Some of the coolest looking trucks on the planet are the closed cab 1928-1929 Model A Fords. But while they may be great to look at from the outside they’re tough to live with on the inside, as their diminutive dimensions are just not people (read editor) friendly. However, when Kelvin Waddington’s Australia-based company, Roadster Ute, began offering 1929 Model A Ford pickup cabs that were stretched 6 inches, our fearless editor, Brian Brennan, practically broke an arm reaching for his wallet (those of us who know how infrequently this happens appreciate what a monumental occasion that was).
Unlike original Ford cabs that had wood top bows covered with a long grain, leather like material, the Roadster Ute body has a solid steel roof. And while that makes for a solid structure, Brian wanted a more traditional top treatment so he turned to Hot Rod Interiors by Glenn Kramer in Phoenix. Glenn opened the doors to his shop in 1983 and since then has created interiors for long list of award-winning street rods. A number of them have been featured in STREET RODDER and graced the cover. He was also chosen to stitch the interior of our 2016 Road Tour car.
To create the padded look Brian was after, Kramer first covered the cab’s roof with a layer of 1/4-inch closed cell foam, followed by a form-fitting cover of Haartz Stayfast material. Commonly used for OEM convertible and landau tops, Stayfast has three layers: an acrylic square-weave facing, rubber inner layer, and cotton backing. The same material was used to cover the custom aluminum sunvisor.
In addition to covering the top and visor, Kramer made a custom tonneau cover for the bed. Unfortunately we were not able to photograph the tonneau’s fabrication from beginning to end, but we can say it was also made from the Stayfast material. And while we didn’t catch Glenn at the sewing machine, the challenge when making a tonneau cover is getting it tight so it won’t sag. Glenn ensures that won’t happen by installing the snaps on the pickup bed, he then centers the material on the bed and cuts it to size. The edges are reinforced for strength and then the cover is stretched over the bed and the locations of the snaps are marked. Once the snaps are installed, the tonneau fit without sags or wrinkles.
With the top and tonneau completed the pickup was returned to the crew at Hot Rods by Dean (also in Phoenix) to finish construction. We’ll keep you posted on the progress of this supersized Model A.
Like all real-world projects this one has taken a while, but Brian Brennan’s Model A pickup finally made its way into Hot Rod Interiors by Glenn Kraemer for a padded top.Kraemer covered the 1929’s roof and visor with square-weave Haartz Stayfast material.After adhesive is applied, the first step in covering the roof is applying a layer of foam. It was lightly sanded on the edges to round the corners.At the back of the cab the foam is marked to align the seam in the top material. Note the foam is trimmed short of the seam in the back of the cab—you’ll see why.A flap sewn onto the top material wraps over the back of the cab. The seam was aligned with the marks on the foam.With the rear section of the material glued in place, Kraemer folded the front section back and finished applying adhesive.This is where experience shows— Kraemer pulls the material forward carefully to avoid any wrinkles.Working diagonally the cloth is pulled tight with one hand while pressing it in place with the other. Note the chalk arrow—it indicates the center of the material and aligns with a centerline mark on the cab.This is a tufting tool—its used to tuck material into tight spaces.In this case the tufting tool was used to push the top cloth into the rain gutters.The excess material was removed by cutting it away at the bottom of the gutters.Up front the material was pulled around the overhanging portion of the top and glued in place.This is called Hydem—it has two rows of piping and its used to conceal fasteners (nails, staples, rivets, whatever) or a seam that is unfinished.Once the fasteners are in place the Hydem closes up to conceal them.To provide a finished edge to the back of the cab, Kraemer attached a strip of Hydem by first drilling into the sheetmetal.Pop rivets were then used to secure the Hydem—with the strip “closed” the rivets are hidden.To finish off the ends of the Hydem strip metal “spears” were installed.The finished top is smooth and tight. Note how the Hydem strip is slightly recessed, that’s why the foam was cut short.To keep the sun out of Brennan’s baby blues a custom aluminum visor was fabricated.Kraemer covered the visor with the same material used on the top. Note the solid line that indicates the edge of the visor and the dotted line that allows for extra material for a seam or wrapping around an edge.For a test-fit Kraemer held the material on the visor with clamps.A view from the underside of the visor shows the accuracy of Kraemer’s work—the material fit perfectly.With the outside piece cut to size, a piece to cover the inside of the visor was cut out and the two were sewn together.The visor was given a coat of adhesive before the cloth was applied to the outside.This is the inside of the seam where the two sides of the visor cover were stitched together. Note the alignment marks in each piece.Once the cloth was in place on the outside of the visor it was wrapped around the inside surface. The trick is keeping the seam perfectly aligned with the leading edge.Screws attach the visor to the windshield header and the overhang of the roof (which helps secure the top material).The finished roof and visor are smooth and wrinkle free and the Haartz holds up extremely well even when exposed to the elements.We were able to follow the entire process but we did get a few photos of Kraemer installing a tonneau cover. Here he has drawn a guideline on the bed and is installing the snaps.With half the snap attached to the bed a pop rivet stud is used to make the hole in the cover to indicate where the snaps should be installed.A scrap piece of material was used to demonstrate the use of the temporary plastic retainers that keep the cover in place while the remaining holes are marked.With all the holes marked the snaps are attached to the cover. Note the reinforcing material that runs around the edge.The finished tonneau cover fits tight without a sag in sight.
