Spencer Murray's 1936 Ford Roadster

Spencer Murray with the 1936 Ford roadster he acquired from Gene Scott’s vintage junkyard, late 1960s. This car would become the basis for his ‘Project ’36 Roadster’ series in Rod & Custom Magazine. Photo courtesy of Bonnie Murray.

Spencer driving his completed 1936 Ford roadster in 1976. The car featured a LaSalle grille and Carson-style padded top and was sold the same year at the Street Rod Nationals. Photo courtesy of Bonnie Murray.

Profile view of Spencer’s 1936 Ford roadster after completion, showing its flowing late-1940s custom lines and Carson-style padded top. Photo courtesy of Bonnie Murray.

Rear view of Spencer’sroadster highlighting the smoothed deck and clean late-1940s inspired styling. Photo courtesy of Bonnie Murray.

Photo courtesy of Bonnie Murray.

The rediscovered roadster in rural Pennsylvania, photographed in 2012. Remarkably, the car remained nearly untouched and had been driven only 32 miles since Spencer sold it in 1976. Its reappearance followed Murray’s feature in The Rodder's Journal No. 40 in 2008, where he recapped the project’s history and ended with the plea, ‘Where is it?’ Photo courtesy of Bonnie Murray.

Spencer Murray's 1936 Ford Roadster is a custom restyled by automotive journalist Spencer "Spence" Murray in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The car became one of Murray’s most ambitious personal projects, extensively chronicled in Rod & Custom Magazine and later rediscovered decades after it was sold.

History

Murray acquired the 1936 Ford roadster body from Gene Scott’s vintage junkyard in California. The car was in poor condition, described as a rusty hulk, and was rebuilt in collaboration with customizer Joe Bailon and others.

In May 1968, while serving as editor of the full-size Rod & Custom, Murray launched “Project ’36 Roadster” in the magazine. Over the next several years, its construction was documented in thirteen articles. The project included distinctive features such as a LaSalle grille and a Carson-style padded top, intended to reflect a late-1940s custom aesthetic.

By the time Rod & Custom ceased publication in 1974, the project was still unfinished. Murray eventually completed the car in 1976 but was forced to sell it that same year at the Street Rod Nationals.

Disappearance and Rediscovery

Following the sale, the roadster disappeared from public view for over three decades. Finished photographs were first widely published in The Rodder’s Journal No. 40 in 2008, where Murray recounted the project’s history and asked, “Where is it?”

In 2012, the car resurfaced in rural Pennsylvania, where it had been stored in a sealed garage since its purchase in 1976. Its owner had driven it only 32 miles in 36 years. Murray and his wife, Carolyn, visited the car in person, and photographs from the visit were later featured in The Rodder’s Journal No. 64 in 2014 in a feature titled “Lost and Found.”

The car remained in immaculate and largely unchanged condition from Murray’s original build, though the owner declined to sell it.

Significance

The 1936 Ford roadster stands as one of Murray’s most personal and well-documented projects. Beyond its role as a custom car, it reflects Murray’s lifelong influence on hot rod journalism. As the first editor of Rod & Custom, Murray helped shape the postwar custom car movement, and the roadster project bridged his dual legacies as both builder and storyteller.

Magazine Features and Appearances

• The Rodder's Journal, Issue No. 40, 2008
• The Rodder's Journal, Issue No. 64, 2014