1932 Ford Roadster: New hot rod in the shop

For months we’ve been looking forward to the arrival of Todd Anderson’s roadster. The chassis was built and the body assembled by Erik Hansson in Huntington Beach, using an impressive collection of original Deuce parts Todd has patiently gathered over the years. Our job will be to finish the car.

Obviously, the work is just getting underway – the first punch list is already three pages long — but we’ve got a full head of steam and we’ve completed work on the exhaust, fuel system and steering. Click here, we’ve posted a bunch of recent photos:

The jewel in the crown is a 255 inch French flathead assembled by Jerry Helwig before his passing. The motor runs an Isky Max-1 cam, Navarro heads, a Thickstun PM-7 with two rebuilt, big-logo 97’s, and a Mallory ignition with a polished PowerGEN alternator. It’s all bolted up to an S-10 5-speed.

Erik fabs his own crossmembers, including the one in the rear. His modified T spring hangs a 3:54 banjo toughened up by Nick and Ken Smith at the Hot Rod Shop. We disassembled the banjo for Todd here at Seabright before shipping it off to Idaho and it was like new inside.

Don’t look for any crazy flash-bang on this car. Todd likes his stuff subtle and his heavy axle is a good example. Its inch-and-a-half “Gentleman’s Drop” is handsome and understated.

The front bones tuck up cleanly under the frame rails, but they caused some grief with the routing of the exhaust. Gary fabbed a system that passes over the bone…

…then exits just ahead of the rear wheels. A simple, stainless straight pipe, it’s muffled by an internal baffle.

We also built and mounted a fuel system, modified the floor and rerouted the steering (to make the u-joints cooperate), and we’re starting in on the brakes and wiring. Yesterday we dummied up some taillights so Todd could visualize the layout of the rear panel.

If you like these traditionally-styled roadsters, check back in. We’ll be posting updates on our usual unpredictable schedule.