George Poteet’s 1932 Ford Tudor Sedan

 

This 1932 Ford Tudor Sedan owned by George Poteet, the well-known hot rodder from Memphis Tennessee  was a featured part of the Ford exhibit at the 2017 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas.

 

Photo by the author

 

The real-steel car was built by Alan Johnson of Gadsen Alabama and is a multiple award winning car, as it was one of the “Great Eight” finalists for the Ridler Award at the Detroit Autorama, was named the Goodguys Street Rod of the Year and won the Ford award for outstanding achievement of design at the SEMA show.

 

Photo courtesy of SEMA

 

Photo by the author

 

Johnson’s Hot Rod Shop chopped the top 3-inches in front and 2-inches in the rear and leaned the A-pillars back eight degrees. At the rear the crew raised the rear wheel openings three inches, and re-arched them and rotated them forward to outline the rear wheels which are Coker Tire Firestone dirt track tires around Real Rodders magnesium Indy wheels. The completed body was covered in a glistening custom black mix PPG paint.

  

Photo by the author

 

The powerplant is a 339-cubic inch Ford Y-Block V-8 engine with FAST WFI electronic fuel injection built by Keith and Jeff Dorton with Johnson’s custom machined valve covers and beehive oil filter. The engine’s 400 horsepower is fed through a Tremec TKO 600 five-speed manual transmission to the Winters Performance V-8 quick change rear end.  The interior floorboards were assembled from more than 275 pieces of laser-cut high-density aircraft-quality plywood with leather wrapped 1932 Ford seats.

The POR-15 1932 Ford at SEMA

 

P.O.R. (Paint Over Rust) Products  is well-known in the automotive hobby for their signature rust preventative coating product POR-15, but in fact the company offers a full line of products that include metal preparation products, engine paints, high-temperature paints, undercoatings and fuel system treatments.

 

 

 

To show off the wide range of their products for use in the hobby, the POR-15 booth at the 2017 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show displayed a 1932 Ford roadster traditional style hot rod.

 

 

 

POR-15 first displayed a rebuilt 1939 Ford flathead engine equipped with an Offenhauser intake manifold with two Stromberg 97 carburetors and Offenhauser cylinder heads at the 2015 SEMA show, then brought the engine mounted in a finished chassis finished with the POR-15 3-step System Treatment for the 2016 SEMA show fitted with a T-5 manual transmission and a 1941 Ford “banjo” style rear end.  

 

 

The car's Brookville reproduction roadster body was prepared and painted by Classy Chassis Restoration in Midland Park New Jersey.  Final assembly was completed by the crew at POR.  

 

For a step-by-step view of the build check out https://porproducts.com/32-ford-roadster-build/

All photos by the author except as noted

1932 Chevrolet Confederate sedan

 

 

 

Given today’s poetically correct social environment, many people will likely be surprised to learn that in 1932, Chevrolet Division of the General Motors Company marketed its new BA series car as the “Confederate.” Chevrolet advertised that the Confederate had “V-16 styling at a six cylinder price" and emphasized that it was the "Great American Value."

 

The Confederate series encompassed fourteen different body styles and a total of 313,395 were built in five factories across the United States during the 1932 sales year.

 

Notice the Chevrolet Spark passing in the background

 

The wire mesh grille was standard

 

The chrome louvers on the hood dual spare tire side mounts and cowl lights on this car which was seen at the “Autos of Alamo” car show identify it as a Confederate Special sedan.

 

 

 

 The Confederate rides on 18-inch true spoke wire wheels.

 

 

 

 

The Confederate series was powered by the trusty 194 cubic inch 60-horsepower (up 10 from 1931) “Stovebolt Six” engine connected to the all-new three-speed “Silent Synchro-Mesh” transmission and the "Simplified Free Wheeling" mode was standard, which permitted the car to coast when the driver's foot was lifted from the accelerator via an over-running clutch, that disengaged the driveshaft from the output shaft.

 

 

 

This beauty is very well-equipped fitted with the dual front "Town and Country" horns, dual rear-view mirrors, luggage racks, front and rear bumpers and the optional passenger side brake and parking light. All of these options that could have been added either at the factory or the dealership.    

 

After one year of disappointing sales with many sales lost to the new V-8 Ford,  the Confederate  was replaced for 1933 by the CA series sold as the "Eagle" and "Master" which when combined sold 140,000 more units than the 1932 Confederate.  

