Thread: 1550 some Henry Ford 32 roadsters (and counting....)

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I am reading the history of the Deuce (a great - huge - book I bought at the primer nationals) and was wondering if anyone here knows exactely how many all original roadsters are left today out of the 1550 that HF built in 1932.

I know there are more "registered" 32 Ford roadsters today than HF built, but we all know that a majority of them are simply re-creations and not actually roadsters from 1932.

In other words, HF built only 1550 or so roadsters, how many are still in circulation today?

PS: Can you find out, from the frame number of an original 1932 frame, what model car actually was bolted to that specific frame when it was first built in 1932 ? (a sedan, coupe, roadster etc...).

I'd be curious to find out what my car started as, back then. (More than likely NOT a roadster LOL)

The generally accepted original production figure for roadsters is 12,597.

Wow, only 1550? I think I've seen all of them over the years. I'm amazed it's so low of a production number.

Anyway, I don't see any way that there is any count of survivors. So many have been made into hot rods that there is no central group that would be keeping track of where they are and how many. If it was old Packards or somethng, maybe then, but not with a car that has been modified as often as the deuce.

Could be wrong, though.

When is your Boyfriend going to join? We allow '48 Plymouths on here too.

Don

Production numbers from Roadsters.com site

Cabriolet 6,091
Convertible sedan 926
Five-window Standard coupe 51,794
Fordor sedan 37,363
Panel delivery 6,122
Phaeton 2,490
Roadster 12,597
Sedan delivery 400
Station wagon 1,383
Sport coupe 2,911
Three-window Deluxe coupe 22,148
Tudor sedan 124,101
Victoria 8,580

The serial number range was 1 to 203,126 but that included trucks and commercial vehicles. There are many more roadsters today than were ever made.....if you have a real frame with a serial number, you cant tell what body came on that frame so many sedans got rebodied into roadsters. Then, there are the cars that have been registered without a real serial number history....probably more than were originally built....one thing for certain, they may have built 200,000 frames in 32 but they only built 12,597 roadster bodies....a real body is the prize. The new Brookville, the ASC, and the RodBods bodies are distinguishable from the original. IT would be impossible to figure out how many 32 roadsters that exist today since many are titled as something other than a 32 roadster.

Originally Posted by robot

There are many more roadsters today than were ever made......

Ford made 1,552 standard roadsters ... and 11,045 DeLuxe roadsters ... so Faith was correct ... as far as she went ... she just did not say standards ...

I believe the statement that There are more 32 Ford roadsters registered today than were ever made ... WHICH ... would be true ... if you only counted the 1,552 standards number ...... by Faith ... is a urban myth or legend ... IF 1/3 of of the original 12 thousand plus 32 Ford roadsters survived ... ( doubtful ) that would mean that over 8 thousand 32 Ford roadsters have been reproduced ... With a 20 year run of reproduction ... that's over 400 a year ( or 8 a week ) for 20 years. MAYBE ... now ... they make that many ... MAYBE ... but not years ago ...

OR ... 12,000 32 Roadsters divided by 50 states ... is over 200 roadsters in each and every state ... I know that California has more than their fair share of the 200 ... but how about Delaware ... Rhode Island ... Alaska ... Vermont ... I bet there are not 200 32 Fords of any body style in all four of those states combined ...

Most reproduction bodies .... that are on original Henry built frame rails ... on sitting on a 4 door sedan chassis IMHO ... because they were the cheapest old car donor available and got NO RESPECT from the Hot Rodders until more recent times ...



Is a decent book ... and a enjoyable read ... but a lot of the stuff is a rehash of previously printed material and it is not totally correct ...

Randy

You can buy a title to a '32 roadster, which means there had to be an original car for that title and VIN #. But a person can also apply for a lost title, and get one in some states, and a new VIN # will be issued. It is understandable that it could be possible there are more titled roadsters than were actually produced.

I was also reading a Rod history book and according to it, an original serial number would start with 1 (4 cylinder) or 18 (8 cylinder). I do not think there is a way, except MV or Ford records to tell which body was on frame. My title states it was a roadster, but that may not be common.
Jim

Originally Posted by Old Hippie

I was also reading a Rod history book and according to it, an original serial number would start with 1 (4 cylinder) or 18 (8 cylinder). I do not think there is a way, except MV or Ford records to tell which body was on frame. My title states it was a roadster, but that may not be common.
Jim

OK, the title also read 1932 roadster and serial number starts with 18. Eric said that when he got the car it still had its minnesota title which read 1932 Ford Roadster, and he checked the vin nb and it matched the title. Could that mean the frame did come from a roadster? Since the front is all from the original car (grill shel, insert, radiator and possibly axle) and so is the gas tank, seems that what was replaced was the body. there is a slight chance I might be looking at a real 32 roadster that was restored with a body replaced... but then again, hard to know for sure... GRRRR if only I could go back far enough to find the first owner!!!!

