Print edition: 
Lynn Moore has owned a lot of cars in his time, and if you have some time to spare, he can tell you an entertaining tale about almost every one of them. Like the ones he bought and never quite got home, selling them before they could be tucked away in a garage for rebuilding.
But at age 71, Moore remains first, foremost and always a hot-rodder at heart. And although he has owned and enjoyed cars of nearly every make and model, his focus has always been on the classic "hot rod," the 1932 Ford also known as the "Deuce."
"The '32 to me was always the hot rod that everybody wanted," he said.
His current collection of cars reflects that belief, times four. They include a beautiful '32 three-window coupe, a pair of stunning '32 Victorias and an old-school '32 Tudor Sedan.
And Moore's cars are all steel, no reproduction fiberglass pieces filling in the blank spots, a point of pride for him. In fact, the 4-car garage where he stores his quartet of Deuces fairly bulges with nicely displayed vintage '32 Ford pieces: grille shells and inserts, intake manifolds, cylinder heads, etc.
Moore's passion for cars began when he was 15.
"I bought a 1936 Ford 5-window coupe... paid $40 to a guy from McConnell (Air Force Base). It had wide whitewalls, flippers, dual carbs and skirts, and the original V-8. It was black, with spotlights on the hood, a '50s-style car," Moore said.
"I had to sit on a pillow to drive it, I was so short and small. I sold a Cushman Eagle motor scooter to buy that car."
His wheeling and dealing involved trading paint jobs for parts or projects. "I used to paint a lot of Model A's," he said. The first car he built himself was a 1940 Ford Tudor, in the early '60s. That car is still in Wichita and well-known as George McDowell's black sedan.
"It all just dominoed from there," said Moore, who made his living as a crane operator, but has been immersed in classic cars his entire adult life. "I restored a lot of cars for people," he said, noting that he made many fast friends in the process and that a lot of those friends have helped him with his car projects.
That brings us to a quick run-down of the '32 Fords he owns and drives with his wife of 53 years, Linda.
"My favorite is the three-window. We've been everywhere in that car, to Arkansas, Colorado, all over the place, " he said.
The car features a beautiful buckskin-colored leather interior done in western-style stitching by Paul Maunz. "This is what they called a 'doctor's coupe,'" explained Moore, who said they removed the rumble seat to make room for a cooler and folding chairs so they could travel. "When you've got a little coupe, you get to improvise."
Although the car is equipped with air conditioning, Moore said they seldom use it, preferring to roll down the rear window and open up the cowl vent for fresh airflow. The coupe is powered by a 350 Chevy V-8, running a 350TH transmission and a 9-inch Ford rear end.
Moore's black '32 Ford Victoria employs a 350 cubic inch tuned port injection Chevy V-8, a now unusual power plant, polished to perfection. Its beautiful Tom Richardson interior consists of gray Cessna leather covering modified Honda Civic seats front and back, along with a Zora Duntov-autographed steering wheel.
Buddy Galen Frick did the Vintage Air A/C installation, while Moore himself focused on hiding virtually all of the wiring and plumbing on the car inside the frame rails.
"All you see underneath is the drive shaft," he said. Genuine Halibrand wheels are used all around.
The only one of Moore's Deuces that isn't powered by a Chevy small-block is the Tudor Sedan, which has a Chet Wilson-balanced and blueprinted Ford flathead V-8. It runs old-style red steel wheels with wide whitewalls, dog dish hubcaps and ribbed beauty rings. The black lacquer paint on the car is 36 years old and still looks day-one fresh. Steve Parks applied the understated pinstriping to that paint.
Inside, Richardson again gets credit for the upholstery work, done in original style mohair. The car rumbles with an all-stainless steel dual exhaust system.
"I drove this car to the first Deuce reunion in Kansas City in August, 1979," Moore said.
The final Deuce in the pack is the only one that isn't black, and the only one that wasn't basically built from the ground up by Moore.
"I like all my cars black... I'm surprised I haven't painted the blue car black yet," he said.
He bought the car about six years ago in Oklahoma City and has left it pretty much the way its builder, Ray Newman, designed it. "That car is really, really well done," Moore said.
The deep blue paint is beautifully accented by a set of Zenith chrome wire wheels. A peek beneath the rear luggage rack reveals a fully chromed Jaguar independent rear suspension.
While the engine bay is pure polished hot rod Chevy V-8, the interior looks remarkably stock, right down to the vintage steering wheel and column.
"I try to put everything back as original as I can on them," Moore said. "I want a car to look like it came from Henry Ford, but I want a late model drive train under it."
And it needs to have been born in 1932.
