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Locke Body for 1930 M8 Stutz


GarryM

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Hello All,

 

I would like to know if there is anyone out there that may be able to help me with measurements for a Locke & Company body the 3 door rumble seat type with disappearing top?? that was used on the Lincoln and Imperials of the late 20's early 30's era.

 

I have a genuine Stutz cowl on a 1930 M8 series Stutz (145" wheelbase) frame but 'bodyless' and have decided that  the Locke Body would look very good on this frame.

 

Any assistance, leads, broken parts, replica items would be greatly appreciated even getting in touch with any one that may have one of these cars would be good just to discuss certain details.

 

Thank you for your time.

 

Regards

 

Garry 

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Many years ago we made a set of stainless steel top irons and bows for a Locke bodied Chrysler Roadster. We didn't keep patterns but if your project progresses we can make you a set of irons and bows from measurements/and or drawings. Best of luck. Those Locke bodies are indeed handsome.

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Thank you Restore32 I shall definitely keep that in mind. Do you remember if it was for the disappearing top model? as there seems to be both available from the Locke research I have done. I also tried contacting the Imperial club but so far no reply?? 

 

I do agree with you they are a handsome body that is why I need the help to maintain this shape and as I have 145 inches to play with I really want to get it right!!   I could not go the big sedan look I am afraid.  There is just to much out there to have a bit of fun with and to get the right mix, 1929, 30 and 31 was so 'out there' with some beautiful bodies being created.

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I have a 1929 Lincoln Locke Club Roadster with rumble seat and an aluminum body. The top doesn't disappear; it stacks so high the rear view mirror is useless. It looks like it was designed with horse 

 

 drawn vehicles in mind, maybe a stagecoach. It must be rare as I have only heard of one other. You mentioned "3 door". Is the golf club door #3? I have maintained this car since 1967 and owned 

 it since 1988. The wheelbase is 136 inches.

.

My customer bought it in 1941 (before WW II was declared) on a used car lot in Pittsburgh for $75. It's a beautiful car, black with red wire wheels and twin sidemounts.

 

  If I can help ,contact me at 304-469-9648.  After 73 years in a garage I still work some, although slowly.

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Guest 32stude

The Imperial 80 had the Locke bodies, but not the 1929 Model 75.

I personally sat in a 1929 Chrysler model 75 Locke bodied convertible, it was sold here in NewYork a few years ago. As a model 75 roadster owner I was very interested in this Locke bodied 75. This car had the Locke body tag on it. The owner sold it and proves the old saying " you snooze , you lose". I'm waiting for it to show up again.

Edited by 32stude (see edit history)
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I personally sat in a 1929 Chrysler model 75 Locke bodied convertible, it was sold here in NewYork a few years ago. As a model 75 roadster owner I was very interested in this Locke bodied 75. This car had the Locke body tag on it. The owner sold it and proves the old saying " you snooze , you lose". I'm waiting for it to show up again.

Ooops! Once again, I spoke too soon.

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Merry Xmas to you All and thank you for taking time out during the festive season to join in the discussion!!
 
Willie thank you for the information on your Lincoln Locke body Roadster, as I am sure a lot will know here that Lincoln was another big buyer of the Locke body Roadster where they used the 3 door design with the disappearing top. Sorry to hear about your 29 Willie maybe this was the inspiration they needed (rear view mirror useless!!) to drop the top below the body line???
I will see if I can put in a pic of the 3 door design, as it was actually another 'door' (Usually on the passenger side) for you to get in and out of to the rumble seat also there was a deck lid that needed to be opened or lifted (hinged behind the roof cavity) up which was located in front of the rumble seat that often had windows in it and this remained up when the car was in motion therefore offering another windshield, not unlike a Phaeton would have, it is not a Golf club door that was on the drivers side!? In the picture below it is equipped with the solid option and not windowed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The picture in this thread by alsancle is possibly an earlier Locke body and it does not have the third door, as it has the usual steps on the fender but it does have a rather unique 'sweep' trim to it, giving it an 'Edwardian/veteran feel to the car.
 
Hello Ivan, I would have liked to have caught up with you when I was over last catching up with Fred and Cassidy, perhaps next time?? Also where would I find the Lincoln Parts book you mentioned please??
 
Thank you again everyone for your interest in this thread however I still need measurements for this 3 door 'vision' above!!
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Gary: I know what you mean about the third door; had a friend with a 1929 Rolls Royce P1 with that feature. The Lincoln wheelbase is too short for it but in your case you

          have 9 more inches to work with.

