The McGee Roadster: Hot Rod Legend | Historic Vehicle Association Documentary
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- Опубликовано: 29 июн 2024
- The 1932 Ford roadster is widely considered to be the quintessential hot rod platform. Of the many ’32s turned out over the years, none is as important as the McGee Roadster, the trendsetting car that set the bar for hot rod style in period and remains an icon to this day. This documentary, produced by the Historic Vehicle Association, celebrates the McGee Roadster’s inclusion in the National Historic Vehicle Register and chronicles the rise of hot rodding culture in America. Featuring interviews with industry pioneers like Ed Iskendarian as well as rare period footage, this short film captures the magic of a truly special car from a bygone era.
On April 12, 2017, the McGee Roadster became part of the National Historic Register and the U.S. Department of the Interior Historic American Engineering Record. Under this program, the story and images of the McGee Roadster will become part of the permanent archives of the Library of Congress.
For more information on the McGee Roadster and the National Historic Vehicle Register, please visit www.historicvehicle.org.
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Director: Conor Kelley
Executive Producer: Mark Gessler
Producer: Casey Maxon
Associate Producer: Diane Parker
Editor: Conor Kelley
Director of Photography: Clay Hearth, Mike Gallagher
Original songs by: Alex Weinstein
Post Production Sound: Ben Wong
Photos and Archival Footage Courtesy of:
Dick Scritchfield
Hot Rod Magazine
Pat Ganahl
Greg Sharp
Don Montgomery
Mat McGee
Mo McGee
Dave Welles
AACA Library & Research Center
Bruce Meyer
SCTA
Pebble Beach Concourse d'Elegance Archive
Special Thanks:
Bruce Meyer
Petersen Automotive Museum
Hot Rod Magazine
The Enthusiast Network
Pat Ganahl
Ed Iskenderian
Greg Sharp
Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum
Don Montgomery
Mat McGee
Mo McGee
Ken Gross
AACA Library & Research Center
The Rodder's Journal
Jimmy Welles
Tommy Lorbeer
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This old hot rodder has tears as I write this note of thanks to all who've gone before me. Thank you.
This car oozes character, it truly deserved to become a historical vehicle
Hot rods in the beginning, hot rods to the end, they are fantastic pieces of machinery today
Pete Chapouris was quite possibly one of the most influential hot rod builders of the post-World War II era.
Pete Chapouris restored the Bob McGee Roadster & got his start in hot rodding from his father, an Edison employee who installed power lines between Los Angeles and Boulder Dam. Pete's father earned enough money to begin fixing up his cars as well as building some hot rods. His first rod was a Model A as would be his son’s.
Chapouris got his break in the industry through his friend Gray Baskerville at HOT ROD Magazine. Gray introduced Pete to Jim ‘Jake’ Jacobs as they were both bucking the resto-rod style that was popular at the time. Gray put what became ‘The California Kid’ and Jake’s Coupe on the cover of the November 1973 issue of Rod & Custom and, suddenly, Pete and Jake were in business. Soon thereafter, they got a call from Batman producer Howie Horowitz looking for a car for his TV movie ‘The California Kid.’ The show put Pete's coupe in households all across America and ultimately inspired Cal’ Kid clones to be built all around the world.
Hot rod trends seem to shift every ten years. A decade after The California Kid, Pete & Jake’s launched the ‘Fat Attack’ with Pete’s purple flamed ’39 Ford convertible. Hot rodding the post-WW II, so-called, ‘fat fendered’ car, was nothing new but Chapouris’s marketing strategy once again jump-started the industry.
In 1986, Pete & Jake’s was sold and Chapouris went to work at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) as VP marketing. He brought personality, pizzazz and more importantly enthusiasm and passion for hot rods of all kinds. He helped initiate programs that are still in place today. He was inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame in 1999.
From SEMA it was ‘up the hill’ to Crestline, California, where he built a huge shop that turned out numerous significant hot rods including Limefire, the restoration of the Pierson Brother’s Coupe and the Doane Spencer Roadster, HogZZilla for Billy F Gibbons of ZZ Top and, fortuitously, the So-Cal Belly Tank Lakester for collector Bruce Meyer.
