Hot Rods Wht is the story with these roadster bodies?

They made 2 black ones that sold right away.

 

For anyone that says Deuce highboys are belly button cars, my question is, why are 99% of them wrong then? Look at McMullen's '32 and Barry Lobeck's or Chapouris' Limefire and tell me anyone can build a car. If I see one more '32 with pro-street rubber, or the same size tires all the way around or '80's directional wheels I'm gonna shit. Some people can build a car and some can't. Period.

 

Wow pretty self righteous thinking that the only way a car can be properly built is in a style you like.

 

I was kind of thinking the same thing. Hell a car is just nutz n bolts. Not everyone who screws one together is going to do it to my liking but end of the day its just nutz n bolts and not that hard to put one together.

Now back to the question at hand. I have not seen an original set of Ford prints for the deuce and I cannot tell you what the factory tolerances were. But I can say that I have seen my fair share of old fords and they were not fit and finished as well as we think that they should be. They were affordable cars for the blue collar workers and not coach built.

As far as the cars on the original pic I am not sure what the cost is but if I had a deuce budget so what I say may be moot but perhaps for someone who is more destination than trip oriented they are a good deal. .

 

one of my favorites. my sheep like it,too.

 

"As Hot Rods Ta Hell stated having one of those cookie cutters built would easily exceed 50K. The sad part is you'd then have something you be lucky to get 25K for."

True. But also true that many folks could invest $50-60K in a car they did all the work on themselves and still have a very hard time getting that back when they sold it. Not many people can make any kind of an ROI on building a hotrod, especially a Deuce.

Buying this much from Speedway isn't that far from getting body shop A to do the metal work, painter B to color it and interior craftsman C to upholster it. Someone else still built the car. And, it's a hell of a long way from any recent Ridler winner.

 

The gasket material was not compatible with low temperature operation.

Design error, ie wrong material selected for the expected operating environment.

Someone didn’t do a proper material analysis and validation.

 

WEll I would be happy to own one of those 32's. I don't think you can buy one thats been finished nice for $25 grand but maybe. Way out of my playground anyway, I can't fault Speedway for making them and selling them .

 

$200 bucks a month !!! Luxury !!!!!


50k is way over my price range, but to get to this level it’s easy to get to 50k

Let’s face it, a roadster is a niche car, with a small pool of buyers , even smaller when you get to this price range.


When I worked at jaguar it was nothing to bill a customer 1500-2000 bucks just to detail an engine compartment on an old inline 6 car!! That’s just cleaning up wiring, polishing valve covers a bit of paint etc etc. Any shop in this area is at least $90 bucks an hour ..... must are way north of $100!!!

Does not take long for the bills to add up, not including parts.
You can go with cheap swap meet chrome valve covers for $50 bucks or vintage “period correct” anything for 250-500 or more !!!


I like building my cars, and I also like driver cars. So I’ll never be in a situation to spend 50k on a mostly done car, but in reality it’s not that bad of a price for some one with the means but not the know how .

 

lucky to buy a new pickup for 75, so why not a roadster for 50?

 

I'm kind of surprised this thread is still open after a three page discussion over a tupperware street rod. Have they become traditional?

 

Tupperware never made metal containers. These are steel bodies, not fiberglass.

 

You've got to forgive Gman, he doesn't like old style cars and doesn't pay much attention to them.

 

I believe that $2,000. a month is normal for any SHOP Project. If you can't cover two grand of shop labor a month you can't expect too much progress, and the shop is going to fall out of interest in your project real fast. Normal shops have lot of projects just to keep billable projects going, PAYING jobs move faster, and have happy people on both sides of the check book. Bob

 

My mistake. Didn't bother to read the description and assumed they were plastic.

 

I have looked at these cars several times up close. as far as I can see, the quality is very good,fit and finish very good. it would be nice if you could order one with some options, as far as paint, interior, motor mounts etc. I would like to have one.but it aint going to happen.

 

Are you guys saying that you don't just go ahead and knock out 3 or 4 extras of each piece you fabricate once you have all the bugs figured out?
Oh my!

 

These first came out about a dozen years ago and I just checked Speedway's catalog and they are still available for $49,800. I'm surprised that I don't remember seeing much about them lately. They were stamped(I presume?) and finished in South Africa and yet I haven't heard anything about the company or any individual panels for sale. How many has Speedway sold? The price is close to what I remember back then and with inflation even at a conservative 2% would make the price today closer to $60K. I was always puzzled by this. Street Rodder mag did a several part buy and assemble article in early 2008 and was pleased with the quality.

 

Yeah, I looked over his profile and the oldest car on it is a 1960 model.

 

Hot Rod mag review

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/0804sr-speedway-motors-signature-series-32-highboy/

 

Note the Hot Rod magazine review was published in March, 2008. This is not a new product, but still the same price as when introduced.

Phil

 

When Speedway purchased them from their supplier, there was a minimum order, to keep the cost's down.
Then the "Bubble" burst in 2008 and they are stuck with them. To get an idea of lack of forethought and financial responsibility, just ride up the New York Thruway and look at the huge facility that the Orange County Choppers built. OCC thought that everybody in the U.S. wanted a chopper and every company wanted one built for their showroom. Well now they can't pay the mortgage and have been thru several financial re-structurings just to keep the lights on. Both examples show a serious lack of financial forethought.

 

Better carry a roll of toilet paper around with you when you go to a car show then!

 

We have some steel 32's and some fiberglass 32's. But we don't have any of the plastic ones, But I would like to get one and give it a try. Where would I find one of those?

 

Haha, I would say this is true for the vast majority of hot rods from the pre-65 era too! I think we tend to romanticize about how great they were, but the truth is that all hot rods were not magazine cars.

 

I think that depends on what state you live in.

 

In reality, if you couldn't afford $2K a month, you should not be undertaking a shop build. That probably breaks down to the shop working on your car less than 5 hours a week. What year was your target completion date?

 

I hope not but alot depends on each state's DMV..

 

That means they've actually gotten cheaper
Per inflation, they're now only $42,415.14 in 2008 dollars!

 

The above was an observation from years of working in restoration shops, personally I have no target completion dates on anything, I have no idea when today will end. Bob