HOW TO BUILD A ­­­­DEUCE HIGHBOY

Approaches to Building a Street Rod

Make no mistake, there are numerous approaches that can be taken to complete just about any street rod project for just about any price. While the combination offered here is, by design, an entry-level one, if taken to the extremes, it could even accumulate a cost of up to six figures. It could also be less than half that amount.

A Cost-Effective Alternative

The point of this presentation is to provide a less expensive alternative while still enabling an enthusiast to complete the vehicle of his choice, which—in this case—is the venerable ’32 Ford. There are any number of used street rods on the used-car market. Some are actually for sale and priced accordingly while others are simply advertised to see what the market will bring. And while we are advocating the construction of many different types of street rods, when it comes to an affordable alternative, there is no denying the attraction of the fenderless roadster.

Availability of Parts and Cost Estimates

With fenders or not, an early-’30s roadster is easy to build, and there are a great number of parts available for them. Some manufacturers are offering a roller for under $12,000, considering the use of a crate motor (and if you are handy, you could conceivably bring the overall cost of the project to around $25,000). Using selected components from various manufacturers, we would estimate a completed project cost to be $25,000 to $38,000. A work in progress could better all these numbers as you can then cherry-pick the parts as you go along. Many manufacturers offer exceptional deals at various shows throughout the Midwest, southern states, and the East Coast. They sell show specials that beat even the prices quoted in magazines, such as the one you are holding. Over-stocked items, discontinued part numbers, and new introductions are frequently sold at far less than the going rate. If you are not picky, you could accessorize your project, attend events, and still save on the project, and we haven’t even mentioned using vintage or used parts from swap meets and the Internet.

The Debate on Entry-Level Costs

As you can imagine, there is a great deal of controversy, even in our own office, about what an entry-level car would cost to build. Many leading car constructors claim that it takes 1,000 hours of labor, over and above the cost of the parts. You do the math. At a shop rate of $50 per hour, labor will cost $50,000 on top of the $20,000 or so you spent for the frame, body, chassis, drivetrain, and associated parts to go, stop, and steer the thing. For openers, that’s $70,000! If you are married with a family, that could be darn similar to selling refrigerators to Eskimos. We have even heard the idea of assembly line-built roadsters being sold out the door for under $30,000. Whether or not it would be worth all the effort or even be possible, I don’t know. If you look around, many more reputable shops would rather sell parts. However, those who are committed to building cars over the long haul have booked their work years in advance. It is not uncommon to hear a shop owner tell a customer he can’t touch a car until a particular time because he has nearly three dozen complete ground-up builds lined up before he can start.

The Reality of Turnkey Builds

This kind of demand for turnkey cars does little to reduce the hourly shop rate or drive down the price of tin. On the contrary, everything is getting more costly. The most logical choice for an inexperienced car builder is to buy your buildable car through a reputable shop so that during the life of the project, they will help push the project toward completion by taking on the jobs that are beyond the capability and available equipment of the novice car builder. This also guarantees that the vehicle being built is a project buildup and not something that was thoughtlessly purchased along the way.

Roadsters and Alternative Options

Roadsters are not for everybody, nor can they be driven throughout tough weather climates for as long during the year as cars in more tropical climates. Although a roadster is less expensive to build, particularly a highboy, it shouldn’t be the go/no-go deciding factor as there are actually better package deals from a variety of sources for different cars. One comes to mind that we are thinking of building ourselves, and that is the ’32 highboy sedan. It already has a top, but there is the cost of the windows, window registers, and more body to finish and paint, and the interior will possibly cost slightly more. Summed up, it’s doubtful that we’re talking more than $1,500-$2,000 to finish the car the right way, so it really boils down to the acquisition price and how much of the work you can do yourself. There could be other sleeper cars as well.

The Build Process and Final Investment

None of the following is meant as a step-by-step process as much as what the process would entail if you were to build a roadster like this one. For the most part, it is well within the reach of most street rodders with average or better mechanical skills and budget. We’ll tell you—in an effort to put all of this in the proper context so that you might better figure what your overall investment would cost—that this particular car was built at a shop and would be sold for around $40,000 when complete.

The Appeal of a Deuce Highboy Roadster

Certainly, there are more sophisticated roadsters than this one, but who’s to know the difference when you’re motoring through town behind the wheel of your very own Deuce highboy roadster? The attention to detail in this car is pictured on the following pages. You can be the judge, but I know that I’d be proud to drive it anywhere.