Ford Mcmullen Roadster 1932, Estados Unidos
Hot Rod Magazine Cover Car
Exterior : Preto com Flames
Interior : Preto e Branco
Fotografia
Histórico do carro (em inglês) :
HIGHLIGHTS
·
The World's Most Iconic Hot Rod
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Built by the Legendary Tom McMullen
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Original Iconic flame design by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth
·
Purchased by McMullen in 1958 and continuously
modified it until it was sold in 1970
·
Complete known ownership history back to Tom
McMullen
·
Appeared on the covers of Hot Rod Magazine, Street
Rodder, and Popular Hot Rodding
·
Starred on several record album covers,
advertisements, on TV and movies
·
Ran in official NHRA National events at Pomona and
Indy
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Set a top speed record for street roadsters at El
Mirage Dry Lake and Bonneville
·
Restored by Roy Brizio exactly as it appeared on
the April '63 cover of Hot Rod Magazine
·
Flamed, chopped and dropped, Blown Chevy small
block
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1939 Ford gearbox, Moon Racing aluminum fuel tank
·
Invited to Pebble Beach in 2007 for the inaugural
Hot Rod class
Arguably the country’s most
visible Hot Rod in the 1960s, Tom McMullen’s ’32 roadster was everywhere; it
appeared on magazine covers, starred on record albums and was prominent in advertisements
on TV and in the movies. The roadster was enthusiastically drag-raced on
sanctioned strips, illegally raced on the streets, ran in official NHRA
National events at Pomona and Indy and set top-speed records for street
roadsters at El Mirage Dry Lake and the Bonneville Salt Flats.
This ’32 roadster was built by
the late Tom McMullen, a talented, colorful rebel who once wrote articles for
“Hot Rod” magazine, started his auto electrical firm, built up a successful
motorcycle chopper catalog business, founded a publishing empire that included
“Street Rodder” magazine and rose to a position of universal industry
admiration and respect. Tragically, McMullen died in an ice storm on February
12, 1995, along with his wife Deanna, while piloting his Turbo Commander
aircraft cross-country.
McMullen’s story is the
quintessential “Live Fast, Die Young,” saga. This roadster was his signature,
and it served a dual role as McMullen’s everyday driver and his race car. Never
shrinking from a challenge, McMullen raced illegally on the streets at the
drop of a hat, as well as at sanctioned events from El Mirage Dry Lake and
Bonneville to the Riverside drags. He didn’t like to lose, so he was always
improving this car.
McMullen was a Hot Rodder’s
Hot Rodder. In fact, many friends and peers over the years have stated,
“There’s never been anyone in the Hot Rod world quite like Tom McMullen.” Bold,
occasionally profane, unpredictable and always innovative, he was never, ever
satisfied with the commonplace. Like every great Hot Rodder, McMullen always
wanted to go faster. And he lived that way right to the end.
McMullen wasn’t the first
owner of this definitive, often-imitated Deuce, but with his personal
modifications, he made it an icon. He bought the Hudson in Downey, California,
for upholstery work, he learned Hudson had begun the very same roadster four
years earlier. Although the Deuce started its Rodding career with a Ford
flathead, by 1956, after several prior owners, it was powered by a 283 CI Chevy
small-block OHV V-8.
Of course, McMullen yanked
that mill right away, replacing it with a bored and stroked 352 CI Chevy V-8,
at first with six carburetors. Later, he added a potent GMC 4:71 supercharger
and two 4-barrel carbs. He then set an A/Street Roadster record at El Mirage of
167 MPH and ran a best speed of 118 MPH in the quarter-mile, and later, he
topped 138 MPH in the half mile at Riverside. And if you caught up to
him heading home from work in this unmistakably noticeable Hot Rod, and
you wanted to race right there, well, he’d risk a ticket to blow your
doors off. And no doubt, in this car, he would.
