Hi all, I just registered, but I was on the Hamb years ago (my intro: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6249555#post6249555) I bought this roadster project, all 1932 Ford, but in fact a 5window, with the top hacked off. It was all done in 1952, in Fort Worth, Texas, by a guy named John Bockius III (hence my name on here, but I am not related). It was featured in sept 52 issue of Hot Rod Magazine, with lots of B&W photo's. Since Bockius was a pretty peculiar name, I googled, and found out he passed in 2009, but I managed to find the email address of his two sons. They were very pleased to learn that their dad's car is still around, and very surprised it turned up in Holland. Unfortunelately, they were not even born, or very young to have known the car. It was sold, somewhere around 1963-64, to a colleague of their dad (he worked at an aircraft manufacturing facility in Ft Worth). They do not have any pics of the car, nor can they tell where it went. I bought it in UK, from Kerry Tate, who bought it in 2000 in Texas off a guy named Carl, who is in the speedo-repair business. It was on a model T chassis, the doors were welded shut, buttons for a tonneau cover were on it's edges, and it supposedly did some racing at Muroc. There was no engine, it was just a body slammed on that T chassis. Now that I have found the sons of it's builder, I really would like to learn more of it's history. Anyone ?
looks like the article was about doing a sanitary job cutting the top off. the door-tops look pretty dog-gone nice on your car.
I got to agree with the workmanship or creativity. Unless you own a cut off 32 5w, you can't really understand how hard it is to make anything good out of it.
I will scan the pages in properly later. Doors: when I bought the car in UK, the seller did a lot of work to the doors: they were welded shut, presumably for racing. He opened them up again, re-arched them towards the dash (a la Doane Spencer roadster), and removed all lead that was on the door tops. Luckily, the workmanship is pretty good ! But still shitloads to do !
This place never ceases to amaze the crap out of me. First the deuce gets built in the USofA sometime in the early fifties. Then it gets sold, and then sold again, this time to a guy in England. He does some work on it then sells it to a guy in Holland who now is tracing the history back to the beginning. And it is all here for us to wonder over and to, hopefully, fill in the blank spots. Somehow, I think that is exactly what will happen. Good luck, Bockius...
There should be a few guys around the DFW area or Texas/Oklahoma that may have known the car back in the 50's.
You might look into American Stamping (ASC) '32 rails, and build a solid frame for it. If no original ones are found.
Right!? I should ask about the wallet lost when I was sixteen! Bet someone on here could find the damn thing!
Being a native Texan and around the racing scene in the 50's I can't say that I have ever seen this car. It looks like a great way to start a rod though. We did race in the cadomills area which is not to far from Ft Worth/Dallas area and other tracks located in the area. There were many street rods and race cars in that area and I am sure some of the old Hambers will be able to come up with additional information. Good luck on the build.
Was that the brown leather one with the condom in it?? Ya, I found it in a garage down the road a few years back - been there since the early '70's. I restored it and sold it on Ebay. Seriously, good luck finding the history - cool looking car!!
I cannot seem to upload the scanned article (security token missing), I pm'd a admin, so maybe tomorrow...sorry to tease here !
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