01-unrestored-1932-hot-rod-survivor
© Randy Lorentzen
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At first glance, you might think you know this car, but unless you're well versed in early '50s Arizona hot rods, it's unlikely this is the particular roadster you have in mind. The roadster you know, or should know, is Dick Smith's archetypal '32 that now resides in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, as its example of a picture-perfect '32 highboy. Dick wasn't looking to part with it, but when the museum came knockin' several years back (and waving what was, at the time, absurd money), he made the logical choice to let it go. Besides, could there be a better home for a historic hot rod?
© Randy Lorentzen But as mentioned, that's not the roadster you're looking at. No, this is the long-separated twin brother known as the Beno roadster, named for its builder, Joseph Loving-Ben or Beno to his friends. It quite possibly is Arizona's oldest surviving, unrestored hot rod. That's right, the really fascinating thing about this roadster is that it's not a historic car brought back to life-it still exists without variation exactly as it did when it was first built in the '50s. Now that's a find.
Back in their high school days, Dick and Ben Loving were buddies and budding hot rodders, both with roadsters on the brain. Dick was assembling a '32, and Ben traded his '34 Ford coupe and $150 for his own.
© Randy Lorentzen This was 1950, back when aftermarket wasn't even a word, so hot rods were built from parts scavenged from other cars and handmade pieces. Combine that fact with a meager high schooler's income, and it meant the boys had to create any custom parts they wanted. That's why, other than the Stewart Warner gauges and a later added electric heater under the dash of Ben's car, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything aftermarket on either roadster.
© Randy Lorentzen Dick was the main fabricating talent of the two but was more than willing to help out his friend. Typically he'd get an idea and try the part out first on his car; if it worked nicely, he'd make one for Ben, too. The boys even enrolled in classes at Arizona State University to learn and have access to tools. The sheetmetal work below the decklid, the front shock mounts, and the chopped windshield stanchions were all Dick's handiwork. The dash gauge cluster was machined at ASU, and an upholstery class at the college earned them slick tuck 'n' roll interiors.
© Randy Lorentzen While Dick opted for a Hemi between the Deuce rails, Ben's car originally had a worked-over flathead with a Lincoln Zephyr trans. Sometime in the early '70s, however, the motor and trans were swapped out for the 350 Chev and Powerglide now in the car. The clutch pedal still hangs though, just in case. That was the last major change this roadster ever saw. Other than the driveline swap, the car remains today as it was originally built. How is that possible? Over the decades, it only briefly left Ben's care when he sold the roadster so he could serve in the Navy. He regretted that decision immediately, and following his discharge, he tracked it down and bought it back. After that, it never left his side again. Ben owned the car until his untimely death in 1996 at the age of 65.
© Randy Lorentzen How important was the roadster to Ben? At his funeral, the memorial card sported a picture of it. We like that; remember the man and what he loved.
After his passing, the roadster naturally went to Ben's fifth wife Gayle (that's right, he managed to keep the roadster through five marriages), who had no particular interest in it. However, as the story goes, her 16-year-old son did. Apparently, Ben's two daughters from his first marriage somehow overheard the kid bragging to his buddies about the old car he was about to get his hands on and what he planned to do to it. The girls weren't hot rodders, but they knew the sound of someone with no respect for a great car or its history. Concerned, they approached Gayle and managed to persuade her to sign the car over to them to be protected.
© Randy Lorentzen So where does Tom King enter the timeline? Right about the time he developed a leak in his roof. The gentleman doing the repairs noticed Tom's roadster in the garage and mentioned that his sister-in-law had just inherited "an old car" like it. Interested, Tom inquired whether it was for sale and was told that it had just been placed in the Arizona Historical Society Museum in Scottsdale. Not a bad place for it, but you never know, so the roofer's card went into Tom's desk drawer.
© Randy Lorentzen Seven years later, Tom was staring up at another drip coming down from his ceiling and remembered that card. After a little runaround because of a phone number change, Tom was making an appointment for roof work and inquiring, "Whatever happened to that old roadster? Any chance it's for sale?" Turns out, it had ended up in a garage in Corona, California, owned by Ben's daughters.
© Randy Lorentzen At first, they were hesitant to let Tom see the car, much less entertain offers to buy it. They were still quite protective over their father's pride and joy. However, after some patient persistence and discussions with both women about his intentions, Tom convinced them he was not a speculator and had a genuine respect for the car and its history. So, giving his word that he'd keep the car as is, Tom eventually found himself in that garage carefully removing boxes stacked on the roadster and pulling it out into the sunlight again.
© Randy Lorentzen Keeping the roadster in original condition turned out to be an easy proposition. Despite the years and miles, the roadster had never really been neglected and didn't require a restoration of any sort. With a fresh battery, fluids all around, and new set of blackwall BFGs, it fired right up, ready to get back on the road. And that's exactly where Tom keeps it. The brief time the roadster spent cooped up in the Arizona museum and the garage in Corona is the only real off-the-road time it has known, or will know, as long as Tom is the caretaker. "You have to drive them or they just waste away," he says. "It's been on reliability runs and up to Paso Robles.
© Randy Lorentzen Whenever it's at a show, I have a board I made with the history of the car next to it." That board actually is what caught our eye when we happened across the car at the Goodguys show in Costa Mesa, California, where the Beno appropriately picked up a Timeless Traditional award. Good call, Goodguys.
© Randy Lorentzen "Old guys come up and tell me how they remember seeing the car 30 years ago at a show, or riding in it. They just can't believe it's still exactly the same," King said. We can't, either, but we're glad it is because it serves as a tangible link to the past and classic 1950s hot rodding.
Oh, and for those graybeards in Arizona that remember the car with Loving behind the wheel, you might be seeing it on those desert roads again soon. King's looking to relocate and bring the Beno back to Arizona-the only rightful home for Arizona's oldest surviving hot rod.
© Randy Lorentzen