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Automotive Lifestyle
AUTOS: The Hot Rod Build, Part 1: Initial Assembly
The first installment of a multi-part series about the construction of a custom Ford Deuce Coupe.
Bob Golfen  |  Posted March 15, 2010   Phoenix, AZ
Ron McCorkle samples the fit of a running board on the '32 Ford hot rod now under construction at Hot Rods by Dean in Phoenix. (Photo: Bob Golfen)
Hot Rods by Dean, an award-winning street-rod and custom shop based in Phoenix, Az., recently began construction of a 1932 Ford three-window coupe from scratch.

The goal: to build a classic street rod from modern components, including a new all-steel body, that will be authentic and indistinguishable from one created from an original 78-year-old car.

The process is exceedingly complex and requires much hand-fabrication by the expert craftsmen at Dean Livermore’s busy shop. It will take several months and hundreds of man-hours to complete.

The owner of the Deuce Coupe, Corky Chumbley of a Glendale, Az., checks on the progress of the preject at Dean's shop. This was before the new firewall was welded in. (Photo: Bob Golfen)
Starting this week, SPEEDtv.com will be following along closely as the project unfolds, describing in words and pictures how this “Little Deuce Coupe” is pieced together into another one of Dean’s glorious hot rods.

While Dean and his workers are building the rod, you will have a front-row seat to observe the many intricate steps that go into creating this unique high-performance vehicle. In the coming weeks, we will be dropping in to witness the progress for ourselves, and bring the latest developments back to you.

Dean’s shop is filled with projects in various stages of completion, some gleaming as the finishing touches are applied. In our first visit to the shop, a handsome 1934 full-fender Ford coupe was being polished for its grand appearance at an upcoming Goodguys Rod and Custom show in Scottsdale.

Dean Livermore, 39, has already made a big impression on the world of hot rods with his superbly designed and finished cars. A protégé of legendary street-rod builder Dick "Magoo" Megugorac, who now lives in Arizona, Livermore and his creations have won many top prizes, including Word's Most Beautiful Custom for a1951 Mercury at the 2007 Sacramento Autorama.

A similar 1932 Ford three-window coupe, nearing completion at the other end of Hot Rods by Dean, shows roughly what the new project will look like when completed. (Photo: Bob Golfen)
In 2005, Livermore was picked as the Goodguys Trendsetter of the Year, presented to a rising young talent in rod and custom-car building.

So the current deuce-coupe build has a lot to live up to. In its essence, the project resembles the ground-up restoration of an original car, except for the lack of rust. All the disparate bits and pieces have to be hand-formed and assembled, and made to fit together perfectly.

When completed, the hot rod will be essentially a brand-new car, Livermore said, which will make up with accuracy and old-school charm what it might lack in provenance. With its all-steel construction and careful adherence to how Ford originally built them, the car should be indecipherable from a vintage coupe.

“It’s a pretty common practice,” Livermore said. “And it’s becoming more common because finding a (1932) body is so difficult. And if you do find one, it’s usually too rusty.

“For people who are traditionalists, the downside is you end up with an aftermarket car, not an original,” he added. “But the look and feel is stock, a traditional hot rod.”


At this point, the frame has been built and the suspension and axle components bolted on. The body, made by Brookville Roadsters, is sitting on the frame, which is supported by jack stands.

An old engine block is bolted in as a place holder for a new Ford V8 that is being built for the car.

The finished frame with suspension components, gas tank, transmission and engine block was mostly hand-fabricated by McCorkle. (Photo: Hot Rods by Dean)
“This is what we call the mockup stage,” said Ron McCorkle, a metalwork expert who built the frame. “Nothing really fits yet. We have to massage everything to make it go together.”

McCorkle built the frame using a pair of side rails from American Stamping shaped to accommodate the 32 Ford body, which is considered the classic body and year for hot rods. The rails are made as they were originally, with heavy steel formed into C channels.

In the engine area and rear, McCorkle welded more steel on the inside to create full-box rails, mainly for extra strength and rigidity. In the areas under the body, he left the frame as original for authenticity.

“That part of the frame is original and looks more factory, the way Henry Ford built them,” he said. “If you took it to a car show and had it up on stands, people who care about such things will see if you carried out the theme all the way through, or if you cheated and did it the easy way.”

Although the parts are all designed to be pieced together, they usually have to be altered to accommodate the needs of each specific project.

McCorkle shows a finished piece of stainless-steel brake line that he created from a raw piece of tubing, shown below. (Photo: Bob Golfen)
“The parts are sort of one size fits all,” McCorkle said. “So you have to whittle and massage them to fit.”

McCorkle made the cross members and the mounts for the transmission, a Ford automatic with overdrive, which has been bolted in place.

“We build it in a frame jig that’s built specifically for a ‘32 Ford,” he said. “We put the frame rails in there and start building all these other pieces to that. That way, the frame rails stay in the same shape and dimensions they’re supposed to.”

He’s currently working on the stainless-steel brake lines, bending and flaring them to fit and connect. Already in place are the four-wheel disc brakes; the rear axle with its nine-inch differential; a chrome drop front axle with transverse leaf spring; and an aftermarket steering box designed after the ones in the old Chevy Vega.

“Well, at least one of its parts were good,” McCorkle said of the notoriously faulty Vega.


McCorkle shows where the floor boards will be welded to the custom-built firewall, which the metalcrafter modified to accept a Ford V8. The bright parts show where the new piece was attached. (Photo: Bob Golfen)
This week, McCorkle has been working to comply with one of the requests of the coupe’s owner, Corky Chumbley, a Glendale, Az., businessman and former sprint-car racer. He wanted to have a more original-looking firewall than the one that came with the Brookeville body, which is smoother and contoured to fit a modern V8 and transmission.

To make the switch, McCorkle had to take a firewall that replicates an original ’32 Ford part, weld it to the body, then change the shape of its lower portion for the bigger engine. That required cutting out a large rectangular hole and welding in new steel to move that area back.

“This one will look a lot better,” he said. “It just takes a bit more work.”

He won’t be certain that his alterations are correct until they get the new engine and try it on for size, so he hasn’t completed the finish welding.

“That’s why I’m leaving it tacked together until we actually get the engine in place and see if it fits, in case I have to change it,” he said. “These cars come apart a hundred times.”

Part of the effort to maintain the authenticity of a 1932 Ford is the original-type wooden bracing used in the interior. (Photo: Bob Golfen)
The coupe will be all-Ford powered, rather than using the more common Chevrolet V8 favored by most rodders. The 347-cubic-inch engine, being hand-built by Bob Ream of B&R Automotive in Phoenix, will have an aluminum block and heads.

Once completed, the Deuce Coupe can be driven as a normal street car, complete with air conditioning and an audio system, as wells as being shown at hot rod events for awards and bragging rights. Chumbley plans to use the car for touring, among other things, Livermore said.

“He really wants to drive the car coast-to-coast and have fun with it,” he said. “And that’s good.”

Watch for the next installment of Hot Rod Build, as Dean’s shop brings in the hand-built V8 to install in the Deuce Coupe.

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