Opportunities to buy beautifully restored, award-winning, authentic dry lakes-racing '32 Ford roadsters with unquestioned provenance are rare
Top speeds of over 130 mph were eminently attainable. Running on alcohol fuel in 1946, this famous roadster hit 141.95 mph at El Mirage Dry Lake. Its builder, a battle-tested former Army Air Corps B-17 waist gunner named Jim Khougaz, had his own way of dealing with the Deuce's "barn door" aerodynamics.
Khougaz channeled his '32 roadster seven inches over the frame, then crafted a filled and sectioned grille shell to match. To compete with small-silhouette lakesters, he faired the body into the frame, then fabricated a full-length aluminum belly pan. A flat spoiler panel in front of the grille kept the nose down at speed. Running sans windshield, with a full tonneau cover, his roadster cut beautifully through the wind.
Khougaz installed an original '34 Auburn instrument panel, complete with a full set of Stewart-Warner convex-lense gauges and a Bell fuel pressure pump. The distinctive finish was a custom shade of blue with dark red wheels. A pair of classic '39 Ford teardrop taillights and a rolled pan finished the rear. For the street, Khougaz fitted a '32 Ford windscreen that was chopped three inches.
Khougaz built his own high-output 286-ci flathead, using the best speed equipment of the era-a Winfield SU-1A cam, finned, high-compression Edelbrock heads, and a four-carburetor Edelbrock intake manifold, with twin Wico magnetos, and later a Harman & Collins magneto. The block was ported and relieved, and all reciprocating parts were carefully balanced, (a specialty that would earn Jim Khougaz his living). The hood was extended two inches and the engine was cooled through custom louvered side panels.
