'27 t roadster on '32 rails finally hits the road!

While waiting for some banger engine parts to my '28 AR project, I decided to get back to work on a car I bought about 6 years ago, and keep starting and stopping on. This is a '27 Ford T Roadster that I brought home from Fresno, CA and found on eBay. It was sad looking, but something made me want to drag it home! It's ***led, and has been for a long long time, as a '32 Ford Roadster, and very well may have been one once. It was a track roadster in the central Cal area in the late 40's, and into the early 50's, then put back on the street. Not sure what it had for a mill then, but eventually it got a J2 Olds, with some wild organ pipes, and a 3 speed. It was first black with white fender wells, then maroon with off white. Then it went flaked metalllic lime green, and after that a wild heavy heavy flaked medium blue - kinda like a motorcycle helmet. fenders were added sometime inbetween the maroon and the lime, and were t's in the back, with '32 boards and front fenders. We ditched those. The gentleman I got it from won it in a card game in Reno in the early 70's, but he lived in Fresno. He was a specialty car dealer - exotic imports and some vintage stuff, but was retired and in bad health when I bought the car, and had some neat stuff - I missed a '33 Ford coupe that Don Orosco got from him by a week! He had yanked the J2 (too wild he said) and installed the 289 hipo that is in it now. The car has a complete '32 ch***is with transverse springs, original crossmembers, peaked, chopped, extended and filled gennie '32 grille with chopped and chromed insert, and unplit bones. The front axle I think is a filled and dropped '32 heavy, that is drilled and was chromed in the day. The bumpers are super heavy, and handmade I would suppose. None of the chrome on the car has been redone, with the exception of the NOS scavenger tips which I had found at a swap meet years ago and squirrelled away. All the upholstery is what has been in the car since it's show days, and is like new. Dash is a steel original '32 Ford Roadster unit that has been slightly modded to fit the T body - it had had wood added over it, and when I pulled the wood off, there was a cherry deuce dash! The guages and the cool insert are all from the day - and are near new looking. The odo read 113 til recently, and thats all the miles she had logged as a show car. Apparently it had about 100 trophies, but the guy that won it in the card game could never get them from the loser of the car and card game. It supposedly had been in the Oakland show - where it competed for AMBR, and in Fresno and Sacramento shows. We painted it '65 Mustang Poppy Red, the front wheels are swap meet finds, the rears are Appliance plating units that I found new in the box in a Vintage speed shop a few years back. The spiders came from Riley Auto. Front fenders are '35 or so spare covers that had been made into fenders in 1957 for a '34 Ford and never mounted, and the rears we made - to match the front as I hought the sizing was kinda cool - out of a '40 Ford Woody spare tire cover, which is wider. I really tried to find all vintage parts to use on the car where I could. I like the 60's vibe the car has, as I grew up looking at the car mags in that era. It isn't perfect, but I didn't want it to be - just a car to have some fun with.
I still have some tinkering to do, but am looking forward to logging a few miles behind the wheel. Enjoy some pics I took today..... Tim

 

Looks good... Did you extend the body in the rear (tail light area) or is that a gas tank..

 

If that isn't a cl***ic looking hot rod I don't know what is..

Frank

 

Man it looks like right outa the little books.....sweet.

 

Great story! You really hit the nail on the head and did a great job preserving the neat old stuff underneath years of add ons! Do you happen to have any pictures of what it looked like when you purchased it?
-Brian

 

What's the rest of the drivetrain?

...and I'd be bugging the HELL out of the seller for the original J2!

 

****, I didnt even notice the lil harley-esque fenders, lol lookin really good man!

 

The gas tank is a custom fabbed, or maybe obscure little car tank in the trunk. What looks like a tank is a steel roll pan that was made at the time the car first went metallic. We could only find the lime and the blue on it. We added the Pontiac lights, as there were some pretty horrendous ones bracketed to the rear bumper.

 

C4, or similar - wish it was still a stick though - if the pedal would have been there, it would have been again, open drive line, and a '57 or so Ford rear end. Drives out sweet.
You bet I asked about the J2, but he said it had gone to the wrecking yard after sitting in his shop for 5 years or so, it went away about 1977. I missed it by about 25 years!

 

I do Brian. I have to find them though, and scan 'em, as it was pre digital for me. I'll add 'em when I find 'em!!! Be forwarned - it was FUNKY!! Tim

 

I like it!!!

 

I get a sprint car "vibe" from this car... must be the bumpers and stance. I really like the bumper and fender set up... I'll keep the designs in mind for future projects.

 

Looks great Tim! What's not to like about a T on deuce rails.

 

Perfect!!!!

 

hi real nice car, do you have any pics of just the frame.

 

That looks terrific. Exactly the same as the first hotrods that i saw in the early 1960s.

 

you seem to have an eye for this. Does everything you drive look good.. I am starting to pick up on a theme,.

 

Wow! Drop dead gorgeous.

Those T's sure look good on a Deuce frame...wicked.

 

Thanks for the compliments guys. No pics of just the ch***is, I never pulled the body off, didn't see a need to - everything was solid, absolutely zero rust, and everything was functional. Now if I can just figure out a tasty nerf for the rear tires.....

 

I am 99% certain I saw this car with the Olds motor and the indivual pipes in Hot Rod. This is a cl***ic combo.

 

I have searched and never found it. If someone recognizes itm or has a mag with it in it - I'd love to see the pics.

 

It sure is frustrating to have a nice old rod from back in the day and not be able to fill in the holes in its history. Good luck trying to do that!

I also have an old timer (Bonneville deuce) that there must be pictures of from back in the day --- if I only new where to look. Eventually some history has got to turn up --- almost for sure in your roadster's case if it had a 'hundred trophies'.

 

My favorite combo...better than any 28/32 or even 32/32. 27's are just perfect.

 

out fuggering standing!

that is the IT hot rod for me.

beautiful.

 

Just perfect!
Great car!

 

I could swear that I read (on the HAMB) that it's a freakin nightmare to put a "T" on Deuce rails...I am sure there was a lot of work done here to make it happen, but sure looks right at home!...

Looks like fun, thanks for sharing

BRT

 

Very neat hot rod. Thanks for posting it.

 

You're welcome! Now to find those pics of when I drug her home....

 

Here's some pics of the day I bought it and the fellow I bought it from in Fresno, California.