History Dick Kraft / Bronson family 32 roadster undergoes transformation back to 1951

First off, a little background is in order for those of you who do not know the history of this car...

My late grandfather (and my namesake) Bill Bronson purchased this 32 Roadster in October of 1953. It was given away at the 1951 Indianapolis Auto Show at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. It was formally owned and raced by the late Dick Kraft.


Photo used as my avatar is of my late father Larry at age 12 at my late grandfather, Bill. August - 1957. (Note: for additional info on the dragster, see link in my signature below)

I had the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Kraft on several occations about the car before his passing earlier this year and the story of how the car came to be given away goes something like this.

Pre-Bronson History
Dick was friends with Ralph Potter. Ralph and his wife worked at Long Beach Douglas Aircraft during WWII. Later, they would own Potters Muffler shop on Pennsylvanie Ave in Indy. Ralph was a big car show promoter in the Midwest in the early 1950's.
Potter contacted Kraft about locating a 'nice' car to give away to promote his 2nd annual Indianapolis Auto Show. While the first annual show had gone well, he thought a give away car would be a way to bring more success to the event.
Kraft located this 32 Roadster in the LA times Antiquest and Classifieds section for sale and recognized it as one he had raced in 1948 with a Winfield Cam.
While Dick could not remember the owners name, he did recall that he worked for the then infant Hot Rod magazine. Dick recalled that this was the last 32 he raced (he preferred 24 T's due to their lower weight).
A deal was struck for $2500 for the car and Mr. Potters son, Jr. Potter, drove the car back to Indiana.
Bronson History
The car was won by a gentleman in Kokomo, IN. My Grandfather, who had been in attendance at the 1951 show as a spectator, pursued the car heavily and was able to purchase it in October of 1953. He did very little to change the car until 1966 when the car was painted, fenders and Chrysler wire wheels were added. A new upholstery was inserted in 1973. While he picked out the material for the interior and for the lining of the Carson Top, sadly he died suddenly before being able to see it completed.
After my Grandfathers passing, my late father, Larry, did little to no updates on the car. He just enjoyed taking it to local car shows in the midwest. Some of my earliest memories are riding with my sister in the rumble seat. It was always a family event for us to go to shows.
After my fathers passing in 1992, until very recently, the only updates I had completed are to replace the copper fuel line with safer steel line and putting a newer Mallory distributor for better reliablity.
The laquer paint is over 40 years old and is starting to show its age with a few chips here and there, but I have no plans on updating it any time soon. It simply draws too much of a crowd the way it is and I dont want to loose that.



I have had the idea to take make a few changes to the car for several years, but it holds as much centinmental value to me for being my Grandfathers as it does for being formally owned and raced by Mr. Kraft so changing anything is alot for me.

In August of this year, I met up with Tom Culbertson of Culbertson's Hot Rods of Indy. Tom is a member of the Road Rockets Car Club who put on the 62 Motorama show held in conjunction with the Indy World of Wheels each February. I decided to propose an idea to Tom to get his thoughts...would he be interested in transforming the roadster back to its
1951 configuration and we would re-create the display from when it was given away 59 years ago. The goal was to remove the fenders, but not change anything about the body that could not be reversed in a weekends time. He quickly agreed.


See above photo from 1951 show program. Goal is to recreate the display complete with trophys and backdrop.


Last Friday I dropped the car off at Tom's shop. I got a call Saturday morning to tell me it was done






Special thanks to John (MercDeuceMan), Dustin (VonDust), and Tom for all their help in getting this done.

I will post pics of the display and setup after the show in February of 2010.

BTW...I recently posted this 'hot rods of the dry lakes area' social group, but it was suggested that it need to be posted on the main board as well.

Hope you Enjoy
Bill Bronson
Tipton, IN
3rd Gen Hot Rodder

 

This is great history and superb documentation! Is their a young Bronson to handle the ownership for the next generation?

 

Great story/history on the car. It looks right with the fenders off. Very nice roadster, keep that one in the family.

 

Thanks for your kind comments. No children for the wife and I, but we have a few nephews (and a neice) who have shown some interest, so we will just have to see...

 

Great story Bill, and the nephew looks great in the dragster ! Jim

 

WOW, that is great!! Keeping it alive, just fantastic, best of luck and keep it going.-MIKE

 

nice

 

Great story, great car, and great pics! Thanks for posting this!
You mentioned that before the car went to Indiana, Dick Kraft purchased the car via a classified ad in the L.A. Times for $2500. Wow! That would have been a huge amount for a hot rod, back in '53. To put that sum in perspective, 2500 1953 dollars could bought have a brand new Buick or Olds back then, or even a low or mid level Packlard!

