For US production the B-400 is the rarest p***enger vehicle if the sedan delivery is cl***ified as a commercial (don't know). Rarest commercial vehicle would have to be either the roadster pickup or the he****/ambulance but I do not know the production #s, nor do I know if these are truly production or coach-built models. Anyone ? Also, there are many coach-built 32 models plus the European and Australian production models. Also there were a few prototypes which have mostly disappeared. Rarest one I've seen in person is an Australian roadster ute; reportedly 5 remain. Basically it's the front of a phaeton with flat side panels having the beltline bead. There's a poor picture of one in the Tony Thacker book '32 Ford Deuce'.
On these oddball '32's: If memory serves, a (the?) '32 He**** was advertised in Hemmings awhile back...and also if memory is correct, SIA magazine, years ago, had a one page feature on a '32 schoolbus sitting out in a field. And then, there were a few coachbuilt '32's over in Europe, I am pretty sure a few cabrio's were done in Germany with those bulky tops the Germans did. Of course, most of this is off the slate if you are looking at lowest stock production in US.
...and so are the sedan deliveries. They are just tudors that some guys good with the shears at the factory converted. I bet no two are exactly the same. Ever notice the side-window blanks are not stamped as part of the quarter panel? All hand work. There was another supposed collection of "every '32 bodystyle" here in smalltown Rippey, Iowa. Rumor was the secretive old fella finally decided to sell and put an ad in the Des Moines Register advertising "32 Ford for sale". Maybe a decade or two ago. When people called asking what body style it was, he'd say what kind do you want? Another rumor was a bigtime upholstery guy from California heard about the collection and came to Iowa with a trailer. Drove aimlessly around with no town or owner information, just asking at gas stations and cafes. Finally found the fella and bought some cars. I went to the estate sale a year ago after the guy and his wife had died, but most of the good stuff was gone. I did manage to purchase a few NOS 18" wires with Ford tags on them for $13 each.
Probably most reasonable way of establishing a list of what counts as production rather than aftermarket would be the lists at the back of the December edition of the '32 ch***is parts book...p***enger, commercial, and BB body styles are listed with their number designations. No '32 he****s...only funeral vehicles listed are 1931's. Once you go beyond factory offerings, specialized and truck bodies exist in infinite variety. These all would have been bare ch***is sales to Ford, or in some cases a complete body reworked by aftermarket, and don't really fit in the "rare" spectrum.
If you want to play spell checker, its actually "convertible" not "convertable". See, you learned something about 'em too.
While on the topic, there is also a related question, that is, survival rates by body style. It would be fascinating to know the actual number per body still around. In terms of percentage, I bet the fordoor sedan is one of the rarer now, as they weren't saved in the same numbers, survivors were parted out, etc. Expressed as a percentage of original production, we'd probably have 10% (wild guess) of fordoors left; maybe 450% of the roadsters (well, not if you don't count repros but couldn't resist the comparison).
Roadster survival rate is clearly phenomenal...and, as you say, fourdoors are downright scarce. Even tudors, the largest production style, are pretty scarce. I guess they were all dumped off of their frames 50 years ago and replaced with those '29 roadster bodies... Sport coupes...gone. Pickups...rather scarce, Cabriolets...fair number of survivors, but seem not to stir up much interest. 3 windows have always been desireable, but seem to have a lower survival rate than roadsters...I think circle track racing got many, and they were harder than roadsters to bring back from savage east coast and midwestern chop&channel jobs.
In 1932, Ford built a very small number (less than 6 I believe) of "Boattail" roadsters. They, I believe were pretty much limited to "in the family" cars. Wonder how many survived and if any are around that are not museum pieces. I have seen two 35 Ford Boattail roadsters which were also a very limited build. One was at a NSRA event and the other was at a Concours event, the one at the NSRA event was modified by an engine upgrade whereas the one at the Concours event was a restored original. I found either to be very desirable but certainly out of my price range.
Yep, as you say, the Sport Coupes are never seen! Where did they go? As far as the Cabriolet goes, V-8 club guys love the later ones, like the 34 and 36 models, and the cabrio is a very popular Model A style in that group, but it does seem the '32 cab is kind of forgotten...if you can say that about any '32.
Thanks, Bruce, this is very helpful insight. My friend Steve Pennington owns a rare and beautiful '28 AA "screenside delivery" -- basically a huge roadster pickup. Seems like there might have been a few roadster BB's too, but probably long gone. And yeah, Neal East's "Old Cars Illustrated" was a terriffic magazine. Lots of stuff on old race cars.