 

Restorer 32: The door handles in the picture are incorrect. They should be loops instead if straight horizontal bars.

                     My car looks like the pic except I have sidemount spares that cover that pretty little"curly Q" on the cowl side panels

 

Ivan Saxton: I think I have the book you mentioned. It's a reprint of one published by Ford in 1936 and covers all Mode L Lincolns 1920 thru 1930. It has a lot of dimensions

                     on the glass and body hardware for the various bodies but none for the basic body. Its a big hardbound book: #55 of 100

 

 

 

thanks to all who joined in this conversation,

                                                                           as ever,Willie

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Hi Willie, Thank you for your reply, would you possibly have detail in that book of yours, on Lincoln, the dimensions for the rear half of the body work ie length of (3rd) door length of rumble seat lid width of body i.e. rumble seat deck lid and roof panel cover?  Any chance of posting details here.

Regards

Garry

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Hello All,

 

I have just posted a few pics in my gallery of my project, the 1930 M8 STUTZ 145" chassis (undergoing resto) that I would like to create a LOCKE & Co Custom Roadster body on, this is why I really need dimensions of some sort, as I do not have a body at all, only the cowl. 

 

I hope someone can help me ?

 

Kindest Regards

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I thought one feature of the Locke bodies was a separate, small, door to get into and out of the rumble seat?  Not all of them had it, I presume?

When I visited Ernie Toth in Cleveland after Auburn in 1980, one of his Stutz custom cars was a LWB roadster which had a side door on the right hand side. It had one of the rare Mecklenberg positive displacement superchargers on it from original. Sadly, Ernie and Ruth are no longer with us; but their son Ernie junior probably still has the car or would know where it is. That body might be the one to copy. I cannot remember why I did not get more photos on that trip, (though I took enough of Morris Burrows'1922 Series 5 Mercer Raceabout to make a similar body on a Series 6 chassis for which I have to make the chassis side rails). If you can get enough photos to scan and scale, you could finish up with what you want. Do not neglect to get a new Timken worm-drive gear set made. We had a batch made here in Melbourne from original drawings in the 1970s. The original ratios were slow for modern cruising speeds, and those of heavy sedans may notionally have been best for climbing trees or pulling heavy trailers. There were more gear-sets made in England for Stutz years later; but I do not know what drawings were used. The earliest roadster I ever saw with side entry doors to the rumble seat was a Paige about 1918-19 by the numbers. It was derelict under a walnut tree in the main street of Yass, near Canberra, in 1965. The rumble seat door on each side was in two parts, so to speak. The lower door, hinged at the front, was only ten or twelve inches high. The top section was mounted by piano-hinge to a rectangular projection from the back of the front seat, and curved over to link to the top of the low side door. It was junked when they built a filling station on the site, so there is nothing left but a few photos.
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Hi GarryM

 

Your description sounds somewhat like the 1930 Lincoln L Sport Roadster Model 191 by Locke. It has the disappearing top but not the third door rumble seat entrance. Refer to page 186 of The Classic Era by Beverly Rae Kimes. The Model 191 was scaled for the 136" wheelbase of the 1930 Model L, was design rendered for the 1931 Model K 145" wheelbase though doubts are any were actually built.

 

Of the cars cited with the third door for the rumble seat, the 1929 Chrysler Imperial Model L-80 Roadster by Locke is pictured on page 136; the 1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom I York Roadster by Brewster on page 143 of the same book. The Derham convertible coupe pictured on Stutz including a photo with the door highlighted can be found on page 263 of The Splendid Stutz by Katzell.

 

Although long wheelbase roadsters are the very extravagant embodiment of the 1920's ethos, the proportions aren't always that aesthetically satisfying. My personal opinion, the greatest benefit of a 145" wheelbase chassis as blank canvas is the rare chance to recreate one of the full-custom designs lost to history. The one that comes immediately to mind is pictured on page 262 of The Splendid Stutz by Katzell, captioned a "1930 five passenger Coupe by Generaux. A profile view is found on page 72 of The Golden Age Of The Luxury Car by Edited by George Hildebrand. The description is "A faux cabriolet by Etablissement Generaux of Brussels" Though essentially a victoria coupe, a recreation of this design could be built as a quarter window convertible victoria, stunning either way.

 

Whatever body style you decide will be a welcome addition of one more Stutz MB restored to its original magnificence. My two cents, for what its worth.

 

Steve

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