If you are wondering why i want to know, it is because it fascinates me. I wonder what secrets untold hide behing my roadster - it adds a certain "romance" to the car.

Originally Posted by HiboyGal

Since the front is all from the original car (grill shel, insert, radiator and possibly axle) and so is the gas tank, seems that what was replaced was the body. there is a slight chance I might be looking at a real 32 roadster that was restored with a body replaced.

Your shell looks to be a original 32 Ford piece ... but the insert does NOT have the crank hole ... as it should.



This is a photo of a repro ... but you get the idea.

If your chassis has the original transverse springs ... the number of leaves is a clue as to what it came under ... but as it is a Hot Rod ... it does not really matter ...

18 in the number means it was a V8 car ...

Deuce is right, V8. Just a thought to confuse the issue, if it is really a Wescott body, why not buy new doors from them if yours are really bad? That might solve your prob. less expensively and allow you to continue to drive your car. I like the history you have found, and maybe you could find out how old your (roadster) body is and have a kool historical ride. Wescott advertises their first body as still being on the road.
Jim

Originally Posted by Deuce

Your shell looks to be a original 32 Ford piece ... but the insert does NOT have the crank hole ... as it should.

Hi deuce, I was wondering about that too, but yesterday I closely looked at the grill insert with a couple other hotrodders. I noticed the bottom part of each insert is lodged inside the insert metal 'frame' However I also counted 5 inserts that are not "inserted" but rather welded at the botton. We then compared with another 32 grill, and found that these 5 inserts would be the exact ones that would hold the crank hole. Inshort, if I had removed the crank hole, replaced the inserts and welded them back in the grill, this is exactely what I would have ended up with. In light of this latest 'discovery', I am concluding that this may very well be the original insert, minus the crank hole. As a matter of fact if you take notice of the grill insert frame, at the bottom, where the crank hoel would be, you can see that it does not connect. A crank hole would have covered this, but since it has been removed you now can see it not connecting at the bottom (look at photo and it looks like a red spot instead of a metal color). A new grill insert manufactured without a crank hole would go all te way around the grill and connect, wouldn't it?

Not wanting to put anybody down, but anymore deuce roadsters are getting about as rare as red Camaro's!!!! IMO the only difference between steel and glass is which side of the debate you are on. Given the choice of which to build, I think I would prefer a repop steel body, a new set of rails, and design the rest myself....... I've done enough of the "real steel" body rebuilds to know that a lot of times about all that is left of original Henry parts is the upper cowl, windshield frame, and the title.....

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

..................... I think I would prefer a repop steel body, a new set of rails, and design the rest myself....... I've done enough of the "real steel" body rebuilds to know that a lot of times about all that is left of original Henry parts is the upper cowl, windshield frame, and the title.....

I agree. I did a '34 a few years ago replacing the floor and and lower panels. I won't do it again. Today, the totally new steel bodies are just too attractive.

OK, let's give the "twice as many deuce roadsters now than Henry built" the smell test:

We know that ASC built 300 Dearborn Deuce roadsters, that is publicized.
Brookville probably has built and sold at least that amount, let's give them
350
Rod Bods is the price leader so let's give them 350 also.
That is 1000 steel bodies that are "new"

Wescott has been building bodies since the 1970's according to their web pages.....but they don't say when they started the 32 roadster body. Let's guess that they started 25 years ago and have shipped 3 bodies per week for 25 years...... 3 x 50 x 25 = 3750......this sounds way too high but let's use it.
For the other manufacturers, we will guess that they all total up to Wescott's total....so another 3750....this puts the total fiberglass guess at 7500.

Deuce guesses that 1/2 of the original roadster bodies are left...I think that is too high.....use 1/3 of 12,597 which equals 4,199...say 4000.

Thus, 4,000 + 7500 + 1000 = 12500.....kinda close to the original number of roadsters built. To sanity check, we know that there are NOT double the number of steel replacement bodies out there...... we know that there are NOT 2/3 of the original bodies left and the fiberglass body production would have to be very high to total double the number of deuce roadsters.....

Therefore, the myth that there are "twice as many deuce roadsters today than Henry made" is probably busted. By the way, the above guess is how many bodies were built....probably a good percentage are sitting in the garage unfinished.....I know mine is.

mike in tucson