James Greene's 1932 Ford

James chopped sedan sitting behind the City Service Station. Photo courtesy of Justin Greene.

Photo courtesy of Justin Greene.

1932 Ford Tudor owned and restyled by James Greene of Kansas City, Missouri in the 1940s. The car was the first car that James ever chopped. As the depression was coming to an end, the sedan was what James could afford to buy. The old sedan was sitting behind the City Service Station on the south east corner of 39th and Garfield. It was smashed to the firewall, and a perfect project for James. On a handshake it was his, for a 50 dollar debt. James didn't have any tools, so in order to restyle the car, he bought a torch set on faith payments from a welding shop on Main Street. Welding and forming was done using used coat hangers. He played with an old trashed valve, an old screwdriver and his torches, and made a custom hammer. With time and application, slowly a custom set of tools emerged. James had seen some guys chop the windshield down on some roadsters, so he decided to bring the whole roof on his roadster down. A heck saw blade, a hand held glass cutter, and some coat hangers stolen from the closet later, and he had chopped that '32 behind City Service and brazed it back up again. Once the build was completed, James had the only chopped top around for the next few years. People took notice of the young kid with the chopped sedan, and paid work started to come in.