Posted on 10/12/2018 11:15:26 AM PDT by ETL
Ever since he was in high school, Roger had wanted a 1932 Ford coupe. Sixty years later, he still wanted one, but Deuce prices had gone sky high. So Roger built this 1931 Model A with a 1932 grille and gas tank.
He says the coupe was a pile of rusty parts when he bought it from a friend. It had taken him years to convince his friend to sell it, and it went from the friend’s garage to Roger’s barn where it sat for more time. “After I retired, moved, built a new pole shed, finished building a Ford F-100, then selling the truck, I started working on the coupe.”
The body is almost all original steel. It was in good shape when he bought it, and the top had already been chopped 2 inches and partially filled. Roger did the rest of the bodywork, including a lot of paint and rust removal, in his shed. The missing firewall was replaced with a reproduction from Bitchin Products. His toughest bodywork challenge, he recalls, was fitting the trunklid to the body.
Roger sold the factory frame and bought a TCI replacement from JW Rod Garage with independent suspension. Roger built his own four-bar rear suspension with coilovers. American Racing 15-inch five-spoke wheels roll on 225/60R15 and 275/60R15 BFGoodrich radial tires.
The frame had been set up for a Chevy engine and automatic transmission, but Roger changed it for his Ford 347 stroker from Blueprint Engines, topped with a Holley carburetor and backed up by a TREMEC five-speed transmission. The Ford 9-inch rear was rebuilt at JW Rod Garage.
A Brookville dash was installed and equipped with VDO gauges. A wood underdash holds the heater controls and vents. The banjo wheel tops a tilt column. A local upholsterer covered the Wise Guys bucket seats in tan faux leather. Roger took care of all the wiring chores.
After painting the coupe with epoxy primer and finishing the undersides of the fenders with truck bedliner, Roger drove the coupe for a one summer. He then brought it back into his shop and tore it apart for bodywork and paint, using PPG Omni Blue Denim.
“I am a retired engineer and I like to build things,” Roger told us. “Building street rods is a great hobby and I enjoyed the building of the coupe.
This was the fourth street rod that I have built and the last one because I am 76 years old.” Roger hasn’t let his age stop him from building a great Model A, or from driving it to local shows whenever he has the chance.
Joel Stocksdale
May 25th 2018
You would think that for a car enthusiast, the worst nightmare scenario is his or her car being totaled. And that’s somewhat true. But the real nightmare is that car being totaled by someone with bad insurance and who tries to run off. That’s what William Smith is going through.
Originally reported by The Drive, Smith revealed the situation on Facebook not long after it happened. His Ford Model A, previously owned by his dad and later restored, had been parked on the street.
According to Smith, a woman in a mid-2000s Toyota Corolla veered out of her lane while distracted on her phone, and demolished the parked Ford.
The frame was bent, the body beaten up, and all of the wheels were broken. Worse, she tried to get away in the also-smashed Corolla, but Smith got in front of her. Police eventually arrested her.
In a follow-up post, Smith revealed that not only has his car been totaled, but the woman had bare-minimum insurance that will pay him only $5,000, some of which Smith says will have to go to buying the car back from the insurance company.
The only real silver linings are that Smith wasn’t hurt because he wasn’t in the car, and the woman went to jail on suspicion of both hit and run and driving under the influence.
Smith’s follow-up post indicates that he wants to rebuild the car. But it also notes that it won’t be easy to do, considering the circumstances.
https://www.autoblog.com/2018/05/25/ford-model-a-totaled-distracted-driver/
Does the term “Justifiable Homicide” ring a bell ?
ding ding ding
maybe he could sue her; does wage garnishment still exist in our “enlightened” society?
From the owner's FaceBook page...
Things arent looking too for this whole mess, the lady's insurance is only offering me $5,000 tops because she only had the very most basic California minimum which is 5,000 (which doesn't even include me buying back my car) and there's nothing I can do about it, the lady was also under the influence so she was also arrested for DUI on top of the Hit and Run.
I can't squeeze blood out of a turnip, she's in jail and she doesn't have any money. So I'm now stuck with my totaled car and not much to work with. It was fun while it lasted, but I'll get that A back on the road. May be a year or so, but I really hope it doesn't become one of those projects that never gets finished and gets set aside because I'm getting pretty discouraged about this whole thing.
Here is a pic of the car prior...
My Hagerty on my Cosworth Vega was also about $150 a year.
But the trick is that they would only cover the damages if the car was on the way to or from a car show. After that coverage gets really wonky.
I had two policies - one was for static damages (garage stuff) which was the $150. And to and from car shows. But I had a normal policy from Allstate on other issues.
Hagerty also helped out with the real challenges. A fender for a 76 vega is valued at about $25. The reality coverage came from Hagerty.
Seems to me he ought to own that Corolla straight-up as a down payment on damages. Between selling the Corolla and the $5k from her insurance, he ought to be able to buy the classic Ford back from insurance.
I had a Vega Station Wagon and for driving around NYC it wasn’t bad:-) It was broken into once in Manhattan and all they took was my change of clothe, Jug of anti-freeze and a quart of oil I was required to constantly have in it:-)
I know. I sized it to match the other. Should have just not posted it.
I had a good friend many years ago who had a Model A Ford Roadster. He used to come by and take myself and my older boys out for a ride. You really get a lot of looks when you’re in the rumble seat.
I hope his daughter kept the car after he died. Oh, and at one point in his life, he had 7 Model A’s. And a mint condition ‘62 Caddie. He used to joke that the car, and his wife, were the only things he had that were older than him.
That makes me cry. What a shame!
Beautiful hue of blue.
Yes, sure is.
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