Gainfully Retired – This 1932 Ford Received a Well-Earned Makeover After Years as a Shop Truck
Every hot rod business should have a cool shop truck. And every shop truck that has served its owner well deserves to be treated to a dignified retirement, just like Glenn Kramer’s desert-cruising 1932 Ford Pickup.
Glenn is a lifelong hot rodder who retired a few years ago from doing custom upholstery work on hot rods, customs, classics, and furniture in the greater Phoenix area. Upholstery work was a sideline for Glenn for years when he lived in Portland, Oregon, one that he was able to stitch into a full-time gig when he moved to Arizona 25 years ago.
After opening his own shop a few years later, Glenn’s natural instinct was to build a cool shop truck. It didn’t take long to find the beginnings of this one. “I purchased the 1932 Ford truck cab from my friend Mike,” Glenn says. “He had it on a pallet in his backyard.” Glenn found the grille shell – a ’33 Ford pickup piece – at a swap meet, and then located an original 1932 Ford hood top. A call to Brookville Roadster resulted in a new reproduction Model A pickup bed being delivered to complete the basic body assembly.
Glenn knew that building a custom frame would be key to achieving the low-down stance he wanted for the truck, so he devised a clever do-it-yourself method for designing it. He went to the lumber yard and bought the straightest 2x4s he could find, and then cut and screwed them together to create a template with the kickup and taper he wanted. He set the body on top to confirm the frame’s fit and shape, and he cut “wheels” from ¾-inch plywood to determine their placement. “My friends said I was building a Flintstones truck,” Glenn says with a chuckle. The joke was on them, though, as his buddy Dave Hill then transferred the dimensions from wood to 2×4-inch steel tubing and welded together the frame. Genius!
The custom frame was fitted with a 4-inch drop tube axle, transverse leaf spring, hairpin radius rods, and tube shocks in front, with a Vega steering box providing direction. Backing plates from a ’40 Ford help disguise the front disc brakes. On the other end, an 8-inch Ford rearend was located with a four bar setup and a ’40 Ford spring. Ford 15×5-inch steel wheels were wrapped in Firestone 6.70-15 and 8.90-15 wide whitewalls and topped with Lancer-style four-bar wheel covers.
The small-block Chevy engine Glenn installed was almost as simple as the home-built chassis. It’s a 305c.i. V8 but looks more like a vintage 327 thanks to an aluminum intake topped with a trio of Rochester carbs, Corvette finned valve covers, and ram’s horn exhaust manifolds coated white. A Pertronix ignition triggers combustion, while Flowmaster mufflers provide the proper exhaust note. The engine is backed by an equally simple TH350 transmission.
Glenn first built the 1932 pickup in 2006 and finished it in true work-truck fashion, complete with a primered body and shop lettering on the doors. “My friend Lyle and I drove to the Goodguys Del Mar Nationals with only windshield glass, no side or rear glass, with only 100 miles on a scratch-built hot rod,” Glenn says.
After a little more shakedown – and with proper door and rear glass installed – the pickup was driven in its plain-and-simple form for the next 14 years and 76,000 miles. It was a true work truck, being used to pick up supplies, run errands, and deliver parts, and it served Glenn’s shop well. “I retired in 2020 and decided the truck would also end its work truck status,” Glenn says. “So, I freshened it up with body-and-paint work, new interior, and a few other things.”
Sean Rosie gets credit for the bodywork and for applying the two-stage PPG black finish, which is complemented by a white firewall. The simplicity of the body is part of this truck’s appeal, but there many details that help pull it all together, like the ’33 commercial headlights, custom panels covering the frame under the bed sides, ’33 Ford truck taillights, and chrome nerf bar framing the rear license plate. The gold paint on the wheels and grille insert make for nice finishing touches. A custom trunk allows Glenn to secure things in the bed.
Of course, the interior is as nice as you’d expect from a custom upholsterer. Glenn custom built the bench seat and door panels, which wear cognac brown leather stitched in classic rolls and pleats, with copper fabric inserts (a mid-’50s GM material) and chrome buttons for a period look. Complementary square-weave carpet covers the floor. The stock 1932 dash is fitted with AutoMeter gauges in an engine-turned panel and a ’40 Ford column and wheel. Dave Sexton gets credit for the wiring.
The 1932 pickup has been finished in its “new” form for several years now and has logged another 10,000 miles along the way. It has caught our eye multiple times in Scottsdale, so we finally decided to take a closer look at it as a Goodguys Feature Pick. Thankfully, the story – and the owner – are just as cool as the truck itself. And it’s nice to know that both of them are experiencing some well-deserved rest and relaxation.
“Now we are both retired and enjoy the good life!” Glenn says.
Photos by Damon Lee, Todd Ryden
