Charlie’s Deuce Roadster – 50k and Climbing
Charlie’s Deuce Roadster is a real hot rod built to drive! He was good friends with Gary “Goodguy” Meadors and confirmed right away that he was, indeed, a really good guy. Back in the day the two drag raced each other and Charlie says Gary asked him how he got his hot rods to have that unmistakable stance.
Charlie insists he blew Gary’s doors off, but who’s to say what really happened over the years? All we know for sure is that Charlie was one of the first Goodguys members, and he pulled his membership card out of his wallet when we asked what number he was. 1,343! We figure that number was issued in the late 80s or very early 90s.
Charlies latest creation is a handmade low boy, a 1932 Ford Deuce Roadster that’s sitting at over 50,000 miles after multiple cross country trips and plenty of cruises. His last hot rod was sold with over one hundred grand on the clock so, needless to say, this is a guy who likes to put his cars through their paces.
Everything on this Deuce Roadster has been modified to look and work how Charlie likes it; it’s lower, longer, wider, and sits just right. Making use of a shortened Brookville Roadster shell, Charly shortened the headlight stands and made the hood sides himself.
American Racing Salt Flat wheels with a gray face and a chrome lip on all four corners perfectly accent the flawless, deep black body. The top is a custom piece that Charlie put together which, while quickly removable, can also be disassembled and shoved into a storage compartment behind the seats.
Popping the hood, Charlie showed off the custom release hinge and latch system he developed to keep the lid firmly closed and rattle free. Under here there’s a 6.2L LS3 powerplant more than up to the task of launching the lightweight low boy. The intake is a completely custom affair, of course all patched together by Charlie himself and it fits under the hood just so.
Mated to a McLeod 5-speed transmission the power from the big V8 is sent on back to a Ford 9 inch rear end with 3.70 gears spinning away in the beefy pumpkin.
The suspension is also (almost completely) homemade. Charlie’s been doing this a long time and likes to do things his way; on that note you’ll notice up front that Charlie snuck disc brakes inside false drums.
Inside the car, the awesome custom touches continue. With the removal of one hand-tightened bolt, the beautiful dash flips down to give you direct access to the electrical workings. The modern digital-analog Dakota Digital gauge cluster is an awesome, fitting touch in the updated roadster.
Charlie builds these hot rods for the long haul, sometimes racking up over 300,000 miles on a chassis before moving on. As such, he’s got extremely comfortable seats, cup holders, air conditioning, and all the trimmings you’d need for a long road trip. This even includes a strap he made to hold his hats on with the wind in his hair!
Hanging out and talking with Charlie’s friends we heard too many good stories to share, but our favorite is probably when Charlie got kicked out of Disneyland for cutting in line with his grandkids! He laughed and laughed about it and said least his grandkids learned from his bad example.
A long-time hot rodder and an old-school guy who likes to drive the pants off his cars, Charlie is the real deal. When we were talking hot rods, muscle cars, and Goodguys shows, we found out that that he’s getting ready to take the Deuce Roadster on another trip from Kentucky to California. Happy Trails Charlie!
