Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2023 i NZ Hot Rod

THE Nitro Revival at Irwindale Speedway in Los Angeles was held the weekend straight after SEMA in Las Vegas which is great timing for tourists from down under to pack another event in before flying home. Irwindale Speedway is only 35 minutes from LAX and about the same distance from Anaheim so you have a wide range of accommodation options and not forgetting the likes of Pasadena which is only about 15 minutes away. The line-up of cars was impressive to say the least. 68 Cackle cars and 40 Gassers. Just as impressive was how far some Cackle cars travelled to the event. A quick skim through the entry list shows that cars came from Kentucky, Virginia, Minnesota and even Calgary up in Canada. Calgary seems a long way but…

WHEN North West Deuce Days closed in 2019 and A1 Clark announced he would no longer be organising the event, there was an air of uncertainty felt amongst participants and attendees in the following months. The questions that hung in the air were, would there ever be another North West Deuce Days? And if so, where would it be held and who would organise it? As can be imagined, rumours were floating around for a while until early 2021 an announcement was made that there definitely would be a 2022 event. Destination Greater Victoria under the leadership of a talented young metal fabricator, Jay Donovan, would run it with A1 Clark’s help. Right away, social media outlets lit up like bright light bulbs with the news, and when registration opened…

THE all-steel 1934 Ford 3-window coupe was imported into Victoria, Australia, by Robert Miller way back in 1978. He also imported a 1934 Ford Pickup to use as a promotional vehicle for his business. The coupe remained right-hand drive as it was for private use. In 1981 Robert decided to modify the coupe and wanted to keep it LHD as the big picture was to ship it back to America on their retirement, attend several events, and then sell it over there. In 2003 Robert went to SEMA in America and bought all the latest parts, including the newly released Super Bell forged alloy dropped axle. This car had stringent rules to follow to meet all Australian design federation requirements. The original certification of this car was done by a…

FOR many reasons, it took until 2022 for me to get around to attending a SEMA show. And when you thought you were familiar with the scale of events in America, SEMA is just on another level. The statistics state that the Las Vegas Convention Centre covers 4.6 million square feet of interior exhibit space, which equates to 105 acres. That’s 20 acres larger than the entire National Field Days site at Mystery Creek. And that doesn’t include the outside displays nor event stadiums which are another 2.2 million square feet or 50 acres. I was one of 3,300 accredited media, and attendees came from 140 different countries. There was a dedicated media room about the size of an Auckland Airport departure lounge with offices that you could pre-book or…

DAVE Rose’s passion for cars runs long and deep. His very first car was a ’36 Austin 7 and being a tiger for punishment also bought a ’35 version of the same car which he owned simultaneously. The Austins were daily drivers, which were soon despatched in favour of a ’51 Ford Prefect. Dave wasted no time planning the head for more compression and adding a twin carb setup. Next up was a Morry thou’, which was bought from a dealer but the car was built by Hawkes Bay drag racer Butch Reid. Butch also built Dr Zhivago, a drag racing Ford Anglia that featured as NZHRM’s Sept ’71 cover car. The Morry thou’ had a hotted 998cc engine. After selling it, Dave bought an Austin A40 Farina and then…

IT WAS heartening to see a large turnout for this meeting and to witness the underlying feeling of camaraderie amongst the racers. There was no doubt that many of the hundreds of spectators were also there in memory of Craig Smith, Alec Divers and Kerry Stevens. The combination of a sunny day, a meeting with purpose and feature entrants ensured Southern Dragways put together a worthy tribute day of remembrance.…

The great thing about old age is that after you have been a teenager, you then get to download bulk knowledge, learn stuff, become better off and can afford to have a shed full of cool cars! Dave started off in his younger years tinkering with British cars but, after a short while, did move onto American-origin vehicles. He’s a member of the Conrodders in Dunedin, and his shed is full of variety. The styles vary from a finished retro hot rod like the one featured some very good original cars like a ’34 Chevrolet coupe, a perfect 1934 Plymouth coupe, a lovely Model T beach racer and even an authentic rat rod amongst cool stuff hanging from all the walls. All the boxes are ticked. Dave and Marie are…

Orange Headers CHECK out these orange headers on the original Yoshioka & Graf Stone Model T AA/Fuel Altered. That certainly takes you back to 1971 when it ran a best of 7.06 at 205mph’… although early photos don’t show orange headers. Someone is bound to copy this idea here in NZ in time for this year’s Nostalgia Drags. From Bruce Taylor. No Pressure! Oil pressure gauges seem to be always mounted on the top of a 392 Hemi block using a threaded copper tube. You would think that with the vibration and movement in a blown Chrysler Hemi, using something more flexible would be prudent. From Bruce Taylor. Lunar Travel STU Goldsworthy showed his new attempt at lunar travel at the Beach Hop. It has been a while since a…

ROCKET Speed Equipment has etched a name in the New Zealand hot rod and custom car industry for building quality vehicles across several genres. Led by Dan Tyler, the Rocket story was built from an interest in traditional hot rods, and that interest is still strong today. However, over the years, Rocket has also successfully built modernthemed hot rods, American & Australian classics and street machines and also dabbled with race cars and a few Japanese vehicles. Dan’s success across the board is due to his no-nonsense attitude backed by the talent of not only himself but also the team at Rocket. Each year leading up to Christmas, Rocket has opened the doors to showcase current projects, recently completed cars and past customers’ cars. The annual Rocket Open Day is…

HELD in January each year for the past 20-plus years and hosted by the Scenic City R&CC, the popular All American Car Day in 2022 fell victim to being cancelled due to Health & Safety Policy implemented by the NP District Council. Usually, this NZHRA Zone 5-sanctioned event is held at the TSB Stadium Car Park, which is an NPDC facility. So, as things transpired, the Scenic City AACD organising committee decided to go “indoors”, and with a few changes, it became the All-American Car Display. It was held on 18th December at the East End Skating Rink indoor venue. With many local firms supporting the event in various sponsorship packages, the “PIREX & USA Speciality Products All American Car Display” opened its doors on Saturday afternoon for entrants to…

CLASSIC COVER DEUCE Days 5 was centred in the art deco capital of the world, Napier. What an appropriate venue to celebrate the 90th anniversary of such an important car to hot rodding worldwide, the ’32 Ford. In his welcome pack notes, event organiser Magoo said thanks for coming, drive safe, and most importantly, have fun. This pretty much summed up the laid-back atmosphere of the weekend. After the dust had settled at the end of it all, the opinion was unanimous; we all had a heap of fun enjoying great cars, company, and the stunning summer scenery of the Hawkes Bay. Amongst the 116 cars that entered, there was something for everyone: coupes, roadsters, sedans, and trucks. Some were show quality, others not so much. No matter, they were…

REMEMBER the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, how hot rodding had a new injection of fun? Young guys were looking back into our rich history to create fun traditional hot rods with parts that weren’t worth much to anyone anymore. These young guys soaked up all the information from the surviving old timers, read the old magazines and pre the internet boom; they scoured swap meets for original Ford parts. Included in this all was the culture, from the music and clothing to car clubs. The Shifters of Southern California was one of the first of those “new” clubs catering for the real deal traditional hot rodding. In essence, the Shifters and other similar clubs stemmed from a bunch of like-minded guys doing similar things. This new wave of hot…