Photography by NotStock Photographyf I may quote Pat Ganahl from his book Dry Lakes Hot Rods, he states, “You have to remember that most lakes racing—hot rodding—was a child of the Depression. The good part of that was that all kinds of ‘junk’ was available.” As such, it was fair game to build anything if you chased the elusive goal of faster speeds. Ganahl pointed out that lakes cars came in all sizes and shapes, “not just stripped-down Ford roadsters.” But there is no denying that the Ford roadster was the center point of much of this racing.
We should point out that the “lakes-style” roadster build was originally done to achieve greater speeds. These roadsters were stripped of fenders, headlights, windshields, and so on, more for aerodynamics than weight loss. Weight was not the issue at the dry lakes (and later Bonneville); it was aerodynamics. Sleek is good; going faster was, is, and will always be the goal. The lakes style was arrived at using bigs ’n’ littles primarily to effectively achieve a gear ratio change for greater speed and less wind resistance because of the lower tire profile in front.
But we doubt this ’32 Ford Lakes-style roadster will ever see the silt of the dry lakes, but rather lots of asphalt running beneath its Excelsior rubber. Dale is no stranger to Deuce hot rods of all models, but he does like his vintage-looking hot rods. He has based his latest build on a ’32 Ford Brookville roadster pickup body modified and adorned with a Steel Craft trunk he purchased from eBay.
The powertrain for this old-timey-appearing hot rod is an iron small-block Chevy sporting 355 inches. It runs an Edelbrock Performer EPS single four intake with an adapter, allowing the Vintage Speed Rochester Tri-power setup to feed the fuel. Firing the fuel charge is a PerTronix ignition and the coil that receives its juice from the Delco battery. Rams horn Chevy manifolds are exiting the spent fuel load, while the custom 2-1/2-inch exhaust tubing runs back to and through the glasspack mufflers to the distinctive six tailpipes, all fabricated by Fat Joe Racing. Mechanically shifting through the Camaro T5 gearbox is another eBay item modified to fit the job at hand.
Dale has managed to get this roadster out on the road and make the rounds of the L.A. Roadsters Father’s Day Show, several Goodguys events, and Gathering at the Roc, among others. The roadster was featured on the Des Moines event shirt, as the hot rod was the Midwest Deuces pick. While the intent may not be for this to be a “true” lakes-style racing roadster, the results speak well for themselves. This hot rod will be a great memory maker.
