View attachment 4550835 View attachment 4550858 Where do I start? 1961 when my dad graduated and bought this car? 1985 when my grandpa and I started restoration? 2004 when my dad retired and decided the work previously done wasn’t good enough? Or Christmas 2018 when my dad died and I inherited it? Hmmmmm well anyway if there’s interest, it’s a cool story, if not here’s some pictures just for fun.
Maybe someone smarter than me can flip the pics that are 90 degrees off? some got out of order too but you get the picture
I’ve always loved the split windshield and “already been chopped” look of the 32 Chrysler’s sooooo cool
Sounds like an awesome story! I'm sure I'm not the only one that would like to hear it! The car is very nice, bet Gramps & Pops are both smiling down! Sent from my SM-G973U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Wow....cool just like it is - be proud and just drive the wheels off like dad would have don ! Oh....and welcome to the HAMB !
In the 50’s and 60’s there was a gentleman here that collected anything built by the Chrysler Corporation, he was no mechanic and he’d often have my grandpa work on cars for him. This was one of his cars. My dad claimed he paid $75 for it in 1961, my grandpa said it was $150 and he paid the other $75, we could never settle it when they were alive so certainly we won’t now. My grandpa passed in late November of 2018, my dad passed 4 weeks later, my 2 biggest hero’s were gone. The car sat in my grandpas shop for years, in 1984 my grandpa decided it was time to get it out so he could start restoring his 1954 Corvette. We took every piece of this Chrysler apart and meticulously rebuilt it. Most we did ourselves, the engine went to a machine shop in Seattle where it was bored out and insert bearings installed in place of the Babbitt. The windshield frames were rotted out beyond repair so my grandpa hand made new ones! He was a model maker at Boeing, and later a machinist at the K2 ski factory. He also made the tail light bezel and the door handles. He was a mechanical genius. In 1987 we had the car in primer, no glass, and the running gear in, my dad and I towed it to his house where it sat in the shop for years, we’d never started the engine! In 1994 I decided that it was time to fire it up, I started it and drove it less than a mile, drained the gas and water and into storage it went once again for another 10 years. In 2004 my dad retired, sold his company and some money to play with. This is where things get odd. He took the car to a shop here in WA, body back off the frame, they stripped it to bare metal once again and replaced mistakes my grandpa and I put in back in the day with steel. They did a fantastic job, the paint is amazing and it should be for what he paid! The interior was done (beautifully by a H.A.M.B. member!) the glass was done, chrome work to the tune of well over $12k, and “some” reassembly.... wheels were also meticulously restored, why he did not have it rewired or the engine detailed then I will never know. Since I dragged it home I have detailed the engine, replaced every “Phillips screw” with a proper slot head, found correct headlights and have them getting redone at Queen City plating (my dad dumped a fortune into 32 Buick headlights thinking they were Chrysler) I have replaced lots of rubber bits with correct pieces, rewired it with a correct cloth wrapped wiring harness made exactly the same as original I found and restored a correct rear bumper (it had a 32 DeSoto bumper on the back) and tons of other things. My hope is to have it out this summer, first ride will go to my mom who missed out on ever getting a ride in it.... my dad got sick about the time he got the car back to his place and he could not physically do anything with it, it sat covered from 2006 until I brought it home in April of 2019. I’m pretty stoked to have it on the road soon..... Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Neat car. I have a '33 Royal 8 CT, 3 window coupe, no sidemounts, that I need ro get back to after moving my shop from Seattle to Marysville. Pretty much the same body. Got a post on here a few years back if you search.
Here’s some of my grandpa’s handy work.... no casting, machined and hand worked out of a solid chunk of aluminum. Miss the old timer, he could make anything! His motto was “well it didn’t grow on a tree”
yes. I believe he made them out of bar stock. I remember the chunk he had to make the tail light bezel out of.
start where ever you want either way it will be a cool thread. beautiful cars. im following. I have a 31 cm-6 coupe. its titled as a 32. the 31s were carried over for about 16 months with out any changes. when the late 32s came out they had the split windshield and some model coupes had the suicide doors. 31 dodger would have all the correct facts. so you could have a early 32 or late 32. I say mines a 31 to avoid the confusion.
I have a high school buddy who snagged one in about 1980, still has it as best as I know. Alcohol ruined him, don't think it ever did anything with it, it just sits in a shed. Yours is the second one I've ever seen.
Awesome car. And great story. Great family memories and a car to keep them going. Thanks for sharing.
Mine isn't a ss. It's a Malibu that's supposedly a l-79 car. It's a bench seat four speed 327. They were never offered on gm order forms until after january 1966. My car was built in may and has the special casting numbered block. The heads also had a unique casting number.
Here’s a photo mashup video with some classic AC/DC music.... https://drive.google.com/a/shermanc...Sh2pPia8kIH4PnglaUGZOctwB5H/view?usp=drivesdk
The Jalopy Journal
