As a result of decades of rodding innitiative, creativity, and carftsmanship it is becoming increasingly more difficult to see fresh, innovative ideas. It's not impossible, but it does take a bit more effort. This may be especially true when dealing with the '32 Ford. The Deuce is pretty much near perfection in its stock state. There's precious little one can do to enhance its natural beauty, but there's plenty one can do to screw up a good thing.
Knowing all this, it should come as no surprise when Barry Lobeck, of Lobeck's V8 Shop in Cleveland, Ohio, told us three years ago about his new ride. We must admit we weren't overly excited. However, this is Barry Lobeck and history has taught us that he's one of a handful of builders who can really "nail" the look of a '32. Barry kept telling us he had several ideas that he had tried on a '37 Ford cabriolet and thought they would work on a Deuce. Given, it's probably the least desirable of the Deuces; this one had all of us scratching our heads. Barry kept telling us, "You will see." He was right and now we all can see just what can be done to a Deuce cabriolet to turn it into the king of the hot rod hill.
It should be pointed out before we get too far into this story that Barry's cabriolet was honored last month (June '02) with the STREET RODDER Street Rod of the Year award for 2001. All the usual criteria, craftsmanship, driveability, and originality of an idea, were met and executed to the highest degree.
However, we believe it was very well expressed by one of SRM's audience, Jerry Canfield of N. St. Paul, Minnesota, who emailed the magazine after seeing a photo of the cabriolet as one of the Top Ten recipients at the Goodguys Charlotte event. We have include the letter so you can see just how we felt when it came time to name Lobeck's cabriolet the STREET RODDER Street Rod of the Year. "I've been reading your magazine for years and have a nice hefty pile in my workshop with many corners tabbed for the ideas I hope to put to good use soon in building a '32 highboy. But one thing has nagged at me for a long time: top or no top? The little red guy on my left shoulder says 'go ahead, go for the '32 roadster with a big-block that you've always wanted.' But the little white guy on the other shoulder says, 'you're getting older and you'll be driving alone if you don't have a weather-proof coupe.' You know...wind, hair, rain, cold = no wife as copilot. So, I've finally come to realize the answer to my dilemma is, I gotta have it all, and the closest thing I can come up with is a '32 cabriolet. But I haven't seen any projects on one, nor any '32 cabriolet that really turns my crank--until I saw a tiny picture of Barry Lobeck's '32 cabriolet last month. It looks like he or someone did a great job reworking the windshield angle, top, and windows, which is the one area I don't like the looks of on an original-styled '32 cabriolet as a fenderless highboy."
Couldn't have said it better. In speaking with Barry that pretty much sums up the idea he had in mind when he started the project. He has built numerous Deuce street rods (highboy or full-fendered; coupe, sedan, roadster, or phaeton), and all have a great look with loads of hot rod attitude in their stance. However, we must admit that making a cabriolet look like a hot rod with just enough 'tude was going to be a challenge.
The award-winning, open-cockpit Deuce is based on a Gibbon Fiberglass (Darlington, SC) Ford cabriolet body that was painted with PPG Black basecoat/clearcoat over Lobeck's V8 Shop bodywork and then pinstriped by Guy Shively in both red and maroon. From here, an original steel grille shell and a painted-stainless insert were used to prop up the forward end of the Rootlieb (Turlock, CA) steel three-piece hood. The hood features reversed louvers by Lobeck's V8 Shop while the center hood trim piece comes from a '37 Ford hood stainless side trim item.
A 2-inch top chop is standard Lobeck rodding fare. Nothing unusual yet. Then he proceeded to lay the windshield posts back, again laid back posts have been done before but...on a cabriolet! From here, the cabriolet began to take on the much more desirable looks of a "distinctive" roadster. The doors are still cabrio' but now with real roll-up windows cut to match the angle on the windshield posts. Okay, we now have a roadster-looking windshield, good, cabrio' doors with roll-up glass, better, and what to do about a top.In all fairness the cabrio' top in the world of street rodding leaves something to be desired. The roadster top has the "right" look, but how to get it to work with a non-roadster windshield frame and doors with roll-up glass? Barry figured it out and came away with a cabrio' that has the award-winning looks of a roadster but with the inherent creature comforts found in a cabriolet. Go figure--the best of both worlds. The aluminum top was built by Teddy Z out of Michigan and covered by Portage Trim and serves as the "cap" to the passenger environment inside. It can be removed in true roadster fashion for those sunny summer days when cruising just wouldn't be cruising without a little wind in the hair, bugs on the forehead, and rain over and around the windshield. Hey, the life of a roadster driver is nothing if not adventurous.
