Ford’s popular coupes were offered in two distinct versions for 1932. The so-called 5-window was introduced first, and the 3-window didn’t follow until later in the model year. Hot Rodders like them both, and Munz has several of each. This black beauty is distinctive in today’s largely 8-cylinder Hot Rod world because its engine is a traditional 4-cylinder Ford Model B block with a Cragar overhead-valve conversion. It’s reportedly the last Cragar built by the “4-banger” expert, the late Wes Cooper. A little Cragar history is in order here. In the early 1930s, when the Ford flathead V-8 was still in its infancy, 4-cylinder Fords ruled. Despite displacing barely more than 200 CI, a plethora of available speed equipment—hot camshafts, trick ignitions, alloy cylinder heads and multicarburetor manifolds—was available for the 4-cylinders. At the lakes, they were proven, popular and still fast, so it took a few years before leading speed-equipment pioneers like Ed Winfield, Vic Edelbrock Sr., Phil Weiand, Eddie Meyer and Barney Navarro began to market hop-up items for the 8-cylinder engines. A number of Rodding greats built overhead-valve and even overhead-cam cylinder heads for the Ford Model A, B and C blocks. They included George Riley, Colonel Alexander, Miller-Schofield (yes, that’s Harry A. Miller), Art Sparks and Ed Winfield, to name just a few. And for racing, several SOHC/ DOHC conversions were offered by companies like Cragar, Gemsa, Hal, Frontenac and others. In 1923, George Wight, a Hot Rodding pioneer, opened a junkyard called Bell Auto Parts in Bell, California. He began by selling speed equipment, both new and used, for Model T Fords. When the Model A Ford bowed in 1928, Harry A. Miller and George Schofield formed a company to manufacture an overhead-valve cylinder head for the Model A. It was designed by Miller’s in-house drafting genius, Leo Goossen. The Great Depression claimed Miller-Schofield, after just two years. The company’s remaining assets were then purchased by Crane Gartz, who was an heir to his family’s Crane Plumbing Company fortune. He called the company Cragar, an abbreviation of his first and last names. When Cragar folded in 1932, Wight acquired the patterns, tooling and the Cragar name. Wight’s company became the first known speed shop in America; the Bell Auto Parts and Cragar names became synonymous, and Cragar OHV conversions were one of the leading Model A Ford speed secrets until the flathead V-8 ruled. Cragar-equipped Model B engines have surprising low-speed torque. Munz reported that this 4-banger “runs really strong. Other than that, the driveline is all-original.” This 1932 Ford has had hydraulic brakes fitted to better handle the stopping requirements of that powerful four. “This engine has a lot of salt to it,” Munz added. “You’d be quite surprised at how strong it runs … This is a dynamite car.” “Bill Honda, who built it, owned California Metal Shaping,” Munz said. Bill Honda was a 1932 Ford enthusiast. His company stamped the panels for the monorail cars for Disneyland and the bodies for Craig Breedlove’s Land Speed Record cars. California Metal Shaping made splash panels and other components for Fords, sail panels for George Barris’ chopped customs and body parts for Indy cars and championship race cars. For many traditional Hot Rodders, the 4-cylinder engines still have a lot of appeal. Writing in his classic book, “The American Hot Rod,” Dean Batchelor said, “The number of racers favoring the four-cylinder Fords … never will fade out completely. There’s something beautiful about these antique assemblies of iron—the look, the sound and the performance of the engines brings a glint to the eyes of ‘true believers.’”
