Hello fellow Flathead Ford Lovers, my name is Jerry Stohler. Everybody I know that is a Flathead Ford Fan and owns a computer seems to be a member of H.A.M.B. Im not sure why I have never signed up, it probably had to do with only having dial-up out here in the sticks. I could build a hot rod faster than I could download a photo of one. We finally got DSL so Im ready to join the rest of the Flathead Ford Community. After going on this years Pasadena Reliability Run it seemed to me that many of the participants if not all of them are members of H.A.M.B. What an incredible bunch of guys. It so great to be around a bunch of guys that really understand what real hot rods are all about. I hope to use the H.A.M.B. forum to get to know many of you guys and anybody else out there in Flathead Land that loves hot rod history. 　 Here is a little bit of info about myself and my Dad who is also a flathead Ford guy. Right out of high school during the late fifties my Dad bought a Flathead Ford Powered 1932 Roadster. The Roadster had been raced at the drags in San Diego and ended up in a backyard in San Bernardino, CA. One day when my Dad was going for a walk he spotted the neglected roadster in the back yard. He bought it for something like $225.00 and dragged it home and got it running. Then he proceeded to drive that 32 Roadster around and around the block of the girl he was interested in. He was hoping the little red roadster would get her attention. It worked, she thought the car was cool and they started dating, they were married a couple years later. I might have never existed had it not been for that red Flathead Ford powered 1932 Roadster. Thats a true story. By the time I came along in 1961 my Dad was restoring Model A Fords. Every kid in those days had chores, I was used as slave labor to water sand the spokes on Model A Ford wheels along with everything else my Dad did not want to sand. Most of my neighbors had laundry on their clotheslines, ours had Model A parts that were being painted in nitrocellulose lacquer. Eventually my Dad came to his senses and got over his fascination with stock Model As. He sold his Model A and started collecting pieces to build a Flathead Powered 32 Roadster (something I could finally relate to). I went with him to swap meets collecting pieces to build a 32 roadster without realizing I was slowly being brainwashed. Come to think about it, all my Hot Wheels were Ford Hot Rods and I was the only kid I know that woke up every morning to a cast aluminum "Flatheads Forever" clock. I could identify all the cross members in a 32 Ford frame. In 1977 when I was finally old enough to drive my Dad bought me a 1965 Mustang Fastback for $900.00. I had about a dozen early Mustangs before I finally bought a nice original 1966 Shelby GT-350. I have managed to keep the Shelby all these years because it was once my dream car, sixteen-year-old Jerry would never forgive me if I sold it. In the late 1980's I was infected with the Flathead Ford Disease, I dont think I have driven the Shelby fifty-miles since then. About twenty-years ago I started collecting parts to build a flathead powered 32 5-Window Coupe but before I could collect all the parts I bought a basket case Chopped 32 3-Window Coupe that I could not live with out. Before I could finish the 3-Window, I decided a REAL Hot Rodder would only drive a Flathead Powered 32 Roadster so I started on a 32 Roadster project. I had a nice original ch***is, firewall and grille shell but I could not find a roadster body that wasnt junk. I wasnt going to pay $20,000 for a body that needed a floor, quarter panels, doors and a deck lid so I could claim it was an original 32 Roadster body when I was done. About that time the new Brookville bodies were introduced, boy did they look good after looking at those junk bodies, I ordered one. I was zipping right along on the ch***is during the two-year wait for the body. The body finally arrived but before I could get it in paint I ran across another project I could not live without. I bought the Mitchell Muffler Pickup because of its history and because back in the early fifties it was a hot rod my Dad had admired. I had to make payments on the pickup for five years which left me no money to work on the hot rod projects, they all just sat out in the garage ac***ulating dust. I worked as a mechanic for GTE/Verizon for thirty-years. I took an early retirement this year so I can now relive my youth sanding and painting early Ford parts (except for fenders because everybody knows real Hot Rods dont have fenders).
The Jalopy Journal
