Gene Flanders

I have owned this 1932 Ford 5-window coupe since June of 1957. $25 saved it from becoming a modified dirt track racer. After three rebuilds, I am still driving the coupe today. Gene Flanders, Churchville, NY

Having a camera was a luxury that I couldn’t afford back in 1957. My brother-in-law took the above photos. The deuce was my every day driver from 1958 to the mid ‘60’s. The side view photo was taken in 1959 after I pin stripped the coupe.
I originally built the car in my best friends machine shop under the watchful eye of his father, Clark Irons. My friend was nicknamed “Squeek”. Both guys are no longer living but remain very strong in my memories. Squeek and I tinkered with anything that had an engine. We progressed steadily from lawn mower engines, tractors, and field cars to finally building this car at the age of 16. His father was a genius to me, able to built just about anything without drawings or plans. He taught us how to use the lathe, welder and other equipment in his shop. He was a patient man indeed.
My coupe officially hit the road in the spring of 1958 in primer. It was powered by a sweet running 1936 Ford flathead V8. The engine had a mild cam and a 4-barrel carb. The chassis was modified with a dropped axle, headers and hydraulic brakes. Steering was from a ’56 Ford pickup. I held a hack saw to the doorposts many times but couldn’t bring myself to chopping the top. I did replace the ‘32 dashboard by grafting in a neat dashboard from a 1949 Frazer. Most people have no idea what car the dash came from. The seats are from a 1959 Volvo. The front fenders and running boards were given away to greedy antique restorers! I bobbed the rear fenders and ran hotrod fenders up front. What fun we had with that car. Our knuckles suffered many bruises from the trusty old cold chisel.

This is a copy of a painting that I did from memory of the old shop where I built my coupe. That’s my buddy Squeek washing his 1937 Plymouth while I was working on my car in the shop. The photo on the right was taken in my parent’s driveway in Rixford, PA. during the summer of 1958.

Here is a photo of the 1959 Volvo seats that I am still bouncing down the highway on. The photo on the right shows the 1949 Frazer dashboard that I welded in, back in 1957. 
The second rebuild of my ’32 was done in the early 1970’s. I installed a Chevy V8 with an automatic. I went full fendered, added a 1959 Opel rear bumper, ’64 Dodge taillights. The interior remained about the same except for installation of steel floorboards. The rage was to have the tires sticking outside of the fenders, chrome mag style wheels and earth tone colors. I prepared the car and a friend of mine sprayed a nice burnished bronze metallic color taken from a Buick Rivera. The old 265 c.i. Chevy was replaced with a ’67 283. I was now running a ’50 Mercury rear end with parallel springs. I wish that I had recorded the total mileage that I put on the car over the years. I gave the flathead to Squeek and they ran it a stock car for quite a few years until their garage ended up 12 feet underwater during the floods caused by hurricane Agnes in 1972.

The black and white photo shows the car as it appeared in the mid ‘70’s. The old 283 was getting a bit tired so in the mid ‘80’s the car underwent yet another rebuild. This time I wanted to bring back the ’50 style. I went back to wide whitewalls on steelies, black paint and flames. I did a body off restoration but left most of the major building unchanged. The 283 was rebuilt and tri-power was added. It was time for a new turbo 350 also.

I painted the car myself and added the flames and pin stripping. Total investment to date after all these years is still under $10,000. Thanks to HotRodHotline for giving us the opportunity to show our cars.

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