The year was 1962, the place was Syracuse, NY and my father was 10 years old. During the summer he was “workin” for my grandfather building houses. “Are you going to pay me” my dad would ask. The response, “some day I will buy you something special”. One night on their way home the saw the ‘32. It was parked on a hill in front of an old stone house with a for sale sign on it. The price: $250. My dad begged for the car and eventually my grandpa gave in and the car was his. The seller was the original owner that bought the car in 1932 from the dealership he worked at. Over the next few years my dad worked on the car and even painted the car with a more modern Chevrolet metallic maroon and in 1968 he got it registered and was so proud of his first car. He drove the car all through high school creating many lasting memories. When he went off to college he stored the car at his aunts house in preparation for when he was out of school and had a place to put it. Fast forward to 1983 when I was born in Houston TX. He had the car shipped down there and the car came out every once in a while. We then moved to Detroit MI in 1986. By this time I was starting to fall in love with the car. Always playing in it and pretending to work on it. When I was 10 my dad actually taught me how to drive it in our back yard. In 2006 I was out of the house and living in Arizona. My parents were moving out of that house and my dad offered me the car. Without hesitation I had the car shipped out to my house in AZ and it’s been with me ever since. I have kept it going over the years and take it out a few times a year. Now the time has come to make this car what I have always wanted. A 60s era traditional hot rod. The plan is to only use technology, parts and materials that were available in the 60s when my dad was first working on the car. I have a lot of questions that I will need your advice and expertise with. Please follow along and offer any help you car. Photos below are of the car in it current state in my Tempe, AZ garage.
That will make a great 60s hot rod! It will be different enough as a Chevy to draw lots of attention. Read all you can on here and you will learn a lot. Enjoy the ride!
I have always been partial to the '32 Chevy ...Stovebolt...the hood doors chromed. Your example is beautiful There was a fellow at the Central City Hill Climb that had an early Chevy that he had hot rodded I am trying to recall...he used later model pick-up-truck front end and suspension...and as I recall rear end. As I am remembering, they were close dimensionally plus he upgraded to a 261 inline for power and did a homemade split exhaust.....wish I had more details. I'll see if I can find photos
After reading your post on here, I immediately thought of Steve Centracchio's '31 Chevy 5 Window Coupe on the cover of Rodder's Journal #65... After seeing the specs on his car - this is the hotrod that you were talking about! For me personally, it was the very first time ever, that I have seen the exact same Chevy model as my hotrod on the cover of ANY magazine!
Your car....your rules,but I couldnt cut up such a nice car.May be a dual carb,and mill the head,split manifold. I like to work with stuff other guys walk by.That way I can cut to my hearts delight,and only make it better.
Yes, I forgot about Steves car. I saw it up close in person when he had his shop in Sierra Vista, many years ago. Steve does beautiful work! I was there to see his Flxible bus and the cars were a bonus.... I've been looking for the photos of the one I am talking about...it was a lot more rudimentary and he had made it as a sleeper....telling me about his first hot rod tour....that they let him leave first so as to have the 'slow car' out front. He left them in the dust.....
What an awesome story! Your car already has a cool history and will only get better as you turn it into your own hotrod! And what a great starting point! Do you have plans on drivetrain? chop or no chop? I have an affinity for uniqueness so I would say stay away from the SBC although the simplicity and price point may be tempting. A ‘55 265 or a ‘65 327 would be real cool if you want a v8 to stay in the chev family, hell even a straight six catches my eye more than the typical 350/350 combo. LOVE seeing more chevy builds!
It is your car do as you wish but I would suggest you do some serious thinking before cutting this car up. I know you really want a hot rod and as much as I like them and want to see more of them on the road are you still going to feel the same way about making this car a hot rod in the future or someday are you going to wish you had your "father's car"? About 15 years ago my father wanted to know if I wanted the last of his Holman Moody parts before he sold them, some of which had been on the first racecar he built. At the time I was P.O.ed at and wanted nothing to do oval track racing and told him to go ahead and sell them. Today I really regret not taking them for two reasons. The first being I have gotten heavily involved in vintage oval track and the most important these were the parts on his car! He bought them on his 1971 trip to the Daytona 500. I was able to get back one of the two Holman Moody window nets he bought on that trip, but having the window net he bought on his trip is not the same as having the parts that were in his car. Also how does your father feel about you building a hot rod out of his car? Does he like hot rods? I always think about people who get tribute tattoos for people, and then say that the person hated tattoos.
Hey Steve, think about his options if he would keep his car original. Possibly 45 mph speeds, mechanical brakes, tires only rated to go 45 mph - all reasons that keep him puttin' around really slow around local streets, etc. Value? Poor to say the least - hot rods make considerable investments. The joy and pride that he would develop, making friends with other hotrodders who gladly will guide him in his quest, such as us HAMBERS. More importantly, the sheer fun cruising the highways in a vehicle over 90 years old and so forth. No brainer...
Damn, man... some cars are just too damn nice to mess with. There's plenty of unloved cars out there waiting for a chance to see the road again. I kinda hate to see a car make it this long just to get chopped up. I know, I know... this is the HAMB, not AACA. But still... this is one I would sort out and just drive.
It has such incredible history on the car. I would follow the rodders journal letter for letter and then have exactly what you are after.
The Jalopy Journal
