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itsworn · 6 years

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Touche Away! Historic Show-and-Go 1932 Ford 5-Window Coupe Returns to the Strip After Decades in Storage

Preserved.

Trading a new bicycle for a ’32 Ford five-window coupe? Sounds crazy, right? But that’s exactly what Ernie Martin of Portland, Oregon, did in 1952.

Ernie had stumbled upon an old Ford coupe. The owner wanted to get a bicycle for his son, and Ernie just so happened to have a new bike. Ernie offered his brand-new Schwinn racing bike for the “piece of junk” ’32, as the original owner called it, and a trade was made.

Ernie enlisted the help of his brother to get the coupe home, but with one stipulation: When they pulled up to their house, his brother was going to cut the rope pulling the coupe and get out of there, so he didn’t have to face the wrath they expected from their dad. As it turned out, though, their dad wasn’t too upset with Ernie’s trade.

While heading back to Oregon from the 2018 Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California, Cedric and Kim Meeks stopped at Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California. The operators were gracious enough to let Kim take the coupe down the track for a few passes, as long as she didn’t get too wild with it.

From 1952 to 1959, Ernie spent his time restoring and hot rodding the ’32 coupe. He changed the white paint to a Huntsman Red finish and had the interior done completely in white Naugahyde tuck-and-roll pleating. He also added a 2-1/2 inch dropped front axle and a ’53 Ford rear axle.

Ernie then started work on the drivetrain, hopping-up the original Model B four-cylinder engine. It was really something, according to Ernie. “None of the flathead guys could beat it for the first two blocks.” Eventually, he swapped the four-cylinder for a flathead, and then a 265 small-block Chevy with an iron Powerglide transmission out of a ’55 Chevy.

This is one of the only photos from when Peter Sukalac shot the coupe for Rod and Custom magazine in 1959. Ernie only had a front bumper for the coupe, so when the rear shots were taken, he would swap the bumper to the rear of the car, giving it the illusion of having two bumpers.

Cleanest Deuce

In 1959, Ernie debuted the finished coupe at the Portland Roadster Show, and the coupe still has the show plaque on its dash. The car was well received at the show, and shortly after, Peter Sukalac photographed it for Rod & Custom magazine. The article on the ’32 came out in the August 1960 issue with the title, “The Cleanest Deuce,” which was a great honor for Ernie.

However, Ernie was starting his family and needed money to purchase furniture, so he sold the coupe before the article came out to Don McMahon from Hillsboro, Oregon. Hot rodding has never left Ernie’s blood; at 84 years old he is currently building another ’32 Ford coupe, and he also has a highboy ’32 Ford roadster with a supercharged SBC in it that he drives regularly.

The coupe traded owners for a couple years in the Northwest Oregon area, eventually ending up with Don Schwab in 1963, who received it as a down payment for a house.

Don, an avid drag racer, set out with his partner and friend, Ted Babcock, to turn the ’32 into a “show-and-go” hot rod. Ted repainted the coupe, which still wore the red that Ernie painted it, in orange with bronze fading on the body lines and edges. Ted sent the 265 Chevy engine to Salem Machine Shop to be freshened up, and then later installed a 283 Chevy engine for more power.

The article on Ernie’s coupe came out in the August 1960 issue of Rod and Custom, though by then Ernie had already sold the coupe so he could buy furniture for his young family.

Don could not remember why they did the Touché Turtle livery on the coupe, just that it was a popular cartoon in the late 1960s and that it was unique. He does remember Spence Etzell did the “Touché Away” lettering. In 1968, the interior of the ’32 was changed from Ernie’s white Naugahyde to a black and orange vinyl tuck-and-roll on the bucket seats.

From 1964 to 1971, Don raced and showed the car all around the Northwest and Canada, including at the Portland Roadster Show, where Ernie first showed the coupe. Don even met his wife while racing the coupe. One night while at Newport dragstrip, Don was in the bleachers watching the races, and his future wife, Beth, was sitting next to him. In late 1971, Don sold the coupe for the same reasons that Ernie had: His wife just had their first child, and they needed to buy furniture for their house. The coupe was sold to Jay Hyde, an avid car collector from Sherwood, Oregon. He moved the coupe into storage at his warehouse, where the car would stay dormant for the next 43 years.

Ernie Martin’s version of the ’32 taken in 1960 right before he sold it. These are the only color photos from when Ernie owned the car. The bright red finish of the car stands out in the sunlight.

eBay Find

In 2015, Stan Ochs of Damascus, Oregon, purchased the coupe through an eBay auction from the estate of Jay Hyde, who had passed away. This was the first time the car had been in the sun since being put into storage in 1972. Upon receiving the car, Stan, who is also an avid ’32 Ford collector, started tinkering on Touché, but his ownership would be short-lived.

