This outstanding 1932 Ford Coupe was the timingtower.com pick for 2024 at the Western Street Rod Nationals in Bakersfield.
Arguably, one of the most famous ‘32 Ford coupes is the five-window driven by John Milner (Paul LeMat) in the movie “American Graffiti”. David Fleeman of Bakersfield set out to build a deuce coupe reminiscent of the movie car but with modern safety and comfort features. He met his goal and produced a car that is not only fun to drive but draws admiring looks. David said his wife didn’t see much of him for a year-and-a half as he built the car but she helped out with the upholstery and sewed the headliner.
David went to Lewiston, Idaho and brought back the body, frame and a ‘truck load of parts”. In his shop he put it all together himself and only sent the car out for bodywork and paint. This is a real home- built car but the quality of workmanship looks pro-built.
David put a 327c.i small block in his coupe just like the movie car. Nobody seems to know the origin of the movie car engine but David sourced his from a 1968 Corvette. He then put four Holley 94s on top so the engine evokes the look of the movie car. David went further and added an alternator, power disc brakes and air conditioning which the movie car lacked.
To top it all off David added a piston gearshift knob like the one that Milner’s passenger playfully unscrewed from the gearshift lever in the movie.
When David and his wife drove into the Western Nats, their yellow coupe only had 371 miles on the speedometer but they plan to put many more miles on this outstanding hot rod.
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