Imagine yourself working on cars with a staff turning out a half-dozen or more cars per year and you can see that gathering surplus parts occurs quickly and in quantity. Bobby’s latest ride is a 1932 Ford highboy roadster centered around a Brookville body that was parked in a storage garage—a past project that didn’t come to fruition. With body in hand, he rounded up a Hotshoe Hot Rods “C”-notched set of boxed framerails that was stretched 3 inches, again from the farthest reaches of his storage containers. To this Bobby gathered forgotten parts that included a Pete and Jakes Hot Rod Parts chrome-and-drilled I-beam axle, tube shocks, and early Ford spindles. To this a pair of Functionally Fakes (looks like Buick finned brake drums while hiding Wilwood Dynalite calipers and rotors) were added that he had purchased from the original company long before becoming a SO-CAL Speed Shop staple. In back a Currie Hot Rod Housing (centered pumpkin) and 31-spline axle package (Timken tapered bearings), drum brakes, Aldan coilover shocks, and Pete and Jakes four-bar make up the rear suspension—again, from a forgotten project. A Wilwood master cylinder is used to initiate the braking process. Holding this highboy up are a set of E-T Wheels Sebring wheels and Coker Excelsior vintage-appearing rubber. The wheels are 16s in the front and 18s in the back with 5.00R16 and 7.00R18 rubber.

We’ve mentioned the Brookville body and it should be noted there are but a few changes. You might notice that the rear corners of the body are extended down some 2 inches to fill in around the edges of the Tanks 1932 reproduction gas tank. There’s also the use of an extreme laidback windshield from Rodwell’s Rodware. These beautifully shaped windshield posts with glass are the result of Dick Rodwell’s craftsmanship and years of design efforts by Stanley Wanlass. While technically the hood (a Rootlieb 25-louver) isn’t part of the body, it’s stretched 3 inches as is the frame (wheelbase), has a working cowl vent, and the grille shell (housing a Steve Long radiator and trimmed with a Jim Wrench grille insert) is chopped 2 inches. Why? When standing to the side of the roadster you realize that if the radiator and shell aren’t chopped the nose of the car would appear to be running “uphill” because of the wheel/tire rake. Now the highboy roadster has a very appealing stance and the proportions look proper. The headlights are 1933 Ford commercial lights while the taillights are Johnson’s Hot Rod Shop redesigned 1932 Ford taillight assemblies that are mounted directly to the rear spreader bar by AHRS.

There are two absolutes in the world of hot rods according to Bobby: black is beautiful and big-blocks come standard. All of the sheetmetal and bodywork was performed at AHRS using PPG 9700 Black basecoat with 2002 clear protecting and providing the medium for the final polishing efforts. Speaking of all things bright and polished, Dan’s Polishing handled all the chrome and polishing on this roadster as he does for most all of Bobby’s projects. When looking at an Alloway build you can just about bet the mortgage that underhood will be a big-block Chevy. This 1932 Ford highboy roadster holds true to form. Since the earliest days of rodding Corvettes and hot rods have gone hand in hand. Many of the parts from these potent street machines were swapped over to hot rods, giving the owner/builder of his early hot rod the utmost performance he was seeking.

Under the stretched Rootlieb hood is a 427 Chevy representing an L71 vintage 1968 V-8 sporting 435 hp. The big-block shows off the proper lowrise intake manifold topped with Corvette Tri-power—a pair of Holley R3659A for the front and rear carb and a Holley R4055A for the center carb. Of course this big-block was reworked and now sports 550 hp. Look around and you will see Sanderson headers that run back to the Borla Pro XS mufflers through a stainless system fabricated by Barillaro Speed. Other goodies include a Powermaster alternator, Cooling Components electric fan, a polished factory water pump, and an MSD ignition system with Taylor wires.

Inside the interior shows off the handywork of Steve Holcomb of Pro Auto Custom Interiors done in Moore & Giles Mulberry hue leather. The Deuce dash is outfitted with a Lokar engine-turned insert showing off a limited run of Classic Instruments Moon Equipped gauges that were originally minted in the early ’90s. Yes these gauges had been sitting for nearly 30 years before they were pulled into service. Also visible are the three pedals and a Mustang shifter that operate the American Powertrain–supplied TREMEC five-speed and the ididit steering column with the cutdown Lecarra C1 Corvette steering wheel. Although you can’t see it, it’s still cool to mention. The door panels have hidden pockets that pop open to hold necessities such as registration and insurance paperwork, sunglasses, cell phones, and the like.

Well, there you have it. With some extra time and a closet full of hand-me-down parts look what one hot rodder built. Maybe you have the makings for your next project sitting on a back shelf.