Bruce Larsons "Mr. Clean" 1932 Chevrolet Coupe

If you follow our magazine closely, you just might have seen the cover of Issue #19. The five-windowed Deuce coupe was the first hot rod of famed NHRA drag racer Bruce Larson from the great state of Pennsylvania. That hot rod led to a long career in organized drag racing, and the car you see here is one of Bruce's earliest full-time racecars.

The car was first campaigned in the early ‘50s by racers Larry Roberts and Porky Zartman, both from Pennsylvania. You may be more familiar with one of Zartman's other cars, a Willys called the "Filthy Forty," but this ‘32 Chevrolet five-window was named "Bad News,” as in ‘bad news travels fast.’ The car was running a small block Chevy at the time and doing well in the C/altered class.

Bruce bought the car in 1959, and proceeded to replace the Chevy mill with a hopped-up Olds engine from his ‘54. The Olds would later become Bruce's tow car for the newly christened "Mr. Clean" Chevy. The engine pulled from his ’54 was a 1957 Olds J-2, now displacing 418 inches and was bored, stroked, and relieved with an Engle cam (a hot choice back then,) and six two-barrel carbs. Later, Hilborn injection replaced the carbs.

Backing the race-ready power plant was a Vaughn Winter-prepped four-speed Hydro, followed up by a ‘55 Chevy posi with 4:88 gears. This combination was good enough for Bruce to move up into the B/Altered class at tracks like York US 30, often turning high 12-second times at over 100 mph in the quarter. As is often the case, the car was sold off and forgotten as Bruce climbed the class charts. But also as is often the case, Bruce soon found himself tracking down the old racecar, only to learn that it had been turned into a show rod and was staying that way.

Bruce then set out to replicate the car using old photos and memory as his guide. Tracking down a 1932 Chevrolet five-window body was first. He then enlisted the help of Kowalski Customs to do the body and frame work, while Forry’s Auto Body in Dauphin, PA handled the paint work. An original '32 Ford radiator shell and insert replaced the more unsightly Chevy piece and the stock Chevy frame was boxed and strengthened. The engine was rebuilt using Jahns pistons, a solid Engle cam of the original specs, and Gotha rocker arms. A Scintilla magneto handles the spark while homemade headers exit the spent gasses to eagerly awaiting ears. The sound is pure music from heaven. A Hilborn injection unit once again sits atop the Olds and gets its fuel from a VW gas tank out back.

After it was painted the graphics were laid on by Sweeney Signs in Mechanicsburg, PA. EJ Kowalski then came back in to finish it all off with some striping here and there. The interior is spartan at best. A Sun tach and SW gauges fills the dash panel.

The coupe gets raced at any events that will allow him to run the car. Bruce was kind enough to let me photograph it at Beaver Springs Raceway at a nostalgia meet. At that time he was still dialing in the timing and injection, spending a good bit of time tinkering and tuning in the pits. It was great to see a master of his craft getting his hands dirty like a real racer should.

Read the rest of this article in ISSUE 25: Hot Rod Revolution