1931 Roadster Dash Rail Question

[California Charlie]

After going through a couple of really poor original Roadster '31 dash rails, and then finally resorting to buying a metal reproduction dash rail with all it's fitting adjustment issues, I've stumbled upon a vendor offering a fiberglass Roadster dash rail. Has anyone bought one of these, and if you did, how did it work out? Thanks for your input. CC

[Roadster62]

For starters how do you attach the captive nuts?

[CWPASADENA]

Original '30 '31 dash rails are getting hard to find as I am sure you have figured out by now. If you can not get an original that is good enough to use, I would consider a metal repop, not fiberglas. If the rest of your car is steel, I would keep all of it steel.

I would not want Fiberglas parts on any of my Fords. I feel they really detract from the value of the car.

Again, this is just MY OPINION!

Chris

[ed stanley]

I understand Chris above, but I've had a fiberglas dash rail on my '30 delux roadster for 35 years now. It fit good, looks good, and I'm ok with it. It still looks good. We're all different.

Ed

[Barry B./ Ma.]

Originally Posted by ed stanley

I understand Chris above, but I've had a fiberglas dash rail on my '30 delux roadster for 35 years now. It fit good, looks good, and I'm ok with it. It still looks good. We're all different.

Ed

Hi Ed, I've seen yours and it looks very good, a quality piece made before steel repros were available. Looking at it you can't tell it's fiberglass. I don't know if the present fiberglass copies are that good. It will be nice to see that original steel bodied roadster on the road in the spring.

[Earle]

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Last year, I installed a well-made steel repro dash rail (Snyder's, I think). It cost somewhere around $150.00 as I dimly recall. It came with about 1 inch of extra length on both ends so it could be properly fitted against the windshield stancheons, the contour of the top of the gas tank and the forward edges of the doors (no two Model A's are exactly alike as we all know).

That was one nasty job! - cutting, grinding, bending, forming - many times (remove too much naterial at a time and you're in deep trouble!) to get it "perfect" - and getting the mounting holes all to line up with the under-structure properly. But I felt good for the experience and the feeling of knowing I fought the good fight to stay with an all-steel body. 'Just a personal committment I made in restoring my car.

After getting the rail to fit right, it then went to a good body/paint shop to be filled, primed and painted. It now looks great on the car but I wouldn't go through that again. I trial-fitted an original rail that I borrowed (before committing to buying) and the fit was just not right with the stancheons and door gaps. It would have ended up needing "altering and customizing."

So if you have to do "custom" altering and fitting anyway, whether you buy original, fiberglass or steel repro, why not go with steel which is the correct material in the first place an is easier (relative term) to work with and shape?

The question is - Do the fiberglass rails come already "shaped-to-fit" - "one size fits all"? I can't immagine that being possible with the dimensional variations that exist among Model A's today. And fiberglass can't be bent and "formed" to a slightly different shape - and hold the new shape - to help achieve best conformity with the mating surfaces.

Go with a good steel repro and enjoy the practical sheet-metal-working experience you're going to get.

My 2 cents....

Earle

[Barry B./ Ma.]

I have a 31 Brookville body on my roadster and the steel dash rail (came with the body) fits like a glove. I've had it off a couple of times and it just snaps back in place, good fits on the ends. Don't know if they make the repro but it fits good.

[harleyjohn45]

I have a 30 glass body and I just recieved my delux windshield frame, Stanchions and posts. When I sat them on the car, it was obvious I was missing something. Looking at several photos if finally saw it was a dash rail. I was looking at Speedway, I see they have one for sale, still looking for photos on how to install it.