[Kevin in NJ]

I was pretty sure I had helped you out before.

From a historical point of view:
Ford bodies were put together with pretty tight specs. I have learned that assuming Ford did anything sloppy is more often wrong. Over time just about everything I have been told in the past that was just thrown together by Ford was shown wrong by prints calling for some fairly tight specs. I have heard the wood prints called out some fairly tight specs for wood. I know the jig they used to build the cabriolet would ensure fairly precision building. Look at the 68C article.

Basically Ford found it more expensive to have to trust the average worker to assemble something. So everything was precision built in a way to leave nothing to guess.

What I am trying to say above it that Ford would not have had things not fit well. Just the opposite, I would be more likely to say they were surprising well done. If you could go back in time and look at cars off the line you might be surprised at how well they fit together.

That being said, we have reality to work with today.....

Honestly, the cabriolet is a complex mechanical contraption. It takes a lot of thinking to get it right. Throw in the inaccuracies found in making the wood and the lack of jigs you end up with a difficult restoration effort. I would say that most guys will have issues with building the body. The only exception is the rare guy that works way above my head.

The moral:

You have to make some guesses and do your best.