New Seat, part 2

Here are the long awaited photos of the restored seat in Daytons. It really turned out well. Marc did a fantastic job using the old photos I provided to get it looking just like it used to.
The leather isn’t a 100% match to the elbow & door panels, put I’m just happy it’s done!





























Look at the comparison of new & old, identical!

Below was the work I completed by Sunday night. I had the original vintage seat belts in, and has made a board for the package tray to which I then glued a shaped length of running board rubber -as it had long ago.

Power Plant Preference

What scores highest in power plants for traditional hot rods?

In my opinion, the best engines to power a 1932 Ford roadster are:

10 out of 10 is the Ardun OHV conversion on a flathead
9 is a hopped up 24-stud flathead Ford
8 is a stock flathead 24-stud, OR vintage early race engine; Offy OHC for instance
7 is souped-up 4-banger Model A or B
6 is an ‘other’ brand vintage V8 engine, ie; Nailhead, Rocket 88, Chrysler hemi, Ford 292
5 is lesser Ford flatheads
4 is a vintagly dressed-up early Chevy V8
3 is a less-then vintage V8; Ford 289, FE, 429, Mopar, or anything late 60’s & newer
2 is a plain-jane Chevy 350 or Ford small block V8, or anything fuel injected
1 is any import engine

At the top, only one engine deserves to score a 10 out of 10, honestly it isn’t even really the engine but an add-on; It is the historical Ardun overhead valve conversion for the Ford flathead V8. No part can deserve as much respect from hot rod guys; its presence alone is awe inspiring, even to well-seasoned parts junkies.
Numbers 10-7 are all early Fords due mostly to tradition. But number 8 included race engines from the 30’s to the 50’s, because I couldn’t think of a better place to put it, and they can be some of the coolest looking things you ever did see.

At the bottom, numbers 3-1 are the least desirable, least imaginative choices for engines. If you are bothering to build semi-nostalgic ’32 roadster, steel or even fiberglass, and are considering any engine at the bottom of my list, Stop Now! You are wasting your time, nobody want to see a Ford 302 or a LS1. It just shows poor planning, a lack of imagination, and come with sorry excuses. Vintage engines are still available and worth any extra effort to use them, plus make great conversation pieces.





Here is what a legitimate Offy race engine looks like in a Model A. It's just so rare to see. Owned by Bob Anderson.

New Seat, part 1

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My special ordered leather finally arrived. While on holiday in Florida visiting my in-laws, Ron & Dottie, it came to the house after an 11 week wait.

Dayton’s interior leather isn’t made commercially anymore, 50 years later. And there aren’t too many places to get dyed-to-match custom leather these days. But SMS Fabrics of Oregon is one of them, specializing in automotive upholstery replacement materials. After a sample arrived for me to sign-off on, I was told it would take another 6-8 weeks to complete the order.

Well it took a little longer, but I’m happy I finally got it. A few days later I was off to Mark at Rudy’s Upholstery in Hollywood. Rudy’s was recommended to me but my friend Rey, who had taken several GTOs to Mark previously.

Last week I spent some time building a foundation for the new seat. I build the slats you see using Poplar wood from Loews’ Hardware on top of some old wood already there. I fashioned the slats after what is in a stock ’29 roadster. The 3/4” plywood panel in the subframe tilts up to access the battery. Not pictured is the 1/2” plywood seat base & backrest base, nor the foam I bought. Mark is stitching the leather and tacking it to the plywood bases. The bottom seat comes out, but the backrest is tacked to the beltline wood at the top.

And finally, rather then the bottom seat just sitting on the floor (the car is missing a stock seat frame), I used dowels secured into the plywood floor to lock the pad base in. My friend David and I worked on that, it turned out well.

Letter to the Editor (Art Director)

Rod & Custom Magazine wants to take photos and write an article about my Craigslist find. I feel very honored and so thankful to people over at R&C for their enthusiasm about the Daytons. Aaron Kahan, Art Director at R&C, and Tim Sutton the photographer are really swell guys, I’m really glad that I’ll be getting to know them.

Today I grafted a letter to them with and update and some great news I got recently.

"Hi Aaron & Tim, I just wanted to update you on some news gathered about the roadster. I have a proper spelling on the guy who owned the car for over 50 years, William (Bill) Bair. Turns out he had lots of friends, I discovered this after finally bumping into the other guy (purple shirt) 'Fredy' at the Pasadena Reliability Run. Fredy and Dave Lazardi, had lots to say about Bill --for instance, Bill was a fan of sprint/midget cars, the reason the car has Dayton wire wheels. Bill & Fredy were good friends it turns out, Fredy says he'd even driven the car in the past. I'll include what I've learned in the tech-sheet.

I also bumped into a fellow at the PRR that has a strikingly similar blue roadster as compared to my roadster. Turns out, Jim Foltz of N. Long Beach bought the car from Don Montgomery's car lot only blocks from where my car lived for 50 years near the intersection of 70th & Olive Ave. This isn't a coincidence either. Because the similarities go a lot further then the leaded in cowl and V-windshields. The 32 frame on Jim's '28 A has built details that could have only been done by the same person, we both think our cars related --like family.

Jim's father, and old time local race car driver actually remembers Bill Bair, knew he was into race boats & roadster racers too. Jim also found several other Long Beach natives who remember Bill as well. It seems the hot rodding world just gets smaller and smaller.

Jim & I are working together to gather more fact, perhaps nailing down who actually built the cars originally, whether it was Bill or someone else. --AJ"

Basic Hot Rod Wiring

Wiring always frustrated me, even the simplest layout can be confusing. The easiest one I've found to be useful is in Mike Bishop's book How To Build A Traditional Ford Hot Rod, page 121. The diagram included everything I needed when I built my first roadster, with exception of an ammeter (amp meter). With thanks to Mike Bishop and Vern Tardel, I have taken liberties with their model and have slightly revised it. Here are the revisions I have made:
- I added an ammeter in series, a lot of people are confused where to wire it.
- I upped the headlight wiring because they draw a lot of amps and 14 gauge is felt to be to small.
- And lastly, I corrected the horn wiring. The fuse to relay to horn wires should be heavier then the switch to relay wire. He had them backwards on the original diagram. Click the picture to enlarge.

This was designed for 12V systems, but can be used for 6V also. If used for 6V, make all the wires heavier by 2. For example 14 gauge wire will become 12 gauge, 10 gauge will be 8 gauge, etc.

Update, Sept 27: This posting is by far the most popular of my posting. Obviously there is a need for this info. Another Note: you can drag the drawing to your desktop folder to save it or print it.