Print edition: 
Steve McGregor has built his share of beautifully finished streets rods with immaculate paint jobs that he constantly polished and buffed.
"I had a '40 Ford and I went nuts with it. It was a constant source of tension and frustration," said McGregor, who said he was always worried somebody would scratch it or ding it.
"I traded the '40 for this body and some cash and I swore I would never paint another vehicle," he said, showing off the nice patina on his 1929 Ford Tudor hot rod. "I started fixing the little dents in the fenders and I said, 'Hold it, Steve, what are you doing?' I just primered it and I've had nothing but fun with it ever since," he explained.
He figures he and his wife, Colletta, have logged about 30,000 miles on the car since it hit the road 14 years ago. "My insurance lets me drive it one day a week and I try to get it out as often as I can... to drive to work or just to take out and drive," he said.
Brother Rick McGregor painted a logo along the rear beltline of the car that captures its spirit: "In the Rough Is Just Enough!!"
But don't get the idea that this hot rod was just cobbled together. A lot of thought and time went into creating just the right character for the Tudor. "I think you need to pick a theme and then stick with it," says the builder.
The Model A frame, for example, was discarded in favor of a Total Cost Involved set of frame rails kicked up 3 inches in the rear to lower the back of the car; up front a 4-inch dropped axle, also from TCI, provides a nice rake to the stance. It mounts disc brakes, while drums are used for rear stopping power.
The wheel-tire combination is pure retro. "I like a nice deep wheel in the back, so I had the (Ford 9-inch) rear end narrowed and I mini-tubbed it so the tires fit nice under the back fenders," McGregor said. Chrome reversed Wheel Vintiques wheels mount L78x15-inch Coker bias ply wide whitewalls in the rear, with a similar set of 5.60x15's on narrower chrome wheels up front.
For power, there is the proverbial Chevy small block, this one a 350 V-8 with a Comp Cam camshaft, an Edelbrock intake and three Rochester carbs, all breathing through a modified set of headers which can be uncorked or flow back through a cleverly hidden set of pipes to the rear of the car.
"I detailed the hell out of the motor," McGregor said. He smoothed off the Vintage Air air conditioner compressor, which now looks like an early generator at first glance. He was able to route both the A/C and heater lines close to the engine for a cleaner look. That allowed him to run the car without a hood to show off his work.
Inside, he yanked out the behind-the-dash fuel tank and replaced it with a pair of custom plastic gas tanks that mount behind the fender aprons. Under the dash went the remainder of the air conditioning system.
McGregor chose a mid-60s Chevy truck steering column without the ignition switch attached to it and topped it off with a 4-spoke flat steering wheel. A vintage "winged" Stewart-Warner tachometer was added, along with a full set of S-W gauges in a custom dash insert. He built his own super-tall shift lever to control the Turbo 350 automatic, complete with a top-hatted skull shift knob.
"This is like the old Ed Roth stuff," he said, grinning. In fact, the Roth influence shows up on the back of the car, with a "RATFINK" personalized Kansas license plate. "I couldn't believe nobody else had asked for it," said McGregor, who will be able to keep that soon-to-be one-of-a-kind tag designation because he was first in line.
Another nifty period touch is the mini traffic light that hangs in the back window, displaying amber when the car is started, red when the brakes are applied and green when the throttle is used.
A pair of red 1965 Mustang bucket seats sit side-by-side in the passenger compartment. "This is a small car... people must have been tiny back then," McGregor said.
"When you're driving down the road, you have to think that in 1929, some family bought this car and they were so proud of it," he added.
"For me, there's nothing cooler than looking out of the windshield, listening to the pipes cackle and seeing that fan spinning, and you give it a little gas and see that linkage move."
At 81 years of age, this old Ford just keeps delivering miles and miles of smiles.
