1932 Ford Roadster - Red Ram Special
The '32 Ford is a canvas that automotive artists have been painting on for 75 years now, which of course means there aren't many things that haven't already been done to one. However, a look doesn't have to be totally different from the bottom up to garner attention; sometimes it just takes a bit of a twist on standard street-rod style to create something unique. That's precisely what Matt Markstaller was going for with this '32 roadster. The idea was to build a car that combined street-rod style with memories of his youth.
The catalyst that fueled Matt's imagination to create this '32 roadster was an engine-the new 5.7L Hemi. "When the new Hemi came out, I had an immediate appreciation for its reference to the past and its engineering and really wanted to do something with it in a hot rod," Matt says. The new, 345ci Hemi reminded him of two past Hemis he had owned: a 392ci in a '57 Chrysler Imperial and a teeny 241ci Red Ram that had powered a '32 Ford. The later correlation is what inspired the moniker for this project: the Red Ram Special.
Beginning with a 5.7L engine, Matt stripped away all the plastic cladding, wiring, and hoses that hid its identity and set the stage to create a more appropriate early Hemi look. The plastic factory intake wouldn't fit the theme, so Matt fabricated a vintage tunnel-ram from aluminum and hid the factory throttle body within the scoop and plenum. The look may be radical, but the 5.7 is actually a much milder engine than it appears and retains the factory fuel injectors, sensors, and computer without issue. "It was a bit of a gamble to change the intake hardware, but even though the look of the intake is completely different, I kept the basic internal geometry the same so that it would work with the factory computer and sensors," Matt says.
And what about those memories that inspired that look? That red-scallops-over-bare-metal facade is more than just street-rod flair to Matt. He grew up around vintage aircraft and regularly traveled to the Reno Air Races to watch WWII-era planes with their thundering engines, mirror-polished aluminum, and scallop paint jobs streak across the sky. Imagery like that doesn't fade easily and led Matt to get his own pilot's license, and eventually inspired the look of his street rod.
Matt's three sons wanted to be involved in the project, but they had one condition: The roadster had to have a rumble seat so they could all ride. Matt was able to locate a body from Lone Star Classics (www.lonestarclassics.com) that could be configured to accommodate a rumble seat, and the build was under way. To get the vintage aircraft look he had in his mind, Matt wanted the scallops to look like they were laid over a bare metal body-not an easy task with fiberglass. The convincingly real metallic finish came from a new paint called MirraChrome from Alsa (www.alsacorp.com). Sprayed over a black basecoat, MirraChrome is intended to look like chrome, but using white for the basecoat helped Matt achieve a softer aluminum look.
While the body was being treated to its faux-metal finish, Matt put his Brigham Young University education and his mechanical-engineering background with OEM vehicle design to work designing a chassis and suspension that looked traditional but functioned better than most radius-arm cars do. For the foundation, he started with a perimeter frame and crossmember built by Schroeder Speed and Custom with Dearborn Deuce rails. Matt's past experience designing suspension systems for open-road-race cars on weekends while still holding down a design job with an OE manufacturer came in handy in designing a suspension that had the right look but functioned far beyond vintage equipment. The front started with an aluminum Super Bell I-beam axle, but to achieve better handling than he could get from a buggy spring and solid axle, he cut the axle in half and bushed and pinned the two axle halves behind the Model A crossmember to conceal it. The effect is a suspension that has the drilled I-beam look but functions and handles as an IFS.
For the aluminum hairpin radius rods, calculations told Matt that even though aluminum is about half as strong as steel, he could stay with a traditional 7/8-inch od on the hairpins as long as he used solid rod instead of the 1/8-inch wall tube that the steel units are made of. To tie the radius rods to the axle, he fabricated a set of aluminum bat wings, complete with lightening holes to match the style of the axle. The rear suspension uses a ladder-bar setup fabricated from aluminum, but again, the difference is that everything was carefully calculated first. The length and mounting angle of the bars as well as the placement of the Afco coilovers on an 8.8-inch rear axle were designed to eliminate squat while making the '32 as responsive as possible.
To truly create the vintage aircraft feel, the interior had to have a bare-bones feel reminiscent of a slightly refined B-29. Though he had never attempted panel fabrication before, Matt decided the only way to get everything exactly how he pictured it was to do it himself. After getting access to sheetmetal shears, a drill press, a sander, and a bead roller, he proceeded to waste a few sheets of brushed aluminum until he got the hang of it and eventually turned out the interior panels and bomber-style bucket seats.
The final result of all that time and effort achieved the effect Matt was after: a street rod that combines the vintage fighter-plane vibe he wanted with contemporary technology that allows him to drive the wheels off it. The dramatic paint may have come back to bite Matt, though. The roadster tends to draw a crowd, and ironically, most onlookers are usually debating whether the body is aluminum or stainless steel or speculating on the origin of the engine, usually getting both wrong while overlooking the well-thought-out fabrication work.
Quick Inspection: '32 Ford Roadster
Matt Markstaller * Portland, OR
Powertrain
Engine:</strong> The engine is an '03 Dodge 345ci Hemi that is internally stock. Matt fabricated several custom items including milled and polished valve covers, remote-mounted coils, an aluminum intake topped with a Mr. Gasket Street scoop, and zoomie headers with stainless steel baffles. To clean up the front end, he removed anything that was unnecessary and redid the serpentine drive to run the water pump. Everything was given a painted, satin, or polished finish and screwed together with button-head stainless bolts.
Power: Matt hasn't dyno'd the engine since the new induction, but it shouldn't be far off the stock 345 hp.
Transmission: It's a New Venture Gear five-speed.
Rearend: A Ford 8.8-inch Traction-Lok from a late-model Ranger was narrowed 2 inches on one side to center the differential and result in an overall width of 56 inches.
ChassisFrame: The Dearborn Deuce rails were boxed and tied together with a Darryl Schroeder tubular X-member, a tubular rear crossmember, and a Model A front crossmember.
Suspension: A Super Bell Alum-I-Beam was cut in half and pinned to the center of the front crossmember. Fabricated aluminum hairpins, bat wings, and shock mounts with Afco coilover shocks and a modified sandrail steering rack from Dan's Performance Parts complete the independent front suspension. The rear suspension consists of fabricated-aluminum ladder bars and a Panhard rod with Afco coilovers.
Brakes: Braking chores are handled by a dual master cylinder with vented, slotted, and drilled rotors and Dynalite calipers at each wheel end, all by Wilwood.
Wheels: They're American Racing Salt Flat Specials in 15x7 (front) and 17x8 (rear).
Tires: They are Pirelli Scorpion STRs, 205/70-15 and 265/65-17.
Style
Body: Starting with a Lone Star '32 Ford roadster body kit, Matt added a steel inner structure and a rear roll pan, removed the windshield bead, and molded in a transmission tunnel.
Paint: The red is a custom PPG basecoat/clearcoat called Hellrot. The polished-aluminum look is Alsa MirraChrome over white primer, applied by Ben Conley. Al Perreira provided the striping. Chrome doesn't complement this car, so the DuVall windshield, headers, front spindles, and a few other steel parts were ceramic-coated at Russ Meeks' Finish Line Coatings.
Interior: The panels and bomber seatbacks were formed from aluminum sheet with a bead roller and old-fashioned hand beating. The leather seat bottoms, rumble seat, and wool carpet were stitched by Carl Griffis.

Photo Gallery: 1932 Ford Roadster - Red Ram Special - Hot Rod Magazine



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