Hot Rods 1932 Roadster Lost history ?

Yep...right up there in the iconic '32 book! JimmyB, nice research ; sure hope you are right. That car NEEDS to make a comeback!

 

If you look at the bottom of the doors in the channeled version, the bottoms are cut off to clear the lakes headers, with the rest welded and filled into the rockers, which the body inquestion seems un modified down there.

 

Jimmy B thanks for the information on the Duffy 32. Going over the photos at first I thought we had a winner. Looking at the bottom edge of the door when the car was channeled they made the lower edge of the door follow the side pipes. It would have been great if this was that car, we would love to build the Cadillac motor and restore a piece of the hotrodding history. I like the louver layout on it as well.

There was a roll pan on this car at one time. I spoke with Spacek, this morning on the car he picked it up from Pete Eastwood a while back, I haven't given up on the car yet I will make some phone calls and keep digging.

 

You beat me to it

 

Wow! Duffy's 32 is my favourite of all time, one I'd love to replicate. I prefer the early version with the '41 dash. Duffy's car had a Cadillac flathead in it.
If it's Duffy's car it doesn't get any better than that!

 

The Livingstone 32 had the 41 dash and a different flat dash (maybe stock 32) with a SW panel in it. None of those pics show an Auburn dash.

The Livingstone 32 had the taillight holes for the teardrops cut all the way open, showing no original tail panel behind it. On the subject body you can see the holes for the teardrops are not that big.

The Livingstone 32 seems to have been fully finished and painted after the channel, and the subject still has burn marks in the wheelwells from an unfinished job.

I don't think they are the same body. Wish it was though, and it sure would be neat to recreate the Livingstone car with this body. Except for that cutting the bottom of the doors part.

 

That's the hard part about these cars.....so much to change, rechange, change back, and rechange back again. You never know what you had, have, or will have. Even more so with door changes, panel changes, dash changes, and what have you. Coulda' woulda' shoulda' and did. Who knows what parts could be, should be, or would be ????? Not every car remains intact....sad, and unromantic....but damn true.

In any event, Rex.....I love your work, skills, and high hopes and dreams. Fun, I'll bet....isn't it ?

 

I thought that about the doors, couldn't make up my mind about if it was a reflection or door line. That is why I said to contact Duffy he could tell you either way, worth the enquiry. The cut out on the wheel wells could have been cut further by a subsequent owner.

 

Looks like a door line to me both the picture Gary posted and the one you posted with the 569 painted on the side show the same line on opposite sides of the car.

 

Ok...... yeah I am like a dog with a bone.

So, I was going thru all the photos I have saved from the net. I found some more pics I believe from a HAMB member. (edit: gup posted these photos, which he got from Roy Siegner, Bim's brother).

No door line I believe the line in other photos is a reflection. This is when the car was owned by Bim Siegner.

 

You could always build it the way you want and move forward to create some new history for that car.

 

Tail light openings look kinda similar to this one at the back of the line.

 

Damn Bubba......ya' couldn't find a better on point picture then that...could ya'? This is one of the most entertaining threads in a while. Where did ya' find that pic'? Whose would it be ? THE PLOT THICKENS !! Keep going fellas. What's next ? Fukn' A this place is amazing.

 

I wrestled with this on my deuce. It was full fendered when I got it. To me this is a Deuce roadster. When I die and it moves on to a new owner, they might not agree. I can't control that.

 

There is a door line in that second picture it's hard to see but it is there right below the reflection of the pipe.

 

If Bubba is talking about the last car in pic, that's a model A.

 

D'oh !!!
I haven't got the eye to discriminate a '32 from an A from that angle yet.
Still, quite a coincidence that the tail lights look similar. Must have been a popular thing in the day.

 

One thing to look for would be holes for the mirror mount.

 

Bubba, a dead giveaway is the cowl and "dash rail". And yes, the rears are very similar when looking at an "A" or Deuce, especially on a 30-31.

 

Some differences in the side curtain or tonneau snaps.

 

Look a little closer, Karl K. The photo is shaky but the three holes for the snaps can be seen and seem to be in exactly the same spot as those in the black and white photos.

It's my guess that the body went through at least two more owners since Livingstone, one who painted it light blue and then another who began the process of unchanneling it and returning it to stock.

As has been mentioned it looks like the rolled pan has been removed and tail panel has been changed, perhaps replaced by another one which already had the holes cut in it, with the idea of filling one or both sets of holes at a later date.

If the doors had been cut, chances are the bottoms would have been welded and leaded to the body in the same manner as the tail panel and pan. Is it not possible that this has been removed as well and a pair of full-length doors installed? A close look at the jambs would probably tell the tale just as the area around the inside of the tail panel did.

The jury is still out, but the more I look at the photos the more I am convinced that this is the old Livingstone body. It's the tarp snaps that seal the deal for me. There also appears to be a small dent just below the center snap on the driver's side quarter panel which shows up in both the old and the newer photos. Not conclusive, but compelling.

 

Should be pretty easy to see if the body could be the Livingstone or not. If the two missing snap holes on the current body are filled then it may have been redone if they are not present at all it can't be the same body.

 

I agree. The body has been leaded where it has been repaired. By rights the filling of the extra holes should have been leaded also.

Maybe they are the original doors and cowl, with another rear section fitted to rid the car of the rolled pan??????

 

Am I missing something? What missing snap holes?

 

Don't you guys know that ALL channeled cars were built on the East coast and ALL high boys were built on the West Coast those are the revisionist rules!!

My '32 3W was built and raced at El Mirage with a belly pan as early as '41 with a mild channel so it must have traveled to the East coast for the channel job

 

I got 'ya sir. Rex is the only one with better pictures, but you can definitely see the three black dots on the extreme upper rear quarter fairing. Need a monitor to see it. (Everyone clean your screens....they are tiny) This pic' is blown up and corrected, and it is still hard to see. Above large quarter black hole....one inch up, three quarter inch over (slightly below and left of upright top metal tab)....the three small black holes in a line.....two and a half inches apart. Wish I could stick big red arrows.... If you can see those three micro dots, there are corresponding dots on upper door line too. (not the obvious big black doubles)

Rex ?

 

I tried to zoom in on the area I was talking about. Behind the door on the topmost side of the reveal, there are three tonneau snaps on both the highboy and the channeled version. The photo of Rex's roadster body does not show the snaps or evidence of them. This may be because the photo is not clear. They may be filled and leaded and too small to see in the photo of Rex's car. It needs to have evidence of these holes to be the same body. It also needs to have evidence of filled or leaded holes where the rear view mirror mounted on the cowl right above the center of the dash.

 

Good! I'm not seeing things. Now...can you also see the small dent just below the middle snap hole? It appears in the enlarged color photo of the left quarter and in the black and white photo of the same area? Gotta look close...

 

It could be Duffy Livingston's roadster, except for the rolled pan and the taillight holes...the body you have doesn't have a rolled pan and the taillight holes seem different...and the dash is not an Auburn

 

Why drive yourself crazy? I was born in 1947 so you should sell it to me! What I would do is use all that you have with car and build a nice traditional roadster. That never goes out of style.