Hot Rods Vulcans Vicky Never Lost? Update 2025

Hey dreracecar, The next time you run across the guy with the carbs ask him what he know about the history between the Hot Rod article in '61 and the time it came to Oregon in the early '70's. What was the association between Maillard & the Vulcans? When did they sell it to Freeman?

 

I always figured the body probably wound up being built into a street rod. I can't say it's current condition is something get excited over.
Not every cool old car gets treated with respect.

 

stude_trucks, when is the last time you seen a Vicky body for sale. A POS, rusted, beat to crap refugee from the scrap yard is worth 25K. this body has the provenance and history which is imposible to replace let alone put a value on.

 

I sold mine for a quarter of that two years ago. Hope the carbs and intake from the Vulcan car can be reunited some day and restored.

 

Favorite car of all time.

 

I bought my 32 ford victoria body two years ago and my dads friend came over to look at something and seen my vicky body setting in the shop and sayed that looks familiar. A couple days later stops by with pictures of the same body but was a complete car he bought and sold in 1969. It is unchanged since he bought it in 1969 except no frame. Funny how some things are.

 

I am not into Vickys myself, so not too sure how much they are worth. But I do know what $25K worth of work is and like I said, might just be better off starting from something else. As far as I can tell, not much clear proof that is the original car and if it is, not much original left of it. So, until it is clearly proven, it is a Vicky that may be expensive as you say, but not necessarily worth a premium for its history, most of which is now gone regardless. At a certain point of missing and altered parts, it just becomes what is left of another Vicky as rare as they may be anyway

Can the guy who might have the original frame and maybe motor/trans. if they are ever found also claim he has the original car and then there could be (2) original cars?

Despite what it may or may not be worth, all I am saying is it doesn't appear that there is that much left of the actual original car and certainly not much that would readily indicate that.

Honestly, I hope it is the original car and that somebody puts the time and cash into redoing it back to the way it was which was killer. It's current state definitely doesn't do the car any justice to what may have been the original car.

 

Hi, I know an old timer here in Phoenix named Roy that says he worked at Lyons in the 60's and ran around with a bunch of the Long Beach crowd. He swears the Vulcans Vicky was parted out and the body ended up in a salvage yard in Long Beach. He spotted it and told them he would like to buy it. By the time he returned with the money it had already been crushed and thrown on the pile. I hope this isn't really the case, but he seems to know his stuff and came from that area. Also, it was the 60's, so maybe his memory is a little foggy too. I just thought I'd add what info I had to the mystery.

 

All I can say is that for most of us who read Hot Rod and the other rod magazines back when that car was being run on a regular basis it is one of the few that really sticks in your mind.
Good to see that it still exists but if the rest of the original pieces don't exist, putting what's there back to look like it did in the magazine feature would pretty well just be building another clone and not having the real car. "Here is the recently restored Vulcan's Vicky, we think the body is original, the frame is new, the engine block and heads are new, and all the other pieces almost look like what we remember were on the car but it's still the restored Vulcan's Vicky".
<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">

 

Redo 32 can you go back and check under the cowl to see if its been patched? maybe take a picture to satisfy the non bellievers.
I for one hope this is the car.....I love treasure hunts.

 

naw but a pork pie hat a white suit and a bow tie would look swell

 

I agree with everything Stude truck said in post 38. As of right now, i'm very skeptical leaning towards this isn't it. I need more proof, like others said if we can have an undershot of the cowl, that might help convice me.

 

Im sure that there would be more identifying components or clues to this cars history than just a patch on the cowl. we havnt even seen an inside picture yet. dash, upholstery, rollbar, maybe purple overspray.
imagine finding a '32 ford that was featured in hotrod mag. in its heyday....can't be to many left.
Im sure that anyone involved with it back than would be able to positively Identify it.

 

Got some of my old Hot Rod mags out of the attic & found this pic in Aug 1958. Before the whirlybird carbs it looks like 4 "97's". Note the stock cowel vent for an air scoop.

