A spin on a 32 Roadster (The Piata)

That's awesome.I wouldn't change much,either.Love the history,and remember a lot of cars built this way from the little books,true to the late 40s,early 50s.Wish it was mine,too..thanks for posting,enjoy it

 

I agree. There is some serious history there. Very cool to see.

 

I'm so glad to see this car in someones hands that appreciates its history. My dad is a really good friend of Mike's and I remember him showing me pictures of the car when he lived here in Ohio. Unfortunately I only got to see the pictures of it and never had the chance to see it in person before he sold it.

There were a lot of haters and trash talkers that bashed that car and of course there were the typical "I can't believe they did that to a 32" idiots around here too. I've always liked that car because its different and because it represents the other side of post-war hot rodding that not to many people will admit to happening...

 

PM barnfindT. He did a lot of research on that when it came up for sale. He talked with some people that knew alot of the history.

Jeff

 

Thank you, I have contacted him just waiting for the reply

Flamin' If you can ever get hands on the pics you would make my year.

 

That's the story I got too, I'm sure if you wanted to talk to Mike M about it I could get you in-touch with him. I really dig the car, was really close to buying it from Darrell. And I'm glad you have it. It's a tribute to the way it was done and creativity the builders went through. It's a great piece of history!

I'll continue to see if I can find any history or pictures in the Denver area.

And I'm really impressed that the car drove from NE to AZ, that is simply awesome!

 

Very cool! Sounds like you will appreciate it for what it is.

If you get a chance- get a copy of "Cool Cars-Square Roll Bars", there are tons of pics of old hotrods from New England done up in that style.

 

Barn Find T If you could get me Mike's info when you get a chance it would be greatly appreciated!!

 

Feakin' BITCHIN! I like that little buggy, very cool! More detail pics!!

 

That huge hole in the pass side of the hood top is for radiator cap access, isn't it? Noticed how the louver row stops wellback from it so it there before the slots were punched I imagine, designed in so to speak.
Once saw an old rod 32 3W with abig hole in the quarter panel with a hard wire with a loop in the end sticking out... the release for the rumble lid> It takes all kinds.

All in all, love the car, love the story, enjoy your piece of American car history, clean it up, paint it, make up a new hood top for "formal" occassions, or leave it as is forever. Great find, kiss your wife for all of us for being such a loving woman!

 

awesome car!!!!

 

Bitchin' car! I love it!

 

I have to say, when you described it I had my reservations! I really dig it- I love the odd ball, channelled cars like that.

Great that it found an owner who appreciates it too!

Have fun with it.

Adam F

 

Man, that is a cool car. I dig the history and probably would just clean it up a bit and maintain it. But I would be tempted to carefully replace the doors and save those to put back on later if desired for historical sake. Very, very cool car no matter what.

 

Neat little quirky sports rod! Please keep us posted! Thanks

 

I have thought of re-doing it at times. I can't do it though, yeah it could be brought back to an original 32 roadster with a lot of fab work but I would rather sell it and buy a 32 body and do it myself if I ever have the need for a different style.
<O</O
I forgot to add that it has all aluminum floor pans and firewall<O</O
<O</O

The hole in the hood is for the rad cap and there is one in the louvers of the drives side for the dipstick. Kind of cool I can check the oil and replace without touching the hood. I like they built function into the design.

<O</OI did have a question for the flathead guys out there. I have been running 30 non-detergent. I read somewhere that after break in I should switch to 10-40 or 20-50, is this true. Also I need to lean out the 97 because it's running very rich right now. There is Hesitation when I mash the pedal down. I'm at an altitude of 4500 ft any suggestions on what a good starting point would be.

<O</OThanks for sharing you thought and comments, I do appreciate it.
<O</O
<O</O
Jesse <O</O

 

I wanna see the car, can you drive into town today? like over to in front of Hastings, around 5 or so?

I'll see if I can get Steve to bring his cabriolet out...he'd probably like to see it to. And Bill might be there with his roadster (he started building it around 1961). And maybe we can get Robbie to stop by a bit later in his 3 window.

 

I can be there at 5:30.

 

great, see you there! I'll tell the guys

 

This little car is very cool, It seems to have a European sports car influence. It is good that you intend to keep it as it is, as you say it would be a shame to change it. It may not be to everyone's taste but what car is?. As they say "you can please some of the people some of the time but you can't pleas all of the people all of the time".

 

Mike call that car Piata because that was the name in the Mechanics ilistrated magazine he had. About a 1954 issue I believe. Haven't seen Mike yet this year but he'll show up shortly when the shut down the Silveton train.

 

Push starts pretty easily.

Good meeting you Jesse, we sat around sonic BSing till about 10

 

LOL, thanks squirrel for the push! You guys were great and I had a good time. I learn so much about the car from you guys. They can look at it and tell where almost every part came from, I was very impressed. It went down hill from the push start though. Once you left the car just died for no reason. Then we pushed started it 15 more times to keep it going. The car would die if I turned the lights on and had about 20% power. I used a "headlamp flashlight" over the actual headlight and a surefire strapped to the right fender. My buddy followed me home with hazards on and I never could get out of second. We never got over 30mph. It back fired a few times. Thanks to the soldiers that stopped to help push, we were getting tired. Im pretty sure I will fix the ignition like you guys were saying. I think it is shot unless its the generator. I will trouble shoot next week.

symptoms are: battery dead as soon as I turn car off, car will run once push started but will back fire here and there and if i try to turn head lights on the car will die. And no joke i was at 20% power and less at times. I had to ride the clutch to keep rpms up and not over load the car or it would die. Rough night and it was all fun

Edit: Gen was shot replaced and off I went!

 

aahhh, the joys of owning an old hotrod. glad you made it home in one piece.

 

that thing is freeking awesome! Sounds like your charging system died. Its happened to me a few times as well. New regulator will probably fix the problem, if the generator is in decent shape.


Im totally jelous of that car!

 

WOW. old hot rods is what this site is about and you sure have a genuine survivour.
you did good and best of all, you know and appreciate what you got. those who dont like it maybe should join a street rod site. lol.

 

Neat car.
Sounds like your generator or regulator or battery is no good or there is a bad connection somewhere.
Basically the battery is getting flatter and flatter until there is no juice left to keep the ignition going. Switching lights on etc. just makes it worse.
I'd be charging the battery and checking the generator.

Mart.

 

It's the car reaching out to bond with you. Sounds like you've got a great future together...

Great little car.

 

Daylight and a volt meter will help get it figured out. I shoulda gave you my phone number, sorry!

 

No big deal I was laughing the whole way home. For some reason even breaking down was kinda fun or maybe funny