Peter Palmer: Automoblog Book Garage: Deuce: The Original Hot Rod: 32×32

A pink slip is a bad thing, unless you are a car enthusiast. In the title track of their 1963 record Little Deuce Coupe, the Beach Boys make it clear: if the description of the car wasn’t enough to make you flip your lid, there was one more thing:

“I got the pink slip daddy.”

Pink being the color of a dealership invoice, of course.

Fired Up

By 1931, Ford’s Model A was a bit of a dinosaur. Customers wanted more style, more refinement, and most of all, more power. Henry Ford and his design team essentially focused on that mantra: more cylinders, more horsepower, more style, more comfort; more of everything.

They nailed it. Ford’s ’32 was a spectacular home run.

However, it was in the used car market the Deuce would ultimately cut its teeth, attracting the growing hot rod culture. The Deuce’s massive engine, flowing fenders, and iconic grille made it the perfect canvas for artistic hot rod builders.

Roadchamp & Rodfather

Deuce: The Original Hot Rod: 32×32 is divided into three sections, each with a unique emphasis on the iconic car. We are introduced personally to the individuals who have maintained a deep, lifelong passion for the Deuce. Author Mike Chase brings their love affair for the hot rod to life.

There’s Steve Moal from Moal Coachbuilders in Oakland, California. Roadchamp is the name of Moal’s personal ’32 roadster, complete with a dropped-and-drilled I-beam front axle, a 351 Windsor with roller rockers, and an Edelbrock four-barrel carburetor.

We meet Andy Brizio, the milkman turned hot rod boss, with his infamous Rodfather, a Deuce roadster he has piloted over 240,000 miles. After entering the Grand National Roadster Show three times, Brizio finally captured the World’s Most Beautiful Roadster award in 1970.

Not surprisingly, his wife Sue is passionate about hot rods too, presiding over all of her husband’s endeavors in the automotive arena.

Andy Brizio’s Rodfather, page 40.

The Sickness

In his introduction to Deuce: The Original Hot Rod: 32×32, Chase recalls moving as a kid to a new neighborhood. They unpacked at night so Chase didn’t really see anything, but the next morning, he was “struck speechless.”

Next door was a 1946 Mercury Coupe.

“That’s how I contracted the disease,” writes Chase, who later went on to operate his own custom hot rod shop.

Author

Chase is a lifelong gearhead who has owned and built numerous hot rods and motorcycles. Photographing and writing about all things mechanical, he is published in top American hot rod and motorcycle magazines including Hot Rod, Street Rodder, Popular Hot Rodding, Custom and Classic Trucks, and many others. Chase is a California native, who grew up deeply immersed in the hot rod culture there.

Deuce: The Original Hot Rod: 32×32 is available through Amazon and Motorbooks. Similar to how the Beach Boys got “rubber in all four gears,” you will get the same in over 200 pages of this incredible book.

Carl Anthony is Managing Editor of Automoblog and resides in Detroit, Michigan