You could argue that
McMullen’s roadster took every Hot Rod styling and performance cliché,
including many tricks that had been done perhaps in twos and threes to other
cars, and simply lathered them on. Not according to “Hot Rod” writer, Pat
Ganahl, who wrote: “when he reconfigured it to the form that blazed our
eyeballs on the April, ’63, cover of Hot Rod, once again, we’d never seen
anything like this!”
Brian Brennan, editor in chief
of “Street Rodder” magazine, called McMullen’s ’32 “the most identifiable hot
rod of all time.” This roadster has appeared on the covers of “Hot Rod”
magazine, “Street Rodder” and “Popular Hot Rodding,” on several record album
covers and in countless magazines. McMullen drove the wheels off it, and he
only sold it because he knew he’d have to start from scratch to make an even
faster, more contemporary roadster. By 1969, the idea of a Hot Rod that could
hold its own on street or strip was obsolete. Besides, McMullen’s business was
growing and he needed cash.
To raise money, he offered his
iconic ‘32 for just $5,000 in the January 1970 issue of “Hot Rod,” a sum that
seems astoundingly low today. It’s likely McMullen didn’t think twice about the
sale’s significance (although later he called it “one of my biggest
mistakes”). The car passed through several hands, including Richard Lovesee,
Albert Baca, then to vintage racer Don Orosco and finally to Jorge Zaragoza, an
El Paso collector who also owned the 2005 Pebble Beach Hot Rod Class-winning
ex-Jack Calori ‘36 Ford Coupe. Zaragoza asked Roy Brizio, whose shop in San
Francisco, California, has produced numerous award-winning Hot Rods, to
completely redo the McMullen classic ’32 from the ground up.
Appropriately, Brizio and
Zaragoza decided to restore the car to match the way it appeared on the cover
of “Hot Rod” in April 1963. “The sheet metal was virtually complete,” Brizio
said, “and we still had the original front suspension, along with the dash and
the instruments, even the California black plates, but the chassis had been
updated, so we had to find an original ‘32 Ford frame and some running gear. We
located a correct small-block Chevy and a ’39 Ford gearbox. Everything else was
copied from period photographs. The flames originally applied by Ed ‘Big Daddy’
Roth are, in fact, different from side to side, so we digitized the patterns,
then copied them.
“We painstakingly researched
everything about the car. It was done exactly as it appeared on the cover of
Hot Rod. Darrell Hollenbeck did the black paint perfectly; Darrell and Art
Himsl laid out the flames, and ‘Rory’ did the striping. We had some of Ed
Roth’s work on the original dash to go by, so we digitized it as well, to
ensure the restoration would be exactly as it was.”
As the car neared completion,
Ford Motor Company sponsored a search for the best ’32 Fords of all time to
celebrate the 75th anniversary of the birth of the 1932 Ford in 2007. More than
450 significant nominees were whittled down to 75 finalists by a panel of
experts. The winners starred in a huge display at the Grand National Roadster
Show in Pomona, California, in January 2007; at the Petersen Automotive
Museum’s “Deuce Week” in February; at the Los Angeles Roadster Show in June;
and at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance that summer. Fittingly, the Tom
McMullen Roadster was named one of the acclaimed “75 Most Influential ’32 Fords
of All Time,” and it won third in class at the 2007 Pebble Beach Concours
d’Elegance. At Pebble Beach, the tabulations came down to a virtual 100-point
three-way tie between the Tom McMullen, Walker Morrison and Lloyd Bakan cars,
though the Bakan Coupe “narrowly edged” the other two for the best in class
award.
Flamed, chopped and dropped,
this car helped pioneer and evangelize the 1960s Hot Rod culture's mission, and
according to Hot Rod historian Ken Gross, "This car was, and is, a killer
ride. In Hot Rod parlance, we’d call it bitchin’. If you’re looking for an
iconic, award-winning, absolutely timeless ’32 Ford roadster, look no further:
there’s only one original Tom McMullen roadster that rocked the country in
1963, and this is it."
Fonte : https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0119-359622/1932-ford-mcmullen-roadster/
Fonte : https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0119-359622/1932-ford-mcmullen-roadster/
