Nice find, looks like they shoved the 32 frame from up under the back to get it over the subrails and then pulled it forward, pretty common.
What you have is an amalgamation of two different hot rods. From what I can see that body in it's past life was mounted on a frame that was several inches longer than the '32 frame it is presently on. That would explain the length of the hood, other clues being the hacked holes for the rear bumper brackets and the crude way the body was mated to the '32 frame. If you want to be successful in finding any past history, I'd expect to find that body mounted to some type of "big car" chassis, maybe something that came from the factory with a big honking six or a straight-eight.
If that radiator was at any time mounted several inches forward from where it is now there would have been evidence of some sort of mount bolted or welded to the frame horns, which I don't see. Also, I don't see any sign that those beautiful cycle fenders were ever mounted to those chrome backing plates, there aren't any front shocks or headlight brackets or many other needful bits and pieces that would indicate this car was ever completed and driven as it now exists. What I'm saying is that thing isn't a "survivor", it's a hotrod project in process so don't worry about destroying any valuable past history because it doesn't have any. And just as a friendly warning; if you even think of mounting that radiator several inches forward from where it is now the Hot-Rod Police will confiscate your Man Card so you won't have access to any tools until you successfully complete mandatory classes in "Remedial Style and Good Taste". Just trying to help.
The fenders are actually for the rear. Yes the car definitely ran. Fully plumbed for brakes, electrical and fuel.
Hopefully you don't need asbestos gloves to handle it. Might be the reason it was locked in a container.
Wow, what a great specimen of a vintage Hot Rod! The HAMB detectives have a toughy if it was initially built that early. This will be interesting and Fun, Awesome Find!
That hood is a mystery, any chance that body was set back even further at some point ? The hammer work on the firewall also strange as it extends to the edge where it meets the now inop. fuel tank, usually not normal for distributor clearance & the like.
It looks damn close to a LOT of the cars in the book “the birth of hot rodding” sans the chevy tail lights. You know more details than I do, if you have a copy give it a flip and maybe it’ll jump out at you?
There was a well done shiny black oddball black roadster I've shared a few times that had a similar scoop...but it is certainly not this capsule...
I went through an entire sizable channeled Thread to no avail... What were the Dragstrips close to the area at the time @hudsonjoe49
Paging @jnaki this was a California Hotrod just unearthed...last on the road in 63...may have done drag duty as well... However the absence of Rollbar limits the classes of participation...ring any bells?
Hey S, That is a good find. I have only found this reddish roadster in my films. The owners are So Cal residents and could have sold it as the years went by and their builds went to other classes. But, 1963 still had the individual classes for street roadsters up to competition roadsters, however modified. by 1965-66, those little classes for the normal backyard builders were almost non existent. Jnaki But, if @hudsonjoe49 thinks this is it, he may have a digital HD copy for his files. HAPPY 22222 !
Thanks @jnaki, this Roadster found doesn't have a rollbar...doesn't mean it didn't though... I think @296ardun spent some time around California Drags at that time as well...who better to ask than those that were there...
Dissecting the paint; It looks as though the car was painted a cream color prior to it wearing metallic blue, then finally red. You can see cream colored paint on the rockers, quarter panel tire burn, cowl and firewall (the firewall apparently had a cover riveted on later, during the time it wore blue and red. Red paint; Due to the 58 Chevy taillights being masked off for the red paint job, I'd say the earliest the red paint could have been applied would be late '57 when the new 58 Chevy's hit the road. So the red paint was probably applied late 50's-early 60's. So this rules out the red 1954 Hot Rod cover car. Also, that car seems to show red upper door panel upholstery whereas this car is solid white. The car was apparently a runner in red paint as witnessed by the rear wheelwell paint burn from the tire. Blue paint; may go back to the early 50's. The '38 Saturday Evening Post may have been in the door since '38, or it easily could have been stuffed there in the 50's. We have to remember that people read like crazy in the pre TV era. It was common for folks to have a lot of books and retain their old magazines. As a kid in the mid 60's, I recall my Grandparents had hundreds of magazines back to the 40's, shelved in their basement. Colliers, Life, etc. Wish I had them now. The hood scoop was stylish early-mid 50's. Seen on many sports cars, the early fiberglass cars (Glaspar, Victress, etc), and some production cars (52-57ish); Stude, T-Bird, Nash, etc and a few Hot Rods-the Tony Lamasa ("Ricky Nelson") car comes to mind. Possibly this one was hand made via ripping a headlight housing such as 40 Chevy and adding a round steel rod 'grille'. I agree on the possibility of it running a Jimmy 6. It's too bad Don Montgomery (@Rockerhead) is no longer with us. He ran one in his 32 3/w in Socal and was a wealth of knowledge. Add to that the fact that guys who run unconventional setups always seem to know all the other guys running a like setup. The hood top has odd side edges. Any chance that was to accommodate hood sides (that are now missing)? As @Stogy mentioned, everyone needs to keep their eyes open looking at Socal drag photos of the 50's. That's a lot of tracks, Lions, San Gabriel, Colton, Fontana, San Fernando, Santa Ana...
@Hot Rods Ta Hell, I shared that Cover and realized later its actually a Deuce Roadster even thought it shares many similar attributes...further to that the fenders shown are actually rears which was mentioned later...I was going to pull the pic but it would make responses confusing... ...that all said we keep diggin' away in search of the pics from the good ole days
That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. I’m thinking it was built much earlier and most likely not channeled in it first life. There is blue on the hood, fenders and I’ll check if there is any on the headlights.
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