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My
1932 Ford Hot Rod, the “L.A.
Sedan” began as a dream when
I was approximately 12 or 13-years old.
Until that time, I had built plastic models
of airplanes, ships, and other things, but
someone gave me a model car kit (it was
a Lincoln by AMT) and from that point on,
I was building only car models.
I soon realized that you could mix ‘n
match parts from other car kits and create
something new and unique. Shortly thereafter,
I discovered Hot Rod Magazine, along with
Rod & Custom and Car Craft, and my world
was rocked and changed forever. I got the
car bug long before I could drive. |
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By
Steve Young
Photos by George Carroll and Scott Williamson
View flash slideshow
The
L.A. Sedan is the realization of my long-held
desire to build a true ‘60’s
era period-correct Hot Rod, like I had
built as model during my pre-driver’s
license days. I have carried the vision
of a period-correct early 60’s era
street/strip/show car in my mind from
the first time I ever attended a Rod and
Custom Car Show at the former Great Western
Exhibit Center, and the Trident’s
Show at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.
The L.A. Sedan is the car I have built
in my dreams over and over again from
the time that those model car kits and
the Petersen magazines first ignited my
passion for nearly all things automotive.
Approximately
eight years ago I was lucky enough to
find and buy the 1932 Ford Hi-Boy Roadster
known (and licensed) as the L.A. Hi-Boy,”
which had been built “old school/traditional
hot rod style” in 1993, by Tom Otis,
bucking the then trend of the billet/smoothie
movement. By the time I purchased the
Roadster, it had appeared on 15 major
magazine covers, with features in each,
as well as in numerous advertisements
for various products. I fell in love with
it the first time I saw it and, with Bruce
Meyers’ wise counsel and encouragement,
that car became mine. I learned that Tom
Otis, its builder, lived in the San Fernando
Valley, got in touch with him and developed
a fast friendship.
Approximately
two years ago, I opened the newest issue
of The Rodder’s Journal and found
a series of Hot Rod sketches by Steve
Stanford, the well-respect Hot Rod artist.
One of them depicted a ’32 Ford
Hi Boy Sedan, which encapsulated the Hot
Rod that I had always dreamed of building.
I also knew that the sketch was consistent
with Tom Otis’s artistic and historical
perspectives as a Hot Rod builder. I showed
him the sketch and he loved it.
 During
the several years during which Tom and
I had become friends I also became friends
with Rick Cresse of Tri-Engineering in
Valencia, which had done all the fabrication
and some of the design and conceptualization
work on the L.A. Hi Boy Roadster. I also
had available to me the skills of my longtime
friend Michael Grella, who is also crew
chief for my vintage racing endeavors
and a wiring wizard, and Phil Cocuzza,
my partner in our racing team, who owns
California Muscle Cars in Van Nuys, where
my cars are stored, tuned, and maintained.
Thus I had a circle of friends who had
enormous capabilities and resources, so
I decided to build my dream Hot Rod, with
Tom Otis providing the project management,
quality control and his incredible flame
and pin striping art on the car. It was
a two-year labor of love among a group
of friends. We successfully met our goal
of debuting the car at the Grand National
roadster show this January, where it won
first place in the Altered Street Sedan
Class—its very first show!
We
were lucky enough to locate an original
steel, full-fendered ’32 Ford Hot
Rod, apparently built in the 1980’s,
to start the project. It had the most
atrocious pink paint job, with turquoise
accents and wheels and a white interior;
in fact the car looked like it came directly
our of the old “Miami Vice”
television show. But it had a 392’
Hemi that I wanted to use for the look
of the motor, and a four-speed, and it
was represented to be in sound shape.
The car was on the east coast, but Art
Regan, one of Tom’s good friends
who has an auto-body shop in Danbury,
Connecticut, was located close to the
seller and he volunteered to inspect the
car and let me know whether it was as
represented. In the meantime I negotiated
my deal, subject to Art Regan’s
inspection and approval. When I heard
that the car was as represented I completed
the purchase and the car went directly
to Art’s body shop, where it received
a 3-inch top chop. What is unique about
his chop job is that the entire back window
as removed. It was proportionately chopped
and then reinstalled as a unit, so that
all the spacing would be proportional
to how it was originally, and we did not
end up with a “mail slot”
for a rear window.
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car was shipped to my buddy Phil Cocuzza’s
California Muscle Cars in Van Nuys,
where it arrived with that awful pin
and turquoise color combination, but
now had a top in flat black primer,
looking from a distance like it had
vinyl roof! It was completely disassembled,
and the original frame, front and
rear suspension, fenders, running
boards and gas tank were sold to another
friend in exchange for money and the
original radiator from the Boyce Asquith
(Top 75 Deuces) roadster. What was
left of the car (the body itself,
the radiator shell, the Hemi motor
and the four-speed) was then shipped
off to Tri C Engineering in Valencia
to begin the build. New frame rails
were acquired and bobbed, Model A
cross-members were installed and the
car took shape on a surface table
that had once been owned by the late,
great, Doane Spencer, adding to the
car’s historic DNA.
