Hot Rods The EUROPEAN DEUCE thread

I did not go back through this thread and also did not find a definitive answer here:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/32-ford-us-vs-uk.38551/

Curious as to the RHD/LHD issue. Were some European cars LHD as the U.S. cars?
Did all the "knock down" cars get RHD?

57snrf
I sure am enjoying this thread, it really broadens my enthusiasm for the 32 Ford.

 

Actually quite a common conversion done on many vintage cars in France in the 1930,s 40,s 50,s 60,s. Be it a sedan or a phaeton. This was to get the car in a much lower registration tax cl***. Lots of sedans where butchered with a 5th door. This 1932 Ford in Zwitserland looks like a nice conversion. Done quite a few restorations on these vintage French conversions, ( Renault, Peugeot, Citroen ) i allways rebuilt back to a normal vintage sedan body.

 

here is some literature from the UK on '32s. Unfortunately the front and rear cover have some damage but the inside hasn't suffered at all. The pictures don't so the colours of the brochure any justice at all, the colours are really bright in real life.

I haven't noticed this before but its interesting that the side panels/hood on the 3w is different from the side panels/hood of every other car in the brochure.

 

Great new car prices there Weemark , since the Brexit the British pound has gone down a little. Where can i buy one of each ? ( for starters )

 

all you have to do is invent a time machine then you can buy all you want at these prices

 

Wow Weemark! Never seen the British version of that brochure. I have the same one, but in French. Some differences, such as the background of the '32 cabriolet. Also, the back cover says "4" instead of "V8"!

 

England and Ireland were driving on the "wrong" side of the road; so the factories in these two countries produced RHD cars. But the 8-9 other European countries produced LHD cars... as far as I know.

 

From Germany

 

The only conversion I've seen in France where done during WWII for gas coupons purpose, easily done by cutting a car body in half. I've never seen a delivery conversion but they were a lot of local coachbuild deliveries or pickups, usually nicely done and very different from a production car.
On the other hand you had almost all the manufacturers producing deliveries on all their sedans and phaeton bodies with lift or drop gate, or split gate. Those are usually "restored" to the family kind of sedans and phaetons for added resale value.
After the war it was more of a farmer thing to convert cars to use as tractors or crude delivery vehicle on pre war cars to go to the local farmers market.

 

Details of 2 official Ford brochures mentioned above: England (left) and France (right). Note different headlights etc.

 

As many countries in Europe had no Ford factory of their own they would import from either France, Germany or England. The Dagenham plant in England made LHD cars as well, for export.

 

Good read here.
http://bringatrailer.com/2016/05/12/henrys-first-export-1932-ford-model-y-project/

Also here
http://www.fordyandcmodelregister.co.uk/Pages/AboutCars/ModelIdentification.html

 

Both England and Germany had factories, but I don't think France did. I think their facility was considered an ***embly plant. Building was saved from demolition in 2014, as seen in this movie:

 

From Sweden

 

Chausson from 1935 was stamping Ford bodies, prior to that being in Asnieres or Bordeaux I think all the stampings were foreign.

 

Yes, pretty sure stamping was British.
Speaking of the UK:

 

Project car from the UK

 

This is cool:
https://blog.hemmings.com/index.php...1932-ford-model-18-drophead-coupe-by-carlton/

 

Interesting model.
And from Denmark:

 

looks very nice any more photos of it

 

That one has been seen multiple time - look for posts #627, #686 and older posts.

 

From Denmark

 

Back in the day, Denmark again (I think)

 

Used to have this one, couple off years ago. Norway

 

Thanks. Since the car features "regular" doors, I imagine it was built in North America?

 

From Switzerland

 

Here's a couple of photos copied from the Facebook page Hot Rods and Customs. The Tudor is Mike Key's rod in it's original guise. I posted a couple of photos of it in one of my earlier replies after it had been rebuilt two-tone with the hub-capper wheels

 

Thanks Dave.
Below: Gunnar Lindstrom (Sweden) still owns this Fordor. Here is is during the '60s

 

From Norway: 1933 "Deuce" Tudor survivor. Compared to the '32, notice the straight headlight bar & different bumper

 

Period adverti*****t for UK's Model 14 ('33-34 "Deuce")