'32 Ford Fordor Jalopy Racer - Larned KS. circa 1958

’32 Ford Fordor Jalopy Racer – Larned, KS. 1958

Several years ago a fine modeler named Dave Zinn gave me a Hendrix resin ’32 Ford Fordor body as a bonus gift during a parts exchange. I always intended to do a jalopy build with it and now I’ve finally gotten around to it. The project was inspired by this terrific web site chronicling the JayCee Speedway in Larned, Kansas, a 1/4 mile track that was active in the 1950's: winfield.50megs.com/tripod/Larned/Larned_Speedway.htm .

The body is designed to fit the AMT Deuces so I used an AMT ’32 Ford Phaeton kit as the basis. The hood, chassis and drivetrain are all from that kit with only minor modifications. The frame rails were painted Testors Acryl Gloss Green. The front and rear crash bars were fabricated from styrene rod and sheet, as was the interior roll cage. The interior body structure was also fabricated from styrene strip and sheet. The front wheels and tires are from an AMT ’40 Ford Tudor kit, and the rear tires and wheels are from a Revell ’40 Ford Standard kit with the whitewalls blacked out. The Revell ’40 Ford also provided the radiator.

The paint is Duplicolor Wimbledon White on the upper half, the interior and the crash bars and wheels. The lower half of the body is Testors Daytona Yellow lacquer. The numbers and the green molding stripe are decals colored to match the frame rails. The sponsor names are also home-made decals and are fictitious businesses based on the region around Larned.

This was great fun to do. I especially enjoyed the research involved and working in a subject that is relatively new to me.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.