Legends in Hot Rodding: the Rich Guasco ’29 Highboy – Purple Reign, AMBR style
As a future hot rodder, Rich Guasco was born with a significant home-court advantage – his family owned a wrecking yard.
Guasco, son of Italian immigrants, grew up during the early ’50s in Pleasanton, California (where Goodguys Rod & Custom also later came of age). As a young boy, he spent hours roaming the aisles of that boneyard, filling his fertile young mind with visions of possible future rides of his own.
By sixth grade he was reading car magazines, and a year later his father gifted him a ’41 Chevy, sans motor (one way to keep a young boy’s wanderlust in check). Later a friend of his dad, Al Stanton, rolled up in a ’29 Ford highboy. Guasco was instantly smitten. He wanted one, too.
Back to the sea of dismantled cars he went, where he found a rag-tag ’32 Ford five-window coupe. He scrapped the body but kept the ’32 frame and its underpinnings, including the functioning Flathead V8. He then affixed a ’29 roadster body to the frame, and with the Flatty still purring, it became Guasco’s first hot rod. He was in the eighth grade.
Once old enough to drive legally, he highboy’d it daily to Amador Valley High School, where his shop teacher, also keen on hot rods, taught Guasco ways to improve the car.
As detailed on Kustomrama’s website, Guasco’s dedication to that ’29 was absolute. When a brake failure triggered a crash that severely damaged the car, his father was less than pleased – and commanded the roadster to be blown apart. Young Guasco complied but scattered the components throughout the wrecking yard. Later, he hunted all the bits down and put the highboy back together.
Over time, Guasco slowly refined the roadster’s hot-rod profile. He added three carbs to the Flathead – visible with the open engine bay. The Flatty’s rumble was suppressed by side headers that fed minimalist mufflers. The stance was slightly raked, accented by bobbed rear fenders, chromed reversed wheels, and big-and-little whitewalls. In this guise, it appeared on the cover of Speed Mechanic magazine in 1958.
Pleasanton is located a mere hubcap toss from Oakland, and Rich was well aware of the importance of the Oakland Roadster Show and its prestigious America’s Most Beautiful Roadster trophy. In 1958 Guasco decided to make a ran at the AMBR prize.
Thus, Guasco embarked on an Oakland-inspired makeover – the Flathead gave way to a modified small-block Chevy V8, punched out to 301 cubic inches. Other tweaks included forged pistons, a performance cam, and a trio of Stromberg 97s. He added finned Edelbrock valve covers and chrome-plated headers.
He added more glimmer to the drivetrain by chroming the early Ford chassis components, adding a polished I-beam dropped front axle, and a buffed Halibrand quick-change. Ford juice brakes were stationed at all four corners.
The body featured a ’32 grille shell, bobbed fenders, Chrysler Imperial taillights, and custom rear nerf bars with the tailpipes exiting out the uprights. Perhaps most important was the mind-blowing color: an electric purple hue. Uniquely, the color was created not by using traditional paint tint, but with dye.
A few months before the 1961 show, life threw Rich Guasco a U-turn. He was drafted into the Army. His ol’ buddies the Stanton brothers finalized prep for the show and coordinated show setup. Guasco only learned of winning the AMBR award when his mother called him in Germany to deliver the news.
Professional drag racing was Guasco’s other passion. He fielded a Top Fuel dragster that was so beautiful it earned the America’s Most Beautiful Competition Car honors at Oakland in 1962. He later went on to build and drive arguably the most fearsome Fuel Altered car of all time: “Pure Hell” was a short-wheelbase Bantam-bodied thrill ride that spent as much time with the front wheels off the ground as on the tarmac. The car went on to be a crowd favorite on the Goodguys nostalgia drag racing circuit.
For the 50th anniversary of the Oakland Roadster show, Guasco, with a little help from his friends George Withers and Dan Clifton, restored the ’29 to its original AMBR-winning glory, joining the display of former AMBR winners. He also drove the roadster to multiple national Goodguys events, earning kudos at each stop. Along the way, he also earned the Goodguys Stroker McGurk Award for best highboy. (Stroker was a dedicated ’29 highboy enthusiast, too.)
Guasco, now 87, has lived long enough to participate in another Grand National Roadster Show milestone, the 75th anniversary, showcased elsewhere in this issue. He was on hand for the Pomona celebration in January, cruising in a wheelchair and soaking up the glory and adoration that began more than six decades ago.
We chatted with Rich Guasco recently. His voice was strong and clear as he recounted tales of the ’29, including his experience racing it down the quarter mile, where it topped 100mph. And he remembered winning the AMBR. “It was quite a surprise,” he said. “And it forever put me in the hot-rodding spotlight.”
Indeed it did. It’s why we’re now shining our Legend spotlight on Rich Guasco, a worthy accolade no one would argue with.