Being so far removed from the action didn’t work for Pete and in 1995 he moved back to Los Angeles and opened PC3g in Pomona. It was a struggle, even to pronounce, and Pete didn’t know what to do. Then, one night, an epiphany-resurrect the So-Cal Speed Shop name and brand. He made the call to So-Cal founder Alex Xydias who had been canny enough to protect the name since closing shop in 1963. So, in November 1997, SO-CAL (now in caps) was back in business. This was all good timing, as the hobby was beginning to tire of Boyd Coddington’s smooth look and Pete’s New Traditionalist approach was about to became the next big thing.
Surrounded by his old cohorts, SO-CAL turned out some important and ground breaking cars: the restoration of the Bob McGee Roadster, Kopperhead for Billy Gibbons, the Duffy Livingston Eliminator restoration and, of course, the iconic red and white scalloped SO-CAL Roadster. It would be cloned around the world, just as the California Kid had been decades earlier.
Pete’s innate skill at being in the right place and doing the right thing made him a hot commodity. The first big job was a Bonneville ZT-T wagon for MG Rover. It would go on to run 225 mph and return SO-CAL to its lakes racing roots. Peter Stevens, chief designer at MG Rover and designer of the McLaren F1 said of Chapouris, “Such a fine guy, great eye for line, form and detail.”
One of Chapouris’s proudest moments came when he worked with Mark Reuss and Al Oppenheiser on the GM Bonneville program-particularly when they wanted all the cars in SO-CAL colors-as had MG. Al said, “I was lucky to be able to call Pete my friend, and thankful for every memory I had with him. Together, we set 9 World Speed records in 5 years!”
Regardless of all the project cars, Chapouris's enduring passion was to help young people find a place in life and discover their talents. In 2010 Chapouris became instrumental in the birth of the Alex Xydias Center for Automotive Arts (AXC) at Fairplex, Pomona. AXC’s goal is to help young people ( primarily high-school students ) prepare for a career in the automotive industry.
One-time SO-CAL shop manager Shane Weckerly said it best when talking of Pete Chapouris, “He took many young guys under his wing and guided them all toward greatness.”
By Tony Thacker
How on earth can you give this a thumbs down??? Are you mad !, cracking piece of filming, photography and boy what a car !. Many thanks hagerty for cheering my Wednesday up!
I'm jealous that I wasn't around back in those days. Love seeing who and what started the movement of the whole car culture.. That's when men where men!!!
Love this. Great story for bed time. Now I can't sleep.
Great to see Ed Iskenderian ( Isky ) .... he's 96 years young.
HA - and the picture of him standing next to the turtle deck T with multiple carbs. Any idea what the van in the background is? Have a nice day all. CHEERS from AUSTRALIA.
One of the best!!
Wow, I almost didn't watch this... totally changed the way I look at hot rods. Amazing video, thanks!
Amazing video. Makes me unbelievable proud to be able to carry on this traditional and to show my respect to the people before me who made this possible.
Thx guys
What a little HONEY of a car.......thanks for looking after it.
Awesome video! It was extra special to me because I had the opportunity of meeting Ed at Bonneville in 2008 for World of Speed. It was my first time there, and on the morning of the second day at the hotel two guys (even older than me!) come in as we are paying. One was Ed (and if I am not mistaken), the other was Joe Lunati. I had a big solid roller Isky cam in my 62' corvette prior, so Ed I remember for sure! They were both so cool and so down to earth!! When they introduced themselves, I was star struck! Then Ed asked me how it was yesterday (since I was wearing a Bonneville T shirt). To be asked that question by one of the Kings of Bonneville, was unbelievable! It was on my bucket list to let him know what a pleasure to meet him it was, and wrote to his old company, but never heard back. :-( If you read this Ed, It was a highlight of my life!!
That was a great short film, I thoroughly enjoyed it :)
Gotta love a flathead V8 !!! Nothing sounds like them.
Great car great story great video 👍
Simply one of the most beautiful cars of ANY style ever . Superb film , thanks !
Great story. The car is so smooth it almost looks like a glass body. My next build is definitely going to be a roadster
Awesome video and the history of Hot Rodding!
Awesome Doc. Just like good music we'll never see it's kind again.
That was just awesome to see that 1932 roadster and to hear the story as well so thanks for sharing with all of us.
Fantastic! Thank you for putting together this story.
Excellent!!! So much info and history contained in a small space..........amazing.......thank you!
truly inspiring. Thanks for a well done piece..
Amazing video. I loved every moment of it!
Excellent, just perfect. Thanks.
