This is the 1932 Ford Bill Breece Coupe, it’s a hot rod that was built in the mid-1950s by 19-year-old Bill Breece, and it was featured on the cover of the August 1956 issue of Hot Rod Magazine – a major accolade for any hot rodder.
Breece would keep the car for decades, and he kept updating it over time. He performed a chassis swap and fitted independent front and rear suspension sourced from a Jaguar E-Type. It was later fitted with a 502 cubic inch (8.2 liter) V8 crate engine and given some tasteful modern updates, like air conditioning and a modern stereo.
Fast Facts – The 1932 Ford Bill Breece Coupe
- This is the 1932 Ford Bill Breece Coupe, it’s a renowned hot rod built by 19-year-old Bill Breece in the 1950s, and it gained fame when featured on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine in 1956. Initially powered by a 303 cubic inch Oldsmobile V8, it was extensively modified with custom bodywork, a bespoke interior, and significant performance upgrades.
- Breece drove the car cross-country, winning awards at the NHRA Nationals and the Los Angeles Motorama, and even had its dashboard striped by Von Dutch. Over decades, he updated the car with a new chassis and independent Jaguar E-Type suspension front and back, before selling it in the 1980s.
- Subsequent owners added further modifications, including a 502 cubic inch crate V8 engine, Vintage Air air conditioning, and an automatic transmission. The car now features a striking Garnet Red and Black paint scheme and a Red interior with deep-dish chrome hubcap wheels.
- Recognized by Ford as one of the 75 most significant ’32 Ford hot rods, it was displayed at the Grand National Roadster Show. The car is now set to be auctioned by Mecum in January, with an estimated price of $100,000–$125,000 USD.
Bill Breece And His 1932 Ford
In the mid-1950s a young man named Bill Breece got his hands on an original 1932 Ford. The ’32 Ford was the first to be fitted with the Ford Flathead V8, an engine that made V8 power affordable to the average American for the first time in history, and helped establish the engine configuration as an American favorite.
Bill Breece’s 32 Ford was featured on the cover of Hot Rod Magazine in August of 1956, that’s him you see there with the car. Image courtesy of Hot Rod Magazine.
The 1950s were a time when the hot rod scene experienced explosive growth, and 19 year old Bill Breece was right in the midst of it all. Bill took his 3-window ’32 Ford and chopped the roof by 3 inches, he filled the cowl vent, added suicide doors, added custom wind-wings fashioned from Ford pickup vent windows, and deep-dish steel wheels with chrome hubcaps.
He swapped in a gold-painted and polished 303 cubic inch (5.0 liter) Oldsmobile V8 fitted with three-into-one headers, finned Edmunds valve covers, and dual WCFB quad carburetors on an Edmunds manifold with “Siamese-ed” air filters.
Before it was fitted, the engine was reworked with milled and ported cylinder heads to improve flow. It was also given a Weber three-quarter-race cam and Thomas magnesium rocker arms. Breece installed it as far back in the engine bay as possible to improve front-rear weight distribution, and linked it to a 1937 Cadillac/LaSalle 3-speed floor-shift manual transmission sending power back to an open driveline.
Breece then fitted a 1955 Thunderbird Hydro-Vac brake booster and swung pedals from a 1954 Ford, a necessity given how far back the engine had been fitted. 1948 Ford cross-steering was also installed, along with a molded 1952 Oldsmobile “waterfall” dashboard and an Oldsmobile steering wheel from the period.
The interior was an eye-catching pink “tuck-and-roll” by Don Staver of Lima, Ohio.
The Road Trip Of A Lifetime
Once the car was finished, Breece set off on what would become the road trip of a lifetime. He stopped by the inaugural NHRA National Drags in Great Bend, Kansas in 1955 and won his class at the associated car show.
It’s not hard to see why the 1932 Ford Bill Breece Coupe was so influential on hot rod design in the 1950s.
He then drove on to Los Angeles where he took a class win at the Los Angeles Motorama – one of the largest accolades a custom car could receive at the time. While in LA he had Von Dutch stripe the dashboard for him and he remained in town for the better part of a year, apparently working at George Barris’ shop in Lynwood.
At the time, Pat Ganahl (the Rodder’s Journal Senior Editor), commented: “I can’t think of any other Rod or Rodder that packed that much into one forever-memorable road trip. And it was quite a memorable car, as well.”
Over the next few decades Breece would update the car, including adding a new chassis and E-Type independent suspension front and back as mentioned in the introduction. He had planned to fit a small block Chevy V8 but would ultimately sell the car in the 1980s.
The new owner, John Stimac, then added a 502 cubic inch (8.2 liter) V8 crate engine (good for 508 bhp and 580 lb ft of torque) and a number of other updates. The car would pass through a few hands until it ended up in the hands of Richard Munz. Munz would then build a new car that exactly replicated the original Breece Coupe from 1955, so that he would have both versions of the well-known ’32 Ford hot rod.
On the 75th anniversary of the release of the 1932 Ford V8, the Ford Motor Company selected this car as one of the 75 most significant ’32 Ford hot rods and featured it in a special display at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California.
Now For Sale: The 1932 Ford Bill Breece Coupe
The 1932 Ford Bill Breece Coupe is now due to be offered for sale to the public for the first time in years. It now has a Garnet Red and Black paint scheme over a Red interior, and it rides on deep dish steel wheels with chrome hubcaps.
Power is provided by a 502 cubic inch (8.2 liter) V8 crate engine, good for 508 bhp and 580 lb ft of torque.
The car benefits from a number of upgrades including an automatic transmission, Vintage Air air conditioning, and of course, that hefty 502 cubic inch (8.2 liter) V8 crate engine producing 508 bhp and 580 lb ft of torque.
It’s due to roll across the auction block with Mecum in mid-January and it has a price guide of $100,000 – $125,000 USD. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Mecum
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