 

These pictures are from the Jan,1961 Hot Rod article. Note the caption saying the club had invested $5200. That was a lot of money. Also note the car was sponsored by Joe Mailliard, ( I saw a picture of a '34 coupe he campaigned 10 years earlier) and the club sponsor was Al Freeman. You may recall my post about Gordy buying the car from Freeman for $100. This is the first evidence I have found of Freeman's involvement with the car.

 

bttt

 

I watched that car many nights at LION's
Hope it's the one

 

Me too, remember it very well, while the HRM article says they ran 116, I think that it ran in the 130s, not bad for a heavy car on gas...the dark purple paint was what stood out, (really looked great at night) but the workmanship was also first class...I too would love to see it restored, if the manifold and carbs are still around, that would make it easier.

 

I hate to hound you, but any chance of getting more detailed pictures of the car redo? Maybe doors or quarter window openings from inside for rivet or screw holes, underside of the rear of the body as the original looks to have a rolled rear pan, and of coarse detailed pictures of the underside of the cowl from the firewall flange to the dash on the passenger side along with any trace of color remaining on the car or anything else that looks modified. My curiosity is getting the best of me.

 

Don't know when I'll get a chance to get more pictures. If I win the lottery I'll go up with a huge bag of money.

 

here's the only color picture I've seen

 

What was the high price he blew him out of the water with. Even if you can`t buy it, you may be able to help validate it with more pics. Lots of guys on here seem interested. You were interested enough to post, go get some more info. If I found any old drag car, I`d want to know all I could, let alone one this famous.

 

my dad was Al Freeman and I don't remember him buying it. But i would like to one of the guys that was in the club. I've made a internet site for the Vulcans! Its vulcanscarclub.ne1.net, I also put it on facebook at vulcan carclub it anyone has info on members or pictures please let me know my email is nvfatman@charter.net
Al Jr.

 

Good taste in cars is logical.................!

CRUISER

 

I've talked to a few of the old vulcans and they didn't believe that the car was the orginal, but they are remaking the 32 vic with the original tubes and carbs.
Talked quite a while with some of the guys and it was great talking about the club and lions drag strip. The Vulcans helped get lions drags going. Will be adding more pictures to the site. They are going to send a alot of them i hope.

Al Freeman Jr.

 

Bill Workman of Long Beach, CA has built a Vulcan's Vicky. It is exact in every detail (except the necessary upgrades to meet NHRA tract safety rules). He has spent a ton of money to insure it's just like the Vicky of old. It can be seen on Facebook at Vulcans CarClub.

I believe the unveiling of the car is now planned at Famosa Raceway at the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion in October 2011.

Check out the great job Bill has done.

 

Wow-this is really cool!!

 

Thanks Arlin,
It was the most beautiful experience I have had since I married and we had children. The showing of the "Vulcan's Vicky" at the NHRA Hotrod Reunion on October 21 was so great. The Vicky was an exact copy of the original remade by Bill Workman of Long Beach, CA. Bill says his plans are to have a 500 c.i. Chrysler that will replace the 392 and race in the 9 second Nostalgia class. This car has been built with so much love and to exact perfection. If you have the opportunity to see the car up close, you will see a car that the craftmanship is to quality detail. Past construction pictures were nice but the finished product puts the Vicky way over the top. Thanks Bill for a wonderful job. I hope your chest is sticking way out on the job you have done.

Jack Schmid and all the Vulcan's.

 

To continue the saga. Sometime after this thread appeared I recieved a phone call from a guy affiliated with the Lions Automotive Museum and or the Vulcans. They were interested in aquiring the car and I agreed to contact Gordy about selling the Vicky. I drove up Fall Creek to his house and found he had moved to Arizona. The lady living there had no fowarding information but did remember a friend in town that might have info. All I found was an address in the middle of the desert which I passed on to the gentleman. I wished I had saved my notes. He told me they would let me know if they were able to buy it. Of course I never heard anything and often wondered if crazy Gordy would let it go.

I attended GNRS 2025 and made time to drive down to The Lions Automotive Museum. Glad I did. When I asked the docent about the Vulcan Vicky, he said we got that. I said not the recreation! He said, No. The one we went to Arizona to get.