1932 Ford "Pair of Deuces"

Long, long ago. On a web site far,far away. There was a forum project. The project was to build any movie car. Not just a car from a movie but a feature car. My first thought was a black 1957 Ford and call it Thunder Road. That just seemed plain Jane. Then talking with a guy on line American Graffiti came up. He went on to tell me that the John Milner Coupe was different in both movies. "Both movies?" said I. I didn't know there was a second movie. I knew a store that had two of the AMT kits so I got them and away we went. I also ordered the DVD with both "American Graffiti" movies on it. I figured I would get started and then watch the movies when it got to me. Because of all that stuff beyond any body's control it was 3 weeks before I got the DVD. After I watched both movies I found I was misinformed. The car is the same in both movies. Really in the second one it never moves. It is parked in the pits at a dragstrip. By then I was to far in to the builds to quit so I finished one as a Milner coupe and the other a a sweet yellow 32 Ford coupe.

Lesson learned. :lol: 8)

So I started with 2 of these kits.



Turns out you have to glue the roof on top the body. No problem said I. Dude wrong again. Both of the kits had a huge gap at the back of the roof when you line up the door lines.








Using a hair dryer and clamps I got everything close enough that I could use MEK to weld the two together and putty everything.



So that's were we are at for now. I'll be back with another update later. All comments and questions are welcome. Thanks for looking in.

Thanks Dogfish. It wasn't as easy as it looks to get them setting right. I thought I was going to melt the bodies with a hair dryer before I got the gap closed.

Moved on to the frames. Got them cleaned up and painted black.



When I was researching the car on line I found out a little something interesting.Those round things toward the back are the camera mounts that were added to the car for the movie. They were never removed. The car was found in a warehouse in St Louis (I think). The guy that bought it lived in San Francisco. The mounts were still there when he got it. Here are a couple pictures of the car as it arrived to him. No one was really sure how long it had been in the warehouse. His last name is Soreson.



Mice had gotten into the car and ate some of the wiring.



The BS File.



The THX 138 Plate was still in the trunk.



So with the bodies in primer and frames painted it is time to start some engine work. Here is a mock up for a teaser.



Thanks for looking in. See you in a couple days. All comments and inputs are welcome.

Thanks for looking in. Well time to put the bodies in Yellow. I went down to Walmart and got a can of Color Place Bright Yellow and painted the bodies.





There is a little difference in the shade of yellow on both of them. I tried an experiment. One body was done with gray primer the other with white. What I found was it takes a lot more paint to cover the gray and it doesn't pop like the white does. I had read this before and just had to see for myself.

Next was the firewalls. In the real car the firewall is recessed into the body. On thew kits it sticks out way to far to look right.



Using a mirror with some 800 grit wet and dry sand paper taped to it. I thinned the firewalls down until I could get them into the body. I also had to thin the front of the interior tub using the same technique.



It made a big difference. here is a side by side to show the effect.



Well that's it for now. Thanks for looking in and following along. All comments and inputs are welcome. See ya in a couple days.

OK so here we go again. With the firewalls moved back it was time to do some engine work. I started with the headers. The kit headers are for a small block Ford, the 2 center pipes are separated. So I heated them with a hair dryer and squeeze them together. Now they look like Small Block Chevy headers. Then I used Gloss Black base and Krylon Chrome over it.



It was about this time in the build when the DVD arrived and I watched both movies. Then I found out the truth that the car was the same in both movies. I was to far in to stop now.

The kit has a tunnel ram intake. The car never had a tunnel ram. It had a flat plane intake with 4 Stromberg's on it. So I found and intake manifold from a blower. Trimmed it up a little and made the flat plane. The other I used the tunnel ram from the kit. Here they are.





Then I got the distributors drilled and the spark plug wires in. I just cut them all to 2 inches and then shorten them as need be when I fit them to the engine.



Moved on to the interior tubs. No rocket science here just a black interior with black seats. Everything is Orr-Lac Flat Black.



Then a couple quick mock ups to see how they sat and if everything fit.





Well that's it for now. I'll be back in a couple days with more. All comments and questions are welcome. Thanks for looking in.

Hi everyone, I am back again with another update.

Thanks for following along.

With all that behind me it was time to move on. I got the differentials finished. As you can see in this photo I added brake lines to them. Also the kit coil springs for the rear were kinda hokey looking so I cut them off and then leveled the spring mounts.



Here you can see the kit rear springs. They look like a couple styrene blocks under there.



Brakes and flex lines.



Also got the dashboards stated.



These will be the rear springs. They are springs out of a transmission shift kit. I measured the diameter of the kit springs and then got some the same diameter. Now it is a matter of final height. That will be set later.



Here I have started working on the detail of the chassis. Brake lines, fuel lines and battery cables.





Well that's about it for now. Thanks for looking in. All comments and questions are welcome.

Thanks for looking in everyone. Time to get these things on the ground. Rollers that's what we're after.

Got the rear springs under the car. I can see that it will take a little work to get them setting level.



I forgot this one. It shows the bodies on and no interference from the fuel and brake lines. The battery cable goes up the other frame rail.



After messing with it for awhile I ended up here. Happy to be there called it good.



This I can live with.



So now I have done all that twice. LOL The front ends are kit stock. Added brake flex hoses and brake and fuel lines sticking up in the rear.



Gonna have to build new uprights for the headlights. This was the test fit from my first idea. It will get better.



Two rollers ready to go. Still have fuel and brake lines to hook up, but that comes later. As does the coil wire.





OK until the next time that's it. Almost done with them now. Thanks for looking in and remember all comments and questions are welcome.

Thanks for looking in. Time to put this pair to bed.

The only thing left to do is a simple interior tub and final assembly. so let's get'er done.



I am only showing you one tub because both are the same except for the "BS File". In the Movie he gets a ticket while out cruising. He hands the ticket to the girl with him and tells her to put it in the "BS File". Then the camera pans down to the door panel and there is a pocket sewn into it that is full of tickets. I added that to the movie car but left that feature off the other one.



The dashboards are different also. The Milner coupe has the chrome panel. The other car has an experiment in guage making. Some small bezels around a decal from the Tweedy Pie 2.



Here are the two interiors side by side through the top.



These two pictures show th difference between the 2 engines.

Tunnel ram engine.



This is the Movie engine with the home made 4x2 manifold.



Then it is off to final assembly and the NAM. I will see you there.

Thanks to those that followed along. See you for the next build.

Thanks Clay. I was a rookie when I did this one. Only the second WIP I ever wrote. Be ware today I will do the showbaot dragster. It was my first WIP.