1928 roadster pickup top question

[Seth Swoboda]

I recently bought a 1928 roadster pickup. It's an old restoration. The engine turns over so I don't think it will take much to get it running again.

My question is about the top. It has a non-folding top, without a rear window. Is this some kind of cheap 1980's replacement top or is there something I don't know about these trucks?

[jeepguy1948]

RPU tops look like they fold down same as a roadster, they don’t (I learned much to my surprise). They are quite light and are removed as they are. Yes, it should have a rear window.

[Bob C]

Here's a picture from the AA site showing the top.
From the Judging Standards "Open cabs had a clear celluloid window sewn
into the back curtain. It measured 6" x 15-11/16" with no frame."

[Seth Swoboda]

Originally Posted by Bob C

Here's a picture from the AA site showing the top.
From the Judging Standards "Open cabs had a clear celluloid window sewn
into the back curtain. It measured 6" x 15-11/16" with no frame."

That's a good looking truck.

I suppose the prior owner just did not get the correct top material with the window sewed into it.

I'm also curious as to the practicality of a roadster pickup? I understand open cars at the time but in a pickup is seems a little odd. Assuming the truck would be used primarily for work.

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Originally Posted by Seth Swoboda

That's a good looking truck.

I suppose the prior owner just did not get the correct top material with the window sewed into it.

I'm also curious as to the practicality of a roadster pickup? I understand open cars at the time but in a pickup is seems a little odd. Assuming the truck would be used primarily for work.

I likely think the words 'Practical & Frugal' were who Ford's target buyer was. It was someone who just needed a work vehicle.

The pictures below is of one we restored several years ago. It was purchased new in 1928 by the owner's wife's father who was the town's brick mason. Prior to purchasing this new open-cab pickup, he never owned an automobile and just used a metal-wheeled wheelbarrow to transport all of his supplies to each job site. I guess if you were pushing a wheelbarrow in the cold or rain vs. riding in an open cab vehicle, it probably was a tad better at least riding.

Maybe you can compare it to yours. BTW, this top was judged in Fine-Point and did not receive any deduction, so it is accurately sewn.

[Seth Swoboda]

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Originally Posted by BRENT in 10-uh-C

I likely think the words 'Practical & Frugal' were who Ford's target buyer was. It was someone who just needed a work vehicle.

The pictures below is of one we restored several years ago. It was purchased new in 1928 by the owner's wife's father who was the town's brick mason. Prior to purchasing this new open-cab pickup, he never owned an automobile and just used a metal-wheeled wheelbarrow to transport all of his supplies to each job site. I guess if you were pushing a wheelbarrow in the cold or rain vs. riding in an open cab vehicle, it probably was a tad better at least riding.

Maybe you can compare it to yours. BTW, this top was judged in Fine-Point and did not receive any deduction, so it is accurately sewn.

Yes, that looks like mine. Of course my top does not have the back window sewn in. That is what I was referring to as someone being cheap when they replaced the top. The truck in your photo has much better paint of course .

Is the rear bottom of the top nailed to the wood strip on the cab or does is snap on for easy removal of the top? Were the tops on roadster pickups meant to be removed? The top on my pickup is very confusing.

[Charlie Stephens]

Originally Posted by Seth Swoboda

That's a good looking truck.

I suppose the prior owner just did not get the correct top material with the window sewed into it.

I'm also curious as to the practicality of a roadster pickup? I understand open cars at the time but in a pickup is seems a little odd. Assuming the truck would be used primarily for work.

Practical? In California they would remove the top and drive them under orange trees in the orchards. Doesn't seem like much of a market. I have a '31 RDPU.

Charlie Stephens

[Keith True]

My grandfather had an open cab when my dad was little.They were coning home from a visit to a friend one evening when a thunderstorm popped up.My grandmother made him stop and put the three kids in the front with them.He didn't think a 4 mile ride home on a hot night in the rain would hurt the kids one bit.The next day he took the truck to a friend and traded it for a Tudor.When they took a ride in the Tudor that night they came around a corner and found his ex pickup upside down in the ditch,totalled.Nobody was hurt,but until my grandfather died in 1987 he complained about how those damn kids caused him to lose his nice little 29 roadster pickup.

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Originally Posted by Seth Swoboda

Is the rear bottom of the top nailed to the wood strip on the cab or does is snap on for easy removal of the top? Were the tops on roadster pickups meant to be removed? The top on my pickup is very confusing.

It tacks onto the wood strip and the Hidem binding covers the tacks. They were not designed to be removed.

[Seth Swoboda]

Originally Posted by BRENT in 10-uh-C

It tacks onto the wood strip and the Hidem binding covers the tacks. They were not designed to be removed.

Thanks. This is helpful.

Here is a photo of the truck. It sat in pole barn on a concrete floor for decades. I'll get it running. The gas tank is very clean. The old lacquer paint is checked and coming off. It's not rusty (some surface rust) or beat up. The metal is pretty straight. I few racoons used it over the years so I washed and disinfected it before this photo.

I also included a photo of my 1940 Ford chassis that I'm working on. The A's are so much simpler.

[jeepguy1948]

Possibly not originally designed to be removed but mine has snaps and does come off. The biggest reason for the roadster was just plain dollars, the RPU was cheaper than the CCPU.

[Ted Duke]

Beautiful old pickup. Drive it!

I think we modern spoiled people need to remember the 1928 pickup we are talking about was replacing a Model T. Or nothing, as the new owner might have been lugging his tool box on a trolley, or pulling a cart behind his horse. Lack of windows probably never bothered him.

My dad collected late payments or repossessed cars in the south during the late nineteens and early twenties and I am sure the Model T or whatever he was driving, was better than a horse.

[Keith True]

While I knew the tops were tacked on originally,on my first one I wanted to be able to take it off.i was thinking either snaps,or twist type fasteners.(Dzus??) Lee Atherton (LeBaron Bonney) told me not to use either one.He told me to use lift-the-dot fasteners.I used them on the 29 back then,they are still working fine,then I used them on my 28,and I have them on my 30 now.I never take the top off to drive them anyway.When I step on the clutch or brake with the top off I can feel the rear of the cab trying to bend backwards.I do remove the tops to work inside the cab though.

[jeepguy1948]

If I was not able to drive my RPU with the top off I would not have bought it (just my $0.02)