Dick Megugorac

Richard Megugorac (5 February 1928 – 13 January 2016), commonly called "Dick" and frequently known simply by his nickname, "Magoo", was an American land speed racer and customizer.

History

Megugorac was born in Santa Monica, California.[1]

In his early teens, He began working on cars, even before he got his dirver's licence, joining the Low Flyers Racing Club, whose members included Stu Hilborn, Jack Engle (later famous for making camshafts), George Barris, and Jack McGrath.[1][2]

He spent 18 months with the American occupation forces in Japan after World War Two, as a mechanic’s instructor, then came back to the US, settling in Los Angeles and setting up a garage.[1][2] He would be aided by his (later) wife, Lois, who did upholstery work.[1]

In the 1960s, Magoo and brother-in-law Carl Riggen co-founded Riggen Slot Cars to capitalize on the fad at the time; the company become one of the most successful makers of slot cars.[1][2]

In the 1960s, he opened Magoo’s Street Rods in Canoga Park, California, and built "some of rodding's most prominent hot rods".[1] He built a number of entries for the Grand National Roadster Show at Oakland, including the winning car of the 1979 AMBR trophy: known as Deucari, and built for Brian Burnett, it was a highboy Deuce powered by a Ferrari V-12.[1][2] It is still running.[1]

It was Megugorac who up and provided the first-ever Goodguys Giveaway car, another trademark ’29 roadster, awarded in 1987.[1]

Unusually among customizers, Megugorac did (almost) everything: chassis fabrication, engine building, body work, and custom paint; he left upholstery to his wife.[1]

Megugorac famously had an eye for getting details just right, and a reputation for building cars that were "bulletproof" on reliability: no "trailer queens", they could be driven anywhere.[1] Even "Lil' John" Buttera said, if he wanted a custom car to actually drive, he would go to Megugorac.[1]

Many of Megugorac's project cars were featured in major magazines, including Hot Rod, Rod & Custom, Street Rodder, and others.[1]

Megugorac was named to Darryl Starbird’s National Rod & Custom Hall of Fame.[1]

Among his admirers, and a longtime friend, was Tom Medley, who created Stroker McGurk, whose drove a signature ’29 highboy roadster. "Magoo builds really bitchin' '29s," Medley once said. "Stroker would have approved!"[1]

Megugorac died in Phoenix, Arizona. He was 87.

Private life

In Los Angeles in the 1940s, he met his wife, Lois Riggen (Carl's sister); they would stay together 40 years.[1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Medley, Gary (31 December 2017). "Dick Magoo Megugorac – Hot Rodding's Quiet Genius". Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Brian Brennan (13 January 2016). "Richard "Magoo" Megugorac Hot Rodding Pioneer Passes". Hot Rod network.
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