1932 Ford Pickup - Like A Fish Out Of Water

Aaron has always felt that he has been his best teacher since his very first hobby project: his parents' old '61 Ford Galaxie. He attacked the Galaxie with all of the vim and vigor of an excited 15-year-old determined to get the old car running. After going through the engine and the brakes and getting the car back on the road he gained confidence that would last for years, well into his most recent project.

Aaron believes the '32 Ford cab could have been a hot rod earlier in its life. Sporting a nice 3-inch chop and 6-inch channel he envisions it on a stock, full-fendered chassis back in the day. Since then he believes it has been through a fire, making the metal a little more difficult to work with. He reversed the channel back to 3 inches and left the chop alone, "I couldn't bring myself to change it; the weld seam was almost invisible." Once he was satisfied with the channel he created a new floor and then went to work on the sheetmetal. He patched the roof, rear of the cab, added a donor visor from another truck, and replaced the doorskins, door bottoms, cab corners, and rear panel with new materials. His machinist skills came into play when he radiused cowl panels to match the reveal in the frame. No detail was overlooked on the cab, including replacing a missing piece of the firewall. "Someone had cut some of the lower section out for engine clearance but kept the piece they removed, so I had to weld it back together to make one firewall again."

The base frame was constructed by Thunder Road Rod and Custom, of Dearborn, Michigan, on Deuce one-piece stamped reproduction '32 'rails that are fully boxed. It is pinched 3/4 inch in the front with a Chassis Engineering X-member, flat front crossmember, and round rear crossmember. The car features custom-made motor mounts, transmission mounts, and shock mounts. It is equipped with a Magnum 5-inch dropped and drilled I-beam front axle with '47 Ford split wishbones.

Probably the most unique and noticeable feature on Aaron's truck is the lack of carburetors. OK, they're there; you just have to look for them inside the manifold. While he nixed a small-block from the start, he considered a Flathead V-8. Then he came across a marine intake at a Ford swap meet. While he didn't buy that one, it got the machinist wheels in his head turning. A couple years later he would revisit the idea and eventually purchase a '50s marine intake and carburetors on eBay knowing nothing about the setup. "There really aren't many people who know about them (Carter YH sidedrafts) and much like old hot rodders, old boaters are dying off," Aaron laments. After a successful trial on his freshly rebuilt 312ci '57 Y-block he sourced the parts and rebuilt the carburetors. He then hand-fabricated water necks to make the setup work; the system is "super reliable."

Luckily for Aaron (and his bride to be) everything went swimmingly and the wedding went off the next day without a hitch. A year later the truck is still going strong with 6,000 miles on the clock and an award from the '10 Detroit Autorama. He received the Builder's Choice award from Alan Johnson, the builder of the '09 Ridler Award winner. Aaron says, "It's a great feeling when you get someone like that complimenting you!"

While his mind swirls with ideas for the next project, he will continue to drive and enjoy his "practical" truck taking him to and from work each day and hauling those all-important swap meet bargains.

Facts & Figures
Aaron Blatter
Ashland, Ohio
1932 Ford Channeled Pickup