Magoo's '29 Ford Highboy Roadster

The formative years of street rodding were clearly the late-'60s and early-'70s with mechanical and aesthetic advancements occurring on an almost daily basis. It was by the late-'70s that many of today's street rod manufacturers got their start. And with that came the advent of the "driver." By definition a driver is: A street rod that has an inbreed level of mechanical quality virtually guaranteeing that it will take its occupants across country, and back, without fault.

In 1970 Richard "Magoo" Megugorac, along with his wife Lois who upholstered many of the early cars he built, started Magoo's Street Rods in Canoga Park, California. In the beginning, the shop was a two-car garage located at the back of their house on an alleyway. (He moved into his first commercial building in Canoga Park in 1971.)

However, it was back in 1967, while still in the slot car business with his brother-in-law, Al Riggen, that Magoo started building cars again and joined the L. A. Roadsters. (In Magoo's youth he was also the youngest member of the Santa Monica Low Flyers Car Club, which included famous automotive personalities such as Stu Hilborn, Frank Coon, and Jack Engle.)

During the late-'60s his magazine presence began as he received a fair amount of publicity which started his reputation for building drivers that were both mechanically sound and dependable. One of his first customers was Andy Southard, Jr. from the Bay Area, who asked him to reassemble his '32 Ford roadster.

This month's Milestones car is Magoo's personal ride from 1978-80, a brilliant Porsche Indian Red '29 Ford highboy roadster. Many would argue that this is still the best-looking car he built (and it was built for $18,000 back then). That's saying something given over 20 hot rods of all years and models came out of the small but productive shop.

The Model A highboy roadster is based on an early Gibbon fiberglass body that bolted together similarly to an original steel body. In fact, many people over the years have mistaken this 'glass car for the real thing. Magoo and Lois placed 22,000-plus miles on the 2,400-pound roadster before selling it. He sold the highboy in preparation for his last, and most exotic, '29 Ford highboy, which featured a specially prepped Chevy 265-inch V-6 topped with a B&M blower producing 400 hp. In the meantime, he and Lois drove their always reliable and impressive '27 Ford T--touring across the state as well as across the country.Jack Bonin of Bakersfield, California, originally purchased the car from Magoo. (Jack was the NSRA Central California (Street Rod) State Representative from 1983-86, and the NSRA Division Director/Street Rod Division (southwest) from 1986 until 1997.) He in turn sold it to a fellow from Montebello, California. This man then passed away, and his mother kept the car in storage for several years. The current owner, Al Kuhn of San Gabriel, California, purchased the highboy some 7 years ago with 49,000 miles on the odometer. Today the car shows 73,000 miles--a testament to its driveability.

Al has changed the interior (the original wore out) and front backing plates, rebuilt the original motor and trans, and replaced the rear shocks and a number of smaller items, but the car remains surprisingly similar in its appearance from 23 years ago. Al has tried to maintain the integrity of the original car. And in remaining faithful to the original cause, he can't bring himself to restore the highboy because he doesn't want to have the car down for any period of time. Additionally, he doesn't want to ruin the original feel of the car. Remarkably the original electric trunk and cruise control still work flawlessly to this day. Al and his wife, Pattie, constantly drive the highboy as it is a favorite with both of them.

Al is also quick to point out that after all these years the car had very few modifications by any of the previous owners. It still remains surprisingly intact from the early days.

The highboy was the second hot rod to receive the Stroker McGurkaward in 1979 at the Goodguys Pleasanton event. (Tom Medley of Rod & Custom fame presents this award that embodies the feeling and character of a traditional hot rod.) Again in 1979 the highboy won its class at the Grand National Roadster Show. Magoo also built a brilliant-red Deuce highboy roadster for Brian Burnett, a Ferrari dealership owner. The highboy was fitted with a Ferrari engine and it won the coveted America's Most Beautiful Roadster award at the '79 Grand National Roadster Show. The Ferrari-powered Deuce is still being driven today in its original form. It has a second owner behind the wheel and 80,000 miles on its odometer--another driver!

Magoo was well-known for his red cars and is generally credited with the popularity of the use of Porsche Indian Red. Magoo will tell you that he used this color as far back as 1943, then called just Indian Red, on his '27 lakes modified along with a curved windshield, again, long before the rest of the industry thought about using a curved windshield.

