Hot Rods 1932 Roadster Lost history ?

What do you do when you can't trace the history on a car? there is newspaper in the door from April 1947 Pasadena. an Auburn dash and gauges. this roadster belongs to the shop and we have tried to search our resources to see if we can put a name to the car or some sort of history but nothing comes up, we have the frame and from the looks of it it was a Flathead car. but the wheel wheels have been cut out so not sure if this frame belongs to this car or not. cowl vent leaded in but all in all a very straight body.
I guess my question is do you build the car with the dash and make it a traditional build with a side note to its previous unknown hot rod life. or forgo all of that and build it as the potential owner dictates. Currently there is no owner of the car and we don't have plans to get started on it until we find someone who will appreciate the heritage of the car, we were just moving projects around the shop and i thought i would share this car. I guess i should add some frame shots soon.
Rex

 

If that's all you have to go on it, I personally would build whatever I wanted to with it.

 

while some cars are more historically significant than others , all old cars have a history...just that we don't always know what it is. i'd like to know the history of my `36 3-window , but there it absolutely no way of finding out

i say do what you want

 

So...more than likely is was in a body shop in Pasadena in 1947, but what color was it painted? Did you fill the cowl? Take off the firewall? Do you have the ch***is? Any other parts to distinguish it from the other thousands of similar hot rods that roamed California after the war? VIN or serial number?

 

I agree with Larry. Went through the same thing with my cabrio body. All I was able to find out was that it came from a collection in Los Angeles. So, I went forward with my vision of what I wanted. BTW, why don't you just let me worry about it for you? Just offering. I'll send a pic of what the body looked like when I got it. Tim

 

Wild guess, but from the width of the un-faded area on the rear pan it probably hasn't been licensed since 1955 at the latest? The larger taillight openings look like '42-'48 Chevy turned vertical.

 

I think sometimes we get too caught up in the "gotta have a hot rod with history" hoopla. Not every old car has a significant pedigree. Most were just old cars that an unknown individual hotrodded and had fun with. Even if you do eventually find some history on this car, what if it isn't all that interesting? What then? Do you restore the car to it's boring former self, or do you build a killer hotrod based on your vision for it? I say if nothing points towards a significant build history, go forward and do something awesome for this little roadster. My .02.

 

Rex, in today's market place the value of a Deuce with history is priceless. Pasadena was full of hot rods and still is, so someone may come up with the history. People like Pat Ganahl or Pete Eastwood may have a clue. I would certainly do some more research to see if there is a significant history (famous figure from the past) before I would start on the car. If you find a person who just wants and original deuce body that he could claim had some CA history then built it his way with your guidance. Your shop restored the Joe Nitti roadster to perfection and I would like to see this done the same way.


Cl***ic photo of Joe doing his thing in LA.

Joe and his buddy getting ready for some street racing.

Cl***ic interior which I have never seen duplicated.

Beautiful engine bay and detailing.

Who knows he may have been a close friend of Joe's. I will check with my friend whose wife dated Joe.

 

Unless proof popped up that it was indeed the long lost ___________ roadster that disappeared off the face of the earth in the mid 50's I'd say go with a traditional build using what you see. What's not to love about a Gennie Deuce roadster with an Auburn dash, 47 Chevy tail lights, a smack of at***ude and some obvious but mysterious history.
Now the question is leave it channeled or go back up on top of the rails?

I can see it now, a batch of HAMBERS checking their lottery tickets, making hard decisions on what they could sell to buy the roadster and have you build it and 500 hits on your website to see what you have turned out in the past. Meanwhile I have some Powerball tickets to check.

 

Agree. There's enough left of the body to narrow the possible lineage to a very few cars. It appears to have been well finished originally so there's every chance it was photographed. So many personal photo collections are surfacing these days that I'd say there's an excellent chance this car will turn up. If it were to be rebuilt into a "generic" period hot rod by a new owner all of its historic significance would be lost. My vote would be to hang in there and redouble efforts to identify it BEFORE making any changes.

