Les Hilgers' 1932 Ford Roadster

That’s a real Auburn...        read full caption That’s a real Auburn dash panel with the original Stewart-Warners still in place. Les added a Stewart-Warner Wings tach to a blank spot on the left of the dash to keep closer tabs on what’s going on with the engine.

With the exception of the...        read full caption With the exception of the new tach and fresh floorboards, the interior is pretty much as it was in the ’50s. A Deluxe column with a ’39 banjo wheel turns a now-rebuilt ’32 steering box, while a ’39 shift lever grabs gears. The green Naugahyde tuck ’n’ roll was in excellent condition when Les got the car, so all he did was clean it up and go.

The chopped windshield posts...        read full caption The chopped windshield posts still bear their telltale signs of brazing. Everything on this car has just the right patina to it. It appears (and is) well-worn without being worn out.

A set of ’50 Pontiac...        read full caption A set of ’50 Pontiac taillights adorn the rear pan while a pair of bobbed rear fenders keep the car close to legal. Take a gander at the ’57-’58 Pontiac green. This is the paint job that was in place when the car went into storage, yet Les only had to rub it out to bring back its luster.

The filled and peaked dropped...        read full caption The filled and peaked dropped axle is suspected to be a Blair or an Okie Adams, with manufactured ends instead of heated and stretched ends. Unsplit wishbones and a stock spring support the axle. Lever action shocks are still in place and a dropped steering arm keeps steering geometry correct. The spindles and brakes are ’39 Ford juicers.

Mmmm, dual-quad ’57 Corvette...        read full caption Mmmm, dual-quad ’57 Corvette 283. Les had it rebuilt by Tom Osborne and Dode Martin after realizing that this car spent its youth being driven. It’s been bored 0.030-inch over, but the rest is stock right down to the original air cleaner. A ’39 Ford trans with Zephyr gears and a Centerforce clutch back up the motor, while the stock Deuce banjo rear turns 3.55 gears.

The wheels are steel Mercury...        read full caption The wheels are steel Mercury 15-inchers with Ford covers. The tires are about the only modern things on the car—Les was all set to run bias-plies after removing the original rock-hard recapped slicks ’n’ skinnys when one of his friends recommended radials for driveability. Les drives the roadster often and is glad he went with modern tires. Up front is a pair of 185/70 BFGoodrich Silvertowns, while a set of 255/70 Silvertowns bring up the rear.

There’s been a lot of noise lately about tradition being trendy (aren’t those opposites?), but Les Hilgers doesn’t know or care about trendy. He does know a bit about tradition though, having grown up around rods ’n’ customs in the ’50s and ’60s. His love affair with American Iron began in San Diego at the tender age of 14, with a ’39 Chevy as the object of his affection.

As he aged, cars and trucks came and went; a ’57 Chevy hardtop, a T roadster, a ’32 pickup, a ’36 three-window, and lots of others. His garage currently holds a ’55 Chevy truck that he’s owned for 32 years, and two cars that you may have seen in our “Hot Rod Survivors” story in the July ’01 issue of R&C: an orange ’33 drag coupe and this green Deuce roadster. Both are survivors and, more importantly, both are drivers.

Some guys scour the country in search of gems like this and never hit paydirt, while other guys—guys like Les—get lucky and hear about them through friends. Seems a friend of a friend found this one on the Internet. It had been stored for 40 years after a coupler broke inside the torque tube and, instead of fixing it, the car’s young owner put it in storage. He finally decided to sell it and listed it on a Web site. Turns out the owner listed it wrong, so not too many people saw the ad. Les heard about it from his friend Randy Clark, who had purchased the car when Randy’s friend, who actually found it on the Net, couldn’t afford to buy it. Randy was planning on turning it over at the local auto swap, but when Les stopped by to take a peek he immediately snapped it up.

The car proved to be in excellent condition—it was left untouched for the 40 years it was stored. After freshening the car up a bit, Les hit the road and has had nothing but fun driving it ever since.