’32 Ford Three-Window Coupe

When Henry Ford rolled the last of 26,348 ’32 Ford three-window coupes off the assembly line at the Rouge River plant in Dearborn, Michigan, he had no idea that they’d become one of the most popular Fords ever built. The coupe was and still is the ultimate hot rod/street rod on the planet.

Garage Masterpiece, the very clean example featured here, belongs to Knowlin “Scrub” Hansen from Fountain Valley, California. As a kid growing up in Pocatello, Idaho, Scrub thought the ’32 coupe was the coolest rod on the planet. He got his start with hot rods as a teenager when he became a member of the Cam Pounders car club. He’s built many cool cars and pickups throughout six decades, and one of his favorites was a ’56 Ford F-100 pickup he built in his garage back in the ’70s. It was a real show-stopper, and won many awards in its prime.

Not long ago, Scrub started to realize that he wasn’t getting any younger, so he decided it was high time to get serious and build his version of his favorite rod.

Twelve years ago, Scrub purchased a ’32 Ford frame, front and rear fenders, running boards and a grille from a close friend, the legendary Ermie Immerso. With the Ford’s foundation secured, Scrub scoured swap meets and garage sales and conferred with car buddies, which resulted in a sizeable stockpile of parts. The last major components he purchased were the three-window body, doors and trunk lid.

With all of the parts ready to go, it was time for Scrub to make a tough decision: sell his award-winning ’56 Ford pickup to fund the build, or not. Obviously he made the right call, sold the truck and got to work building his childhood dream rod.

After moving his stockpile of parts and pieces, welder, lathe and mill to his buddy Chris Edwards’ garage, the two began a three-year journey to finish the coupe. Scrub wanted to build a car that would exemplify timeless street rod simplicity. All of the fabricating, welding, machining and assembly was done in Chris’s larger garage. Starting with a stock ’32 Ford frame, they boxed the frame rails and installed a Bell 4-inch I-beam dropped front axle. To stabilize the front axle, a pair of SoCal hairpin rods and a pair radius rods were bolted up. Stops are provided by a pair of  ’54 Buick aluminum finned front and rear drum brakes.

After disassembling the frame, it was scuffed and given a couple of coats of primer before multiple coats of Imron Gloss Black mixed with House of Kolor Purple with a blend of pearls and candies were laid down.

To power the ’32, Scrub decided to use a 1953 Dodge 241-ci V-8 he purchased at the Long Beach Swap Meet. It was supposed to be a complete rebuild, but after he got it home and pulled the valve covers, he noticed the so-called rebuilt engine didn’t even have pushrods!

Scrub tore down the entire engine and sent it out to be machined and rebuilt with fresh internal components. In Scrub’s opinion, real street rod gears have to be manually shifted; so, he bolted up a Chevy S-10 five-speed manual tranny behind the Dodge.

Before any bodywork could begin, the original rusty floor underneath the seat was removed and replaced by Eric Hanson. Then, the body, fenders, running boards, grille and hood were delivered to another one of Scrub’s buddies, Stan Rothfuss, who owns Stan’s Body Shop in Mariposa, California. Stan and his crew removed the paint and surface rust to get down to bare metal. Then, they gave the body numerous coats of primer and block sanded it smooth and straight. To achieve that real “back alley” street rod look, Stan laid down multiple coats of PPG Satin Black basecoat followed by a couple of coats of PPG matte clearcoat. The freshly painted body, including the doors and trunk lid, were remounted, and then the fenders, running boards, grille and hood were all reassembled. Polished glass was installed to finish off the body.

A Pioneer head unit located out of sight underneath the seat orchestrates road tunes, and the control panel is mounted underneath the dash. Two pairs of Alpine 5-inch speakers were installed: one set in the doors and the second pair underneath the rear window shelf behind the seat.

