Hot Rods Another "They're Still Out There" Flavored Thread - 1932 Ford

A couple of weeks ago I was put in contact with a guy that had a car that his dad had turned into a hot rod in the early 1950's. I'm still putting all the pieces together on the whole story, but the condensed version is that this Sedan was in the family since it was bought new, then passed down. The father of the guy I bought it from received it in the mid 1940's and by '49 or '50 had turned it into what you see here.

Not long afterward, he lost his eyesight and the car just kind of sat in the garage in San Mateo, California. The son told me that they would keep up on the maintenance, fire it up and drive it short distances, and occasionally go to an Andy's Picnic or other local shows, with the son driving dad's car.

Unfortunately, the dad passed away and it was time for the family to move on. I was fortunate enough to be able to buy his hot rod from the son and his wife, who turned out to be really nice folks.

The car is in remarkable shape. No rust ever, no patch panels. The fenders were replaced with NOS ones when the dad painted the car in 1950 or so. My plan is to buff it, lower the front a little, change the tires to the proper sizes and add a dropped headlight bar. Other than that, I am just going to preserve it.

It has what seems to be a basically stock Flathead in it with a column-shift 3 speed. There are accessories and gizmos all over the car inside and out, the guy definitely liked to tinker and liked his doodads. It has chrome BLC headlights, dual wipers, windshield washer squirters in the cowl, Desoto bumpers, what I think are 50/51 Olds tail lights with blue dots added, Lincoln hub caps, etc. Inside there are tons of killer little touches and about a dozen knobs, switches, indicator lights, etc that I have yet to figure out what they all do.

I will write a more comprehensive story and add some updated photos once I start on this, but I'm right in the middle of one project that has to get done first. I was also promised some old photos from the 40's and 50's, I will update this with them if I get them.

The son told me the last real event they took it to was Andy's Picnic in the late 70's. I did find fliers and so far one dash plaque that indicate his memory was correct.

I will post updates when I have them. I'm pretty excited to be this car's caretaker!








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ironandsteele.com​

 

Very Well Done And Enjoy...

 

Wow that’s beautiful!

 

Looks like a really nice old Ford. Have fun with it.

 

I like your plan...doesn't need much, everything seems "right" but little changes sound fine. You are a lucky man for sure.

 

Beautiful find, love stories like this,

Please keep the progress pics coming of the updates.

 

That thing is slick!

 

As perfect of an example of a mildly modded "Uncle Daniel" piece that escaped the pastel, tweed and billet era.
Another great deuce allowed to see the light of day, don't get much better than that!

 

All day long.

Awesome.

 

That is a great car.

10 or 20 years ago, the "barn finds" were usually stockers. It seems the last couple of years, every one that has come out is an old Hot Rod.

 

That is a great find

 

Beyond words !

 

Incredible. What a fantastic hot rod find.

 

Jeeze, I happily made it to the bathroom in time for my 7am pee (third time this week, a new personal best) but ya don't see me posting about it, looking for a pat on the back do ya ... sheesh. I guess we're both deserving of a hearty "Congrats Man, that's awesome"

 

A Righteous Ride, Congratulations!

 

Man, that is beyond cool! I may be mistaken, but those two gauge clusters, (speedo and quad gauge) look a lot like the 47 Studebaker Champion gauges that someone had put in the 39 of mine back in the 50's. I love your plan for the car. Congrats on the find.

 

NEATO!!!!!

 

You are not mistaken! I asked around and was told by several people that they were in fact 47/48 Studebaker. Good eye.

ironandsteele.com​

 

Congratulations! I was at that Andy's picnic, I have the same dash plaque, it might be on my toolbox. I'm sure I saw the car. I also like what you want to do with it. Enjoy. You might reach out to HEMI32 here on the HAMB, he has a lot of old pictures of Andy's picnic. You might be able to find it in an old picture. He may even know the car.

 

Some guys have all the luck! I'm loving that there are still 32s popping up in these conditions, gives me hope!

 

Thank you, I did already reach out to HEMI32 on this one, but it doesn't look like he has any photos at first glance. He was nice enough to say he would continue to look through his collection. I know he has a lot of Bay Area stuff. Thank you for the suggestion.

ironandsteele.com​

 

The Dream.

 

Wow!! What a great find. I like your plans for the car.

 

Righteous

 

Congratulations, what a time capsule. HRP

 

Excellent Find Congrats !

 

Wow! That's a fantastic find. He lavished a lot of attention on it and it's a shame his health let him down. The car was obviously well loved and will continue to be. I await with interest to see how this plays out.

 

Fantastic find.