The John Mearns ’32 Coupe

Those of you that have been following along, probably already know that the Randy Cannarozzi ’29 is just about done. In fact, as I type this the car is being loaded on a trailer and sent off to the upholstery shop. It’s absence has left the shop pretty empty and Tardel’s brain thinking about what’s next. There is, of course, plenty of detail work yet to be done to Randy’s roadster, but… out of sight, out of mind. And something needs to fill the void – right?

Well, the next project on the Rex Rod & Chassis appointment list is John Mearn’s ’32 coupe. It’s a car that John has been thinking about for some time now and plenty of VERY talented hands have already touched it. Jeb Scolman did quite a bit of metal work on what was once a very rough body and Bobby Walden got most of the chassis set up. It came to us bolted together as a roller, still needing some metal work as well as maybe a tweak here and there on the chassis.

The body is already off to the sand blaster, which leaves us with the bare chassis and a great starting point for a build thread. So, here we go…

The end game here is something very different than what Tardel built for Randy Cannarozzi. For all intents and purposes, Randy’s car is a period piece that dates to around 1948 or so in just about every detail.  John’s car, on the other hand, is aiming to be a “traditionally styled” hot rod built using some vintage detailing, but also with some contemporary components to aid in long-term and effortless drivability.

The first clue to all of this is the Tremec 5-speed backing the later 401-inch Buick Nailhead. The motor was built by Tom Branch (I love that guy) using parts and recommendations from the fellas at Centerville Auto Repair. John was hell bent on running the easy going four-barrel, but Keith and I quickly put that shit to bed after a solid 24-hours of making fun of his air cleaner options. Stromberg has been called and real carburation is already on the way along with a log style intake. More on all of that later…

In any case, all of this is mounted in a chassis that Bobby Walden put together. My first impression was, “Wow, cool street rod platform bro!” but the more I looked at it, the more I began to appreciate it. I don’t know Bobby all that well at all, but I can tell you he is one talented, talented guy. Every bracket on this frame is perfect and every hole is well attended too. It’s just a very professional platform built by a guy that very obviously knows what he’s doing.

Lets start with the perimeter. They are original ’32 rails that Bobby step boxed. He then added a tubular k-member flanked by model-a front and rear crossmembers. Out back there is a quick change by Speedway Engineering and out front there is a typical So-Cal dropped axle. It’s in between all this stuff where the magic is… A couple of things really impressed me:

1. Check out the gracefully formed hairpins up front. The tiny but beautifully crafted gussets on the frame end just slay me.

2. Now, look at the motor mounts. Those are Chevy mounts using an adaptor plate to mount the Nailhead – Bonneville race car style.

3. From here, it would make sense to check out the tranny mount. It’s completely adjustable and incredibly well thought out. You wanna run another GM motor that places the tranny two-inches further rearward? No sweat man.

4. Oh, and check out the ’36 wishbones out back. I’m not even real sure how or why Bobby did what he did there. I can, however, tell you that it’s just plain art. The sweep into the spring perches… oh man…

I could go on and list more details, but I’ll let the photos do most of the writing for me. Obviously, this frame is pretty far from a “typical” Tardel build. There are a lot of things here that could be perceived as “street roddy” (Vega cross-steer for one), but none of those things will be really focusable once the car is complete. The vision here, at least for now, is a fully hooded ’32 coupe painted in a timeless Ford color with eyes on a sinister stance and feel. Styling will hint at an early race car, but driveability will be the ultimate goal.

This is gonna be a fun one… and while we might be a few weeks off from consistent updates to this build thread, stay tuned – cuz updates will come fast once Tardel gets going.

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