Mart3406
===============

 

It is a lot like people paying 30-40K for a well done desirable hot rod now, when you could go and purchase a brand new Buick (no Olds or Packards now) for that.

IMHO, it shows that the car car was built very well in its time and was desirable then too, especially with racing heritage.

Great story and thanks for sharing!

 

Check out the look in this young fella's eyes. Got the look of a tough competitor.

 

The roadster looks great!! Are you going to leave the rear frame horn covers on? How about the lettering? That car couldn't have a better home than with Billy. Your father looking down on you would be very proud. Grandpa too. I get kind of teary eyed even writing this.

 

Thank you all for the kind comments above. (Cabrolethiboy, I really value your opinion and I was concerned what you might think because I know you want me to keep the Indiana history alive in the car as well, so I was very happy to read the post above).

Yes, the rear frame horns will be coming off. Regarding the lettering on the car, I am looking to get that done as well. Definately want to use a non-invasive method on the paint.

Also, I am looking to purchase a original (not aftermarket) rear spreader bar if anybody has one for sale, please PM me and let me know.

 

Wow, what a cool story! Thanks for taking the time to post it, Bill...


Malcolm

 

Thanks for the history and pictures. I love it.

 

Wow that would of been hard to do that.I loved seeing this car at Fairmont.What year were the fenders put on?The best thing is you can always put the fenders back on.Can't wait to see it in 2010.

 

Steve,
Bill truely "gets it". We had several conversations about doing this to the roadster. Once we knew Bill had made the decision to convert the car back to it's original configuration we couldn't wait to get our hands on it.
I went to the store and got a box of Zip Bags. When I got to the shop, it felt a little strange to begin wrenching on the car. It was like Bill Sr. and Larry were there watching us taking the car back in time. We all felt it an honor for Bill to entrust a group of hotrodders with such a family heirloom.
We carefully Zip bagged and identified all of the hardware we removed by location on the car for future reference.
At first I wasn't sure we were doing the right thing. When Bill and Mike arrived to pick up the car the expressions on both of their faces reinforced we had made the right choice.

You had asked about the splash aprons. We decided to bolt them back on at the time. Bill can remove them once he finds a suitable spreader bar.

The car really looks good. No doubt about it, the car has the look, feel and even the smell of an old original hotrod

 

Great stuff. Looks great as a Hiboy.

 

Nice little write-up Bill... It was neat when I was underneath the car unbolting everything, I noticed alot of old chrome on the suspension (shocks, backing plates, steering box, ect.) that was hidden when it had the fenders on. Back in its day, that car was the cream of the crop... and still is.

 

And the page turns with the sound of gears and tires crying for releaf of the gas peddel lifting. well done sir

 

Seriously wonderful thread. How neat that it has been returned to the show winning (give away) configuration. I agree that it had to be the cream of the crop when it was purchased for the giveaway. There is history there that doesn't have to be re-created....it never left.

Frank

 

Great story!!----Is this the same Dick Kraft that was in the L.A. area during 1950--1953 era???----Reason I ask is, while in USN in 1951, I was thumbing a ride to get home & this guy picks me up in a neat lowered, semi custom & conversation was hot rods & customs, I still remember that his name was Dick Kraft!!---------Just wondering!!!---------Don

 

Don, probably was the same Dick Kraft. Dick is most known for creating what most consider to be the first rail car, called The Bug. Probably the most famous photo of him is the one below which I believe was taken in Santa Anna in 1950.


It is not often that you get to converse with one of your heros, but I was blessed to have that opportunity. Dick was a great guy. Loved to hear his stories about his life. More than just the cars, he loved to talk about the merchant marines, growing up on the orchard, hanging out with Jack McGrath and the Potvin Bros, etc...
In one of the last phone conversations we had, he called me a 'good friend'. I will always cherish that.

 

Great story, that's a whole new level of cool.

 

This is great news. I shot many pictures of the Kraft Roadster when you brought it to the James Dean Run in 2008. I had a very tough time getting a clean shot of it with everyone around it. I'm currently reworking the historical customs page of the website and Kraft Roadster has been added. Thanks for bringing this unique piece of history back.

Here it is in the fall of 2008

 

Also, is that the same Ralph Potter who had USAC sprint cars and midgets?

 

Great Story and great car!!! Love it!

 

Great family story....NEVER let that car go to anyone but family.

 

Well done Mr. Bronson. Thanks for seeing the big "HOT ROD" picture.

 

Nothing better on Hamb than a complete story like this with all the rich History to go with it. Total enjoyment in reading it . Thanks so much for posting it .