 

The vertical '41-'48 Chev taillights have to be a calling card from somewhere. That wasn't usual deal by far. I ***ume, knowing the caliber of work you have turned out from your shop, that you have scoured the Don Montgomery books pretty hard already?

 

It's the smaller holes next to the vertical Chevy tail lights that would have been unique, I think...especially if there were four tail lights on the panel at the same time. Since none of the holes are filled this might have been the case. Of course it's also possible that the smaller holes were drilled to install new lights after the Chevy vertical taillights went missing.

Also, the small holes on either side of the license plate tell of '49 Chevy-style plate illumination lamps - one hole for the mounting stud, the second for a little tab where the wire went through. Even though they were a little bulky they did find their way onto some roadsters of the period. The paint shadows may tell the story here, but who the heck knows...

 

Since this is the type of question I get asked all the time, I'll offer my two cents here. The most tell-tale feature is the rear pan, then the Auburn dash (whole dash) and the partially cut wheelwells. Note that the old CA license and the vertical Chevy taillights have the dark shadows left, but not the other holes. First, I've never seen any photos of a '32 with this unique rear arrangement. I'd say it's not a "known" or famous car. But it obviously has a history as a hot rod--an old one. The question is whether that's important or not. ***uming it's a Pasadena area car, I'm sure the prior owner of my roadster (Whiteman) could identify this car, as could several other Pasadena old-timers, but they're dead.

So this leaves the next archeological alternative--tracing it back. Where did you get this car (or body)? Who had it before that? Given the licanse and taillight "shadows," it was together not too long ago, and was in this configuration for a long time (enough for the dark paint to fade). Where was it then? Who had it? Are there any family/personal/s****book photos? This type of research takes some time and effort, and luck. And it might satisfy nothing more than your curiosity. Personally, I wouldn't want vertical '47 Chev taillights on the back of my '32, nor whatever were in those other holes. So maybe you don't really want to know the history of this car; or at least not "restore" it to its former configuration. Maybe it's enough to know that it was a hot rod in the Pasadena area in 1947, and looks to be pretty virgin to that era. I'd certainly keep the Auburn dash, and build it in a traditional style. Like I did with my car. But that's my opinion.

Pat Ganahl

 

That rear panel looks like the one on the roadster driven by Darryl Hickman in the 1947 movie, "The Devil on Wheels". The license plate frame had the same shape and the tail lights could be the same. That car had an unfilled, shell, unfilled cowl and a rumble seat. The best rear view is at 19:10 minutes. Unfortunately no dash shots.
Ed

 

kinda cleaned up the dash a bit the paint might of been turquoise, the door jambs are painted the same. the firewall we have with the car is a 4cyl one i don't think that it or the frame belong to the the body. Probably the smartest thing is to build the car use the dash and gauges and go from there. We have time and for now we will keep an eye out for any information.

 

Talent that you have......the do***entation pictures will suffice. Having said that.....when does the hammering start ? Let's not let the pieces spoil....time to build it !!! If something crazy pops up down the road....I'm positive you won't hack anything that can't be put back. I have faith that the car already found the right dude.

 

Umm, has the roadster's floor been cut out, if so that points to a channelled roadster so you have just eliminated a few thousand highboys, there couldn't be more than a couple hundred Channelled '32 roadsters.

Is this the one Don Orosco had for sale last year early this year?

 

Rex, I had a similar roadster when I lived in Detroit in the middle 60's. I sold the car to a friend in Canada who later sold it to another friend who finished it to his style and will be featured in SRM next month. The paper in the door was from a 1948 Chicago Daily Tribune paper but we were never able to trace its origin.

Lynn

 

I would set "x" amount of time into research and requesting info then clear your conscience and move forward. Pay respect to what you imagine it once was but build the car in whatever way gets your juices flowing.
plus, as awesome as it can be to own and restore a survivor, it can be limiting, and hold you back from what you really want to do with it. It's a tough one, but that's why I suggest setting an allotted amount of time then moving on. If you do find the history, I hope its something you like. Good luck!!!

