Legends in Rodding – The Deucari, A Deuce Highboy Roadster with Ferrari V12 Power
Your humble Goodguys Legends in Rodding correspondent recently spent time in Italy, which sent me looking for a Legendary American hot rod with an Italian angle.
Then it came to me – years ago wasn’t there a roadster that someone had shoehorned in a Ferrari engine? Yes, the Deucari, a ’32 Ford roadster crafted in 1979 by Dick “Magoo” Megugorac for Brian Burnett, the son of early Hot Rod magazine cutaway illustrator Rex Burnett. The younger Burnett was a Ferrari dealer, but one with deep roots to the early days of hot rodding. Why not fit a Ferrari engine into a traditional Deuce roadster, he thought. Yeah, why not?
He reached out to Magoo, whose reputation for building roadworthy, reliable highboys was widely known. No less a light than John Buttera once quipped if he wanted a hot rod to drive across the country, he’d have Magoo build it.
Still, the idea sounded a little nuts in 1979. But at team at Magoo’s Street Rods in Arizona accepted the challenge with aplomb. The project started with a Wescott ’glass ’32 Ford replica body placed on boxed “gennie” rails. Although a Ferrari dealer, Burnett had to scramble to source a Ferrari V-12 engine for the project. Coincidently, car collector Bill Harrah had stuffed a Ferrari V-12 out of a wrecked ’69 Ferrari 365 GT into, of all things, a Jeep Wagoneer. When Harrah swapped out V-12 for another engine, Burnett and Magoo swooped in.
The original Ford frame rails were lengthened four inches to accommodate those four extra cylinders, but Burnett wanted to retain the classic ’32 roadster profile. Thus, only subtle changes were done – a recessed firewall to better fit the Ferrari’s twin distributors; new hood and sides, stretched three inches over stock; and a sectioned ’32 grille shell. An authentic V-shaped Duval windshield was fitted to the smoothed and filled cowl.
As for the color, there was only once option for this mixed-breed roadster: Red. In this case, Indian Red in acrylic lacquer. That hue was complemented by tan Connolly leather upholstery, Porsche carpeting, and a Euro-style wood-rimed steering wheel flying a Ferrari badge as the horn button. The dash carried clean, minimalist lines sprouting a raft of Stewart‑Warner gauges.
Underneath, Magoo performed his usual hot rod magic. The front suspension utilized a Super Bell dropped axle, Pete and Jake’s parallel four-link radius rods, a Vega steering box and cross-steering setup, a Panhard rod, leaf spring flexing on Teflon sliders, and late-model disc brakes – all proven street rod components. The robust Italiano torque flowed through a Halibrand quick-change rearend coupled to ’36 Ford axle housings.
In short, the car embodied Magoo’s well-honed philosophy. It featured his signature attention to detail, like a polished finned oil pan, along with solid construction, and don’t-think-about-it reliability. Everything worked, even if the powerplant came from Maranello and not Motown.
When the Deucari debuted in 1979, after six months of construction, it turned heads every time Brian turned the key. Its unique exhaust note was a shock to those accustomed to the rumble of conventional American V8s. The car was a hit at major shows and drew photographers like moths to a flame. No one was surprised it won the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster title at the Grand National Roadster Show in Oakland, despite its imported engine.
With its best-in-show credentials, you’d think Burnett would have kept the hot rod on a short leash. But no. He seldom coddled it in a trailer. Burnett drove it and drove it and drove it, thousands and thousands of miles. He figured it could hit 170mph, but he never tried it.
The roadster eventually made its way into the garage of Rich Hubbard of Murietta, California, who had embraced the rod’s drive-it ethic and storied history. To improve drivability, he swapped the Muncie 4-speed transmission for a Doug Nash five-speed and tweaked the final drive ratio. He’s also kept the odometer spinning like a slot machine, eventually topping 50,000 miles.
Hubbard is quick to elaborate on the car’s unique character. “It’s a fun car to drive, and it’s an easy car to drive,” Hubbard told Hagerty’s magazine. “The suspension, maybe primitive, still it feels like a sports car.”
More importantly, the car’s style and design have aged well. Many hot rods from that era look dated today. Brown metallic paint, anyone? The Deucari doesn’t. Its proportions, refinement, and detailing were so well-judged that the car has a timeless, classic hot rod look.
In 2007, Ford assigned a panel of 25 hot rod experts to select 75 of the most significant 1932 Ford hot rods of all time. The judges included such luminaries as Ken Gross, the late Pat Ganahl, builders Roy Brizio and Pete Chapouris, and our own Goodguys founder Gary Meadors. And, yes, The Deucari made the list, as the first Ferrari V-12 powered ’32 Ford highboy roadster.
But for original owner Brian Burnett, perhaps the highest award he received was from his father, Rex, who took the time to pen a cutaway drawing of the roadster in the exact style he used during Hot Rod magazine’s early days, right down to the Ferrari valve covers. And that, we’d argue, is the true mark of a Legend.
