Dale Grau’s ’32 Ford Lakes-Style Roadster Brings Back an Era
By Brian Brennan – Photography By NotStock Photography
If I may quote Pat Ganahl from his book Dry Lakes Hot Rods, he states, “You have to remember that most lakes racing–hot rodding–was a child of the Depression. The good part of that was that all kinds of ‘junk’ was available.” As such, it was fair game to build anything if you chased the elusive goal of faster speeds. Ganahl pointed out that dry lakes racecars came in all sizes and shapes, “not just stripped-down Ford roadsters.” But there is no denying that the Ford Roadster was the center point of much of this racing.
We should point out that the “lakes-style” roadster build was originally done to achieve greater speeds. These roadsters were stripped of fenders, headlights, windshields, and so on, more for aerodynamics than weight loss. Weight was not the issue at the dry lakes (and later Bonneville); it was aerodynamics. Sleek is good; going faster was, is, and will always be the goal. The lakes style was arrived at using bigs ’n’ littles primality to effectively achieve a gear ratio change for greater speed and less wind resistance because of the lower tire profile in front.
That brings us to Dale Grau’s own inspiration of what he would have enjoyed as a lakester car of his own—his highly modified ’32 Ford Brookville roadster pickup body with an all-inclusive steamer trunk. The steel Rootlieb hood is stretched 5 inches with all the necessary bodywork by Ben Neu who also painted the Lakes Roadster in Army Green. (I like to think of it as “beautiful Olive Drab, but shiny.”) You will also see the use of graphics used throughout the build, which was supplied by Cliff Anderson Design.
But we doubt this ’32 Ford Lakes-style roadster will ever see the silt of the dry lakes, but rather lots of asphalt running beneath its Excelsior rubber. Dale is no stranger to Deuce hot rods of all models, but he does like his vintage-looking hot rods. He has based his latest build on a ’32 Ford Brookville roadster pickup body modified and adorned with a Steel Craft trunk he purchased from eBay.
The project began at Cornhusker Rod & Custom where the chassis was built based on American Stamping Deuce framerails that were boxed, pinched in front, and stepped and bobbed in the rear. The chassis features a SO-CAL Speed Shop 5-inch drop-and-drilled I-beam axle with a transversely mounted leaf spring utilizing early Ford spindles and reproduction early Ford lever action shocks. The street rod steering standby is the Vega box with a Speedway Motors quick-release feature steering column and a LimeWorks drilled four-spoke steering wheel. Attached to the Speedway column is a vintage Yankee 960 turn signal mechanism rewired to work in today’s climate.
The rear suspension is based on a Winters Champ quick-change spinning 3.78 gears with Cornhusker-modified quarter-elliptic springs and a pair of tube-style shocks. The braking represents ’39 Lincoln brake drums at the corners, all operated by an RJays Speed Shop swing pedal assembly and a ’60 Chevy master cylinder.
Cornhusker was also responsible for placing the custom 16-gallon gas tank within the trunk. The always-reliable Excelsior Stahl radial rubber from Coker measures 5.00R16 in front and 7.00R18 in back, all mounted to Ford wires. A pair of ’35 Ford 16-inch wires were used in front while 18s that were widened 2 inches followed in the rear.
At this point, Dale took over, and with the help of Lenksters Custom Garage, the build continued to its completion. Lenksters was also responsible for the Rodwell laidback windshield, EJ headlights made from rough castings with 5-inch HIG off-road lights adapted, the rear deck now occupied by the steamer trunk, and the dimple die holes with black screen backing positioned into the trunk rear bracket/base.
The powertrain for this old-timey-appearing hot rod is an iron small-block 355ci Chevy. It runs an Edelbrock Performer EPS single four intake with an adapter, allowing the Vintage Speed Rochester Tri-power setup to feed the fuel.
Firing the fuel charge is a PerTronix ignition and the coil that receives its juice from the Delco battery. Rams horn Chevy manifolds are exiting the spent fuel load, while the custom 2-1/2-inch exhaust tubing runs back to and through the glasspack mufflers to the distinctive six tailpipes, all fabricated by Fat Joe Racing. Mechanically shifting through the Camaro T5 gearbox is another eBay item modified to fit the job at hand.
Inside, the decidedly race car–inspired interior has a steel dash with dimpled (soft rolled) gauge holes. There are also accessory holes with a screen and red leather backing. The red leather matches the seating material positioned by Sauk Rapids Upholstery over the Paul Wright aluminum bomber-style pair of buckets. The “carpeting” is positioned with rubber mats, making cleaning up an easy chore. No vacuum; get the garden hose out. The individual instrument holes are filled with Auto Meter gauges, including an 8-grand tach and 120 speedometer. There is also an analog watch face mounted to the dash just above the water temperature gauge above the steering wheel to fill in the time of day or night that Dale has an enjoyable time driving his ride. All the necessary wiring comes from a Wiremaster Power Panel II and a deluxe wiring kit from Affordable Street Rods was wired into place by Dale.
Dale has managed to get this roadster out on the road and make the rounds of the Los Angeles Roadsters Father’s Day Show, several Goodguys events, and Gathering at the Roc, among others. The roadster was featured on the Des Moines event shirt, as the hot rod was the Midwest Deuces pick. While the intent may not be for this to be a “true” lakes-style racing roadster, the results speak well for themselves. This hot rod will be a great memory maker. MR
Click on this issue’s cover to see the enhanced digital version of Built to Remember: A Land-Speed-Inspired ‘32 Ford Roadster.
