The "Big Sister" and "Little Sister" '32 Ford roadsters have been drawing some attention to the shop where they were built, Hollywood Hot Rods in Burbank, California. If you didn't see the pair of Deuces at the Grand National Roadster Show, the L.A. Roadster Show, the March Meet, or any of the other big events where they've been drawing crowds, you might have seen them on the tube--the buildup was featured on the "RIDES" television program. Stick around and you'll see them spread across the pages of R&C in the not-too-distant future. Our final question to builder Troy Ladd was: "What are you going to do for an encore?"
As usual, when you ask a builder that question, the answer is just a few feet away in his shop. Sure enough, Troy is busy on another topless '32. For all the work and imagination that went into the previous cars, he's looking to best himself with this effort, starting with a severe sectioning job that puts the body height at about belt buckle level.
The toughest part of the bodywork involved relocating the rear wheelwells upward as the car heads downward. As if to complicate matters, Troy decided to kick up the framerails in the rear approximately 5 inches. In addition, he chose Firestone 8.90-16 dirt track tires for the rear-a perfect choice style wise, but getting that tall rubber positioned just right in the wheelwells presented a real challenge. We wanted to see how he'd meet that challenge. This month we'll show you some of the steps Troy came up with to rework the wheelwells so those tall tires will fit perfectly on the shrinking body. In the next installment, we'll follow up on the doors and making it all work together.
When we first saw the roadster,...
When we first saw the roadster, the frame was done and work was well underway on the Brookville body. As we can see here the cowl had already been sectioned by 2 inches, but the doors and the rest of the body hadn't been cut yet.
With the body off, the 5-inch...
With the body off, the 5-inch rise at the back of the framerails is easy to see. But once the stock body is set in place, the wheels, and even the axles, will hit the lower body.
Troy started by cutting the...
Troy started by cutting the inner support pieces from the rear wheelwells (leaving them attached to the quarter).
The wheelwell itself will...
The wheelwell itself will not be sectioned since the arch has to be maintained, so Troy scribed the cut line on the flat surface of the sheetmetal, following the radius of the wheelwell with the compass.
Instead of marking a cut line...
Instead of marking a cut line all the way to the bottom of the rocker, Troy stopped approximately 2 inches up, leaving a corner in the rocker. Since the wheelwell will move straight up, the arch should not flare out away from the tire, but follow down around it. This will also maintain the curved reveal at the bottom of the panel. Later in the process, that corner will be cut and relocated forward on the rocker at the spot where the wheelwell radius meets the rocker.
A cut-off wheel was used to...
A cut-off wheel was used to cut along the line at the bottom of the wheelwell, and a plasma cutter was used to make the initial rough cut of the arch. The final cut was made with hand snips. Can you believe Troy just sliced half the sheetmetal out of a $10,000 Brookville body? This better work.
With the big dirt track tire...
With the big dirt track tire remounted, Troy clamped the removed wheelwell into position to estimate how much room he has between the top of the tire and the upper body reveal. Raising the wheelwell 2 inches compensates for some of the frame kick-up, but that's just half the job. The rest of the body still needs to be sectioned 2 inches so the wheelwells will have to come up an additional 2 inches to compensate for that.
With the wheelwells removed,...
With the wheelwells removed, Troy is ready to start sectioning the body. He scribed a lower cut line in the blue layout dye, 2 inches above the bottom edge of the body and following the curve.
For the upper cut line he...
For the upper cut line he scribed tiny marks 2 inches above the lower cut line.
He then opened the compass...
He then opened the compass up to 4 inches and scribed another line, again following the bottom edge of the body (making sure that it went through the tiny marks he just did). By doing this, he ended up with two perfectly parallel cut lines 2 inches apart.
With the body properly supported,...
With the body properly supported, the upper line was carefully cut. Since the upper and lower cuts will later be TIG welded, it was very important that the lines were perfect with minimal gap.
The moment had arrived when...
The moment had arrived when the body could be removed and set aside.
Troy could then go back in...
Troy could then go back in and remove the 2-inch piece from the remaining body segment, sawing along the lower cut line.
With those 2 inches removed,...
With those 2 inches removed, the body is already visibly lower on top of the 'rails.
There's a lot of sheetmetal...
There's a lot of sheetmetal fabrication ahead before the wheelwells will fit (and the doors haven't been touched yet), but with the wheelwell clamped in place and the wheel and tire remounted, you can start to get an idea how this low, low highboy is going to look when it's finished.