Other rodding innovations generally credited to Magoo of which many were researched and developed on this month's Milestones hot rod were:
--The introduction of machined Teflon for bushings in four-bar ends, kingpins, etc....
--The introduction of packaged brake line kits: stainless line, machined line clamps, and AN fittings.
--The introduction of packaged disc brake kits: first with Airheart calipers and then JFZ calipers with other Magoo components.
--The introduction of the Slick Stick: a prop rod for the trunk (Magoo sold many of these to contractors to hold open the hood sides on construction site generators, allowing them to cool).
--Instructional brake hook-up diagrams.
--The introduction of the fiberglass Auburn-styled dash for Model As and '32s.
--The introduction of the fiberglass rolled pan for Model As.
--The introduction of the Buick V-6 into rodding in 1975.
--The introduction of the BFGoodrich All Terrain Radial T/A tires in place of the harder-to-obtain and more expensive dirt track tires of the day.
--The introduction of the bolt-on rear disc brake kit for either 8- or 9-inch Ford rearends.
--The introduction of the remote electric fan kit.
These are just some of the firsts generally credited to Magoo, and most of these items were developed on the '29 highboy on these pages.

The body is a fiberglass Gibbon Model A, dressed with a Jack Hagemann handmade aluminum hood with louvered side panels (with chromed hardware hinges) and louvered rear-rolled pan. The 'glass Model A rests atop a "pinched" '32 Ford frame keeping the Deuce 106-wheelbase. Lighting comes via the venerable use of Dietz headlights and a pair of '39 Ford "teardrop" taillights. Within the cockpit you will see the use of the Magoo fiberglass-Auburn dash outfitted with Stewart Warner gauges and an AM/FM stereo. The original Magoo days red/black Herculon carpet was used plus a red Naugahyde to cover the bench seat--all stitched by his wife, Lois--which has since been replaced.

The front suspension is based on a Super Bell 4-inch drop tube axle with '37-41 Ford spindles coupled with a pair of chromed Monroe tube shocks, a Magoo Panhard bar, and parallel bars used with bat wings from The Deuce Factory.The rear suspension is based on a '64 Ford 9-inch rearend with 3.08:1 gears with drum brakes, Koni coilover shocks, and a Pete & Jake's Panhard bar. The steering is a Vega box used with Mr. Roadster U-joints coupled to a Ford T-bird tilt-steering column topped with a Lecarra wheel.

Braking comes by way of a Magoo brake kit topped off with Airheart calipers operated by a '39 Ford brake pedal through a '41 Ford single-reservoir master cylinder, often referred to as the "fruit jar" style with a Corvette proportioning valve.

The highboy originally came with Firestone Super-Mod dirt-track tires (11.80x15) in back and Michelin (145x15) rubber in front all mounted to chrome steelies (5x15 in front; 8x15 in back) with painted '48 Ford centers and Ford hubcaps. Magoo went away from the Super-Mod tires because of the beating he was taking to the back of his head. Yep, until you have driven an open car with dirt tack tires, you can't imagine what it's like to get hit in the back of the head with a small rock. The dirt track tires pick up the rocks/pebbles with their sticky tire compound and then throw them against the back of your head, the backside of the windshield, or the dashboard or deposit all of them on the carpet. Every time you stop, the car looks like it needs a vacuuming.

The engine, at the time, was a new service replacement engine for a '68 hi-po 327 Chevy small-block Magoo had obtained from a good friend, Gene Vredenburgh, who then worked for Chevrolet. A mechanical fuel pump feeds the Carter four-barrel atop the Weiand aluminum intake while stock BowTie Ram Horn exhaust manifolds and a Mallory ignition handle the spent fuel and fire the mixture. A Cal Custom air cleaner (changed later) and valve covers were used along with a 4-inch core Walker radiator mated to a Flex-a-lite fan with a Magoo mounting kit and lots of chrome for accent. The tranny was and still is a TH350. Both the engine and trans have been rebuilt during Al's ownership.

A Real street rod is about being driven. There are those who strap their cars onto trailers--and so be it. However, nothing will ever replace the ability to jump into one's own handiwork and listen to the song of the highway passing beneath. This Model A highboy on deuce rails may just be #1 on the Hit Parade.