Detailing a '32 Ford Chassis - Downtime Deuce

Bryan Smith gets all the thrills he needs during working hours with an exciting career as a camera operator in a news helicopter. He did, however, find the perfect project right under his nose to relax in between action-packed airborne adventures. It just so happens that his brother Craig (with whom he shares the cover of this month's issue) had been collecting parts and building a '32 Ford roadster, and along the way he developed a sizeable cache of extra pieces like a grille shell, firewall, and frame. These parts were transferred from brother to brother, and with a '64 Chevy small-block thrown in from his dad, Bryan had enough pieces to start a project of his own.

Bryan is far beyond "detail oriented," and so began the work on his '32 Ford chassis with plenty of trick ideas flowing through his head. Because he spends so much time in his office-12 hours a day on call waiting for news to happen-a huge help to the project came when Bryan asked his boss if it would be alright for him to build his engine in his office. To his surprise, he got the green light on the conditions that the engine stayed only in his office and out of sight of the other co-workers. Looks like he had some downtime, as the 327 was built and detailed with a 3x2 intake manifold topped with a trio of rebuilt Rochester 2G carburetors and flanked on both sides by a pair of Edelbrock valve covers and Sanderson headers. A final touch is a Ford 427 air cleaner modified to fit the triple-carb setup.

In his off-hours, work on the chassis began with a pair of original hand-me-down '32 Ford 'rails Bryan sent to Dennis Lesky at the Ionia Hot Rod Shop to fit a set of custom-fabricated crossmembers to tie everything together. Brakes consist of a drilled Ford backing plate/finned aluminum Buick drum combo attached to the front axle and a set of binders from an '80 Ford pickup bolted to the rearend. A '56 Ford pickup steering box filled with N.O.S. gears and mated to a '32 Ford mounting flange will keep Bryan's Deuce headed in the right direction.

Being the aforementioned detail nut he is, Bryan gave every piece a very personal touch by drilling or massaging each piece by hand before finally fitting them to the frame.

With all the components in place, the final touch to the period-perfect underpinnings was a set of American Racing Torq-Thrusts wrapped in Michelin rubber. The story continues on this chassis with it meeting an equally detailed '32 roadster body, but we'll bring you that exciting story in an upcoming installment, so stay tuned!