John Willoughby’s 1932 Ford hot rod was, in a word, different. London, Ontario in the ’50s hadn’t seen anything like it. Willoughby bought it because he’d never seen anything like it. His girlfriend’s parents hadn’t seen anything like it — and they didn’t like it.
That’s what makes Willoughby’s ’32 Ford a perfect fit for the “Disruptors”-themed Cobble Beach Classics exhibit at the 2020 Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto, starting February 14. The feature, located on Level 700 of the South Building in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, will showcase 15 vintage cars spanning 1904 through 1969 that mark a turning point in the industry or sync up with a paradigm shift in history.
Hot rodding had made its way to Canada in the ’50s via U.S. magazines like Hop Up and Rods & Customs, into the hands of young enthusiasts fed up with stock car racing. With it came a new substitute speed fix, drag racing, as well as car shows where these machines could flash their chromed engines in front of a crowd.
If the chromed axle from Rossini Speed Shop in Chatham didn’t impress you, nor the Sherwood Green paint or custom upholstery by London’s Dick Lindsay, the style the car was built in would. After dating with his wife-to-be in the T-Bird Deuce, Willoughby sold it to finance drag racing an Anglia gasser with friends. It went through almost two dozen owners – it’s seen 22 in its life as a hot rod, his records show – before winding up in Michigan with a Ford 302 V8 and updated black-with-flames paint job.
The “Disruptors” exhibit ties Mathile’s car’s 1969 build date to the historic lunar landing that defined that decade. Moon missions aside, the Miura qualifies for entry for being the world’s first mid-engined supercar, if not the first supercar period, as well as perhaps the most beautifully styled car ever built.