The ad for this beautiful 1932 Ford Roadster claims it features original sheet metal, grille shell, hood, headlights, dash, and firewall! With all the reproduction parts out for these cars, hopefully, some provenance of the history is included with the sale. It can be found here on eBay with a current bid of $65,000 and the reserve hasn’t been met yet. Located in Upland, California, the car is being advertised by a local hot rod shop but it doesn’t say if they did the work on the car. The condition of the paint and undercarriage point to a recent build. What do you think?
The engine is a 283 cubic inch Chevrolet V8 from 1962 with tri-power mated to a 3-speed transmission. There isn’t any mention of the running condition, but the engine looks clean and in good order. The chassis features a dropped heavy axle with the original k-member and wishbones. The vintage looking Firestone tires are spun thanks to an 8″ rear end with Divco 18″ wheels for a period-correct look.
It’s hard to believe this car is mostly original, especially when looking at the interior. Sure, it appears to be mostly “stock” but the shiny paint and flawless upholstery make it fit right in with a mega-high-dollar build. The truck is trimmed in the same leather as the door panels and houses the battery as well.
Overall, this is a really nice looking car that will make someone very happy this summer. I wish the seller would have taken a photo or two with the top and window toppers off. Hopefully, it will sell and enjoy some cruising time soon. What do you think of this one? Do you think it’s as original as the seller says?
I would add some hydraulics
Lost me at the bow tie engine.
Very nice. Unfortunately the car may not be as attractive with the top down.
I think the word original has various definitions. The car appears to be all steel ,and the assumption is all the car is from original Ford Steel. Even if that is true, does that change your definition of original. If it was built from all 32 Ford original parts, it’s not any less original, than most of the Hot Rods built pre the advent of all the re pop parts for early Fords. Other than a handful of parts, that are not re-produced, this car could be a 100 percent new parts. How can you tell? Does it make it worth less? The answer to that is between the buyer and seller. There is no question,real steel or reproduction this car is very well done and period perfect. All though the real purest would argue that because of the drive train.
I have to ask, Mr. Loveless, what are you talking about, it has hydraulic brakes and I have never seen a 32 Roadster with quote “Lowrider Hydralics”.
The guy try’s to be funny by posting to almost every car featured that it should be turned into a low rider.
Steve R
HAS juice brakes
For a high dollar build could they at least have invested in a battery box instead of leaving it out in the open in the trunk?
The battery is sitting in a “box”…might be secured through the bottom.
Flathead!
I love hot rods and I value that some owner or some shop took the money time to create one of these from a “survivor” or built one from scratch using “off the shelf” parts along with donor parts.
Interest in these have always been around but they were once the realm of the budget-minded who built it from whatever could be sourced and slapped together with the added cost savings benfit that the minimalism of hotrods allowed for affordable paint jobs and interior upholstery with many some money left for some nice wheels and tires and then down the road adding some crome trinkets here and there.
Then “reality” TV that showcased Boyd Coddington, Chip Foose, SoCal Speedshop (Jimmy Shine) and other “high end” shops came around and started building “high dollar hotrods for high dollar clients” and suddenly everyone who built or owned a hotrod felt theirs was worth the price of a Coddington, Foose, or Shine creation.
To this day I am still always amazed that despite the “barebones” attributes of the majority of non-high end shop built hotrods coupled with the fact that they sell these bodies and frames and nearly every part needed to build one from scratch that these sell so high priced.
Unique among what is out there…yes.
Rare….no.
But I guess as long as there will be people willing to shell out the big dollars to pay a shop to build one for big profit or other people choose to open up their checkbook or bank account (or use their inheritance or corporate buyout or severance check) to buy one “done” then the price for such a “barebones” hotrod will stay high.
But I still don’t get it and, unlike those that originated the hotrod scene, maybe I never will never get one either.
Not everyone has the time or skills to build a car like this. What are they supposed to do? A buddy of mine has built several retro model-A’s, the last one had a target date of 1953, nothing went on the car that wouldn’t have been used by someone building a car that year. His current model-A project has a target of the late-50’s with only vintage Ansen speed used. These take years to build and assemble the right pieces. He could make his life simpler by taking the common approach and buying cheap Chinese knock off vintage looking parts, which so many people do, but then what’s the point. If you do that your car is just another generic car in a sea of generic cars and is nothing special.
