Much to the chagrin of Blue Oval fans, far too many people have stuffed Chevy V8s under the hoods of the iconic 1932 Ford and other street rods from this period. That once included this particular 1932 Ford Highboy, which was scooped up by Tucci Hot Rods with a small block Chevy underhood. But when the Syracuse Nationals approached the shop about doing a special giveaway car for its 20th anniversary, Tucci decided to go with a much more modern mill – Ford’s 3.5L EcoBoost V6.
In terms of design, Tucci started out with a few renderings and a salt flats style with tall skinny tires. Over time, that idea evolved into more of a road race-type vehicle, one that was also good enough to show off at last year’s SEMA show. But the sticking point was the aforementioned EcoBoost powerplant, which was something Tucci had not worked with in the past, but admittedly had on its wish list.
This is not the higher-output version of the 3.5L EcoBoost from the Ford F-150 Raptor, but it still lays down 400 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque at the wheels on 11 pounds of boost. That’s more than enough to make the lightweight 1932 Ford Highboy scoot along rather quickly, as is clear from this video.
Tucci admits that it spent quite a few years building high-end show cars that racked up trophies, yet no one wanted to actually drive them. But the builder changed its philosophy and began cranking out vehicles that were built specifically to drive, and drive hard.
That includes this sweet ’32 Ford, which has already seen a ton of track time and abuse, yet has held up remarkably well. And personally, it’s the kind of ride we’d take over a show queen any day of the week.
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Comments
Bring the past into the future that’s a 1st A 32 EcoBoost sounds good looks great
Awesome piece. VERY well done!
Ford is missing out on alot by not really pushing it’s ecoboost platform to the forefront and getting rid of V8 engines altogether. Ford has several 4,5 and 6 cylinder turbocharged engines that could have seriously led the way for Ford Performance to be even more relevant in todays automotive market. the 2.3L Ecoboost high output, the 2.5L Duratec 5-cylinder turbo, the 3.0L Ecoboost, the 3.5L Ecoboost and the 4.0L Barra Turbo I-6 engines could have all been modified and incorporated in the Ford Performance lineup. Conventional and hybrid ecoboost powertrains are constantly proving themselves better than V8 engines all over the place and with companies like Mountune and Roush, there is no reason that For couldn’t really walk all over the performance scene with these kinds of setups, not to mention even in the truck scene and HD truck scene. Back in the day, Ford had a 4.9L Inline 6-cylinder engine that was an insanely reliable powerplant. I’m sure reimagined for today with a twin turbo ecoboost setup and a hybrid electric driveline it could out do any of the powertrains that are available today. Forget the Mustang, Ford had way more performance vehicles that didn’t have a V8 that could run rings around the Mustang. The Capri RS3100, the Sierra RS500, the Focus RS500, the Falcon FGX XR6 Sprint, the Taurus SHO and others. It’s time that Ford Performance really start pushing the ecoboost platform for more custom builds like these. Everyone was so happy back in the day with a 350hp 350ci Chevy small block and now Ford has a 2.3L that puts out 350hp/350tq stock. maybe that’s something that should be available for hot rod builds, the different versions of the 3.0L and the 3.5L ecoboost engines and it’s absolutely time for a 4.0L I-6 ecoboost engine pushing near 495hp with about 520lb-ft of torque along with available upgrades from Mountune, Ford Performance and Roush and it should all be available for the US market. It’s time for a 2.5L I-5 Turbo Ecoboost pushing 380hp/395tq to sit between the 350hp/350tq 2.3L and a new 405hp/420lb-ft torque 3.0L and a 460hp/500tq 3.5L Ecoboost and the high output 660hp/550tq 3.5L Super high output Ecoboost. There should be hybrid variants available as well such as the 494hp/630tq 3.0L Ecoboost and the 3.5L Powerboost V6 with it’s impressive hp/tq numbers. but there should also be an ecoboost 4.9L I-6 for the trucks pushing numbers around 475hp/530tq and a hybrid version pushing 500hp/595tq and then, of course, I-6 Turbo diesels in both 3.2L and 6.6L configurations. Years ago, Ford/New Holland had a 6.6L I-6 diesel and although it didn’t fare too well, a modern version should yield over 450hp and over 1,000lb-ft of torque with no problem. It would be so much nicer for Ford to switch over to this kind of setup, especially since the Mustang is now an electric crossover, Ford needs to reinvent its performance lineup and actually it’s entire lineup in general while also thinking about offering hot rod packages so more of these ecoboost hot rods can roam the streets.