We
installed a 5-inch dropped and drilled
front axle and modified Pete and
Jake’s radius rods, with fish
plates added in the middle to emulate
the look of the Steve Stanford sketch.
We popped on Buick finned drums
all around, using a so Cal brake
kit in front, and installed a Speedway
Engineering quick-change rear instead
of a Halibrand for safety and durability.
The car uses a TCI monoleaf spring
in the front and a Posies stack
in the rear. It rolls on period-correct
Radir wheels and Firestone bias-ply
tires (“cheater slicks”
in the rear).
The
steering gear is an original Schroeder
Sprint Car box with a new production
prototype steering reducer to both
reduce the steering effort and slow
down the steering. It runs a Tri-C
1-_” diameter steering column
containing a prototype self-canceling
turn-signal unit. The steering wheel
is a Moon 15-inch dished-and-drilled
wheel, which is period-correct,
and the throttle pedal is a Moon
polished-aluminum piece, also period
correct.
Because
the car was built as an early street/strip
(A/Gas) car, there is no rear seat,
that area being occupied by a fuel
cell for safety along with the battery
and a period-correct roll bar made
of 4130 chrome molly tubing. The
interior was done in merlot naugahyde
tuck and roll in the legendary “Eddie
Martinez” style, with black
carpeting and a white Tonneau cover
by Albert Lara of North Hollywood.
Steve Warner provided all the instruments.
The body and paint work was done
by theatrical Auto body in Hollywood.
Tri-C recessed the license plate
and the “Poncho” taillights,
and created the gas-filler door
below the rear window. Original
King Bee headlights are mounted
up front.
The
engine is an original 392 Hemi,
running a somewhat aggressive street
cam and a compression ration that
allows it to operate on unleaded
fuel. It was built by Ollie’s
Machine Works in Van Nuys, California,
where it was dyno tested and broken
in. It uses an original (rare) Edelbrock
X3 ram-log manifold, running six
Stromberg 97’s and an original
Scintilla Vertex Magneto by Joe
Hunt, with mechanical tach drive.
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Rather
than using a throttle cable which,
although very easy to install is
not period-correct, the throttle
pedal links to a bell crank and
hard linkage, operating all six
carbs on a non-progressive set-up.
Behind the motor is a McCloud Street/Competition
clutch and pressure plate, and the
original Muncie four-speed that
came with car rebuilt by Stick City).
I
used a chrome firewall to reflect
the beauty of the motor, particularly
the induction system which was built
by Chad Blundell of Blundell Speed
& Machine in Orange, California.
I used a Magneto so that there would
not be any coil or coil wire attached
to or protruding from the firewall.
It was also consistent with the
street/strip theme of the car. I
also wanted to use swing pedals,
but did not want to have a master
cylinder mounted on the firewall
where it would be visible and interrupt
the mirror effect of the chrome
firewall. A custom-fabricated unit
was built using Kugel components,
which mounts the master cylinder,
vacuum booster and clutch master
cylinder sideways up under the cowl.
The car has a Tri-C fabricated rolled
rear pan with “sugar scoop”
outlets for the exhaust pipes, and
louvers by custom car great Gene
Winfield, further adding to the
car’s DNA.
I
designed the exhaust system so that
I could use both open pipes (and
what a set of pipes they are!) or
run the exhaust through the mufflers.
Because of my commitment to keep
the car early-‘60s period-correct,
we could not use either the commercially
manufactured exhaust manifold slider
cutout or the flapper cutout in
the main pipes, because they would
be visible and immediately identified
as not period correct. Instead,
I designed a unique system, which
was magnificently fabricated by
Tri-C. It consists of a custom exhaust
manifolds, which are bolted directly
to the cylinder heads to which the
headers, in turn, mount. Each bank
of headers is removable as one unit,
with seven bolts, and a thin copper
plate is installed between the fabricated
exhaust manifold and the headers
to force the exhaust gases down
inside the frame, through the mufflers
and out the tail pipes. This system
was recently featured in Rod &
Custom magazine.
The
car was finished to show-car standards,
featuring Tom Otis’s outstanding
flame job and Ed Roth-style pin striping,
(including an adaptation of the
pin striping on the rear of the famous
Tom McMullen Roadster), but was
always intended to be driven. Although
it will be entered in a number of
shows this year, don’t be
at all surprised to see it on the
street in the near future. In fact
I drove it to Bob’s Big Boy
in Toluca Lake so that George Carroll
could take the great photos which
accompany this article. This is
truly my dream Hot Rod, finally
realized. I deeply appreciate the
support and encouragement of all
of my friends who participated in
making this dream come true.
Thank
you Finish Line Magazine for the
article. |
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