Lil' Update.. WIth out a doubt one of the rarest "custom" 32 Fords ever built. We were able to provide an N.O.S. PERFECT engine turned dash panel for it. My guy donated it just for the prestige of have one of his parts on Edsels Boat tail Speedster. As for the design... Henry designed the Model T and A, Then passed the torch to his son Edsel. Edsel went to the drawing boards and designed the 33'-34' fords. Well, it was a BIG jump from the Model A to That, so.. The 32' Ford was designed as a "Jumper" car. That's why it was the ONLY single year ford ever built. Well, why this was going on, Edsel wanted one (33-34) first, so he had this boat tail built. As I understand it, a VERY small handfull of Woodworkers and metal shapers built this car in the evenings on the side... That's why it's on a 32' Ford chassis but has 33-34 aspects to it, hood line, extended firewall, suicide angle front doors, Swoop back fenders, and the "first" raked Ford grille.. (I'm sure a few of the experts here can further inform you, but that gets ya close) J Shaw
-------------------------------- Yeah! A beautiful restoration ....and a huge amount of pretty amazing metal work, both in restoring the existing original body panels......and in fabricating the missing ones completely from scratch. About the shape and contours of the actual 'boattail' tail section - looking at it except for it appearing to be quite a bit larger and taller than a hood, I can't help but see the shape of a '39-'40 Ford, Mercury or Lincoln Zephyr hood in it. I wonder how much. if any, the shape and contours of that boattail in 1932, influenced the style and shape of the hoods, 7 years later on the '39-'40 cars??? Mart3406 ===========================
I always thought history taught us that E.T. 'Bob' Gregorie styled the Model 40 Fords as a scaled up version of his earlier 1932 designed British Ford Model Y.
That may very well be... What I know is how I heard it and understood it. I am by NO WAY an expert, that's why I come here!
thanks for the info folks. i really like the one off stuff,but the lines on that car just don't do it fo me.but the fact of who's it is,how it was built make it very special. hope to see the finished product. thanks again. oh yeah did it have a "stock' flathead in it? or did i miss the info about the engine?
As far as I know, it had a stocker... and yeah, I'm not a fan of the "Boat tail" European look either, but I'm with ya on the "Who and "How".. Neat car.
According to the book, "Edsel Ford and E.T. Gregorie" by Henry Dominguez, Edsel was pretty much in control of body design by time of the '26 T. Gregorie arrived in time to design the Model Y. The '32 was designed by Ralph Roberts at Briggs, under Edsel's direction, while Gregorie was doing the English model. The '33 was scaled up from the Model Y by Ford's body engineering department. Edsel had four custom models built that he then drove himself: The boat-tail '32, the red speedster, a third model that looks like a cross between a '35 Ford and an MG roadster (whereabouts unknown), and the first Lincoln Continental. All were designed by Gregorie and built in the Ford prototype shop whose main function was the development of Lincoln bodies. The deal was that Edsel had a lot of sporty design ideas (longer wheelbase, lower floor height) that he would have liked to incorporate into the standard Ford models, but Henry wouldn't let him. On the other hand, he was free to do whatever he wanted with Lincoln, about which Henry didn't much give a shit.
----------------------- In 1902, Henry M. Leland was part of the group that wrested control of 'The Henry Ford' Co' away from Henry Ford and ousted him from his own company. When Henry's next venture , the Ford Motor Co. bought out Leland and took control of Lincoln 1922, it was probably more a matter of spite and getting even with Leland, rather than any real desire on Henry's part to build high-end luxury cars. On the other hand, even in later years when he probably should have stepped back and let his designers and engineers do their work unhindered, old Henry always had a personal and sometimes overbearing hand in everything to do with the Ford cars. I think this was because he saw the basic Ford as his and the the company's 'bread & butter' and because the cars bore his name. Mart3406 ================ .
I had started to chime in on this thread concerning 32 town cars/limos, but I wasn't sure they were built in 32. I know that there were some Model A town cars built as there was one in the Jim Leake collection years ago. The one in your photo looks more like a non-factory conversion.
