George Poteet
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
1932 FORD DELIVERY
CHASSIS
Though Dave welded the front and rear crossmembers in place, he modified a Chassis Engineering X-member so it bolts to the framerail flanges. It looks as if Dave riveted together the chassis, but he sheepishly admits the "rivets" are modified button-head screws that serve no structural function. Instead, he modified the chassis to take a network of hidden fasteners. The chassis sports a few off-the-shelf brackets, like the Chassis Engineering pedal mounts and Pete & Jake's lower shock mounts, but Dave fabricated the remainder of the brackets from flat stock. The front wishbone ends are '32 and the rear are '35-36, but the rods themselves are solid bars milled to look as if they'd been assembled from tapered C-channel. The Hot Rod Works axle has a Winters quick-change centersection and bearing carriers that accept plug-in axles and early Ford backing plates. The front axle is a 46-inch-wide, 4-inch dropped Super Bell. All four brakes are '41 Lincoln-style from Wilson Welding.
ENGINE/TRANS
Colorado's Craig Cooley assembled the large-journal 327 from an intact '68-vintage engine. Aside from a mild cam, forged flat-top pistons, stainless Speedway exhaust manifolds, an Edelbrock intake, and an aftermarket pump, it's largely stock, right down to the tin, pulleys, and hallmark orange paint. Automotion's Larry Fulton prepped the 2G carburetors and supplied them with progressive linkage and O'Brien Truckers' air filter housings. After scratch-building the exhaust from straights, donuts, and Stainless Specialties mufflers, Dave had the system's exterior chromed and its interior ceramic-coated. Though Dave wired the remainder of the car with conventional cross-linked wire, Rhode Island's Narragansett Reproductions fabricated the cloth-loomed engine compartment wiring. David Key prepped a Ford Top Loader four-speed and converted it to top-shift with a Jeep-style tower. Dave mated it to a GM bellhousing with a Wilcap adapter.
WHEELS/TIRES
Working from scans pulled from an artillery-style wheel of unknown origins, Mike Fossbinder machined the two-piece wheels from aluminum billets. At 16 inches in diameter, the fronts are carbon copies of the original; however, he increased the wheel's every dimension to create the 18s. Though the proportionally sized caps appear to be '34 Ford V-8 caps, they're in fact two-piece items machined from aluminum. Due to a low-friction bearing in a carrier and a counterweight machined into the cap's backside, their emblems remain upright at all times. The Firestone Deluxe Champions measure 4.50x4.75-16 and 6.00x6.50-18, respectively.
BODY
Dave extended the cargo area by 11/2 inches and shortened the doors by the same amount using parts from closed-cab pickup doors. The differences between sedan and pickup doors, while numerous, are extreme. Above and beyond narrower and taller, the pickup doors are one-piece affairs with a fixed inner doorskin and garnish molding. Even though Dave narrowed the sedan doorskins 11/2 inches, he had to widen the pickup door structures another 51/2 inches. Similarly, he had to chop the pickup window frame to match the sedan's profile. Before welding together the inner and outer skins, Dave insulated the inner door structures with Dynamat. The passenger grille was replaced with a commercial unit and a custom apron with hammerformed inserts that conceal the crossmember behind the grille bars, as well as the outer sides of the apron. The hood was pie-cut and the roof insert channel was replaced with one that accommodates a vinyl-wrapped filler panel made by Bobby Walden. The front fender edges were moved to match each other, and the car's new stance and the rear fender lips were arched to match the tires. The base/clear colors are DuPont, and Dave won't say anything more specific than black and brown. John Wright's Custom Chrome in Grafton, Ohio, tended to the plating.
INTERIOR
Following the commercial theme, Dave dissected and reassembled closed-cab pickup doors to match the narrowed sedan doors. Before welding them together, he lined the internal cavity with Dynamat. Ribs and dimples in the handformed floors and kick panels match those in the pickup-paneled doorskins. Though the firewall appears bare on both sides, it's actually two pieces that sandwich a layer of Dynamat. Classic Instruments updated the '32 Chrysler panel with gauges featuring contemporary movements, but it was up to Dave to quarter the dash to make the larger panel fit. Dennis Crook restored a Deuce steering wheel, but Dave painted it to match the wheels and mounted it on a matching-year mast jacket. Though externally stock, the column features a handmade shaft and bushings, and it connects to a Vega-style Mullins box via Borgeson joints. Kelly Page milled the entire cargo area, including a tool tray and a hidden cabinet, from hard-rock maple. Dave then made the cargo door's garnish molding by cutting up '34 Ford sedan rear-door moldings.
Rather than trying to steam and bend the hard-maple lath boards to conform to the cargo area, Kelly milled maple boards into thin strips and bonded them together in a purpose-made jig. The composite design, much like plywood, is vastly stronger and more stable than solid wood. Best of all, it'll retain its integrity over time, unlike steam-bent wood.
Though it looks as if it's...
Though it looks as if it's riveted to the boxing panels, the Chassis Engineering X-member actually bolts to the framerail flanges. To do that, Dave first trimmed the ends off the X-member legs and plated them with panels that fit flush against the boxing plate. He flanged the top and bottom of each plate with 1/2-inch-thick flat stock that protrudes into slots cut in the boxing panels by 2 inches, or roughly the depth of the framerail's flange. Two 7/16-inch threaded holes in each plate correspond with 16 countersunk holes in the upper and lower framerail flanges.
Despite looking convincingly...
Despite looking convincingly factory made, every bracket on the chassis, including this combination engine mount and steering box bracket, started as flat plate. "A lot of them have the ribs on the outside edges because I tried to make all this stuff look like it was cast or something." His secret: "I took 1/8-inch by maybe about 1/2-inch flat stock and welded it around the edges of the pieces. Then, I just kind of filed it down until it looked like it was ribbed."
Dave Lane contends that Deuce...
Dave Lane contends that Deuce fenders are notoriously asymmetrical. Starting with non-welled fenders, he separated their entire leading edges and moved them until they matched. Furthermore, he moved the arches in the rear fenders to better follow the new wheel radius established by lowering the car. While he hadn't done it at this point, Dave narrowed the headlight bar until the bar's top holes corresponded with the lower mounting holes in the fender.
Dave retained the top's open...
Dave retained the top's open construction, but he used one of Bobby Walden's steel filler panels in place of the conventional vinyl-clad chicken-wire insert, wrapping it in vinyl rather than welding it in place. To get it to sit flush with the top, he bent a flange into a 3-inch-wide metal strip, shaped it to match the original hole, and welded it in place of the original flange.
Dave fabricated this access...
Dave fabricated this access panel in the same flavor as the door and kick panels. Under the panel is a wooden toolbox; removing the box reveals a cabinet with two six-volt Optima batteries laid on their sides. Other thoughtful touches include the handformed brackets that tie the wood panels to each other and to the body, like the ones in the foreground that stabilize the B-pillars.
Some people love the process...
Some people love the process for its flashy appeal, but Dave elected to have the delivery's wheels CNC-machined for versatility sake. For example, while the front wheel is a direct copy of the 16-inch steel one that George found, the rear one measures 18 inches. Whereas most production billet wheels are merely custom centers pressed into universal rims, every part in these particular wheels is unique, because Dave's machinist scaled up every single dimension-hubcap included-to preserve the original wheel's proportions.