Custon Coachwork of the 1930's

[1937hd45]

Just saw the photo of the blue Duesenberg with the angled radiator shell and what I'd guess is German coachwork, I always wondered how the designer, wood frame workers,and sheet metal workers built these cars. Were the wood frame guys that good or did their work get modified to meet the sheet metal workers needs? Bob 

Edited November 24, 2018 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)

[ericmac]

4 minutes ago, 1937hd45 said:

Just saw the photo of the blue Duesenberg with the angled radiator shell and what I'd guess is German coachwork, I always wondered how the designer, wood frame workers,and sheet metal workers built these cars. Were the wood frame guys that good or did their work get modified to meet the sheet metal workers needs? Bob 

That is a Graber (from Switzerland) bodied car owned by Sam and Emily Mann. It was a finalist a Pebble Beach a couple years ago.  In person,  the car is absolutely fabulous. 

[Gunsmoke]

For some one-off models, typically wooden "bucks" were carefully made and hours of effort spent cleaning up the compound curves much like making a clay mock up in later years.  Sheetmetal was then carefully formed over the bucks, or slowly formed until it matched the buck. Of course for mass produced car, wooden patterns for all carcass pieces  were made and jigs used to assemble them to exact shapes to receive pre-stamped metal. Nothing was easy, the skill of those craftsmen was extraordinary. 

[Spinneyhill]

Have a read of Gary Ash's topic in Speedsters on his Studebaker replica. You will see there how bodies were made. With rollers often called English wheels, in small pieces and joined together with lead to cover the seams.

[1937hd45]

Thanks for the above replies, but I was interested in the actual woodwork not the body bucks, and how the two teams worked together sheet metal and wood. Bob 

[Rusty_OToole]

They often worked from drawings of the finished car that had been approved by the customer. No blueprints or plans. They used standardized 'french curves' to develop the shapes. Carpenters cut and fitted the wooden framework then sheet metal men or panelbeaters formed the metal to fit and tacked it in place with nails. On some one off bodies the door on one side could be an inch longer than the door on the other side. Didn't matter, the metal would be formed to suit.

 

When bodies were to be made in batches of 50 or 100 or mass produced they made a master wood frame which was taken apart, the pieces numbered with Indian ink and varnished. These were kept for reference. The carpenter might be handed one piece and instructed to make 50 or 100 copies.

 

Finished bodies without glass upholstery or fittings would be painted with white lead primer and warehoused until needed. These were called 'bodies in white'. When they got an order they would get out a body and paint, trim and equip it according to the customer's order.

 

One custom body designer recalled that only 1 or 2 out of a hundred luxury cars had true one off, custom bodies. The rest were usually ordered for stock by dealers and sold off the showroom floor. But all were considered custom bodies.

Edited November 25, 2018 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)