To say the Deuce is the quintessential street rod is an understatement—the 1932 Ford is essentially what the street rodding industry was built upon. But in the same breath they've been done to death to go any further in attempt to do what no one before has done, well, you're no longer building a Deuce.

Ultimately, building a better Deuce doesn't equate to building a different Deuce. Nobody knows that better than Alan Johnson who, along with his talented crew at Johnson's Hot Rod Shop (JHRS), has built Deuces a plenty over the past quarter-century since he's been in the business. Despite what I just said about building something different, you could actually credit Johnson/JHRS for setting the bar on just how far you can go on a 1932 Ford with Doug Cooper's stunning B400 "Deucenberg." Along with Cooper, Johnson's also had a long-standing relationship with George Poteet, and their latest collaboration of mind and metal just happens to be the epitome of building a better Deuce—our Triple Crown of Rodding's Best Street Rod: George Poteet's 1932 Ford Tudor.

From the first glance, George's sedan is all that, but there's much, much more than meets the eye—the kind of "more" that sets one apart from the rest (thus the Triple Crown honors), and it all starts with one of the most crucial components: stance. As Johnson explained how that came to be, "JHRS designed the 1932 Ford chassis to have the look and details of an original forged, stamped, and riveted-together frame but a regular 1932 frame jig could not be used, as certain dimensions had not been determined until the body had been on and off the frame when figuring out the ratio of how much to section the profile and taper the front of the framerails while deciding on the amount of rear kick-up would be needed to line up the chassis and body proportions for the desired look." That off-jig exercise resulted in an inch being sliced out of the American Stamping 'rails from the cowl rearward, the rear section kicked up twice that amount, and the front pinched accordingly. Additionally, the boxing plates are fashioned in a C-channel form and relieved with a dimple-die to resemble later 1946-1948 Ford center crossmembers. Once the tedious, detail-oriented construction was complete, the frame was set up with a full complement of JHRS' line of suspension components (custom-machined, bright, nickel-plated radius rods and ladder bars, along with a one-off, machined 4130 chromoly I-beam with a 5-inch drop sprung off a Posies SuperSlide transverse leaf and a Winters V-8 quick-change). Steering is comprised of a Schroeder Racing cowl-steer box articulating plated and bead-blasted JHRS linkage. And of course, the opportunity would not be missed to utilize Johnson's Kinmont Safety Stop brakes front and rear, giving the look and feel of the vintage binders they're named after, but giving the actual stop and feel of the Wilwood discs they're cleverly concealing. It may take some of you a minute to really admire them, as the Real Rodders 16- and 18-inch magnesium Halibrand Indy Roadster wheels all dressed in black Coker-Firestone bias rubber are hard to take your eyes off of.

See all 42 photos

Now, while the tried-and-true SBC may be what many expect to find under the hood of the average street-rodded 1932 Ford, there isn't much of anything about George's sedan that can be considered average, and as such, you will find no such thing under the hood. What you do see is a beautiful OHV in the form of a 339ci Ford Y-block built by Keith and Jeff Dorton (Automotive Specialists Racing Engines, Concord, North Carolina) that reportedly puts out over 400 hp and nearly as much torque. Mummert aluminum Y-block heads, early Hilborn-injection retrofit with a FAST XFI system, JHRS hand-fabbed tube headers and exhaust with Borla mufflers, and a Joe Hunt magneto that also received an electronic update all lend a hand in allowing the vintage Ford motor to really hum—regardless what gear its Bowler Performanceprepped TREMEC TKO600 is in. As far as the underhood attire goes, custom-machined components abound, from the T-Bird-esque aluminum valve covers and snorkel-style injector scoops to the beehive remote oil filter/cooler and Miller Indycar fuel bowlinspired brake and clutch cylinder reservoirs. And if that wasn't enough, how about that work-of-art firewall—behind its hand engine-turned and painted fascia is a 1-inch machined structural brace backed by a mirror-imaged interior panel simply amazing.

And that brings us to the more obvious of the refinements—the body, inside and out and some things you may never see that greatly contribute to the overall refinement. For instance, the manner in which Johnson's chopped the top (just a little, not a lot) and raised/forward-rotated the rear wheelwells, combined with the resulting stance from the well thought out chassis design, gives the impression that the body has also been channeled. It has not; the side profile from the beltline to the rockers is still to FoMoCo factory spec. However, the upper cowl has, and the A-pillars behind it have been laid back while the leading edge was moved back an inch before a handmade four-piece hood could be fit to flow with the Tudor's original grille shell (dropped down an inch and a half) with its fully restored gennie insert. Finish-wise, what's not glass, rubber, or been dipped in nickel (by the always-smiling Jon Wright/Custom Chrome Plating) is now coated in PPG Jet Black—everything except for the flush-fit roof insert, that is, which is covered in black fabric. And as for the particular lighting fixtures of choice, Johnson had Greening Auto Company machine a pair of 1934 Ford commercial headlights, while VW oval taillights have been integrated into the rear bellypan.

See all 42 photos

The final chapter concluding this overview of George Poteet's sedan takes us into its beautiful inner sanctum. (So much effort has gone into both the design and execution it would easily fill the entirety of this issue in order to address each and every detail.) First and foremost, just as they did with the intricate yet elaborate skeletal firewall structure, JHRS created an interior endoskeleton handformed out of steel with recesses that accept flush-mounted aluminum panels (the structure ultimately painted gloss black with the paneling contrast-accented in satin). Below, where normally you'd find carpet, the flooring area was created in a true flooring manner: with wood 282 pieces, to be exact, of high-strength/high-density, aircraft-quality ply, laser cut and hand finished in ebony-colored stain. There is some traditional upholstery material that was used, that being the black leather covering the bucket seats (which started out simply as a pair of 1932 Ford seat frames), featuring aluminum backside panels matching the doors and trans tunnel. The dash is out of three-window coupe, as it afforded more legroom—for the machined instrument panel that JHRS first prototyped with a 3-Dprinted model—and the instruments it now houses are literally a work of art. For the gauge development process with Classic Instruments, Johnson enlisted the services of Eric Black (e. Black Design) to digitally pen the setup, which draws inspiration from vintage, handcrafted watches and mechanical Jones Motorola tachometers. The visually bezel-less, '40s aircraft-styled gauges are perfectly fitting, in both senses of the word. JHRS finished up the Tudor's cockpit, as it were, with a one-off stainless pedal assembly that wraps itself nicely around the Schroeder box that's been paired with a straight-shot column tube and one of Johnson's Modern Vintage steering wheels.

See all 42 photos