McMullen '32 Ford Hi-Boy Roadster Tribute - Now Under Glass - April 9

[Phildaupho]

With 2022 being the 90^th anniversary of the ’32 Ford and Deuce Days happening again here in my home town of Victoria BC Canada this July, I figured I should have a Deuce project on the bench. I have chosen a very ambitious project to build a tribute to one of the most iconic and recognizable Deuces – the Tom McMullen Hi-Boy Roadster. I say ambitious because it featured virtually every component of a traditional hot rod and I say tribute because my model will not come close to being an exact replica like the Danbury Mint Diecast. This is a photo of the actual car as restored to its 1963 configuration which I hope to come close to with my model..

 

I have collected many of the parts I think will be needed and have make a set of flame decals from downloaded images of which there are plenty. Referencing my McMullen Roadster photo album and various articles, I decided to start from the ground up.

Part 1

Wheels & Tires – The Torque-Trust wheels are from the Revell Deuce kits narrowed and combined with just the outer back rims without the centre sections. The front tires are from the Revell Model A kits and the back tires from the Revell ’50 Olds

Brakes – The brakes are from the Revell Model A kits with the fin detail removed

Frame – From Revell Deuce kits with floor pan removed and various locating notches were filled. There will be a lot more work on the frame as time goes on like a transverse rear spring mount, fabrication and mounting of a K-member and attachment of front engine mounts

Engine & Transmission – I decided to use the engine from the Revell ’59 Corvette kit which I have a few of. This selection gives me a stock oil panel, chrome Corvette valve covers and front engine mounts which will give clearance for the headers. The McMullen has a ’39 Ford transmission. I am using a similar dimensioned transmission from the original Ala Kart Hemi found in the old Revell ’29 Ford Roadster kits.

Edited April 9, 2022 by Phildaupho

[cobraman]

Cool project, cool car. Good luck with it.

[slusher]

Real nice looking body and start..

[tim boyd]

Great Idea Phil and a very resourceful start to your project....best wishes bringing this one together and home....TIM 

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

I like it! -RRR

[Bullybeef]

32 Ford, you got my attention! 

[afx]

Looks like a great project.

[Limeyglue]

Nice start can't wait to see more

[mrm]

This is off to a great start. It is such an iconic car too. 

[Phildaupho]

On 1/28/2022 at 4:04 PM, cobraman said:

Cool project, cool car. Good luck with it.

 

On 1/28/2022 at 6:39 PM, slusher said:

Real nice looking body and start..

 

11 hours ago, tim boyd said:

Great Idea Phil and a very resourceful start to your project....best wishes bringing this one together and home....TIM 

 

11 hours ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

I like it! -RRR

 

10 hours ago, Bullybeef said:

32 Ford, you got my attention! 

 

9 hours ago, afx said:

Looks like a great project.

 

4 hours ago, Limeyglue said:

Nice start can't wait to see more

 

2 hours ago, mrm said:

This is off to a great start. It is such an iconic car too. 

Thanks everyone for your encouragement. It took me awhile to decide what to do next. My current strategy is to mock up the engine so I can locate the forward engine mounts and the K-member. I have already lowered the engine mounts on the engine from the stock Corvette location to the bottom of the block. 

[Phildaupho]

Part 2

The engine is the heart of this build and determines where many other components will be located. It is very difficult to establish exactly how it will fit unless it is totally together.

Engine & Transmission – The engine is from the Revell ’59 Corvette and the transmission is from the original Ala Kart Hemi found in the old Revell ’29 Ford Roadster kits.

- Front engine mounts were moved to near bottom of block

- 4-71 Blower assembly from Testor’s Coupster

- Air Cleaners from ’32 5-W

- Distributor drive and mount converted for left hand mount

- Headers I think were from the Beatnik Bandit. The unique collector boxes were fabricated from Evergreen styrene.

Once completed I did successfully fit the engine between the frame rails, the firewall, the radiator and the hood. Now I can move onto installing the front motor mounts and then fabricating and installing the K-member/rear engine mount.

[mrm]

That’s one good looking motor you got there!

[Dennis Lacy]

Quite the ambitious project you’ve taken on here, Phil, but I’m sure you’ll do it justice. Wheel and tire combo looks great as does the blown small block. 
 

No clue how you’re gonna tackle the flames and pinstripes, though. All that looks very intimidating!

[Phildaupho]

2 hours ago, mrm said:

That’s one good looking motor you got there!

Thanks Michael

18 minutes ago, Dennis Lacy said:

Quite the ambitious project you’ve taken on here, Phil, but I’m sure you’ll do it justice. Wheel and tire combo looks great as does the blown small block. 
 

No clue how you’re gonna tackle the flames and pinstripes, though. All that looks very intimidating!

Thanks Dennis. I have made a set of decals based on downloaded photos which I hope will look OK at least from a distance to the naked eye. As for the pin stripping I found a decal much like the trunk design and I may try to cut self adhesive vinyl to try and pinstripe some of the character lines. If none of that works it may just be a black traditional Hi-Boy !!

