1932 Ford Deuce Sedan - The Family's Fordor

It's commonplace in the street rodding scene to swap and trade cars as your life dictates the need for certain commodities. A young single guy might benefit more from having a pickup that he can use to haul parts around in than a station wagon. Likewise, a father with two children would have a hard time hauling his family around in a three-seater pickup. And as many of us know, it's much easier to get permission from the better half to spend the money she had set aside for your kid's college tuition on your hot rod if she can enjoy it too. Those that have been in the hobby long enough know that all too well, and they also know that to involve the family means having a car that can accommodate the family.

Many coupes and roadsters have been traded in for larger sedans and station wagons to haul the family around in, and when Bob and Ann Nickum of Dixon, California, approached Roy Brizio to build them a hot rod, building something the whole family could enjoy was one of their biggest requirements. Roy put the word out that he was looking for an early Ford sedan and before long, he had a line on a '32 Fordor. A deal was made and soon Bob received a call from Roy to tell him that they were ready to start the build.

The first step was to get the body over to the blasters and lay out the framework for the chassis. The crew at Brizio's started with a pair of fully-boxed framerails before plugging in the Heidts front and rear crossmembers and the tubular X-member. The front tubular control arms were then bolted up, along with the Aldan coilover shocks, spindles, and Wilwood disc brakes. Out back, the Heidts independent rearend was bolted into place using the Aldan shocks and locating bars to position it into place. Billet Specialties Dragster wheels sit at all four corners, 15x6s up front and 17x7s bringing up the rear, wrapped in Goodyear Integrity rubber.

To power the sedan, Bob and Roy opted to keep it all Ford and ordered up a 402ci small-block from Roush Performance. Based on the venerable 351ci Ford engine, Roush totally reworks the design for a combination that produces over 400 streetable horsepower-plenty to power Bob's family wagon. Golden Gate Transmission built an equally stout 700-R4 to handle the V-8's power and deliver it to the Heidts rearend. With the chassis and drivetrain sorted, the Brizio crew turned their attention to the fairly mint, gennie Ford steel body. The unmolested Fordor needed to be massaged in a few spots, namely the wheel wells and the firewall, but the rest of the body, as well as the stock hood and grille, needed very little when it came to the metal working stage. Once the trouble spots were in order, it was off to Dan Laughlin Customs where the panels were perfected before being shot in Martin-Senour by Eric Sanderson in Anderson, California. When the copper color was dry and buffed to perfection, local artist Rory applied a few subtle lines to really make things pop.

Back in South San Francisco, the Brizio crew were busy completing the final assembly portion and wiring the sedan before once again shipping it out, this time to Sid Chavers Company to receive a couple hides of carmel leather to cover the seats and panels along with a stretch of brown German leather to cover the floor. In addition to the pair of stock bench seats, the original Deuce dash remained as well, fitted with a Haneline insert filled with Auto Meter gauges. Below the dash mounts an ididit tilt steering column topped with a Banjo-style steering wheel by Juliano's.

When the sparks, paint, and leather stopped flying, the resulting hot rod that emerged from the dust was typical of what Roy Brizio and the boys have been turning out over the last few decades; hot rods with equal parts attitude, aesthetic, and function. When Bob Nickum first approached Roy to build a family street rod, there's no telling what he had in mind. But if it was anything like the Deuce Fordor that the Brizio crew turned out, it would be hard to call it anything but perfection personified.