'32 Ford Highboy Roadster 90's style

[Bernard Kron]

Barry Lobeck Style '32 Ford Highboy

(More pics below)

The Revell Goodguys '32 Ford Roadster has always been problematic for me, most of the time it's because it's too modern. I land up replacing the airbags with a Model A buggy spring and wishing it came with a more traditional dropped I-beam front end. such as the one from the Revell "Rat Rod" '29 Ford Roadster Pickup and '31 Ford kits.

But even as a modern ride it has always bugged me a little. Some things like the wheels and tires and the stance were never ideal, even when it was released in the mid 90's.

For me the master of the "contemporary traditional" look of the 80's and 90's was Barry Lobeck. A primo Lobeck ride is a thing of beauty to my eyes, very low in the front with a dramatic stance and exaggerated big and littles at the corners. So, using the Revell kit as the starting point and using the Butch Martin Lobeck-built Deuce highboy from Vol. 1, No. 1 of The Rodder's Journal as my inspiration I set about trying to "perfect" this classic kit.

First off I lowered the front and rear suspension about 1 ¾" all around by changing to a mono-leaf front suspension and cutting down the dreaded Revell airbags. To get a dramatic "rubber rake" I grabbed the front tires and wheels from the Revell Stone, Woods & Cook Willys Gasser kit and cut down a set of rear mags from the AMT '53 Studebaker Starliner kit to fit a pair of 11 inch Firestone dirt track tires from Replicas & Miniatures.

Next up was building a classic small block Chevy in place of the kit's Ford mill. It's made from various bits and pieces from my parts box but it's basically a Revell piece.

The only modification to the kit body was to make a louvered hood and smoothed hood sides with a small row of louvers at the lower rear corners. This turned out to be the most major work of the project. First off only the hood sides from the original roadster kit fit a fenderless car properly. The smooth sides that come in the Coupe and Sedan kits are curved at the bottom to fit the tops of the fender valances and thus leave a gap when you try to use them in a fenderless application. Since the only hood sides that come with the roadster are heavily louvered I had to file them off. Then I applied some 3 dimensional louver decals from Archer Fine Transfers ( http://www.archertransfers.com/ ) to the top the hood and sides.

The interior is stock except for the dashboard. I've never cared for the kit dashboard with its air conditioning outlets and radio and cassette player (?!). So I cut them out, glued in a blank panel and installed a p/e dash from Replicas & Miniatures.

Paint is Duplicolor Torch Red over Duplicolor Red Oxide Primer. The grill is a p/e piece from Model Car Garage finish in body color and set into a Replicas & Miniatures grill shell and double sided radiator. Headlights and taillights are from the AMT Phantom Vickie kit, with the headlight buckets stripped of their chrome finish and painted body color.

Thanx for lookin',

B.

Edited June 24, 2010 by gbk1

[Frank]

That is one great build, I like the modifications you have done.

One thing though, you have the dooor handles on upside down and back to front.

[Bernard Kron]

That is one great build, I like the modifications you have done.

One thing though, you have the door handles on upside down and back to front.

Thanx for the kind words Frank.

Regarding the door handles, in my defense that's the way they're called out in the instructions (a pretty weak defense IMHO since I tend not to use instructions a whole lot except for technical reasons). The only reason I know is because they're asymmetric so I checked while I was doing final assembly. Anyhow, door handles were first introduced on the roadster (no door handles on the Dan Fink Speedwagon) and they're rearward facing on the 3-window coupe too. But once Revell introduces the sedan they make a new handle, which is straight instead of s-curved. It's still asymmetric but they move the hole for the door handle rearward toward the door line and point the handle forward. The same is true for the 5-window. Checking on the web asymmetric s-curved door handles usually point rearward but not always... And finally, my friend Raul Perez built me a gorgeous full-fendered Revell '32 roadster (black with a flattie) and he pointed the s-curved handles forward. But my significant other told me she prefers them pointing rearward. Hmmmmm...

[Bernard Kron]

very cool Bernard!

that side profile shot pretty much nails what you set out to do from the beginnning.

i noticed the door handles too but figured that you did it on purpose. turning them to the back makes them more "aerodynamic" anyways

Dave

Thanx Dave!

Yeah, that's it, aerodynamics, that's why I did it. Actually, I thought they didn't look that great from the start. I'm not real big on elaborate ornamental bits. I think I'll grab a set of straight ones from a sedan kit and mount them forward pointing!

[Bernard Kron]

I replaced the blurred picture of the engine compartment with something sharper. Also resequenced the pictures a bit. But I still haven't switched out the door handles!

Here are a couple of "family portraits" of this build alongside a gorgeous and absolutely perfect full fendered Deuce that my friend and modeling mentor Raul Perez gave me after showing it at the NNL West this year. I thought you all might find them interesting as contrasting approaches to a contemporary-traditional street rod.

[Raul_Perez]

Very nice work, Bernard!!

The rake and stance is right on the $$

And, now I remember where that black fully fendered '32 roadster got off to.

I Still get a chuckle every time I think about how stealthfully I got the description of how to build it from you in a post about what different builders thought was the best combination of Revell '32 Ford parts.

Keep up the GREAT builds!!

Later,

[Bernard Kron]

...I Still get a chuckle every time I think about how stealthfully I got the description of how to build it from you in a post about what different builders thought was the best combination of Revell '32 Ford parts. ...

Me too! Ya got me! But I've got this stunning full fendered Deuce sitting on my shelf as a superb reference to modeling at its finest. I can hardly complain. Thanx!!!

[curt raitz]

Very Nice Bernard...dang you sure have been buildin' a bunch of models

looks great sittin' next to the black full-fendered 32

keep on - keepin' on

[Bernard Kron]

...dang you sure have been buildin' a bunch of models ...

Thanx Curt!

I'm just playing catch up on unfinished builds which were waiting on missing parts. Vut I do have this compulsion to start new projects...