History Vintage 50s built '32 Fordor hotrod find!

This was an amazing adventure I we just got back with a '32 Fordor in tow.
Two weeks ago a friend of a friend told he he wanted a '32 Fordor hot rod. I didn't expect it to happen this quickly. Just days later I found a Fordor for sale in England. The story goes that a billionaire young arab bought it on a whim in California in 1993 then had it shipped to his house in England where it stood unused in a barn ever since. This year he sold it to a car dealer and that's where we found it. Apparently a few so called experts had been to see it and told him it didn't have an original frame and the axles were both incorrect. (Shame on you guys - you lied to him). Or maybe these days most folks think '32 Fords came from the factory with boxed frames and square section box tubing X-members and don't even recognise an un-boxed K-member frame.
Anyway I could see on the pictures what looked like an un-split front wishbone so I kind of doubted the reproduction frame story from the start.
So anyway Andy and I decided to commit ourselves to the 1000 mile journey to London to look at it. Then the day before we set off the dealer texted me that he's going to Belgium anyway (halfway) and could bring it with him. Somehow all the pieces just fell together, just like as if someone up there was helping us at every move.
Anyway Belgium is just a days drive away so off we went on Thursday. What met our eyes was incredible. I've never seen such an unmolested old hot rod. The body work has rust but like what a car has after 10 years, not 82. The chassis was bone stock front to back. The front end was stock with a dropped original axle, and late forties juice brakes. The master cylinder hung on one of those rare fifies aluminium brackets. Rear axle is a '40, brakes late forties. Tranmission could be a '39, and the flathead V8 a 59A-B with original (?) Offenhauser heads and duel carb intake. Could be a Merc, don't know yet. Pumps just hang in the air. Front sits on the original '32 mounts. Grill still has the original paint. Running boards look original. Only downside I could see was that all four fenders were fiberglass.
Headlights are original, fog lights are Ford accessory and the light bar is an original one which has been dropped. I'm going to post the pictures below. I was floored!!!

Does anyone know any previous history to this rod? It came out of California in 1993.

The plan is to get it running, flush the tank, change all the brake lines and the tires and then run it awhile before restoring it. I won't say what we paid for it, but it'd have been a good deal at twice the price!



Horrible shocks will have to go!






Horrible carpet will get thrown out, but look at that detail - like new!





And here she is in Germany now at my workshop. Work starts next week. Need to get her going for Finsterwalde in September.




Ed

 

If it's not an original 50s rod then someone did a really good job of replicating one in the early 90s. It's the rare and corroded master cylinder bracket which made me think it's and older conversion.
Ed. Interior looks 1990s

 

Great find. I don't recall the car but 4 doors weren't popular in the 90's like they are now. Someone on here will know the car. What are the plans other than a freshening up job?

 

sweet..

 

As you can tell by my avatar, I dig Deuce Fordors. This one is quite a find. Congrats to your friend!

 

Those bolt on steering arms certainly weren't available in the 50's so there has been "some" work performed since then. I'd guess the steering arms date at least to the 80's as there was a ton of new suspension pieces developed in the time period. This in no way diminishes what this car represents, a solid dose of traditional not rodding.

Frank

 

Great find.....they're still out there....bob in UK

 

Looks like a 20 year old build, to me. Neat car!

 

Classic hot rod. Great find!

 

Ed, is this the sedan that was on UK ebay?.
Al.

 

Yes shocks and lower shock mounts are also at least 80s. The return to traditional hot rodding started around 1986 so this could be an old resto rod or a stock sedan which was one of the early traditional builds. It's stood in a dry barn since '93.

 

Neat buy ! Funny but I almost set up my rear tail/turn lights like that, but changed my mind in the end. Puts an end to all comments about fordors being only suitable for 'parts' cars. When you say " restore" , please tell us that you mean with that running gear !

 

Wow that's a great find in excellent condition. Now that "original" 32's are getting harder to come by all of a sudden the ignored Fourdoor is becoming more desirable and that's a great looking example. You even got a brand new spare and Michelin tires on all 4 corners.