[Gary Chastain]

Great project

[Tuffy's Garage]

Cool project

[Steve H]

Hi Phil ! Another beauty in the making. The engine looks great, what is the story on those collector boxes? I’ve never seen those before, I’m curious what they do. That is going to be a tricky flame job, but I have no doubt you’ll pull it off.

[crazyjim]

Excellent project.  I remember that roadster from Hot Rod magazine probably from the early '60s.

[mrm]

I have contemplated doing a model of this iconic Deuce too. I have no problem painting the flames, but what has deterred me from attempting such a build are pinstripes which are extensive and I have not figured out a way of doing them. I’m following this build and I would love to see you pull off the pinstriping. I can’t believe Revell have not attempted issuing their roadster as a McMullen replica or something close to it that would at least give us the decal sheet. With all the amazing aftermarket decal sheets out there it’s also amazing no-one has made decals for this car. Both Slixx and Fred Caddy are fully capable of producing a set. And I’m sure it would be a good seller. Perhaps we can petition the case to them. 

Edited February 4, 2022 by mrm

[Phildaupho]

17 hours ago, Gary Chastain said:

Great project

 

13 hours ago, Tuffy's Garage said:

Cool project

 

1 hour ago, crazyjim said:

Excellent project.  I remember that roadster from Hot Rod magazine probably from the early '60s.

Thanks guys. Hey Jim you mean this cover.

[Phildaupho]

1 hour ago, Steve H said:

Hi Phil ! Another beauty in the making. The engine looks great, what is the story on those collector boxes? I’ve never seen those before, I’m curious what they do. That is going to be a tricky flame job, but I have no doubt you’ll pull it off.

Thanks Steve - The collector boxes are really cool. The chrome plate is removed for fully open exhaust which Tom McMullen used while racing at the dry lakes and drag strips. With the plate secured the exhaust is connected to the fitting at the rear of the box. here are are couple of photos of the real thing which might make it clearer. See my reply to MRM regarding the flame job.

 

[Phildaupho]

55 minutes ago, mrm said:

I have contemplated doing a model of this iconic Deuce too. I have no problem painting the flames, but what has deterred me from attempting such a build are pinstripes which are extensive and I have not figured out a way of doing them. I’m following this build and I would love to see you pull off the pinstriping. I can’t believe Revell have not attempted issuing their roadster as a McMullen replica or something close to it that would at least give us the decal sheet. With all the amazing aftermarket decal sheets out there it’s also amazing no-one has made decals for this car. Both Slixx and Fred Caddy are fully capable of producing a set. And I’m sure it would be a good seller. Perhaps we can petition the case to them. 

Thanks Michael - I have never attempted a flame paint job but I have made a set decals from internet images. As for the pinstriping I will try using thinly cut  self adhesive vinyl. I also have found a some decals decals that come close to the large design on the trunk. I agree it would be fantastic if decals from a professional were available. Unfortunately Fred Cady is no longer making or selling decals and I am glad I have many sets from him including the California Kid flame decal sheet. Somehow the Danbury Mint was able to pull it off. It would be great if they could have their artwork produced by a major decal printer. From the outset I was just trying to build a tribute that was recognizable as the McMullen Roadster. For me the pleasure in model car building is the building and learning process rather than the final result. If the pinstriping does not work I will just leave it off. Same with my flame decals. I might just end up with a black Hi-Boy with a yellow grill shell which will still be nice looking hot-rod

[crazyjim]

5 hours ago, Phildaupho said:

That's the one Phil.. I might still have that issue somewhere.

 

Thanks guys. Hey Jim you mean this cover.

 

[MeatMan]

Classy build!

[Phildaupho]

Part 3

The Frame - With the engine and transmission completed I was able to install the motor mounts. As mentioned previously I did remove the floor pan and engine mounts from the Revell Deuce frame. The forward mounts are modified from the Revell ’59 Corvette. The rear motor mount is reminiscent of a stock ’32 Ford K-member and was made up of sections from the Ala Kart, the ’32 Hi-Boy and Evergreen styrene. In order to locate the rear crossmember/spring mount from the Revell ’29 Cab pickup the super nice Replicas & Miniatures quick-change rear-end assembly as well as the brakes had to be painted and put together so the wheels could be mounted to establish the stance. Up front I am using the beam axle from the recent Revell Model A on which the spring was trimmed but the front only got slightly lower. I would like to get a bit more rake and think that might be possible by lowering the front spring to the bottom of the shackles. 

Unusually, in its 1963 and as restored configuration the rear buggy spring was mounted forward of the axle. This required raising the trunk floor for clearance which I did using a section of floor from the AMT ’29 Ford. Interestingly this configuration led to wheel hop so eventually was replaced with semi-elliptical springs.

Edited February 25, 2022 by Phildaupho