Art & Inspiration If Ford re did the 32

Ok, so Ford redid the mini birds and FAILED. What if they redid the 1932 Ford? Re create the body but not like they did the Mini birds. More toward the original. New motor of coarse, but more toward the original look. A factory old school hot rod with a compliant engine but with the old look. Would it sell?

 

It would never meet NTSB standards. And if it did it wouldn't sell. Nice idea though.

 

They would have to screw it up, and we'd all make fun of it..

 

Think Plymouth Prowler...

 

Henry would drop a SBC in it

 

Naw..an El Es

 

Ford is coming out with a new '32. In 10 years.

 

I hope it don't turn out like the HHR that Chevy did.

 

I have trouble imagining a Deuce SUV.

 

With airbags and high impact bumpers along with all the other safety and economy components added it wouldn't look much like a '32 Ford no matter how they'd build it.

 

More than likely a Coyote and moped the floor with any sbc junk.

 

yeah. kind of sad. the younger generation walks by my CAD as if it was my Prius.

 

A sad truth. Kids today have grown up with a car as an expected accessory to their life. They no longer hold as much fanfare to them as the next iphone or next cartoon movie. Kids just expect that they will have a car and that it will always start and work or they will just throw it away like last weeks leftovers and get a different one.

 

The 32 is already reproduced. As a kit. In glass and steel.
As far as young folks go, my beater is always covered up with em at shows. Last week, two teens (with drivers license) cruised it. (Empty parking lot). Parked in front of our local burrito emporium also last week, kids were all over it. Snapping pics and selfies.
Maybe my beater is just that cool

 

This is correct. I've heard this from old guys many times while driving my '57 Chevy, wondering why GM doesn't build new '57 Chevys with modern guts in them. And it's because it'd be impossible to make them legal, with all the minimum tail light area and mirror area requirements, pillars too thin for airbags, no engineered crumple zones, etc. It couldn't be done without bastardizing the original design.

And even if they did, who'd buy them? If you want a '57 Chevy (or a 32 Ford for that matter) with an all modern drivetrain and creature comforts in it, you can already get that, many have been built out of originals or replica bodies, and many are for sale. The ones built at the "factory" are unlikely to be cheaper, or better.

 

The neat thing about old cars is they’re old.
I vote we keep ‘em that way.

 

Believe it or not the 20 and 30 somethings are always giving me complements on my off topic daily driver 77 Tbird . It might be newer who knows as far as the 32 it will never happen cars have no soul now.

 

Probably be battery powered....

 

There is a possibility for a visual reproduction from a manufacturer if they wanted to. Low number special production vehicles can be made that don’t meet safety standards. They do have to meet epa regulations (if my memory is correct)
However, any decent rod shop can build ya one.

 

It’s been tried, the Shay Model A. A dealer I did some work for had one. It didn’t drive like an old car, and it didn’t drive like a new one. Looked great parked, if you didn’t look too close or know the difference. No point except to get customer traffic on the lot. You can buy one today for less than the cost of a repo body, probably less than the chassis and banger will cost to go with it to make it right.

 

Ford did make a new 32 at one time.

It was called a 33.

 

Funny part is a lot of kids nowadays are or at least consider themselves to be "retro" listen to records...etc yet they still dont have a clue

 

Over here a lot of city kids aren't even interested in getting their driver's licence let alone have an interest in old cars. Plus, you can only notice something unusual in the carpark if you lift your eyes from your 'phone.

 

Let's not forget how well the Chevy SSR pickup did. Didn't have one feature of any old Chevy pickup.

 

GM Holden came close to this when they did the Effijy - a homage to the FJ Holden of the 50's:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_Efijy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_FJ

Cheers,
Harv

 

The fifth generation Ford Mustang 2005/2014 was a retro style to resemble the original first generation 1964/1973 and I thought the 05/06/07 was the best retro styled cars out of them all and sold very well. Years ago I knew 2 men that had the Shay model A roadster, rode in, drove one, pretty good cars IMO. In this day and age it would be interesting to see what Detroit would come up with, I don't believe it ever will happen as the market would be too small, baby boomers numbers are shrinking fast. All the retro styled car were/are produced for us baby boomers, the largest car generation ever and we have the money to buy them, so I read and am told, I seemed to have misplaced mine, LOL, How many younger men can afford any of the new super cars available today, late models very popular at shows/cruises today, all us old farts driving them, I rarely see a younger man with one. I thought the Plymouth Prowler was a very kool design and was very interested in possible purchase until the V6 was the only engine available, I'm an V8 guy, if they would have put in a V8 I might of had to have one in my garage. I Agree with posts here, most of the retro styled cars failed in the sales numbers, the Chevy SSR, + 10K over list when first released, 6 months later - 10K under list, know a man that bought one, still has and it and he likes it, he has one of the first ones, the +10K model. That's the very best part of our Great car hobby/passion/obsession, there is something for everyone, a seat for every ass, a cover for every pot.

 

It would look like the Plymouth Prowler.

 

Are there any cars with steel numbers anymore? My ‘03 Chevy PU has chrome ones, so did my ‘04 F150, but I can’t recall seeing a car with a steel bumper since the ‘70’s, but heck, I forgot already what I did at work over the night.
If Ford was to do it, it may resemble a ‘32 from distance, but I don’t think anyone on the HAMB would like it, interior would be like a street rod, exterior all one piece molded together in plastic/glass.
I think the new Tbird looked okay though, I recall when I was buying my ‘04 I was asking myself “Do I really need another pickup”?

 

The muscle cars are fairly straightforward to build neo-retro versions of: they are generally car shaped.
The petite early 30s cars? Not so much. They are Buggy shaped. As others have said, buggies don't adapt to crash testing very well.
That holden is fairly nice looking, but were any actually produced? I doubt concept cars have to meet all the regulations production ones do.

As far as the youth of today having no interest in old cars there are a few things at work here.
#1 is that most nice old cars are far beyond their reach, financially and mechanically (yes, I know they are simpler, but you can't exactly take a Hamb friendly car to the average garage for repairs)
#2 is that we had a couple generations raised to be 'consumers' who replaced appliances when they broke down. Now the next couple generations are being conditioned to 'own nothing' and make 'personal sacrafices' for the sake of the 'future'