I stopped in at the Roadster Shop several days ago with my camera.  As usual I asked and was given permission to shoot a few photos of their work which is displayed on the showroom lobby of the business.  There were a number of interesting, truly amazing works of automotive art on display, but only one captured my attention.  It was a red 1932 Ford three window coupe.  The three window coupe is “the classic hot rod.” When I was a kid, the lightweight coupe was mated with a v8 engine, four speed transmission, Hurst shifter, a pair of M&H slicks –and this was the ultimate street weapon.  That was before the day of the Detroit muscle cars, –the GTO, Ford Mustang, and the Olds 442.

A red three window coupe was sitting there, surreal, something-out-of-time, an apparition of the bygone industrial age.  The industrial age.  That was a time when men and women, not robots, hand-assembled, by muscle and touch, automobiles on the line at Ford’s River Rouge plant.

Here are my photos of the red 32 Ford Coupe.  How do you not fall in love with the sculpted sweep of a fender?  The body sits low on the chassis frame rails to lend stability when cornering at high-speed.  The lines of the body work are simple, efficient, beautiful.  I felt a sensation of reverence. The work of Ford designers long departed, as well as the vision of a past generation of hot rod enthusiasts, are joined with the contemporary knowledge of designers, and skilled fabricators at the Roadster Shop in this vehicle.

A look at the engine compartment reveals, what else but a Chevy small block V8.  By today’s standards this is a simple, mechanical set up, no electronic fuel injection, computer managed systems, etc.  Just a four-barrel carburetor and manifold, tuned to maximize the power of the lightweight engine, mated to a four speed transmission.

I am sure this vehicle will never be driven sideways down a dirt road.  Unlike it’s predecessors that were built from scratch in a garage by two or three friends, this one is a 21st century icon, a showpiece much too valuable to risk the vulnerability of a screaming motor, spinning tires, on the edge of control.

 

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This custom-built street rod, by contrast to vehicles available today was meant to be “driven” in the old-fashioned sense of the word.  The 32 Ford coupe is a complex of mechanical connections, from the bolts that fasten the body to the frame rails, to the rods and cables connecting the carburetor to the gas pedal.  The driver becomes an extension of the machine, the machine an extension of sensibility of the driver, feeling the bite of the tires, the ascending note of engine RPM, and the moan of air rushing into the carb venturi.  No computer chip intervenes between man and machine.

The times have changed as they always do.

Seeing the three window coupe made my day.