1932 Ford Model B Roadster by Boyd Coddington

By Arison Knapp - May 5, 2016

Searching for your garage’s hot rod halo car with the potential to be a weekend warrior? This Boyd Coddington 1932 Ford Model B Roadster replica is that ride. The Hot Rods by Boyd garage crew grew famous around forty years ago for their designs, top componentry, build quality, paint shop as well as one-of-a-kind in-house fabricated components. Though what keeps them popular in today’s market is their athletic driving abilities. Boyd himself would say, “they perform as they look.”

This cartoonesque 1932 Ford Model B’s plan was hatched from a 1987 sketch by a gent named Thom Taylor. Story has it this was going to Boyd’s personal trophy car but during the hand fabrication of the aluminum lightweight unibody, by master-metaler Craig Neff, a fellow named Mike McEwen from Las Vegas couldn’t live without it. Plans then were rerouted for it to be a custom customer car. No holding back on anything from Boyd’s crew so let’s open her up and see what’s under that aluminum drapery.

Reinforced custom cross-members by Just A Hobby’s 109 rails was used for this athlete’s foundation. One of their speed secrets to get the Model B’s top flight handling is Boyd’s four-corner fully-independent suspension and Carrera-dampers in front and rigid milled bits in the rear. Sounds like a solid chassis and suspension for sending big power to the rear from it’s big High Output Ford 5.0-Liter V8 engine. Spinning through a C-4 tranny to a beefy rear diff in Corvette housing seems to be a reliable configuration with a sporting edge. The 3-piece Boyd knock-off wheels and Willow brakes all-around complete the look. It’s got rad handling parts and big power which is all well suited for ripping around town.

Hemmings just listed this Hot Rod’s Model B by Boyd the other day for $99K. After researching this topic, their asking price, taking into account past listings and current market value compared to similar specialty roadsters this one is in a respectable ballpark.