This past weekend at the LA Roadsters Show, way out near the back gate by the swap meet, we spotted one of the sweetest looking ’32 Roadsters. It was obvious that this car was well taken care of, and enjoyed. It wasn’t a museum piece, it appeared to have some miles put on it – as any great car should – probably to and from events. Despite the road trips, this roadster looked to be pampered and loved.

The show board placard in front of the vehicle told part of the story. The Murchey family bought the car in 1946 for the price of $150. Accounting for inflation, that is roughly $2,000 in today’s money. The family has owned and operated the roadster for the past 71 years.

In 2005 the Ford underwent a father/son restoration by Gordon and Dan Murchey.  They’ve kept the original steel body and frame, exactly the way that Henry sent them out of the factory. A ’48 Mercury 296 cubic-inch flathead topped with two Holley 97s on a Weiand intake and some other period hot rod pieces still live in this throwback.

What caught our eye was the Zephyr distributor mentioned on the placard. In the golden era of hot rodding, it was popular to use magnetos, and in many cases the rodders would use twin Wico industrial magnetos in housings that were made for Ford V-8s. However, those in the know  would pick up a Lincoln Zephyr distributor and convert it for use in the big inch flatheads. The Zephyr distributor had a coil unit that consisted of two coils, one for each cylinder bank, making it popular with the racers. This was mostly a west coast dry lake racer combination, and we are assuming this was the setup under the hood. Sadly, the owners were not around when we were there.

The roadster maintained the stock 378:1 Ford differential, which was the most common of the four gear ratios for the Model A Fords. A ’39 LaSalle 3-speed transmission is used to transfer power to the rear wheels. The LaSalle transmissions were as bulletproof as you could get in those days, and were another favorite of the 1950’s hot rod crowd.

By all appearances, this “original” Roadster is a perfect example of what the hot rodders were actually running in the 1950s, and we were happy to see it out and about. Something tells us that you are not going to touch it at $2,000 now.