[KartikeyaL]

This thread is to document the restoration of a rare 1930 Ford Model A Convertible Cabriolet, owned by my friend's Anirudh and BHPian C.ARPIT.

There are hundred's of known Ford Model A's in the country, great cars to drive and easier to maintain, one can always find 3 or 4 of them in every rally/ event nationwide, the vast majority of these cars are Phaetons, rarely do we see Tudor's, Sedan's and Roadsters.

In the 1930's Ford offered a wide range of body styles as we can see in the foldout brochure below





The Convertible Cabriolet is a very desirable car and though there are plenty of them in USA, we know of just two cars in India including the subject of this thread.

This is the other known survivor from Bhubaneshwar, it has been wrongly described as a roadster.

It was posted by BHPian for_cars1 in this lovely thread here





This car, the subject of this thread was supposedly found in South India and went to Bombay sometime in 2012, previous history is not known as of now. This car was restored sometime in the past, though heavily rusted, the car was remarkably complete.

As found in the garage


being pushed out


Front view




Rear view






Engine


When discovered the car was thought to be a rare Sports Coupe, which has many differences in comparison to a Cabriolet and on this subject, I will shed more light in the course of time.

[KartikeyaL]

Once in Bombay, the restoration never started , and the car received a coat of primer, sometime in June, C.arpit recieved these pictures, the car was for sale.















Realizing this was a rare body style, this car was bought on 1st July 2020 and here it is on the way to Jaipur.

[KartikeyaL]

Once in Jaipur the car was sent to Shama auto's for restoration.

8.07.2020

Dismantling starts

















The car is badly rusted and many of the body parts/panels are beyond repair.


Chassis

[KartikeyaL]

20.07.2020

body is attended to by expert tinkers

















10.08.2020

While working on the doors, certain modifications came to light, as denoted by the arrows.











This clearly showed that the rectangular frame of the windows was mostly non-original, the hood mechanism also pointed that the car was not a Sports coupe but rather a convertible Cabriolet.


Some pictures of Cabriolet's and Sport coupe's from the web to compare the difference's


Cabriolet






Sport coupe

[KartikeyaL]

16.08.2020

It was decided to restore the car as a Convertible Cabriolet, as it was originally. The doors were corrected back to their original form

After the correction




after a coat of epoxy







Meanwhile the chassis was restored and mechanical work started, engine was opened up and attended to, many parts have been ordered from USA and are on the way.

















Engine being worked upon

[KartikeyaL]

26.08.2020

Work on body has been going on at a frantic pace, many parts/area are being totally replaced, some pictures

[KartikeyaL]

30.08.2020

Engine being worked upon











Mechanical work

[Rudra Sen]

Mod note: Thread moved to Vintage Cars & Classics in India > Pre-War section.

[C.ARPIT]

Great Job Kartik. I can't thank you enough for taking the pain to start this restoration thread. And Shama Autos as well for doing an excellent job at a good pace in restoring this car. I will also keep updating the pictures as the restoration progresses.

[swarnava.ch]

Thanks for sharing and I just love it everytime such a restoration story comes.
Will subscribe to this thread for further updates. Please do keep us posted.

[KPS]

Thanks Kartik for sharing. Interesting car, should be joy once fully restored

Congratulation C.ARPIT. Appreciate your dedication to bring the car back to originality. The doors being reverted to its originality is good decision

Look forward to seen the car fully restored and at the Jaipur drives

Cheers

KPS

[KartikeyaL]

Originally Posted by KPS

Thanks Kartik for sharing. Interesting car, should be joy once fully restored

Thank you KPS, and thanks again for pointing out towards the 3rd known Cabriolet (as of now), as always you learn something new on Team-BHP everyday

Originally Posted by foby.sebastian

At Trivandrum

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

Its Registered as a Ford 1930 with 24.03 BHP (KLT 736).

Originally Posted by ajay99

This ford A has been in very long term ownership with a family in Trivandrum. It was in running condition till about 30 years ago and then it was in hibernation.here are some photos of the car.

[gulerianeeraj]

Kudos to you guys and Thanks a ton for sharing. This’ll be one looker once it is restored. Great work
Regards

[manishk123]

Wow! Great looking car and very rare. Congratulations!

I have a Ford Phaeton in Hubli (Karnataka) that i would like to restore. Can anyone recommend a restoration agency in and around that area?

Thanks.

[AnishRanjan]

Thanks Kartik for sharing. Threads like these proves that there are still die hard enthusiasts in India and hats off of for taking up a mammoth restoration like this. Cant wait to see the end product and please keep updating the thread.