to the bottom of the trunk. The trunk is secured to the car with 4 screws down into the rear platform.

Edited by CraigD (see edit history)
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Correct - it has 4 bolts to the deck - the underside of the trunk has a latice structure on it that raises it about 5/16 inch (it is medium brown stained wood).  I also believe there were 4 nickle buttons nailed in each corner of the latice.  This is all on the factory drawing.  Best advice I ever had was taking the drawing to a print shop and enlarging it (i did actual size).

Edited by John_Mereness (see edit history)
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Nice job on the trunk interior and very good choice of material for inside - also nice job on finding close to correct hardware (it took me 15 years to find most all the exact hardware and I slowly replaced over time as I found a piece of this and that).

 

And, yes the blue color leaves much to be desired in the original material.

Edited by John_Mereness (see edit history)
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