-------------------------- Wouldn't all of the actual limos, as well things like hearses, town cars, etc., have been built by various custom body builders of the day , and thus be "non-factory conversions"? Some of these cars may have been sold or at least orderable through some Ford dealers, but I suspect that would have been a private arrangement between the dealer and certain body builders. rather than through any direct connection with Ford itself. Ford would just have sold rolling chassis, with a hood, radiator and maybe front and rear fenders, to whatever body builder wanted them, making the actual numbers of these cars and types of cars not traceable through Ford production records. Someone here earlier wrote about seeing a '32 Ford hearse once and that owner.claimed it was one of only three 1932 Ford hearses ever produced. I doubt that was actually fact. It's much more likely that the particular body builder who built that hearse, only built three bodies that year that were mounted on Ford chassis. And in the1930's there were numerous custom body builders around. In fact, I suspect that because people don't stop dying due to an economic depression - in fact death rates usually increases somewhat eek: ), - that demand for hearses, a very small market at anytime, was somewhat less affected than other segments of the auto market. I suspect too, that in 1932, the relatively cheap Ford V8 chassis would have been an economically popular alternative to the hugely expensive Packard, Cadillac and other high-end makes that where common for hearses. I don't know this, but I suspect that during the depression Ford hearse conversions might have even been fairly common - at least in relation to the small total number of hearses produced in general each year. The extreme rarity of them now, compared to other more expensive makes that have survived, is probably due to the fact used hearses, because of the social implications due to their use, once they become too old and/or no longer prestigious enough for use as hearses, have a very low resale value As these cars aged, while funeral homes, would have still hung on to their expensive and more prestigious Packards or Cadillacs for years, the much lower status and value Fords would been been sold off. Since their value on the the regular used car market would have been virtually nil, these Fords would have been fairly quickly parted out and scrapped. That's my theory anyway. Mart3406 ==========================
Good to see the progress on the Edsel Speedster. When I saw it three owners ago its history was then unknown.
Here in New Zealand the NZ Hotrod Mag published a list of imported 32s to the best of their knowledge there were phaeton 1 roadster 60 tudor 62 fordor 175 5 window coupe 37 3 window coupe 17 victoria 3 commercial chassis 56 bb truck 16 cc fdr type 2 Ford of Canada supplied these numbers to model a restorer Justin Bicknell
I saw the old Edsel boattail in a shop across from the old Governor John Seviers mansion outside of Knoxville. There were a couple of cool old drag cars at the shop too! Is that the shop that's finishing it??
http://books.google.com/books?id=xn...uce&source=bl&ots=vPQmf1f-0u&sig=p7INo4n9W4kL I hope you can get there from here. One night during the GNRS a couple years ago when they were doing the Deuce Anniversary, I was working at the NHRA Museum. We were closed, but there was a private dinner in the back room with Chip, Troy, Posie, etc. A couple was at the counter and the husband was buying something. The wife flipped open Tony Thackers book on Deuces to a random page and said "that's our car." I asked if they had one like it and she said it was theirs with her sons at Pebble Beach. It is a Pininfarina version of the Deuce. If you can find it in the link, you'll see where the styling for the 33/34 came from.
yeah ,i know this is a old thread but a couple ???. any up date on this car? second, in this months rod and custom, there is a story about a 32 flower car. its made from a sedan delivery.it says a "limited number" were made. i looked back over this thread and i could not find any numbers on the "flower car". on another of my post there was a link to a "flower car" that was on the ebay, but it was a panel truck that had been chopped up..........er converted. what i'm asking i guess is would the flower car be considered a "regular production car/truck" and if so how many were made.? could this be the rarest of 32s? thanks folks
5 prototype Ford Ys were built and given away to well known but ordinary people in society one was given to a catholic priest who brought it with him to NZ the car still exists and is being restored I have seen it but the owner wont allow photos at this stage ,he has several rare cars and has had trouble with thieves, it is quiet different than other early Ford ys and may well be the earliest version of the 32 style car still in existance all being a British one
ok i have question,did the sedan deliverys come with rear 1/4 glass or steel panels that went up and down on winders,ie was it an option,in tony thackers book the pic of one appears to have glass
It's a trick question...there's no such thing as a rare 32 Ford. There's like 2 billion more of them registered than were ever produced......yay...I win...
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