Of course, this cabriolet is more than just a body. The chassis is based on a Lobeck's V8 Shop frame that is then fitted with a Winter's (York, PA) champ-style quick-change sporting a 4.12 ring-and-pinion with spur gears that allow for a 3.48 or 4.58 rearend ratio. Matched to the quickie are a pair of drum brakes, a pair of Aldan Eagle (Carson, CA) billet coilover shocks (with 250-pound springs), and a custom set of Pete & Jake's Hot Rod Parts ladder bars built especially for Lobeck's chassis. Another Lobeck touch is the Z'ing of the front and rear framerail while the front frame horns are bobbed.
In front you will find a Magnum (Oakhurst, CA) chromed 5-inch dropped tube axle, a pair of spindles, a stainless four-link and Panhard bar, mono-leaf spring with reversed eyes, and a pair of chromed shocks. The front braking, while nostalgia in its appearance because of the ol' Buick brake drum appeal, is really a set of Functional Fakes (San Dimas, CA) disc brakes based on their components with Wilwood calipers. (Editor's Note: If you must have a set of these brakes, check with Functional Fakes, not Wilwood, for the dealer nearest you to obtain the kit. They are available through traditional street rod retailers.) Kicking the brake system into use is a Lobeck's V8 Shop brake-pedal assembly with The Deuce Factory (Santa Ana, CA) brake and gas pedal pads, an AMC master cylinder, and stainless brake line.
Steering falls to the likes of a Flaming River (Berea, OH) chromed Vega-style box, U-joints, a steering shaft, and a painted tilt column topped off with a Lobeck's V8 Shop Lakes-style three-spoke steering wheel. And what does all that steering operate? How about a pair of Kibel 145R15s in front and a pair of BFGoodrich Radial T/As measuring 315R55/16 in back. All this rubber is mounted to a pair of Real Wheel (Monrovia, CA) mags measuring 5 1/2x15 while Team Three (San Leandro, CA) supplied the ET IIIs measuring 10 3/4x16 in back.
GM Performance Parts 350ci ZZ4, outfitted with an Edelbrock 600-cfm four-barrel resting on top of a fully polished Professional Products (Hawthorne, CA) intake manifold, supplies the power. Lighting the air/fuel mix is a GMPP HEI with Taylor wires and a chromed alternator while a pair of Sanderson ceramic-coated headers and stainless exhaust by Dan Tesar exit the spent gases. Other engine appointments include Billet Specialties (Burr Ridge, IL) air cleaner, valve covers, and breathers.
Phoenix Transmission Products (Weatherford, TX) transports all this go to a Denny's Driveshaft (Kenmore, NY) driveshaft via a modified 700-R4 transmission with a 2,500-rpm stall-speed converter. Cooling chores fall to a Walker Radiator Works (Memphis, TN) with a Spal Automotive Technologies (Des Moines, IA) electric fan.
The PPG Black Gibbon fiberglass Deuce cabriolet was upholstered by Portage Trim (Ravenna, OH), who got the nod for the aluminum top and the interior. The bench seat is done in maroon leather while the carpeting is in a maroon automotive wool. The inside rearview mirror is a closed-car '36 Ford while the pair of outside mirrors come by way of So-Cal Speed Shop (Pomona, CA). Other interior appointments include a Vintage Air (San Antonio, TX) air conditioning system, a Sony stereo, a Lokar (Knoxville, TN) shifter and door handles, Ron Francis Wire Works (Chester, PA) wiring installed by the staff at Lobeck's V8 Shop who also fabb'd the dash with a So-Cal Speed Shop insert coupled with Classic Instruments (Boyne, MI) Classic Hot Rod Series gauges.
Well, there you have it, your basic '32 Ford cabriolet turned into a head-turning, STREET RODDER Street Rod of the Year ride that gives the occupants the best of both worlds--open and closed cruising.