Excellent video!!! Thank you and please keep at it!!
AWESOME. Thank you for sharing.
one of the best docs ever seen
What a great video! Superb. Thanks Hagerty.
Thank you for putting these magnificent videos together
Wow! that was really fantastic!
Never knew, Iskenderian is a living person !....in the late sixties, and early 70's, hotrods were scarce here, but everyone who could, put an ,aiskiderian' cam, into their cars. Was the ONLY good cam ! Very glad to ,meet' mister Ed and friends, and thankyou, for the GOOD work, that you have done !....you golden oldies !
Very interesting video ! Personally I had never heard of this car but as i watched the video I realized I had seen it many times through the years . Beautiful piece of our history !
Hot Rod history.....love it!
best episode yet so glad he kept the Flathead in it.
Thank you for this video!
Great video! Hotrodding is in my blood. Glad to get inspiration again.
hats off, beautiful, truly American and unique, love hot rods! This was amazing to watch. I live in California and I see these from time to time, either replicas or the real genuine car.
this was good fun to watch! well done!
Historic icon car which lives forever, thank you for sharing this amazing and wonderful video. A lot of remarkable information to learn and to share.👍🏻👍🏻
Thanks for restoring it with Henry's ORIGINAL Hot Rodding Motor !!
Great show! Hagerty is really stepping up their game with video content this year. Bravo!
A car lovers dream that never goes away . A old man stays young as his car .
Love you guys.
Very good story, great car and quality video production!
Outstanding History God bless American Hot Rods
Ditto, Roman Avila
Awesome video and the history of Hot Rodding!
Avesome video thanks! My favourite "carshape" is the hot rod. But here in Europe (Hungary) the rules are very strict. No way to use on highway a car with openair wheels, without windscreen, and many else.
That '40-s, '50-s and '60-s was fantastic in USA. The guys was inventing, modifiing, "racing" instead of playing with computer games.
My grandfather went to USA at '56. He sent home a picture. He helped for a photomaker and that man had a hot road. My grandpa is sitting in that car on the picture.
He wrote a lot about its sound, power, etc, and he told young guys can buy that cars.
In Hungary, after the WW2 we fall in to the soviet era. In the '50-s we needed passport from city to city, and we must not have own car. This rule changed in 1970. We used some FIAT 500 with 18 horsepower or something similar, but maximum 50 hp car. The average was 1-2 cars/village. An USA car was 150-200-300 hp at this time.
In the '50-s the USA guy built his hot rod, while the hungarian same aged guy did his overtime for buy a bicycle.
This hot rod "thing" is a big USA idea what loveble from everywhere around the world. Many of hungarians build hot rods and they allowed to sit in only at their garage. The cops hunt them.
The life is short! If you allowed to hot roading at your country, enjoy as lot as possible. Car is the best hobby I think :)
Excellent!
excellent documentary
Thanks for sharing. 👍
Awesome guys. Outstanding video!
Quite a lovely film.
Great video!!
my fave is a highboy & this vid says it all
I actually cried..
Excellent video. Hotrods forever!
Simply awesome
Beautiful car!
Legends talking about a legend.
I believe " Isky" is now 99 years young !
Hot Rodding keeps you young at heart !
Hot Rod Gang, Hot Rod and Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow just to name a few are the best Movies..
These things are eye candy
Great story,
Beautiful story ❤️
Fantastic!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Very few things in the world are perfect, but the McGee Roadster is perfect.
Nicely done!
Great little video
And I can say one thing for sure is just too cool can't beat the original very nice awesome video love it
Great story, great people, great car!
I like your videos, you guys should post more often
Pretty obvious that the people giving thumbs down didn't watch the video. They just troll RUclips disliking car videos.
Iconic... nothing else needed 😎
Excellent
I was born in '53 in the Bay Area. As a kid i loved hot rods and built plenty of models,orange crate,etc. Back then, hot rod owners did most of their own work, unlike the majority of today's wealthy owners.I miss the sincerity of those times.
Great video
ISKY rules, ah the golden years. i love these videos because i was there.
The Legend!
Muy bueno!
I’m ready to build a rod....
Gear-Head for life!!!
So good to see this car with a flathead back in it. One thing that gets my goad is an old ford with a smallblock chevy in it. Absolute sacrilege.