Don’t hate on the guys that have the ability to substitute money for time. What they do has no effect on the availability of parts for someone that is building a car on a tighter budget.
Steve R
Mostly original and appearing mostly stock it definitely needs to be flathead powered and yes, it would be nice to see it with the top removed as it takes away from the beauty of the car.
Nothing But Junk With That little bowtie Sitting Between The Frame Rails. Wouldn’t Pay Scrap Price For It.
Now that’s a real smart observation, NOT!!!
And what do you have to show us that you built that’s better than this 32 ?
Hotrods are frequently era specific. Dumping the flathead and dropping in a small block Chevy was THE thing to do back in the late fifties/early sixties as the supply of engines in the wrecking yards became plentiful and cheap. Hotrods were about performance and speed and no one stuck with a flathead any longer than they had too. The whole idea of a flattie in a ’32 is actually a fairly modern, overly nostalgic idea, that unnaturally freezes a car in a specific era and ignores it’s life after that. That said, this car is also a rich guys modern interpretation that never would have been built back then but will be viewed years from now as sign of a way things were done during this era.
There are IMHO NO BAD HOTRODS. I love it! And hopefully the prices will hold high enough for these to be enjoyed as long as they continue to sell gas and donuts!
No need to be flat-head snobbish… Back in the day, guys put just about any engine in a Hot Rod to attempt having the “fastest car in town”. The G.M. overhead valve V-8s came along first in large enough quantities to make them affordable, and as a result they were very common back then. My ’39 Ford coupe had a ’63 327 installed in it around ’67, better than doubling the horse power. (I’m sure the L.S. conversion is looked upon today the way the small block Chevy was looked upon back then) This roadster is a prime example as to what a late ’50’s Rod could have looked like. Visually, I’d have to agree that a flat-head V-8 would step it up a notch!
Back when you could get an engine out of a junkyard for $50 why wouldn’t you use it versus trying to rebuild a locked up flattie?
Priced about 60 Thousand dollars too high so far. I’ll side with Sam Shive.
The old Desoto Hemi was the choice of many back in the old hot rod days
I agree 100% with Steve R. On a different subject, is there a reason this wouldn’t have had headers?
One of the ongoing debates in the restoration arena, is it original or a re-body? Over the years at Pebble Beach it was a hidden secret that Marcel in California was hand building all new steel bodies for high line cars. Mainly Packards, Duesenbergs and a few other body styles. The feeling was these cars were “saved” by the only means possible, re-bodied. Duesenberg was one of several auto manufacturers that sold you a chassis then directed you to their approved coach makers to build a custom body. Which technically made every Duesenberg a 1 of 1 production vehicle. Good luck restoring an 1930 jalopy when the sheet metal was beyond repair. Point is, guys who had spent years restoring what they had only to compete with brand new $150,000 steel bodies were not happy. Seemed unfair to say the least. So yeah, original is a very overused terminology that may be impossible to validate with any accuracy.
I believe that those rebodied cars were judged separately at Pebble Beach. Still very accurately done by Marcel,Marc, and Luc DeLey. True craftsmen.
More than a few rodshops in California routinely cranked out $120k plus versions of ’32-’36 roadsters and coupe and Vickies and tudors and still are thankfully!
Hot Rods are what ever you want them to be – any engine, any style, any way you want it. That’s pure freedom and a symbol of the USA. Restorers never get it! This one is Terry Stoker’s personal ’32 roadster, the best of the best. It’s actually priced at $95K, pretty steep, but a pretty cool old Hot Rod for those that can afford it. For anyone that can spend a couple of hundred thousand on an old Porsche, this doesn’t seem that bad. As for having a SBC in it, that makes it a great driver, and they have been put in ’32 Fords since 1955, along with everything else, even a Ferrari engine. https://auto.howstuffworks.com/deucari-hot-rod.htm
Stoker’s Hot Rod Shop always has nice stuff for sale.
https://www.facebook.com/stokershotrodfactory/
Ended at Reserve Not Met at $78,100!?