Hot Rods The tale of two '32 roadsters

I thought that I would start this thread to show a little work that has been going on over the past year. To start off, almost a year ago, we decided to do some major work on our roadster. The paint was failing on the car, and I hardly drove it during 2013 because I had become so frustrated with it. The hood never fit that great on the car either, which was only my fault, so I wanted to fix that as well. As many on here know, I was able to get Coker Tire to do a run of the 7.00-18 tire as well, so I finally had the rear tire that I always wanted for that car. I had grown to not care for the 18x5.5” wheel on the rear, and decided to run some of TV’s aluminum Divcos instead.

Toward the end of 2013, we decided to have the car repainted by our friend Darryl, who does impeccable work. To get the car ready, I started with the hood by using new hood tops, cut wedges out of each top, and metal finished everything. We stripped the car down, and sent it to California in early 2014. Darryl has had a Brookville roadster project on a So-Cal chassis that has been sitting for a few years because he doesn’t have the spare time to work on it. We arrived at the idea of being able to help each other out, and soon his project was on its way to Michigan….which is where the photos start. For those who followed the #hollenbeck32 build on Instagram, this is the collection of those photos.



As mentioned, Darryl’s car sat on a So-Cal step boxed frame, but it had been set up for a hemi, auto trans, and had a ladder bar rear suspension. Besides the need to change mounts to accommodate a small block and a T5, we felt the craftsmanship on that frame wasn’t up to par for what this car needed to be. So, we stripped the car, put the frame in the jig, and proceeded to cut every crossmember out of the frame.




We wanted the car to have a little more character/soul/whatever you want to call it. That said, we knew we wanted very little off-the-shelf parts on it. The front crossmember got replaced with a custom flattened crossmember that Dan made from scratch. The rear crossmember got replaced with an original Model A crossmember, located properly to use a ’40 rearend. The tubular x-member got replaced with a trimmed original ’40 x-member.






We cut off the previously fabricated side engine mounts, and I started fresh with some new custom made side mounts that use the standard flathead rubber biscuits. The trans got a simple removable bracket that spanned the x-member.

 

The front suspension was replaced with a Greg Haynes’ dropped and drilled original ’32 axle, Eaton Detroit Springs reproduction ’32 front spring (reversed main leaf, and dearched), and a split ’33-34 wishbone with my bungs installed.






The frontend also got a pair of NOS roundback spindles, and we dropped the steering arms to get the tie rod under the wishbone. They’re steered by a vega box.




I wanted to clean up the appearance of the front suspension, so we decided to mount the shocks behind the axle. I machined up some new through bungs for the So-Cal shorty upper mounts, and made some tabs to weld onto the wishbone for the lower mounts. Both lower mounts are in double shear, and the passenger mount also includes the mount for the panhard bar.






The rearend got a different pair of ’40 axle bells to start fresh. The original plan was to use ’35-36 wishbones, but they were going to hang too low, so we decided to move some ’40 wishbones inboard to clear the frame rails. Since it was open drive for the T5, I built a torque arm out of a ’46 wishbone to take the torque load off of the ’40 wishbones. Eaton Detroit Springs made a reproduction T spring, but for 2 ¼” width.

 

The shock brackets were custom made to keep the shocks as high as we could to minimize their exposure from the rear. I also made a panhard to tie into the torque arm, as it was already in a convenient location.




Before the frame came out of the jig, we wanted to build the exhaust system since the jig kept everything at a convenient work angle. It’s 2” stainless, with mandrel bends and flanges from Columbia River Mandrel Bending. It was a huge exercise to make sure nothing hung down below the frame, and we worked hard to make sure nothing did.









At this point, the car came down to my house for some of the detail work. I test fit the fuel tank to confirm we had a good look from kicking up the rear rails ¾”. I stretched a ’35 Ford steering drop to hold a Limeworks column at this time too.

 

You could tell we had a humid summer, and at this point we stripped the car again to get the frame blasted clean.








