Sometimes I amaze myself

I have been re-working a Wood body for a 1912 Model T Towncar (all wood construction) Some mistakes were made in the original construction and I am contracted to fix the errors. One problem was to remove one of the ribs (wrong location) set in a dado and screwed in place, before the curved plywood skin was glued on.. How to get it out intact w/o much damage to the skin.... Lucky the fit was bad enough to locate where the screw was located. Marked where I thought it would be...


Took a piece of Plywood and drilled a 5/8" hole as a guide and clamped over the location...


Bored a hole with a Forstner bit till the tip touched the screw head...


Used a scratch Awl to dig out the remaining wood to expose the screwhead...


Backed out the screw and pounded the rib through the dado (rebate) ....


Inserted a 5/8" bung I cut with a plug cutter, with a little glue and some sanding, the job is A-OK...

Ain't it nice when a plan comes together?

Pretty neat! Can we see some more pics of the body?

What woods are you using? I seem to recall tha many of the original bodies of that era were mainly of ash and birch, and that some of the later 'woodies' were ash and mahogany.

I know that many folks aren't aware that many of the teens/twenties/thirties car bodies were actually metal skins over wooden framework. Some (Packard, etc.) had some very nice woodwork in their under-framing, and others were were pretty crude.

As a kid, I used to hang around a shop where they did a fair amout of repair/restoration of older stuff - like Essex, Hudsons, Packards, etc. Back then I found it amazint that some cars were actually made of wood! Of course, British Morgans still are, aren't they?

This is the classic way for many of the elegant old cars (Dusenberg's, etc) that coach builders used to form the bodies and lines. Congrats on a great project.

I'd like to see . . .

the structural elements also. The ribs and such from what wood. Very interesting. How you could build a vehical that would stand up to such abuse out of wood and look good to. Kind of like building the bigest plane in the world out of plywood. I've done a wood canoe but it didn't take the stresses this would.

Man, you nailed it!

When I was a kid I helped a neighbor restore a 1928 Durant (sp?). I probably didn’t do much but I remember sanding those spoke wheels like it was yesterday!

I’d love to see more of the Towncar.