Steel ’32
Text by Mike Monk. Photography: Duwyne Aspeling
Source: This article was taken from the May 2011 issue of CAR Magazine
Living a dream in a hot-rodder’s holy grail – an all-metal Deuce Hi-Boy Roadster
Hot rods represent the pinnacle of Kustom Kulture – an art form not only in looks and finish, but in mechanical ingenuity too. From the beginning, when simply stripping-off fenders and running boards to lessen weight and changing the wheels and tyres – smaller than standard at the front to help achieve an aerodynamic “nose down” stance, and bigger at the rear to raise the gearing – was enough to satisfy young Americans’ need for speed, the movement has grown dramatically. From humble beginnings on dry lake beds, deserted highways and, later, drag strips of Southern California in the 1920s, through its emergence as a serious car culture coincident with the introduction of America’s Hot Rod magazine in 1948, today’s rolling automotive sculptures are created with almost limitless talent and imagination with global appeal.
Some models have come to epitomise particular eras in hot rod (or street rod, as later models are more commonly referred to) development, but one car stands out as an all-time benchmark for rodding devotees – the 1932 Ford Model B, which was described by renowned gangster Clyde Barrow as “… a dandy car… for sustained speed and freedom from trouble, the Ford has got every other car skinned”. Various body styles were offered but it was the “Little Deuce Coupe” that most captured the imagination, being the inspiration for a title song and cover design for the Beach Boys’ seventh record album, and having a starring role in the iconic movie American Graffiti. Such exposure and reverence are the stuff of legend.
To one South African, now retired in Cape Town, the Deuce – commonly believed to be so-named because of the “2” in ’32 – was a boyhood inspiration that ignited a growing automotive passion that, as a youngster, was partially sated by building models and dioramas of his dream car. In later life, owning a number of Ford Mustangs, Chevy Camaros and Corvettes kept the fervour burning but the Deuce’s desirability never dwindled. A chance meeting at a 2007 Custom Classics gathering led to the famed auto fabricator Jacques Mouton of West Coast Rod and Custom (west coast as in Cape Town, not California) being commissioned to source a body and chassis to turn a 40-year dream into reality. Ah, but not to build just any old ’32, but an even more iconic Hi-Boy Roadster, something along the lines of the ’30s Model A roadster that was the transport for comic book heroes Archie and Jughead.
The inspiration for a title song and album cover design for the Beach Boys
A suitable chassis was located in Port Elizabeth and a glass fibre body was obtained, so parts sourcing began apace with most of the suspension parts being ordered from Deuce specialist company Speedway 32 in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
The original ’32 was the first car to be offered with a mass-produced V8 engine, the immortal “flathead”, which is a story in itself, but in the rodding world “anything goes”. A standard 350 ci (5 735 cm3) small-block Chevy V8 was bought locally and fettled into top condition along with a Turbo 350 automatic transmission, and a Borg Warner diff from a Chevy Nomad was fitted with a 2,92:1 ratio. The rolling chassis began to take shape…
Then, out of the blue, an all-steel body became available and the decision was immediately taken to buy the rare find and transfer all the parts from the glass fibre car. Made from 19-gauge zinc-coated steel, the metal body is as near authentic as can be. Details include front and rear spreader bars made from stainless steel, a four-inch drop I-beam front axle with Curtis-style radius rods and tube dampers. Nostalgic touches include the classic upright radiator – unique to the ’32 – period Repop stainless steel 10-inch headlamps and ’50s Pontiac rear lights. Original-style door hinges are fabricated from stainless steel and bitumen-based Acoustex sound deadening material is used in the body panels. The fully-adjustable steel bench seat frame has real steel springs and all upholstery is in hand-crafted tan leather with matching 100 per cent wool carpeting from Audi. The boot is fully upholstered and the battery box is made from polyurethane to prevent rust. A 12-gallon (55-litre) fuel tank is fitted.
The dash is a classic ’40s design made from carbon fibre with a polished aluminium instrument panel that incorporates vintage-style Stewart Warner gauges for temperature, fuel, speed, volts and oil pressure. Steering is via a reduced-diameter two-spoke, cream-coloured ’40 Ford wheel mounted on a tilt column, which protrudes from the lower bulkhead in-between the floor-mounted brake and upper-hinged accelerator pedals. There is a foot-operated dipswitch, too. A Lokar shifter topped with a skull knob selects the three gears.
With the body well and truly organised, the build programme then got into speed freak mode. A Shotgun Bill tunnel ram air intake feeding a pair of 500 CFM Edelbrock carburettors was fitted to the motor to help deliver around 300 horsepower (225 kW). Electrics include a GM one-wire alternator, a Mallory distributor and an MSD coil. A Griffin radiator is supplemented with an electric fan to keep the coolant cool.
Wilwood disc brakes provide the stopping power and the cross-steering system uses a Vega box. Wheels are 18-inch Foose Nitrous II hewn-from-billet rims shod with 235/35 BF Goodrich tyres. The rear axle is located by ladder bars with Carrera coil-over dampers and carries BMW disc brakes with Honda calipers (to allow for a handbrake). Matching 20-inch wheels are shod with Goodrich 295/45 rubber, a trial-and-error choice after two other different sized sets simply did not look right. And looking right is part of the show… Devoid of engine covers, fenders and running boards, the Deuce looks stunning in its deep lustre Posie’s Red paintwork, set off by the exposed painted and
The sun glints off the double-barrel cannon-sized air intakes polished engine and polished aluminium wheels.
Release the door from the inside – there are no outer handles to spoil the smooth panel work – and step inside into a rodder’s paradise. You sit slightly skew – the cockpit tapers inwards at waist and foot levels – but the view through or over (depends how tall you are) the adjustable stainless steel-framed windscreen sets the pulses racing as the sun glints off the double-barrel cannon-sized air intakes. The motor fires immediately and the “bent-four” rumble sets the car rockin’ and rollin’…
Even with a metal body, the roadster weighs a modest 1 020 kg and it sets off with rapid and un-fussed ease. The ride is firm (but not uncomfortably so, and there is only modest scuttle shake – surprising, given the relative lack of inherent rigidity – but it sure feels alive and simply waiting to “kick ass”. Flatten the accelerator and the exhaust cracks loud through the twin Powerflow straight-through “lake” pipes and the ‘box slips through the gears with near-imperceptible ease. With elbow resting on the door and wind in the hair, cruisin’ in a Deuce brings a smile to the faces of all who ride in it or watch it pass by.
As the Beach Boys lyrics put it, “When something comes up to me it don’t even try, ’cause if it had a set of wings, man, I know she can fly”.
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