 

All photos by the author

A hot rod  with a historic connection 
at the Autos of Alamo car show

At the “Autos of Alamo” car show held on the evening of September 18 at the Alamo Square shopping Center, the author found a unique hot rod with a connection to both hot rod history and the history of the Indianapolis 500-mile race.

From a distance this is a nice full-fendered 1932 Ford Model 18 Deluxe coupe “three window” fitted with a Sparton horn, but the outstanding feature of this hot rod is its flathead V-8 engine fitted with original Navarro 89 cylinder heads. Barney Navarro was a ground breaking early Southern California hot rodder who built hop-up parts for at his Navarro Engineering shop at 5142 San Fernando Road in Glendale California.

Rambler ad scanned from the September 1967

 issue of Motor Trend magazine

For five years Barney Navarro raced on the United States Auto Club (USAC) championship racing circuit, principally at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with an unlikely engine – a Rambler straight six engine as used in the Rambler American passenger car. Barney sleeved the engine down from its original 199 cubic inches down to 183 cubic inches and turbocharged it. A Rambler advertisement in Motor Trend magazine in September 1967 claimed that the engine developed over 550 horsepower.

Unfortunately the chassis in which the engine was installed in for its 1967 debut was a bit long in the tooth; the first rear-engine Watson chassis which powered by a Ford DOHC V-8 engine was driven to second place by Rodger Ward in the 1964 Indianapolis ‘500.’

 Les Scott's official Indianapolis Motor Speedway photo

Navarro bought the car in 1966 from racer Norm Hall who had raced it unsuccessfully during the 1965 USAC engine fitted with an Offenhauser engine. The Rambler-powered car was entered in the 1967 Indianapolis ‘500’ for Kokomo Indiana rookie driver Les Scott who passed his rookie test but failed to qualify for the 33-car starting field.

Over the next few years, Barney Navarro continued to attempt to qualify at Indianapolis with Scott as the driver although other notable drivers tried it. In 1968, after Scott failed his refresher test journalist turned racer Ken Titus crashed the Navarro Watson in practice.

In 1969 Mike Moseley who drove for Wilke Racers and AJ Watson took the car for a “test hop” to help sort of the handling but in the end Scott and the #50 Navarro Engineering Special failed to qualify for the ‘500.’ Later during the 1969 USAC racing season Al Loquasto tried to qualify the car at two races, and  Southern California road racer Dino Dioguardi did not qualify for the starting field at the 1969 season-ending “Rex Mays 300.”

Ace midget car pilot Arnie Knepper drove the red white and blue “Navarro American Motors Special” in practice at Indianapolis in 1970 but did not attempt to qualify. Later that season both Les Scott and Denny Zimmerman unsuccessfully tried to qualify the car for the inaugural ‘California 500’ at the Ontario Motor Speedway in September 1970.

Dave Strickland's official Indianapolis Motor Speedway photo

The following year the Navarro Rambler-powered car now fitted with twin turbochargers finally made the starting field for a USAC race and ran in both heats of the “Rafaela Indy 300” held in Argentina, driven by midget racing stalwart Dave Strickland. The #50 car was flagged in 19th place in the first 153-mile heat race, and 15th in the second heat 8 laps behind the winner.  

After adjustments made during a tire test session at Phoenix improved the old chassis’ handling, the team went to Indianapolis with high hopes. Dave Strickland passed his rookie test, but the over-stressed Rambler engine then reputed to develop 700 horsepower had reliability issues and eventually Strickland stepped out of the car after a practice incident. 

The Navarro-owned Rambler-powered Watson chassis reappeared at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1972 as the “Roughneck Drilling Special” driven by hard-luck racer Leon “Jigger” Sirois, who practiced the car but never made a qualifying attempt.

During the 1980’s Barney Navarro sold the 1964 Watson chassis less its unique engine back to its original driver Rodger Ward who had the car restored to Ford DOHC power with its original 1964 livery as the “Kaiser Aluminum Special.” 

Barney Navarro a true hot rod and racing innovator passed away two days after his 88th birthday in August 2007 but his company carries on and sells modern examples of Barney’s original castings.    

Color photographs by the author
Black & White photographs courtesy of the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection