I’ve always known that the world of old cars and especially those of 32 Fords is small. I just had one of those moments. About 20 years ago I bought some 32 grille shell scraps from a guy I knew who lived 1 hour away thinking they might be useful some day in fixing a sectioned shell. They’ve been hanging on my wall since then. This past weekend, I bought a 32 grille shell at a swap meet from someone I have never seen before. It had a top that was filled with lead and the lower corners had been trimmed upward like it came off a channeled car. It came with the back stainless trim and 2 replacement corners that had been cut off a donor shell. Cool. When assimilating my new shell onto my wall of grilles, I saw the old sides scraps and thought to myself huh…… When I stuck the new to me replacement corners into my old scraps…..holy cow…..that is crazy. Separated for at least 20 years but back together now! This isn't the only time my family has run into the small world of 32's. About 30 years ago my older brother bought from a local restorer the bare bones shell of a 32 5W that had been a stock car. Probably 5 years later, at a swap meet, he found one of the doors off that car. Probably 10 years after that, at another swap meet, he found the other door....and the seller of that door had gotten it from another state!
Weird things do happen, I had a guy looking through my box of single license plates at a swap meet one time. He found one that had his and his girl friends initials on it and as he kept looking found one with his house number. Both in a box of about 50 plates. He told me I was some kind of warlock to know just what he needed
For about 50 years now I've spent every nickel I could spare from feeding the dogs and failing to keep womens happy on '32 parts from hundreds of fleamarkets...I can't even imagine how many cars they must have come from. I can no longer see cars, I just see huge exploded views showing all the parts for making a deuce! The only exception is the Roadster; my late Wife, who was a lot saner than me, snuck off one day and bought a whole deuce. One day I was worrying about how to get the cylinder out of the rumble lock without a key so I could read the code and order a key...it took me a LONG time to remember that this had always been a car, never a heap of fleamarket sweepings, and discover that the key sticking out of the steering lock was also the key for the rumble!
A fellow hot rodder bought a 32 ford 5 window, with a wood dash. He was going to a swap meet 250 miles from his home and asked the previous owner if the original dash had any markings? He replied yes , he had soldered a penny to the back of it.At the swap meet he saw a dash almost the same color of his 32, turned it over, yes it had a penny soldered to it. The dash is now back on his car.
My brother knew a guy that had a WWII Harley that was missing a rack that is impossible to find. Whoever removed the rack put some of the bolts back into the mounting points, but not all. One day he's going down the highway and passes a guy with a truckload of iron heading to the scrapyard, and there it is, a rack that he needs. He pulled the guy over and the rack had the other nuts and bolts in the same spots missing on the bike. It was the rack from his bike.
10 years ago I took my wife on a trip back to the family abandoned farm. Doing some exploring though the buildings my wife says look what are those? Hoodsides to my 32! Been in the building since the 50’s. Walking out side she picks up and says is this anything ? It was the front apron in almost mint condition, who would think they would still be there
When I first got my '32 five window, it had a set of pretty rough fenders. The main body was in pretty solid shape. The car was in primer, but under the primer on the body was evidence of only one repaint. The body had been painted at one time in an extremely ugly light brown, a color only seen on dirty diapers. In my search for better fenders, I responded to an ad from a fellow who was selling a variety of '32 parts. He was about 75 miles away, but '32 parts are worth the trip. When I arrived at his place, I could see that the parts he was selling were not much better than what I already had. When I asked if he had anything else, he said there was one more fender in the barn. When we dug out this right front fender from his barn, you could see that it had been painted the same baby shit brown as my car. Would two '32's ever been painted that same ugly color? I did buy the fender and have always assumed it had been on my car at some point.
Back in 1972 my Dad bought a ‘31 AA stake bed truck off a local fellow. When we went to get it, there was a chopped and channeled ‘32 pickup sitting in an old leantoo. I asked the guy about it and he said I could have it for $75.00. So I bought it. Turned out, the guy he got it from, worked for my grandfathers company and our family had gotten this truck new in 1932. He had chopped and channeled it in 1959 in the local high school auto shop. In talking with this former owner, he told me he had pulled the fenders and boards of it when he bought it and had thrown them in the dump on his family’s old since abandoned farm. So my Dad and I go to the old farm, and after rummaging around awhile; I found all 4 of them and the boards. Still have the old girl, and hopefully I’ll get to her... one of these days. : IMG_0147 by bowie posted May 22, 2017 at 9:01 PM
The Jalopy Journal
