YES, THAT’S WHAT I’M DOING, going on a treasure hunt. I have a few clues, but maybe I need more. The treasure? My ’32 Ford hot rod that I built — or nearly built 90 percent of — in the years 1957-60 while in high school, Las Lomas, to be specific, in Walnut Creek. I have several construction photos and I know where I saw it last, in maybe 1965, and I also went for a ride in it. What a Frinking Thrill!

I’ve made an 8 1/2-by-11 flier for it and a digital PDF page also, so the first stop is to take several copies of the flier and go back to the subdivision in San Leandro where I saw it last. Just off Davis Street, headed west from East 14th Street, down past Thrasher Pool on the left, and the Caterpillar tractor factory that I think closed down years ago. Down to what used to be a little gas station on the right. Last time I was in this area, the gas station had been torn down and was resurrected as a small shopping mall. The young guy who worked there in maybe 1965 and owned it was the third owner and had bought it from the son-and-dad team who bought it from me.

Some old-timers living in that area and seeing my flier may be able to tell me, “Oh yeah, my nephew owned that car but he moved to Purvis, Illinois years ago,” or “Johnny owned that car and spun out in it bad, killed him and the deer he hit on the old main road near Fort Ord.” Yeah, whatever, I’m just speculating the best and worst right now.

However, if walking the streets of that community and asking about car history of some 49 years ago sounds a little futile, I still have other options open: I can send my PDF page by email to any and all car clubs and car magazines on the planet. Somebody may have seen it and still own it, or know if it got trashed into a landfill or wrecking yard. The car was built well, was novel in its engine setback and placement, and its construction of Model A frame and 1932 channeled five-window coupe body. If no one hacked it to pieces, it still might be in somebody’s garage, or painted candy apple red, be a show-winner and now be sporting a blown-Chevy engine with chromed Jaguar rear end. Anyway, why not dream a little?

And if I find it, then what? Maybe our debts will be cleared up by then and I can afford to BUY IT! Maybe I need a Major Toy on my bucket list before it’s off to AdiosVille. A dream that began some 54 years ago. That today would be like a “Poem with Horsepower.” Stay tuned, the digital PDF with four-photo layout is ready and the text description goes like this:

Lost Loves: Trying to Find My ’32 Ford

It was 1957 – 1960. I built it from the ground up: reinforced Model A frame, ’40 Ford rear end and transmission, Model A dropped front axle, reversed front spring eyes, Model A rear spring, loaded early Ford flathead engine, Mercury crank, racing pistons, ported and relieved engine, Iskendrian 1007B cam, aluminum heads, Fenton headers, engine setback, aluminum firewall at original dashboard position, hydraulic Ford swing pedals, filled front frame horns and frame seams, channeled over the frame, split front wishbone, tubular center frame support, new sheet metal floors. Interior rollbar and rear push bar. Reversed Buick rear rims with 8.20 x 15’s, reversed smooth center front rims with 5.50 x15’s. Headlights on modified Model A fender supports. Hydraulic backing plates, aircraft bucket seats. Moon front hubcaps. Needed wiring, fuel and brake lines, gas tank, radiator and exhaust system when I sold it in 1960. Last seen and ridden in 1963-65 near a small gas station just off Davis Street, San Leandro, California. If seen or you know the whereabouts, please email me at PetrBray@AOL.com or contact Peter Bray, P.O. Box 234 Benicia, CA 94510 (707) 246-8082.

Peter Bray lives, works and writes in Benicia.

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