VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 32 Roadster details

Hey,

So I think that is the right casting number for the US, but not sure right now.

From what you have said, there are just to many bolt on items which would make me think that this car was a US car which someone in Canada restored or worked on. The only major item that someone from Canada would not change would be to remove the cowl tag. Since you don't have the holes, then I would think this is a US car.

Because:
The trunk rack it bolt on....missing SS strips.
Side mount hardware is bolt on....anyone could chrome these.
The roadsters didn't have wood gaining like the closed cars. Which is different in Canada.
Your engine has been changed, so who knows what it was originally

Can't think of anything else to tell you to look at which would tell you it's a US car or not.

31 you can really tell because of the fenders and the extra bracket they used.

Bruce

Thanks for all the input.
I guess there is no absolute way to tell the country of assembly on the '32 if the engine is not original and the tag is missing. I'll go with the thought that it is a US made vehicle unless I find some evidence of body tag mounting holes when I check under the paint and insulation pad on the cowl. I agree it is more likely that a US tag would go missing from the seat wood than a Canadian tag would be taken off the cowl and lost.

Jack Kennedy posted these pictures of his Canadian 1932 roadster a while ago. Shows his door handle attached in the LH door. It is bent down with age and usage of the diecast, they should be straight / horizontal.
Also Jack has posted a picture of his cowl tag for a Canadian 1932 roadster.

https://vccachat.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/240874/update_on_32_roadster_project#Post240874

https://vccachat.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/253511/32_roadster_cowl_tag#Post253511

In my opinion that is definitely a Canadian rear rack vette59jdwl.I also have a 32 chevrolet deluxe roadster and that is the shape of my original 32 rack thanks.

I am going to stick my neck out on this one and say, I believe your
engine serial number 2307028 is either late 1931 or early 1932. My good friend Jack, his 32 chevy roadster engine number is 2327904. My 32 chevy roadster engine number is 2332507.And my friend John Peterson's 32 chevy roadster engine serial number is 2329853.Having said all this if anyone purchased a 32 chevrolet roadster and it had a bad engine or they blew the engine and they took it to the GM dealer.It is not unheard of for the dealer to have a 1931 engine in stock and replaced the 1932 engine with a 1931 engine.vette59jdwl

vette59, do you know Walkerville, Ontario?

My Canadian made '31 Coach has a firewall tag that among other details, lists the 3 GM of Canada plants as Regina (Saskatchewan), Walkerville and Oshawa(both in Ontario). Why do you mention Walkerville?

Since all these Canadian firewall tags had the same info re locations, I'm not sure how one could determine where a car came from, unless perehaps the Oshawa plant was an assembly plant and the others only suppliers. Someone who knows will let us know I am sure.

Why do you mention Walkerville? [/quote]

I think this was mentioned in Tom Krill's G&D articles in the 1980s on GM around the world. I haven't seen this information for some time, so someone please double check me on this:
In early 1931 a group of engine numbers were taken from the regular series and assigned to Walkerville, Hiram Walker Industries. Those numbers may have lasted for 3 to 5 years for Canadian production, that is why you would find a Canadian built 1932 or 1933 Chevrolet with what appears to be a 1931 number.

When I first got my 1932 roadster around 1999, I did some research on Canadian Chevrolet production in the 30’s. I don’t remember all the sources, but here are my notes and I hope this may help:

Canadian engine serial numbers for 1931 were in two groups - 295291 to 299999 and also 2300001 to 2319311. For 1932 the serial numbers were 2319372 to 2333699. This is consistent with the numbers for the 1932 Canadian cars which “vette59jdwl” has seen, but unfortunately seems to indicate the engine block in my 32 roadster is a replacement from a 1931 car. The casting number on my block is also for 1931 and is different than the 1932 casting number. The 1933 Canadian engines carried serial numbers 2333701 to 2348140.

The Canadian engine manufacturing plant at that time was in Walkerville, Ontario (Walkerville is now part of Windsor, Ontario) and Chevrolet engine numbers were allocated to them by head office. The sequence from 2300001 to 2350400 was assigned to them in 1931 and these numbers were used over several years. I do not know of any visible differences in the engines other than the serial number to identify whether it was produced in Canada or the USA. Of course some of the components were made in Canada but most look the same as US produced parts. One exception is Canadian made Delco-Remy electrical equipment such as starters, distributors and generators which carried tags showing they were made in Canada by McKinnon Industries in St Catharines, Ontario. McKinnon Industries was purchased by GM in 1929 and became the dominant supplier of electrical parts used on Canadian Chevrolets by the early 30’s. Previously these were imported from the Delco-Remy plant in Anderson, Indiana.

Oshawa, Walkerville and Regina were shown on the Canadian Chevrolet tags for most of the 1930’s however the vast majority of Chevrolet vehicles were assembled in Oshawa. The Regina vehicle assembly plant opened in December 1928 and it’s first production run was through August 1930. Times were tough in the early ”˜30’s and the plant only reopened for March through August, 1931 and then closed until December 1937 when it again assembled vehicles through 1941 and then closed permanently. 1938-41 cars can be identified as built in Regina or Oshawa by the vehicle serial number, but I don’t know if this is possible for the 1929-31 models. I don’t believe any 1932 Chevrolets were produced in Regina. The Walkerville plant produced a very small number of truck chassis and Chevrolet cars in 1929-30, but it was primarily an engine plant and later (mid 60’s) changed over to making transmissions. The transmission plant closed in 2010.

The trunk rack style may be the best indication that my roadster was originally made in Canada, but it seems that all parts are readily changed between US and Canada, so I may never know for certain. If anyone finds that some unique part was only used in Canada and was riveted or buried deep in the chassis or body where it would not be disturbed, I’d sure like to hear the details.

I don't think you can go by the rack at all....my Dad had a Canadian rack on our 32 roadster for years. You need to look for holes that only a Canadian car would have or casting numbers from Canada.

At this point in time, I would say you have a US car, sorry.

I'm not sure if it goes back as far as 1932, but another Canadian sourced part is the glass. My '51 has etching from a Canadian manufacturer that is different from American cars. I'm not sure what year that started, or if it was always that way.

I can not open the second picture the top picture of the luggage wrack is exactly the same shape as the one on my original 32 roadster I think that the american lugage wrack had smaller holes on the ends vette59jdwl

The second photo works for me.

Barry Staples and I were at the Eastern Six Cylinder Tour last year and we noted several differences between the Canadian and US made 32's aside from the fact that mine is a Std Sedan and his a Special or Deluxe.

Hi vette59jdwl,

How are you making out on your roadster restoration?
I don't know what happened to the second photo in post number 316586, but here it is again.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mzg8d5wqfcv0131/Bumper%20end.jpg?dl=0

I still have my 32 roadster and enjoy it for occasional local drives.
My opinion is that it is a Canadian produced car which was restored in the early 1970s and some parts (notably the engine block) were replaced. When I bought it there were two plaques mounted on the dash from 1974 car shows in the Province of Quebec. They are still there as they have been part of the car and its history for many years so they deserve to stay. Maybe these are clues to its early life, but I've never checked.