Thread: Got a 32 and have questions about it

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If the engine has any major problems, you might look at the Pinto 4-cylinder as a possible swap. They are very tough, and the addition of a turbocharger can make it a formidable engine.

This is a joke, right? You are putting us on for sure. Everyone dreams about finding a primo 32 in a shed. One that was bought new as a graduation gift for a young lady and driven by her, and her alone until her vision dimmed and she had to put it up. But we all know that is just a dream. It never happens in real life.

Or does it?

I vote for hydraulic brakes, a later tranny, one with syncomesh secont and third gears, and a warmed up late flatty. You can fix the interior with duct tape. Spend your money on speed parts.

i would love to just spend my money on speed parts, but the roof has a huge hole in it, and the rumble seat is just springs. my friend can do upholstery real cheap for me. plus im 21 years old and go to school full time so i dont make that much money. im sure my grandma would throw down some money though if she saw i was getting the car to drive again though. so i just want this thing running. what do i need to do to swap to hydraulic brakes. what kind of brakes does it have now. i am used to working on cars and have built and engine before so im not worried about doing stuff to it. i would like to do brakes/suspension and maybe a trans or rear ened swap or something to prepare for an engine swap. how much can the stock drive train take. thanks for all your help guys. i havent been able to find a group of people to give me advise on this car yet. and also is this thing a coupe or roadster or what. and is the body the same as a v8. its considered a 5 window right?

I have almost an identical car. It was a 4 and now has a 48 flathead and '39 box. Still running the 32 rear. The top can be fixed by buying the material from Mac's or one of the other suppliers. Be extreamly carefull removing the U shaped trim around the top insert. It is not available repo and extreamly expensive used. Al. strip is avail but can not be bent to form the corners required in a 5-wd.

I would change the oil and clean the points. Put a little oil in the plug holes. Check for spark.The fuel flex line always goes bad. I would run a hose to the fuel pump and put the end in a gas can.

You have a treasure there and I would not start thinking of modifing it before you get to know the car. The 4cyl cars ran about as well as the V8's. Lot of torque and fun to drive.
Brakes can be vastly improved with floaters.

You need to get with the Early V8 Club. They support the 4s also.

http://www.e-collector.org/framework/earlyfordv8.php

Remember that it is only original ONCE! It can be restored or modified but it will never be original again.

Damn that car is nice.

You need to be aware that that is a very, very nice car, and some of the old dudes you are looking to for advice are going to try their best to get that car away from you.

You could sell that car for enough money to pay for tuition and more at UCLA.

I can only imagine seeing you going down the freeway with that thing on the trailer. Wow.

You asked earlier if there were any people in your area that deal with those cars....you right in the middle of hot rod country my friend.

thats good news that theres alot of people around here who deal with these cars alot. does anyone have any names of people around here i could contact or any websites or anything like that. just out of curiosity though whats the going rate on a car like this?

You have seen my car so you must know I have some knowledge of the value. $40k would be very low. $50k almost reasonable. It could easily bring$75k to the right buyer. Maybe more. A guy on the HAMB wants $100k for a dissassembled roadster. I would rather have yours. I would keep it if at all possible. It is a better investment than anything I can think of. Take a loan out on it if nothing else.

your saying the car in the state its in is worth 40 grand atleast?

Yep, $40,000 would be very low in my opinion. Could and should bring at least $75k

wow, i had no idea that the car is worth so much money. i now understand why everyone on this site is amazed that i got it. i guess i will have to start saving money to put into it. Don, sorry but i dont have a picture of the gauges. the only good interior picture i have is the one i posted.

Don, I will take some of mine for you later. Dingus

Originally posted by dingus
.......in my opinion. Could and should bring at least $75k

First, assuming you're not just having a good time with us on this and you've really got this car, you've got quite a find there. And yes, in relative terms it's pretty valuable. Especially taking into consideration that it's been in your family for a long time, and if it's as rust free as you believe it is. That being said it's not "pristine" which will effect value.

With all due respect to dingus (you've got a beautiful and valuable car there) read his own words...................opinion. The worst people to get a sense of real market value from are owners, and worse still sellers. They can hardly be objective.

Value is all about someone being willing to push pictures of Ben Franklin across the table. Talk is cheap, and asking prices are completely unreliable markers of value. The only thing that means anything is actual selling prices. And it's not always easy to get those. One way is by looking at auction results. Though high profile auctions like Barrett-Jackson tend to be inflated because it's loaded with big egos who want a win more than a good deal, and then ebay, where a good car might not bring a good price because of lack of inspection ability, they're still good for bracketing a range.

For example, a few weeks ago there was a car very similar to dingus's on ebay that only got into the mid thirties. A sometimes member here has a real steel '32 roadster that he's run twice in the last couple weeks, first it got to $40k, second to $35k, and roadsters have historically brought more than coupes (not opinion, reality). You can go on ebay and pull up completed auctions and see some other nice, original steel cars and see what bids have been. In fact there's a very nice all steel '32 5 window on there (rodded) that only got into the low $40's. All of these were no sales because the owners thought they were worth more, but the buyers didn't agree. There's no legitimate value marker without both a buyer and a seller, only opinion.

Just for balance, there is an all steel '32 3 window on there right now at $90k bid...............but it's also a very high level car, probably pro-built for something around $250-300k.

The point is probably moot if you're not intending to sell, and certainly it's useful for you to know that the car is valuable so nobody cheats you. Just don't get your expectations unrealistically high is all.

bob,
yeah i know that thats dingus's opinion on the price of the car. i thought maybe the car would be worth maybe 5-10 grand tops. im just surprised theyre worth so much. i see alot of rodded ones at shows and stuff, but ussually they are fiberglass bodies and what not. And yeah i am not going to sell the car even though it could put me throug college. Id rather enjoy it and keep working my way through school. ill see if i can find a website that i can upload all the pics of the car onto so you guys can see more of it.

Originally posted by ryan053
ill see if i can find a website that i can upload all the pics of the car onto so you guys can see more of it.

You can do that here. Go to the upper left of the home page, or this page and you'll see an orange roadster with the title "Hot Rod Gallery". You can go there and post multiple pictures. Then folks can go to it by just clicking the camera icon next to your name.

ok ill get to uploading pics