The late Bob Slack of Atlanta GA had a good collection of 32 Fords ... ( some 33 and 34 Fords also ). I went to the estate auction. Saw a lot of Ford folks there. Speedy Bill of Speedway Motors, Spadaro was there ... some other well known Ford folks. Most everything was at market value and then some. I did buy a few parts and pieces ... Slack had at least 20 or more 32 Fords ... and a warehouse full of parts. The auction took a weekend. ( Friday, Saturday and Sunday )
Remember fender and running board prices from that auction?? A friend who was there quoted prices that nearly gave me a stroke, but I don't remember any more... If anyone thinks '32's are pricey, try ***embling one from parts!
Just a footnote to my post:The car pictured was in fact built back in the 1970's by Richie Willet from Malden M***achusetts.It started life as an Australian 32 Fordor.Richie cut it off at the B pillar,fabbed the divider,and grafted a Deuce roadster cowl and doors to the front.It was powered by a 2.8 Ford V-6 coupled to a C-4 auto trans. The color scheme was one of those,"love it or hate it" deals:The body was maroon with a silver reveal,black leather top,black fenders and emerald green wheels and striping.Actually it was a pretty striking color combination. The down side of the car was that the front seat back was vertical and could not be angled due to space limitations.It was very uncomfortable to drive or sit in for very long and if you were near six foot damn near impossible. Richie built another town car recently with much better proportions.
At the GNRS this year there were 2 restored German built '32s which have to be really rare,but what are the odds of them being in the same show together?
Funny Story ... A guy was bidding on a 20 vent hood side and a top ... Brown ... paid stupid money for it ... next item up ... with a Brown hood side and a top. He goes crazy $$$ for it. You would think it was the other side that matched the first side ... WRONG ... it was the same side ... just a different set ... He paid about $700 for two sets of hood halves ... that will not make full hood.
The book "Ford trucks since 1905" has a picture of a Roadster 1 1/2 ton BB side dump concrete truck complete with dual rear wheels. A fleet of them were used on a bridge project in New York. I guess they didn't pour much concrete in the winter back then. The driver is wearing a cl***ic 1930s fedora to keep the sun off his noggin.
ya'll mention australian,and german cars,were these shipped as a ch***ie and cowl to respective countries,or did henry have factories in each country? and thanks for ALL the info
I have a copy of "standard catalog of Light-Duty Ford Trucks 1905-2002" that I supposed was the same book -- but nooo. No roadster BBs shown. I did, however, find a AA screenside just like Steve's, and an honest-to-goodness '28 AA RPU (incorrectly identified as a '29). Neat. It's been my observation that New Yorkers have never been much on working outdoors when it snows. Or even GOING to work when it snows.
I have a 32 roadster pickup and i think i read somewhere that Henery built less than 600, not sure though. Bruce
was this guy into realestate ,or maybe own some salvage yards over there? went to a auction in the early 80s over there,guy had 34 phaeton,bodies woodies.jags all kind of parts .said he was just getting rid of some of his "junk" the name seems right,but that was a long time ago
There was a big auction in New Hampshire about a year ago, a guy who used to work for Ford (RM Auctions, Kensington, NH) can't remember the guys name, but a bunch of cool stuff, including a B-400. But it sure wasn't a complete collection of 32s. There is also the Pioneer Museum in Nebraska that has a bunch of 32s too. That guy seemed to buy one of everything, I think he invented the 'baggie'.
About 8 or 9 years ago I flew out to the LA Roadsters fathers day show. There were 2 roadster P/Us there that year. This one (before it was redone to this state) and another one. A sedan delivery too. I think it's there every year parked near that big tree.
I'm sure I've never seen a 1932 Sport Coupe. I've at least seen photos of several '32 B400's. I say the rarest would be the fewest item of a particular kind, that can be found at a given time.
Restrictions aside, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this one is rarer than most, if not all, of the models mentioned so far: Cris
cris, well any details on this one. looks like something hitler would have driven. Al. wanted. deuce pines winterfront.
Pinin Farina-bodied Model 18. Car was eventually restored; shown at AACA Hershey, Pebble Beach Concours, etc. Very sharp car, lots of cool little details. Cris
On distribution...total Ford factories were Rouge, Canada, England just becoming full factory in A times. Germay was beginning to increase local content in '32, but mostly still dependent on USA and England. There were large numbers of ***embly plants worldwide--some were big, I think with some local manufacture of some stuff, some were tiny operations and just uncrated knocked down cars and screwed them together. Supply from the three basic sources depended on trade alliances and taxes as much as location. All factories produced both LHD and RHD cars for the different markets and ***embly plants. USA export Fords came out of New Jersey plant.
This is my 32 Sport coupe.(the other 3W) 1 of 2169 V8s with 742 4 cyls for a total of 2911 all together. Not ungodly rare but you don't see very many now-a-days.
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