John Mccue's '32 Vicky - Mission Accomplished

Nearly a half-dozen years ago, John McCue noticed a rodded Deuce Vicky sitting in a local motel parking lot. It'd been there for a while and looked to be in pretty good shape. After taking a closer look, John tracked down the car's owner and asked if it might be for sale. It was, he bought it, and the rest is history-though not quite what you might think. You see, even though it was a finished hot rod, all John was interested in was the car's original steel body; the balance of the car just wasn't of importance. John got the Vicky home and immediately tore it down, selling off everything but the Victoria body and grille shell to help finance the car's fresh traditional-style rebuild.

John began by ordering up a new pinched-nosed Deuce frame from Barry Lobeck. Once the frame arrived, he set about assembling the unit into a finished rolling chassis utilizing a Johns-equipped 9-inch Ford rear hung by a Pete & Jake's rear spring and ladder bar assembly. A POSIES Super Slide spring, Magnum I-beam and spindles, and a pair of hairpins were installed up front, as was a Vega cross-steer box. In keeping with its traditional styling, John chose a set of early Buick drum brake assemblies to work in tandem with the 9-inch rearend's 11-inch drums and then mounted a quartet of steel wheels and blackwall tires at all four corners.

The chassis was then fitted with a Lobeck's pedal assembly and a full complement of stainless brake and fuel lines. The next step was to build and install a drivetrain that would look as good as it would perform. A '70 Chevy small-block was machined and prepped and then assembled using a host of quality components from a selection of manufacturers, including Manley, Speed Pro, Federal Mogul, Engle, and Edelbrock, to name but a few. The engine was topped with a Tri-power setup and dressed in traditional-style finery, and then backed by a warmed-over TH350 and nestled between the framerails.

With the chassis and running gear in place, the next step was to massage the Vicky body back into pristine shape. To start, John whacked the top a diminutive 1 3/8 inches, reworked and fitted a '34 Ford dash, filled the grille shell, and fashioned a cool license plate well in the rear body panel. Next, the myriad of dents and dings were worked smooth and the body prepped, primed, and treated to a glass-smooth coating of eye-catching PPG Yukon Yellow. Once the body and paintwork was complete, the sheetmetal was lowered onto the fresh chassis and the assembly phase began in earnest.

John wired the car using a Ron Francis harness, fit the doors with stock door handles, and then added a pair of '34 Ford commercial headlight assemblies up front and a stock Deuce fuel tank out back. With the car nearing total completion, it was then shipped over to Vintage Auto Trim where Rick Davin stitched up a traditional-style black and white leather interior that perfectly complemented the Vicky's styling. Once back from the trim shop, John attended to the countless little chores required to get any street rod truly roadworthy, all the while anticipating lots of future road time behind the wheel of his latest project.

As you can plainly see, John's efforts were well worth it. He's accomplished what we all look forward to-building a street rod that's a blast to drive and stays true to its original concept. Well done, Mr. McCue!

Facts & Figures
John McCue
Charleston, West Virginia
1932 Ford Victoria