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Don Mathis shows ESM the build up
of his '32 Ford Hi-Boy Roadster.
Text and Photos by J.R. Janicek
The 1932 Ford Hi-Boy is one of the most common and recognized autos of the street rod era. In fact, I would say that the term "hot rod" and "street rod" to most people conjures up images of one particular model - the 1932 Ford roadster. It was the most sophisticated of the "flat sided Fords" and so quickly became a backbone of the rodding scene. The trend for building them began in the late 1930s. Back then, young guys were picking them up very cheap, stripping everything but the essentials off of them, fitting the Flathead V8s from the '34 model then racing their cars on the street or on the dry lake beds of Southern California, which were both flat and vast. Since that time, the hot rod scene has grown to incorporate all manner of cars, but the 1932 roadster remains a favorite.
Fortunately for ESM, we met a local hot rodder, named Don Mathis from Hendersonville, Tennessee, who could school us on the famous '32 Hi-Boy. You may remember in the last issue of ESM, his beautiful Viper yellow 1956 F-100 was on the cover. Well, he's back again and this time he has built a 1932 Ford Roadster to match his "effie". Over the past year, we have become very familiar with Don's tastes, likes, and dislikes as well as his meticulous style of building. Even for those of you that may not be street rodding fans, you have to respect the attention to detail that Don gives to his rides. Therefore, we must say that Don is, in our opinion, one of the best auto builders in the Tennessee area... hands down. Of course, if you tell Don that, he will just grin and say, "Aww shucks, I just enjoy doing it." We will let Don stay modest, but we want to brag on him a little and what better way to do so than to give you a brief glimpse of the 10 month build up of the newest member of the Mathis household, "O-Yella".
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Initial mock up of the Brookville all steel body roadster on a So-Cal Hi-Boy pinch
frame. |
The front axle installed along with i-beam, disc brakes, louvered hood, and grille. |
Front disc brakes consist of 10.5 inch rotors, made by Wildwood. |
Another shot of the front disc brakes and the top side of the Kingbee headlamps. Custom blinkers are installed inside each headlamp. |
Mock up of Vintique original style gas tank and aftermarket '39 Ford taillights
with LED lenses. Note the gap between the body and gas tank, this will be removed. |
Mock up of a 700R automatic transmission with overdrive. Notice the white on black Moon gauges... awesome! |
Mock up of the Steering column, by Line Works, topped off with a Pete & Jakes 14.5 inch billet steering wheel, along with a beautiful set of white on black Moon Gauges. |
The empty skeleton of the seat, by Glide, is fitted inside the cab area for proper fitment as well as location of the floor bracket for the safety belts to attach to. |
Firewall structural members are made of 3/4" square tubing. Mock up of custom battery box with mounting bracket. |
Another angle of the Glide seat frame in its upright position with partial safety belt bracket installed. |
Mock up engine. The actual engine will be built 30 over 350 crancam 600 cfm Edelbrock 24 stall. Notice the smooth valve covers, which will not remain. |
Here is the partially complete power plant, but now it has the Moon finned valve
covers and finned air cleaner cover. Very nice! |
1932 Ford Roadster mock up thus far, but a lot of work still remains! At this point, Don has approximately 7 months left of work on this project. |
Here, the roadster was broken down, so it would be easier to complete the chassis detail work, such as running brake lines and the exhaust system. |
Wildwood 4 wheel disc brakes will stop this roadster cold in its tracks with 10.5 inch rotors up front and 11.5 inch rotors out back. The rear disc brakes will have an internal drum for an emergency/parking handbrake as well. |
Living no stone unturned, Don made sure that all exposed sections of the frame were boxed in, such as the front section of the So-Cal pinch frame. |
Shot of the front section of the So-Cal Hi-Boy pinch frame detail work, notice the exhaust pipes. |
Close up of polished stainless 2" exhaust that are running through dual hot rod mufflers. |
A section of the structural reinforcement indentation in the firewall, bottom center, had to be removed to provide enough clearance for the Mallory distributor cap. |
Here, you will notice that the Vintique gas tank has been moved up, thus closing the usual gap that can be seen in most Hi-Boys. |
Another angle of gas tank gap closure. "It's all in the details..." as Don says! |
Don pie cut the frame and moved it up in order to close the gap between the body and gas tank, thus closing a common Hi-Boy gap. |
The final floor board is installed, prior to paint. Notice that it is metal. A lot of builders use wood, but not Don. It is all about quality when Don is doing custom fab work! |
Final installation of battery bracket and seat belt bracket mounts, prior to paint. |
Rear differential clearance hump fabricated and added to the trunk area for additional rearend clearance. |
In true street rodder fashion, Don believes in tucking away as much as possible, including these headlight and blinker switches which are mounted underneath the driver's side dash board. |
The heat and fan switches were also tucked away under the passenger's side dash. |
"O-Yella" is taken to Williams Body Shop, located in Hendersonville, Tennessee, where the body is sanded and smoothed to perfection before it is disassembled for paint. |
All imperfections have to be out of the metal, prior to painting, otherwise the paint will not cure correctly. |
Custom made caps are installed, for fitment, which round off the square corners
common on '32 Ford Hi-Boys. |
The frame is prepped for paint while the body, as well as other parts, are currently in the paint booth getting a coat of primer. |
The frame, after its initial coat of primer, must be wet sanded and rid of all
blemishes prior to paint. |
The body must also be wet sanded, along with all of the other parts, prior to being painted. |
First coat of Viper Racing Yellow paint is applied to the body. |
The painting is complete and now the body must be checked for blemishes, prior to final assembly. |
Rear angle of painted body. |
Chassis assembly is complete, except for a few details, and engine assembly has begun. |
Close up of engine assembly. Notice the engine block and fins on the valve covers and air cleaner cover have been painted to match. Details, details, details! |
The body is now in place and lookin' pretty good if we might add! Once it has been fully assembled, the paint will be detailed to a deep gleam. |
Further assembly of the body and nose section continue. Windshield and radiator are now bolted into place. |
The trunk lid is bolted to the body. All that is left are the taillights and the hood. Next stop, Bennett's Upholstery in Hendersonville, Tennessee. |
"O-Yella" was turned over to master upholsterer, Chuck Bennett of Bennett's Upholstery and as you can see the driver's side door panel is complete. The upholstery used is a, neutral tan, marine vinyl material used in boats. |
The firewall is complete and Chuck begins to start on the floor. |
The neutral tan square weave carpet is installed along with a matching neutral tan vinyl bootie for the transmission shifter base. |
Remember how the trunk looked earlier? Well, here is how it looks completed! Notice how the differential hump blends in, this was by no coincidence, Don designed it that way! |
Completed bench seat, also covered in neutral tan vinyl. |
Finally, the installation of the rag top, manufactured by Rod tops out of Michigan. |
It's a beauty! All that is left is some minor tuning and a few road tests and then Don will be crusin' down the road in "O-Yella"! |
Be sure to visit ESM in September, for we will have a detailed feature on Project: "O-Yella". See you then! |
