32' Ford Vin # question

The Early Ford V8 As Henry Built It, by Francis & DeAngelis, is in my opinion, informative and interesting. I'm a little surprised to hear of 'big money' for these, as they are pretty common. As far as I'm aware, I don't think I have anything particularly valuable, and I happen to have one of these books. From what I hear from a few of my 'club friends', I believe there is another book that you may be thinking of. Sorry, I can't quote what it is right now. It has been out of print for many years, and was another book available through the club. My 'rumor-mill', through an ex-Director, is that there is talk of re-printing the 'long-out-of-print' book (through the National club). If this indeed happens, I suspect those high-priced books will take a hit.

Those production figures I quoted, did not come from these books. I just did a quick scan of the book I have, and I did not see production figures. The figures I quoted came from a magazine article, Collectible Automobile, December 1993, Vol 10 #4, page 43. Production is broken down to each model, w/ or w/o rumbleseat, for the US & otherwise. A footnote credits another source for this information, '32 Ford, The Duece: A Formal and Sporting History of Ford's First V8 and the Model B, by Tony Thacker, Osprey Publishing Limited, London, 1984. There is some interesting 1932 information in these sources. Example: How many 1932 Deluxe 5W coupes have you seen? I'm sure I've seen a few, including a picture of one in the magazine article. My point? Ford never made such an animal, according the the production data. All Deluxe coupes are 3W, and all Standard coupes are 5W, according to the production figures.

How many roadsters were built? The figures indicate 568 V8's (standard), plus 7318 V8's (Deluxe) (US, includes both w/ & w/o rumbleseat). There are another 4711 B roadsters (US). According to my friend who is the Director of a local DMV office, he claims there are more 32 roadsters registered today (Nationwide), than were originally built. ('Course, I wonder if this claim is factual, or myth.)

Something I found in my book... Serial numbers assigned, versus the month of production, compiled from the 'original production log book'. Interesting info, if you want to know what month your car was built. But, also 'suspect', as may of us have identified vehicles we have, with a serial number that is not even 'correct' for the YEAR.

(Ford did WHATEVER. Never to be confused with 'rules' that we would like him to have lived by, 73 years later.)

Sorry to 'babble'...

Wow...thanks for typing all of that out. It is interesting to me. I'd love to have one of those out of production books.

I don't think there were ever any set in stone rules on the production floor like some people insist.

Thanks!

Why do some of the 32' Ford vin #'s start with 18- and others start with B- ???

Josh,



The 18 was used for a V8 engine and the B was used for a 4 cylinder engine.



Charlie Stephens

Charlie,

Hi. The 1932 Ford marked the introducion of the famous flathead V-8 engine. Baeing that 1932 was the first year (1) of the eight (8) cylinder engine it was trus given that Model 18 serial prefix.

On the other hand, the "improved" four cylinder model was viewed as an advanced Model A type offering. Following the early history of the auto industry, where model changes were identified by progression of the letters, A,B,C, etc., then it only natural that the improved 1932 Fords with the four cylinder engine would be identified by Ford as the Model B.

I sure hope all this history stuff makes sense to you but that is the reason for the Model 18 and Model B. Take care.

Keep V-8ing,

Dale

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Thanks for the reply guys.

I find all of it interesting. Sometimes you hear about some goofy stuff that the factory did. At least this makes sense!

I figured that is what it meant. I wonder what percentage of 32's had v-8's and what % were four cylinders.

Thanks for your time.

According to one source I have, there were 78,189 model B's, and 192,503 model 18's (domestic). Worldwide totals were 118,225 B's, and 223,763 mod 18's. Take these numbers with a 'grain', as different sources don't always agree.

I'd like to buy that one book..."Early Ford the way henry built them" or whatever it's called. I saw a couple go one ebay for big money.

Thanks for the info.