 

I think 32-34 Fordors are great looking cars. They look like "big" cars without needing to chop them. Also a Fordor has a nice bench seat instead of buckets.
It'll get restored as the rod it is. The rear tire carrier will be replaced by a stainless spreader bar. The tires will be renewed, probably go for taller tires. All the 80s stuff like the shocks, coil, HT wiring will be replaced by authentic parts. Otherwise it'll stay the same car. The front accessory lights, the directionals all look great.
We might go for a color change to dark maroon.

 

Indeed it was so you all had a chance to get it. Normally sellers over describe their wares and the cars rarely live up to the description. This one was the other way round. I guess the seller, a second hand luxury car dealer was used to cars being as good as factory fresh. He described this as being for parts or restoration with incorrect chassis and axles and only posted a couple of low res pictures.

 

Very nice looking whenever it was done, don't like the electric fan though. JW

 

cool car Ed... bet you have a hard time using a creeper on your shop floor.

 

Obviously I didn't get the memo

I had mine in the 90's. HRP

 

That's just a storage barn for parts and cars. No one works there.
I don't use a creeper though. I use a lift and have a modern front car seat on wheels to make working underneath more comfortable.

 

HRP your car was what set this whole thing in motion. It was the one that we wanted. We got close eh! Now all I need is loads of photos to inspire me.

 

I'm I the only one on here, who is surprised about a 50 fordor hot rod?

I though that it was common undestood, no hot rodder in the 50 wants a fordor!! The would rather be dead then seen in a fordor. And all was converted too 28 roadsters on 32 frame.
And by god I hope you read this as the joke it was intended as.

That is such a nice find. Thats rare, and good looking. Almost as good looking as HRP. Or is it the other way around.

Subscribed!

 

Yes it's puzzling me too. There are 70s-80s parts in it but also 50s parts like the dropped axle and the master cylinder mount. It came from California so I suppose those parts would have been available in the 80s.
It's things like the dropped Ford headlight bar, the welded up twin exhaust system which is free of late parts.
Yes a Fordor being rodded in the 50s seems unlikely but not more than a Fordor becoming one of the first traditional rods which started happening around 1986. This car has been in a barn since 1993.
Gotta get to the bottom of this. The previous owner must be out there.

 

Coil overs with the collars and springs tossed, grey interior, offy heads, the steering arms, all says eighties to me. Nothing wrong with that, but that's what I see. And guys never stopped dropping original ford axles, so that doesn't say much. I'd say 80s built traditional hot rod. And traditional rod rods started in the late sixties early seventies, google BUd Bryan highboy.

 

Could be an 80s build. I'm so happy it wasn't ruined back then as so many were. Yes so parts need to be tossed in the can, the shocks for instance but on the whole all the right ingredients are there. BTW. Engine numbers as well as chassis numbers need to be displayed on the firewall tag in England and it starts with 99A so here's hoping for a Merc block.

 

Already been using your picture to play with some options.

 

Very, very cool.

 

Been working three days on it now and am waiting for a few parts now. Runs though real nice. Yesterday I found the chassis number: 18-152,41X, So round about mid year eh. Maybe September?
The engine is a 799A so not necessarily a Mercury but a 1947 block. Steering box is F100.
I'm aiming to get it ready for Finsterwalde in September.
Ed
Yesterday replaced the horrible rear coil over shocks. Today the terrible front shocks and brackets. I think the shocks were fitted by a demo derby guy.

 

Today I discovered whoever pinstriped it in '94 signed it. At first I thought it said "Dutch"! But looking more carefully it says "Butch". Anyone know this guy?

 

These are the four proposals how we want to restore it:
This one is most likely,


Though we could go all out for the ultimate gangster look with a mild chop:


Andy is in love with this color - I'm not so sure:


and this would be a change from the norm. A real cool sixties look. This one here is a Tudor but it'd work on a Fordor too: