Thursday, Aug. 18 at 3:30 pm | Deuces Wild-The 1932 Ford Celebrates its 90th Anniversary | Ken Gross, Bruce Meyer, Roy Brizio, David Steele, & Jay Ward
3:30 Deuces Wild-The 1932 Ford Celebrates its 90th Anniversary
The ’32 Ford is the hot rod everyone wants.
The Deuce, as it’s popularly known, was in production for only about six months, but it pioneered the first V-8 engine in the low-price field. Hot rodders wasted no time modifying those flathead engines and chassis for more power, great looks, and much more speed. Over the years, some of the most famous hot rods have been ’32 Fords -- and on Sunday, we’ll have a dozen great Deuces on the Concours field.
Learn more about the ’32 Ford's fascinating history from a panel of experts including noted hot rod builder Roy Brizio; award-winning collector Bruce Meyer, (he owns nine ’32 Fords!) and Jay Ward, co-founder of Billetproof and Creative Director at Pixar for the “Cars!” franchise. The panel will be moderated by Ken Gross, author of “Hot Rod Milestones, “Art of the Hot Rod,” “Deuce!”, and countless articles on hot rods — and whose ’32 Ford roadster will be on the lawn this weekend.
Moderator- Ken Gross
Bruce Meyer, Roy Brizio, David Steele, Jay Ward
Moderator- Ken Gross
Ken Gross, former Director of the Petersen Automotive Museum, is an award-winning journalist, having written 24 books and countless articles celebrating the automobile in over 40 publications. He also collaborates with Jay Leno on his column for AutoWeek. A Pebble Beach Chief Judge for 30 years, he is a member of the Pebble Beach Concours Selection Committee
Bruce Meyer
Bruce Meyer is the founding chairman of the Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation. He is a longtime auto collector and member of three automotive halls of fame. He is also a Beverly Hills real estate investor and president of Meyer Pacific. He serves on the board of the Henry Ford Museum and St. John’s Health Center Foundation and is a founding board member of the CHP 11-99 Foundation, a nonprofit that provides assistance to California Highway Patrol employees and their families. Bruce is a member of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Advisory Board and was instrumental in having the Hot Rod class added to the event. He owns such treasures as a 1932 Ford Doane Spencer roadster and a Bonneville Salt Flats belly tanker. In 2012, at age 71, he earned membership in the Bonneville 200 MPH Club when the 1932 roadster he was piloting reached 205 mph.
Roy Brizio opened his first shop in San Bruno, building hot rod chassis for Model As, Ts, and ’32 Fords. By 1980. he’d become one of the world’s premier hot rod builders. He builds straightforward hot rods that are simple but very well-detailed, with plenty of power. Perhaps the ultimate testimonial to Brizio’s commitment to his clients, is a heavy volume of repeat business. From celebrity musicians like Jeff Beck, Neil Young, and Eric Clapton, and famous athletes like Reggie Jackson to wealthy businessmen, it’s not uncommon for a single hot rodder to come to Roy Brizio Street Rods two, five, or a dozen times. “Without my customers,” Roy says appreciatively, I’d have simply been the guy in the two-car garage building roadsters for a hobby.” He’s had several hot rods on the lawn and one of his restorations — the ex-Jack Calori ’32 Ford coupe — won the class a few years ago .
David Steele
David Steele is the Executive Director of the American Hot Rod Foundation, a 501(c)3 founded in 2002 by Steve and Carol Memishian for the sole purpose of Saving Hot Rod History. A native of Buffalo, New York, David grew up with a car-guy father who exposed him to everything from AACA and CCCA concours events, local drag and circle track racing, to his father’s SCCA club racing and everything in between. During his 25 years as a professional musician, David performed regularly on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with David Letterman, and played guitar on many hit records as a Nashville-based studio musician. Currently residing in Los Angeles, California, David now enjoys working on his vintage cars, judging at national concours events and hosting his hot rod history podcast titled, “The Rodcast”.
Jay Ward
As Creative Director for the world of Cars, Jay Ward consults on all CARS-related projects around the world, providing automotive and franchise expertise to both Disney and its partners in matters pertaining to Consumer Products, Interactive, Marketing, Publishing, and Theme Parks. He also serves as a liaison with automotive manufacturers and museums working on Pixar-related projects. Jay was the automotive and later franchise creative consultant on all three ‘CARS’ films, the Cars Toons, and Cars Land at Disney’s California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California. In addition to his work on Cars projects, Jay worked in the art departments of Monsters Inc., Ratatouille, and Brave, and served as the associate producer of the 2008 Pixar short film “Presto.” Ward also runs the campus classic car show, the “Pixar Motorama” hosting vehicles from Jay Leno, Chip Foose, and many others.
Prior to joining Pixar, Jay co-created and ran the traditional hot rod & custom show “BILLETPROOF” from it’s inception in 1997 up until 2002, when he branched into other automotive endeavors including being the Managing Editor for Hop Up magazine and now writing monthly articles on-line for The Jalopy Journal, reaching millions of vintage hot rod enthusiasts around the world. He currently resides in Orinda, California with his wife, their two children, and plenty of old cars and motorcycles.
Again this year we are not charging for our Forums! This is due to the continuing uncertainties of their attendance due to COVID. We anticipate that we will resume charging for some of our Forums in 2023. Please only RSVP if you are certain you can attend, and allow seats for others.
