'31 Franklin 153 - Making/Replacing roof bows, preferred method?

[Guest Willie Yturralde]

Need to replace all the bows. The rails are in good shape. What is the right way to do this?

Willie

[Guest Willie Yturralde]

I guess what i am wondering is: Do i cut the wood with the arc already in place or do i cut the wood flat and bend the wood to create the arc. I am familiar with bending wood and i know this would provide more support for the rest of the roof. Is my best bet to try to recreate the original roof bows? I also contemplated laminating some strips together and tracing the arc onto the wood and just cutting it this way. This would provide an arc without having to bend the wood. Laminating it with the grains going in different directions would give me back some of the support. Any ideas which might be better?

Willie

[trimacar]

There's not a lot of load on a wooden roof structure, so I'd say build it the easiest way. Also, there can't be too much of an arc, the middle of the roof is what, may 1/2 to 3/4 inch higher than the sides? For the cross pieces (perpendicular to the frame), cutting out of a single piece of wood should be doable. The front to back strips are slats that should conform to the roof.

Maybe I'm missing something in the question.

[Guest]

Not having ever owned an open car but having helped many friends that were redoing roof bows in the last 55 years, I would contribute the following.

To be semantically correct a restoration would be making the new ones exactly the same way as the originals. To do it any other way is not restoration but replacement. Having seen several done both ways, I believe that laminating the bows with modern adhesive would make a much stronger product than the original.

Putting forged pistons in my engine makes it a rebuild not a restoration but they were what was available, are many times stronger and were available.

I have always been of two minds. One: restored is restored is restored, absolultely no deviation from the original. Two: restored if possible but replaced if the replacement is better. In this case I would go with the laminated process.

The old car hobby is fun but no one said it was simple or easy.

[trimacar]

I don't think he's talking about an open car, but rather a sedan that has the wood framework insert in the top, then covered with chicken wire, pad, and fabric...

[Guest]

Those I have done (both ways) and would still probably cheat and laminate them up rather than bend the wood. Not original but probably better and certainly easier and quicker.

[Restorer32]

As far as I know bows in closed car tops were never bent but rather sawn out. I dispute whether laminated bows on an open car are stronger than steam bent bows as original.

[Rusty_OToole]

I know they used a lot of sawn wooden pieces in the body framework but in the roof I think they just cut slats a little long and sprung them slightly when they put them in place. If there is a curve at all it should be practically undetectable, just enough to make the water run off and not pool in the middle of the roof.

[Restorer32]

I believe they are sawed to shape. The curvature also varies from front to back. Most bows in closed cars are 3/4 x 3/4 or so. It is virtually impossible to spring that size oak or ash to the needed curvature. If you could spring them into place they would exert quite a bit of pressure on the sheet metal. Of the 25 or so cars we have rewooded either partially or fully all had cross bows that appeared to have been sawed to shape. We have also never seen steam bent wood used in a body, only for open car top bows. There might be cars where bent wood was used in the body but we've never seen one, except of course in very early wooden bodied cars where seat backs and such were bent or possibly laminated plywood.

[Guest Willie Yturralde]

Thanks for all the replies. Seems like i was over thinking. The car originally had the chicken wire over the bows but i like the slats idea better. I have seen one franklin done with the slats.

I was told to use mahogany for the slats. Does this sound correct? As far as the curve, i was just going to match the arc that is in the front and rear rail.

Thanks again. Saved me alot of time and effort!

[Restorer32]

If your car is like most each cross bow will have a slightly different arc, less curvature at the front of the car, more at the rear. If we were replacing the center bows and had no patterns we would first replace the front and rear bows. We would then lay a long straightedge from front to back to determine the arc of the missing bows.

[Guest Hudson33]

Just a Franklin fan but I note that in the serial # it starts with 53-xxxxxx-L40 Which I believe is the Deluxe Convertible speedster. Avery good looking car for sure, have only seen one on barn find tour!!!

F