The axle was blasted as well to make the polished Rodsville center section look more like it was cast. I also cut the opposing tabs off of the rear cover to give it an early look. It was disassembled, and sent off to Hot Rod Works for a complete build with slide-in axles.




At this point, the car started to go back together. I made a new flat trunk floor for the space required for the exhaust, crossmember, and rear axle. I also made a removable cover for the spring u-bolts. That all set on new subrail risers to provide the flat foundation. After that, we made a body brace that also tied into the b-post for some more rigidity to the body. I also made a mount for the battery tray, since it was a great spot to locate it in the trunk.

 

Darryl wanted to mount the grill shell lower so that the line coming off of the cowl continued through the hood. If you look at an original ’32, the hood doesn’t fall at the same rate as the cowl. That equated to lowering the shell around ½”. To keep the hoodsides located in the stock position, we had to take wedges out of the hoodtops, and metal finish them after welding them back together. During that time, I also modified an original ’32 4 cylinder bar for the BLC lights going on the car.








The rear end came back from Hot Rod Works, so I got to doing some final assembly on the chassis.

 

We decided to go with a chopped and leaned stock style windshield. The frame ended up chopped 3”, with stanchions chopped 3 3/8” to tighten the windshield up to the cowl. I leaned it whole thing back 10 degrees to make the windshield parallel to the swept back front door gap.





I know I’m missing some photos of the detail work toward the end, but to recap….Dan made the glovebox doors and openings in the dash. I made the hinges and latches to make everything work. This dash had already been stretched 2” to accommodate the Stewart Warner “Master” panel, which allowed the gloveboxes to look proportionally better. Chris Schlaff built the Stewart Warner Police speedometer to match Darryl’s other small block logo gauges, and I made a new inlay so that the panel only had 5 gauges instead of the busy 8 that it original had. I also built the one-piece steel front floor to finish off the inside of the car too. You can also see that we installed a ’40 park brake lever under the dash for a clean and traditional system.






And finally, some shots of the car as it left for California. The masking tape top was just a rough shot, so don’t take the window openings too serious. I know that they’ll be parallel or heading down to the door tops when it’s actually made.

 

Man,that is some beautiful work,,I'm subscribed! HRP

 

What a piece of art !! You are certainly talented, thaks for sharing

 

D A M N * N I C E build !!!!!

 

Great thread!!!!!

 

So that wrapped up the work on Darryl's car. I'll get the photos together of the new hood that I did on my car, and all of the paint work that Darryl did in the next day or so.


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Nice work! and it's all about the details..........I've been stalking your build over on Instagram.

Chris

 

I think you nailed it!

 

Way nice work.I like the headlight bar,looks real clean.

 

I enjoyed seeing 'em come together on Instagram. Great work as always by both parties.

 

Cory,

Beautiful job man. You do amazing work and have a great eye for detail.

Mike

 

Very nice, thankyou for sharing. Did you have to alter the firewall much around the bell housing?

 

Cory, thanks for the excellent write up on Darryl's roadster. I have been following on FB but this gives me a much better narrative on how you did the transformation from SO-CAL to the Cory/Dan style. You have a great future in this sport. I will be in the Bay Area for Christmas and hopefully have a look at the real thing.

 

Great work as always, Cory. You and the father-in-law work well together. Looking forward to seeing your car finished up. RonO

 

Damn nice work you've done!

 

Really like the "Police special" 150mph speedometer.

 

looks great doing a good job thanks for sharing.

 

Cory (@CTaulbert) -

I've been following the build of Darryl (@hollenbeck32) & Terri (@Born a HotRodGal) Hollenbeck's Deuce roadster on facebook/Instagram ... but this thread is much more comprehensive!

Thanks for showcasing your (& Dan Webb's) talents / craftsmanship here on the H.A.M.B. ... much appreciated!

Looking forward to seeing the "magic" that Darryl has performed on your Deuce roadster!

 

Thanks for the comprehensive walk through the build.

 

Very nice build Cory !

 

WOW !!! Very beautiful !!!

 

Cool roadster

 

i might have missed it but did you hammer form the glove boxes?

 

speechless.

 

RAD !