Early Fords, and most other early cars, came from the factory with padded top inserts and wooden support bows. This was because a panel the size of a sedan roof was simply too large to manufacture, despite the complex shaped body panels produced in the huge presses at the time. Why coupes received inserts too is another matter.
However, hot rodders have long been filling the hole left when the insert is removed using a steel panel, often borrowed from the roof of some unsuspecting station wagon, or in the case of coupes, sometimes a hood skin of the correct curvature. In recent years, however, Walden Speed Shop has been producing brand-new roof panels, perfectly compound-curved to fit an ever-increasing range of body styles. We were going to show you the new roof panel being fitted to Bobby Walden's own '34 coupe, but magazine deadlines and Bobby's customer demands conspired against us.
All was not lost, however, as those necessary paying jobs that delayed his own coupe included a couple of roof insert replacements on early Ford sedans, namely Dale and Sandy Brooks' '34 and Wayne Wilson's Model A.
All the roof panels supplied by Walden Speed Shop are shaped by Bobby using a Yoder power hammer. The panels are available by mail order, too, and a perfect fit is ensured, thanks to the bucks Bobby has painstakingly made for each application. Here's how they come together.