 

The roadster has been at he shop for a few years now, one of our customers picked the car up from Mike Spacek.. That customer then found the Ray B***o roadster and this car changed hands again, and was on its way to a street rod build. the roadster changed hand again early this fall and now we are the caretakers of the project till we find someone to build the roadster for.
We will continue to look for any information that we can on the cars past, notable or otherwise, but right now i wouldn't let that stop us form building a traditional highboy.

 

A couple points to ponder: First, the tail panel looks like a different color than the rest of the car, even the dash and door jambs. Are you sure it's original to the car? Is it still riveted to the floor? And those extra holes outside the Chevy taillights look a lot like holes for '39 Ford taillights. That is an ugly combo I sure wouldn't want to restore.

Next, is just the rear floorboard missing? And the rear subrails also? From the burn marks on the wheelwells, it looks like the more recent rear frame kick/Z was applied after the turquoise paint and the car may not have been finished (re-finished) after that. Makes the research even harder, since you may be looking for vintage pics of a car with a rear frame kick and it might not have been on the road after that mod was done.

Either way, I sure wish I had your problems. That is a very nice body and would be great to build. My roadster body would take six months of solid work to be in the condition of that one.

 

Did you ask Mike Spacek about any of the history? He knows a lot of the past and present racers and hot rodders in So Cal.

 

Rex, can you tell us whether it was Channelled at some point? If it was I may know whose car it was but I need to know if it was channelled.

 

Ok, scratch that found the photos that I saved from the ebay auction last year, so it was channelled. I believe I do know but you may want to get in touch with the builder as he could probably confirm whether it was his roadster. The reason for the four taillights was it was a highboy then channelled the panel was leaded in with a roll pan. I can see evidence that a filler panel has been removed. The snaps for the tonneau cover are in the right locations and the filled cowl is also there.

 

I hope this works out!!

 

I am back I am 80-90% sure the roadster above is the Duffy Livingstone '32. Things just seem to match up. Duffy lived in Pasadena (member of Pasadena Roadster Club), purchased the '32 in 1945 from Mitchell Muffler founder Dave Mitchell. Duffy got out of the Navy in '46 and went to work for Dave. Duffy ran the lakes from '47 onwards first as a highboy then late '48 to '49 channelled it. As previously mentioned the snaps for the tonneau match up, filled cowl vent, was a rumble seat then had a conventional trunk. It appears that the back of above roadster had heavy leading pointing to a filled panel and rollpan and of course there is the channel. Lastly the dash was a '41 but in later photos where it is channelled you can see a 5 gauge panel, Auburn or SW accessory. So I would try to get in contact with Duffy who by a 2012 article was living in Tennessee, he, I am sure could confirm or rule out it being his old '32.

If you can confirm it being Duffy's roadster a restoration to highboy or channelled. My vote would be the channelled as this is up there with Jim Khougaz roadster, the Crawford/Stroner "Look" magazine roadster and Tony LaMasa "Ricky Nelson '32"

Cheers
Jimmy

 

Last reply with info, this photo below is scanned from Brock Yates book "The Hot Rod" about 'The Eliminator' T.
You can see in this scan the reveal around the door hinges and the flare around the top of the fender reveal that early bodies had.

 

I dunno'....but if that isn't the baddest dry lake car I have seen yet.....I sure as hell don't know what would be. The hood series, just floors me. Outstanding visual for the day. Those guys liked to build and run ! I love the pictures JIMMY B......thanks for sharing. Hope you are right. I almost think the black and white roadster needs to be built again today. That is just sick !! I love it.

 

YES! One of my favoritest cars ever. Dig the louvers on the channeled version!

 

I have not seen that photo before. That is a great, probably the best quality I have seen, thanks for posting.