Tech Q&A - Body Exterior
LANDAU ARMS
Question:
Landau arms appear to be lower body color for 28/29 Sport Coupes. Are the 30/31's body color or black? Can't tell from factory photos and conflicts in books. Thanks for your thoughts.
Answer:
30-31 landau arms are painted black with accessories polished stainless steel. The washers and spacers left naturally black and smooth. Restorers are occasionally confused by the appearance of a maroon, green or other paint found on the landau arm when the stainless steel center bracket is removed. Unknowingly they repaint the landau arm the same color.
This is incorrect. A simple explanation of this confusion is that the landau arms originally were primed with a color other than black; the stainless steel center bracket was then crimped on the landau arm, then masked off and the landau arm painted black. The area covered by the bracket would remain another color. All Landau Arms were originally painted black. -- Lyle Meek, Technical Director
LANDAU ARMS - Reader Comment
I reviewed my material and concluded the same as earlier. In all fairness, I must admit that the latest photo I have that shows a light colored Sport Coupe is late 1930. This means that it is possible (though unlikely) the color was changed to black at some later date.
In reviewing Mary Moline's excellent article in the Restorer (15-2), she makes a strong effort to explain away the fact that landau irons are found with body color under the trim (not red primer). This leads me to believe that she probably saw a Ford blueprint for the A-52252-B & 53-B Landau Iron assembly indicating black paint.
This is where the confusion really begins. Most parts went through numerous changes throughout (and after) production. Each of these changes are represented by a revised blueprint and an engineering change letter. The change dates and engineering reference numbers are listed in the Engineering Reference block on the upper right corner of the drawing. The ONLY way to know with certainty what and when changes were made is to have every blueprint during the period or a post production blueprint and all the corresponding engineering releases shown on that drawing.
Without that information we can't tell if:
- They were painted black for service only.
- They were initially intended to be black in Nov.1929, then revised to body color by the time production began
- Changed to black sometime in 1931.
- Changed to black sometime after production for replacement use.
All the information we currently have at our disposal indicates that all Sport Coupe landau irons were painted body color during production (12/27 - 12/31) as described in the Standards.
P.S. Be careful with Henry's Lady. It's a great picture book for newcomers to the hobby but extremely misleading as a research tool. -- Marco Tahtaras, Pleasanton, CA.