Best In Class Winner - Bruce Meyers. Photo by: Kimball Studios / Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance
The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance presented a class of '32 Ford roadsters in August to honor Ford's iconic model upon the occasion of its 90th Anniversary.
WHY IS THE ’32 FORD SIGNIFICANT?
1932 marked one of Henry Ford's most dramatic marketing ploys, offering an all-new, powerful V-8 engine in the low-priced field. It quickly obsoleted Ford's rugged four-cylinder Model A and handed eager hot rodders an instant "go-fast platform" on a sturdy ladder frame with a rigid K-shaped cross-member, timeless good looks, with or without fenders, relatively lightweight, as well as flathead engine and suspension compatibility with generations of Fords to come.
POWER FOR THE PEOPLE
Speed seekers wasted no time modifying Ford's new V-8, doubling, then tripling the flathead's 60-rated horsepower. The valves were located in the engine block, not in its 'flat' cylinder heads, hence the popular name. Ford Motor Company increased the flathead's displacement over time for more power. Hot rodders soon bored out cylinders, stroked crankshafts, boosted compressionratios, piled on more carburetors, and even added superchargers. Shattered speed records were the inevitable result, culminating with 200+-mph flat-out belly tank runs at Bonneville. The distinctive snap of a hot flathead V-8 at full throttle echoed throughout the land, wherever enthusiasts gathered to race.
Hot rod legends