Just two years after buying the coupe, Stan decided to sell Touché because he had other projects to get done. Kim and Cedric Meeks, also from Damascus, Oregon, and friends of Stan’s, jumped at the chance. Kim had wanted a ’32 for a long time, and this was her chance to finally own one.

The coupe in 1965 just after Don Schwab and Ted Babcock made some of their changes. The ’32 had been painted orange, but the gold fading and “Touché Away” livery had not been added yet. Don would flat tow the coupe to the drags behind his 1965 Oldsmobile Cutlass 4-4-2.

Cedric, who has built many hot rods and customs (and whose banger Model A was featured in “Nasty Classy” in our July 2017 issue), started working on Touché by meticulously going through the chassis and drivetrain. He fixed some of the questionable welds on the chassis, rebuilt the 283 engine, and installed a Muncie four-speed transmission. In a nod to the coupe’s heritage, Cedric had the interior redone by fellow Estranged club member Guy Recordon in pearl white tuck-and-roll Naugahyde, similar to the interior Ernie had in it. The body of the coupe did not need any work at all. Cedric just did a thorough cleaning and buff of the paint. The coupe made its debut in the Suede Palace at the 2018 Grand National Roadster Show, where it had a crowd around it the whole time.

With the coupe now in top-running condition, Kim and Cedric plan on showing it and taking it to several drag races around the Pacific Northwest and California. “We are only the caretakers, keeping history alive,” say the couple.

Don and Touché in action, racing against a 1957 Chevy. Don was unsure of where this race took place, but the photo was taken around 1965, shortly after Don received the coupe and hopped it up.

The “show-and-go” coupe. Don took Touché Away to several hot rodding shows around the Northwest, and into Calgary and British Columbia, where it won many awards. Don had quite the display with the coupe as well. Don gave Kim and Cedric the stuffed Touché Turtle that sat on top of the ’32. He told them, “It belongs with the car.”

In 1971, Don put Touché up for sale, as his young family was just starting out with the birth of their daughter. Don and his wife, Beth, needed the money to purchase furniture for themselves and the baby.

Kim and Cedric had fellow Estranged car club member Guy Recordon redo the coupe’s interior. They decided to go back to the white that Ernie Martin had it in during the late 1950s, with a little twist. Guy added a touch of orange piping to go along with the orange on the body. When Kim and Cedric first got the coupe, the orange and black tuck-and-roll interior was still in it, but it had started to show its age.

The 1959 Portland Roadster Show plaque is still on the dash, right where Ernie Martin installed it. It will remain there forever.

The headlights on Touché have a unique lens design with a shielded “M” logo in the center and on the top of the lenses. These headlights are from the Marchal headlight company of France and were usually found on vintage European sports cars.

The coupe runs original 15-inch chrome reverse wheels on the front and back. They are wrapped in 15×8 Hurst whitewall cheater slicks on the rear and 5.60-15 American Classic whitewalls on the front.

The 283 small-block Chevy engine that was installed by Ted Babcock in the late 1960s was freshened up by Cedric. It’s topped with a vintage Edelbrock C3B four-barrel intake with a Holley carburetor. The air cleaner is from an unknown vehicle and fits low over the carb. The valve covers were found by Cedric’s dad, Russ Meeks, at the Early Ford Store, even though they are for a Chevy engine. Like the air cleaner, their origin is unknown. They feature removable tops so the valves can be adjusted without removing the whole cover.

The artwork by Spence Etzell has held up really well over the past 50 years, especially since the coupe was in storage for 40 of those years. The cartoon character Touché Turtle usually carried a sword, but for the coupe it was changed to a piston.

Cedric put a new drop spring in the front end of the coupe, which lowered the stance considerably. One of the other changes he made was to put a stock firewall back in, which he got from another Estranged club member, Steve Gilligan. When Don Schwab owned the coupe, his partner Ted Babcock had installed a sheet of aluminum for the firewall to lighten the car for racing.

Cedric built a new exhaust for the coupe while he was working out the other bugs. He flared the four rear scavenger pipes on the coupe by hand. The four tips give the coupe a nice crackling sound.

Vintage photos courtesy of Erie Martin, Don Schwab, and Peter Suklacn.

The post Touche Away! Historic Show-and-Go 1932 Ford 5-Window Coupe Returns to the Strip After Decades in Storage appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network http://www.hotrod.com/articles/touche-away-historic-show-go-1932-ford-5-window-coupe-returns-strip-decades-storage/ via IFTTT

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