In a vintage resto yes, it is blasphemy. In a hot rod, anything goes. That's the essence of rodding, bodging together a car out of bits of this and pieces of that.
Oz Media in rat rodding anything goes in hot rodding you stick to the brands performance engines
@@moosemechanic4591 Don't get caught up in the labeling. Hot rods had any engine that was available. There are some standard engines like Olds Rocket and Buick nailheads, etc. engines that were fast by nature, but the sbc came along and was the best engine for a lot of reasons and the Ford bodies didn't have so much wood framing so were the best and most common bodies so that ended up being the most common combination. If hot rodding was in its heyday now, consider what would be the go to stuff.
@Moose Mechanic
I saw my first hot rod in 1958. It was on my eighth birthday. It was a local guy, Steve, showing off his 28 Ford Roadster, painted with black stovepipe paint, open engine showing off a 4 banger with a homemade intake and 2 carburetors. As the years went by, the Ford evolved into a more finished product, but was still being constantly changed thanks to the mean winters we had. As a high school student, I was always anxious to see how the Roadster would look in the spring. One winter change I remember was the "new" Ford 292 straight 6 cylinder engine replacing the 4 banger. A later winter change was a Mercury flathead, both installed by Steve in his unheated garage.
I was drafted in 1969, went on active duty in 1970, and spent the next several years doing the bidding of Uncle Sam. I was released from active duty in the summer of 1976 and drove home in my own hot rod, a 1964 Chevy Impala. I saw the Roadster at McDonald's and went in to renew my aquantence with Steve. He was sitting with his daughter who sported grease residue halfway up her arms. Steve had given the Roadster to her. She recited all the changes she had made at the high school auto shop, including a 327 Chevy backed by an automatic transmission.
After all the auld lang sine, I come to my point. In hot rodding, parts is parts, style is style, and generations see things differently. You build what you've got as you want it or as you like it. The only rule is build it safe or keep it in the garage.
@@georgeboyer8158 Yeah, you had to be there. For some of us it was more than just what people think it was. I grew up in a small town and had a mentor with a Model A coupe, mostly stock. I helped him in a garage with parts hung on the wall and an old tube console radio right out of the thrties next to the wall. That was 1970. Last year I stopped in to see his widow and she asked if I'd like to see the garage. Everything was just as he'd left it when he die in '75. Coupe on blocks and the walls still lined with head gaskets and other incidental parts. I went right back to feeling like that kid discovering the world through the smells and sounds and shaped metal that was not just a car. And it was a car in addition to that.
Did any part of this business enter anything in to the 2017 harvest festival in Oregon? Cuz i seen a car that had your logo on it ?
McGee family knows how to build them Hot Rods
Best hot rod video I have seen to date. Negative aspects were handled well and no bragging about who is better then everyone else. There might be more to say but using this roadster makes up for that.
But at the same time it now resembles the original car at what period of it's life?
Great story say no more !
The car couldn't be in better hands.
He's right - all of us in the hobby who own a historic vehicle of any type are stewards first.
How does this only have 100k views in 2019?
A long to own an old skool hotrod like this!!!!
Very nice, very traditional, but I'll take mine channeled with early Hemi power, like the AMT model kit many of us built in the 60s.
The Great American Automotive Culture!
A truly beautiful roadster, I can't decide which roadster I like better,the McGee roadster or the Doane Spencer roadster..hell I'll take both!
In case you (or anyone else for that matter) is unaware, Bruce is the owner/custodian for both the McGee car and the Doane Spencer hot rod.
When I built my roadster it was based around the Doane Spencer car, but with my take on it. I sold it back in 2001, due to ill health & literally cried whilst I watched it drive away. Six years of hard work, gone in a moment. Last I heard it was somewhere in Europe, hopefully being loved and cared for. Thanks to the guys who brought the wonderful world of Hot Rodding into my life. You made a now old man, very happy.
Geof H (UK).
now these are my kind of cars
Love Hot Rods. But I'm a Kustoms person. Like to see a doc on that. Since I'm house lock down. My 58's at my Buds house. And can't work on it at the moment.
America 's car. Period
Definitely need a detailed die cast of the mcgee roadster in my collection or atleast a model kit.. Very nice most certainly the Ferrari of American hot rods
'32 roadster, timeless style
Nothing more elemental than a 32 roadster, one day.......
Xtra,!!
McGoo is the correct name. I saw this car in his shop in 1989