Rod & Custom Feature Car
Red Stauffer
Winter Park, Florida
1932 Ford Victoria
Drivetrain
We got a real surprise when we first peeked through the louvers and found a pristine 270-inch Dodge Red Ram. The owner-built Hemi looks especially clean and mean with the mid-'50s Offenhauser manifold painted black with the lettering in red to match the valve covers. The Offy intake is topped with a '54 Carter WCFb four-barrel carburetor and a Stellings air cleaner. A Vertex electronic ignition fires the engine, and exhaust exits through Hedman headers. The oil pan decal advertises the Schneider cam. The T5 five-speed is shifted with a B&M shifter.
Chassis
The frame is built off the original '32 'rails, boxed, and with a front crossmember and tubular k-member added by Red. The front suspension includes hairpins, a monoleaf spring, and Pete & Jake's shock absorbers. A Vega box handles the steering, and Wilwood discs were mounted in front. Ford drum brakes are used in the rear, along with coil springs and Aldan shocks. The '60 Ted Halibrand quick-change was running a 3.33:1 gear ratio. At the Nats, Red met with the guys from Winters Performance, who swapped the standard straight-cut gears for a set of their helical-cut gears, which he says run quieter and bumped up his fuel economy a couple of mpg.
Wheels & Tires
The spindle-mounted Halibrand kidney beans make a clear statement about the character of this hot rod. Red paired the 4-inch front rims with a set of rear 8-inchers, finished with a pair of homemade knock-off adapters wearing a little bit of red paint. He mounted P235/75R15 uniroyal tires in the rear and 165R15 radial skinnies in front.
Body & Paint
Red didn't have to do much to improve the looks of the Victoria body. The top was chopped 2 inches and filled when the car was originally hot rodded in the late 1950s. Otherwise, a pair of '37 Ford taillights is about as radical as the exterior mods need to be. During the recent rebuild, any sheetmetal wrinkles were ironed out before butch Adams of Winter Park, Florida, shot the shiny black finish.
Interior
The interior is probably close to something you might see on a show rod from 40 years ago. The unidentified buckets were discovered in a local salvage yard and upholstered in red leather by Tom Johnson of Longwood, Florida. The Auburn dash houses a range of Auto Meter gauges behind one of Vintique's 17-inch reproduction '40 Ford steering wheels. genuine old-time components include the '39 Ford pedals and the Allstate turn-signal switch, manufactured in the 1950s. There are a few contemporary accessories, too, notably the power windows, Vintage Air A/C, and a Pioneer sound system-all the right stuff for the next long trip.