Finally, Juan at Juan’s Auto Upholstery in Garden Grove, California, attended to the interior. The original seat frame was reworked, new foam with built up bolsters and a nice lower lumbar support were installed then covered with black Naugahyde and tuck ’n’ roll inserts. The coupe’s interior was fitted with all new black Naugahyde door and kick panels with matching tuck ’n’ roll inserts, along with a black Naugahyde headliner and all new black carpet. The trunk was finished off with black Naugahyde and black carpet. The stock dash was fitted with a custom gauge panel insert filled with Stewart Warner white face gauges.

When pursuing a major frame-off project like Scrub’s ’32 Ford three-window coupe, the journey was just as important as reaching the destination.

Scrub would like to thank Chris Edwards, John Swanson, Richard Catton, Stan Rothfuss, Eric Hanson, Dave Georges “Desert Head” and Bob Sage.

---

The third-generation Dodge Hemi V-8 Red Ram engine was introduced in late 1952 for the 1953 model year. The block was a 90-degree design with a 2.81-inch bore and a 3.63-inch stroke. The intake valves were 1.81-inch diameter, and positioned 58.5 degrees across the hemisphere was the 1.5-inch diameter exhaust valves actuated by pushrods that operated the rocker arms. The rocker arms pivoted on twin shafts. The steel crankshaft rotated inside five main bearings. The 241-ci Hemi head engine fitted with a two-barrel carburetor was rated at 7.0:1 compression and produced 180 hp and 312 lbs-ft of torque. The engine was standard in the New Yorker and Imperial, and an option in the Saratoga. That same Hemi Red Ram engine design was used to power the Chrysler C-300, and the rest is history.

You’ll notice that Scrub’s Dodge Hemi was fitted with a pair of Super Red Ram valve covers. The raised Hemi ignition wire covers received custom Ardun/New York inserts made by Grant Lappe just to mess with people.

---

SPECS

1932 Ford Three-Window Coupe

Owner: Scrub Hansen, Fountain Valley, CA
Builders: Scrub Hansen and Chris Edwards

FRAME
’32 stock, boxed frame rails, C-notched rear

SUSPENSION
Front: Bell 4-inch I-beam dropped axle, SoCal spindles with Hairpin radius rods
Spring: SoCal mono leaf
Shocks: SoCal
Steering box: Vega
Rear: Ford 9-inch rearend housing with 3.50 gears and truck locker
Link: 2-link ladder bars
Springs: ’32 Ford rear leaf buggy spring
Shocks: SoCal

BRAKES
Front: ’54 Buick aluminum finned drum
Master cylinder: ’40 Ford
Emergency brake: Corvette
Rear: ’53 Buick aluminum finned drum

WHEELS
The Wheel Smith “Smoothies”
Front: 15 x 6
Rear: 15 x 7

TIRES
Diamond Backs white walls
Front: 185/60R15 2-inch white wall
Rear: 215/60R15 2-inch white wall

ENGINE
1953 Dodge 241-ci V-8, machined by  RC Performance Richard Catton and assembled by Chris Edwards
Crankshaft: Dodge stock .060 over
Connecting Rods: Stock
Pistons: Stock, cut down .013
Camshaft: Isky
Heads: Dodge cast-iron decked .015
Ignition: Pertronix
Intake: Edelbrock Performer
Carburetor: Edelbrock Performer 4 bbl, 500 cfm
Headers: Sanderson
Exhaust: Chris Edwards custom 2-inch stainless steel

TRANSMISSION
Chevy S-10 five-speed manual

BODY & PAINT
Stan’s Body & Paint, Mariposa, CA
Paint: PPG Satin Black with matte clearcoat
Roof Insert: Ford original Short Grain Cobra material installed by Tom Sewell at Sewell Auto Trim, Hesperia, CA
Interior: Juan’s Auto Upholstery, Garden Grove, CA

AUDIO

Pioneer head unit mounted beneath bench seat; Pioneer remote control panel mounted beneath dash; one pair Alpine 5-inch speakers mounted in door panels and under rear window shelf behind the seat

---