1928? Sport Coupe on Shorpy this AM

[jim galli]

A neat 1938 Dorothea Lange photo of a '28 - '29 Sport coupe in it's 10th year on Shorpy this AM. Is it a '28? or is it a '29? and how could you tell. I couldn't find anything to nail it to one year.

http://www.shorpy.com/node/21272?size=_original#caption

[C26Pinelake]

That is one ugly woman! Wayne

[wrndln]

Without seeing more of the car, like the radiator shell and taillight, it is very hard to tell the difference between 28 and 29 cars. Also since the picture is in black and white, the steering wheel isn't useful in determining the year of the car (red for 28). I am not sure the car is a sport coupe, as it doesn't have landau irons on it. It could be a business coupe.
Rusty Nelson

[DJ S]

It has a rumble seat leading me to believe it's a sport coupe (notice the step plate on the rear fender).

[Marshall V. Daut]

GENERALLY speaking, 1928 Model A's had a darker colored body than their belt lines and mouldings, especially on open cars. True, the colors could be reversed on a customer's order, but that was not a standard practice. The Sport Coupe is not an "open" car, of course, but it was sporty enough to almost be considered so. This color scheme was switched around in 1929, so that the body was now lighter in color than the belt and mouldings. The third color on the window reveals also doesn't seem as pronounced on 1929 models as it was in 1928, often being very light colored in 1928. If one peruses factory photos of Model A's in Floyd Clymer's "Model A Album", this light/dark pattern holds fairly consistent.
The body in the Shorpy photo appears to be ever-so lighter than the belt line, probably Andalusite Blue body with black trim. The steering wheel appears to be darker than the 1928 red, so it may be a black 1929 wheel. In the absence of further documentation or other views of the car, I would say this is a 1929 Sport Coupe.
Marshall

[CHuDWah]

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Interesting pic. I don’t think the top had been replaced as it appears to have original style welt, seams, etc. It also appears never to have had landau arms as there are no brackets, holes, etc. Finally, it doesn’t appear to have the opening rear window flap or the snaps on the inside of the middle bow to secure the flap open. All this leads me to believe it is a Business Coupe. If so, it would be 28 or early 29 as it doesn’t have oval quarter windows.

However, the step plate is a contradiction as Business Coupes didn’t come standard with rumble seats. It’s possible one was installed by the factory or the dealer on special order. For that matter, while it has a step plate, we can’t tell from the picture that it actually has a rumble seat. I suppose someone, for some unknown reason, could have installed only the step.

I note Henry’s top leaked and stained around the bows just like the L-B top did on my Sport Coupe.

[updraught]

http://www.junipergallery.com/Dorothea_Lange_photos

Great photos by Dorothea Lange. Very far sighted to document what was happening at the time.

[2manycars]

The step plate for the rumble seat is square, which is the earlier type.

[jim galli]

Originally Posted by 2manycars

The step plate for the rumble seat is square, which is the earlier type.

Bill, that must be your final post! Your number stands at 1928 posts! which of course, is the magic number.

Black and white films of that time are not helpful with guessing colors. They saw blue way too well and some saw red not at all. That's why the little window in the back of the rollfilm cameras to see the next number come up, was red.