Dom Tucci, Designer at Tucci Hot Rods, sees the 1932 Ford Highboy as the ‘ultimate’ hot rod. When it came time to take that and put a modern spin on it, was something he had envisioned for years. The car that went from concept to prototype, it was exactly what Dom had wanted to build for so long.
As Tucci Hot Rods owner, Dave Tucci, explains, the cars that come out of their shop are meant to be driven hard, and meant to be fun. Their recent 1932 Ford Highboy is built to steer, handle, and brake well – it even has 14-inch Wilwood rotors on it, for optimum stopping power.
Started 20 years ago and based out of Syracuse, NY, Syracuse Nationals approached Tucci Hot Rods with the idea of building a giveaway car. The first year they did, they built a nice 1932 Highboy, but recall it as a nice ‘bare bones’ car, with a Small Block Chevy.
When Syracuse Nationals approached them again about doing a 20th Anniversary giveaway cars, they wanted to take a different approach to the build.
The renderings of the car they wanted to build always included the use of a 3.5L EcoBoost V6 engine, since they wanted to do a twin-turbo V6 from the beginning. It started out as a salt flat-style car with tall, skinny tires, but evolved into would be intended for road racing.
These cars are built to go anywhere, including SEMA, when they brought their first 3.5-liter EcoBoost build, and thanks to HP Tuners, they were able to run 11 psi of boost to get the engine to a 400/400 power split.
It seems the most gratifying thing about these builds is when they can take something that never existed before, and put it on display while burning a set of tires off – and this Highboy does that very well!
Elizabeth is hardcore horsepower enthusiast with unmatched intensity for making things faster and louder. She wakes up for power and performance and only sleeps to charge up for the next project that’s heading to the track. From autocross to drag racing, Elizabeth is there with you, so stay tuned for her unique perspective on horsepower news, builds, tech info, and installs — with her, it’ll never be boring!
