Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2023 i NZ Hot Rod

BILLED as the world's greatest indoor hot rod show, this year's show filled downtown Detroit's Huntington Place convention centre with 900 hot rods, customs, muscle cars, trucks, race cars, bikes, and trade displays. The number of vehicles on display was not surprising since Detroit was the home of auto manufacturing in the US until the 1980s. Earlier in the century, Detroit was the wealthiest city in the USA on the back of the car industry, and there remains a very strong car culture in the city to this day. In the ‘60s and early ‘70s, those that gathered at night time on Woodward Ave were known as “the American Automotive Testing Society” in reference to the no holds barred street racing scene of the day. Woodward was the street where…

PUT your foot down - and lead a new life. This was the sales pitch for Buick cars in the ‘50s. Buick also wanted to address all Buick dealerships across the USA, so they put “Hometown Buick” on all renderings. It symbolises that a good Buick home can be anywhere - and any place can be a good home with a Buick. Laurie and Sheryl Parnwell have a good home and one of the nicest Buicks you will come across. They both lead a new life. It is this 1955 Buick Super Riviera 2 Door Hard Top. But, still part of his previous life and very much part of today's also, Laurie's stunning 1930 Hupmobile Coupe hot rod powered by a 350 Chev & supercharged. It is often driven by…

GISBORNE'S Surf City Rod & Custom Club need no introduction to organising neat events. Their two-day charity show over King's Birthday weekend in June was no exception. Supporting the Riding for the Disabled, over $2000 was raised, said Jono Hall, Surf City resident, who was also thankful for the support from Freedom Riders Motorcycles, Union Jack Motor Cycles, Gisborne Classic Motor Cycles and also the American Car Club. Talk about having a great relationship with fellow clubs - well done. Word on the street is that Surf City are doing the 2025 NZHRA Street Rod Nats, so stay tuned. These guys run a great biennial run and also ran 2000 Street Rod Nats with great success.…

THE random uncertainty of the future is truly amazing, especially when people, places and events seem to appear from nowhere and lead to positive experiences and outcomes. Those of us who've been around for a while recognise these random gold nuggets as valuable milestones on our journey and have come to appreciate the term, ‘expect the unexpected.’ That's precisely how this 1961 Chrysler Newport came to be. Avid Kiwi hot rodder and collector Dave Tuke was visiting the Grand National Roadster Show back in 2018 and was meandering through the cars on display in the Suede Palace when out of the blue, he came across a stunning ‘61 Chrysler Newport. It'd been completed by automotive designer/artist and fabricator Max Grundy as a semi-custom. It'd been lowered, painted in metallic blue,…

THE story all started over a few beers one night with my good friend Mark Wilkin in early 2017 regarding attending Deuce Days 2019 on Vancouver Island, Canada. The suggestion was made ‘Why not take our cars to the event?” The Harley boys have been taking their bikes to Sturgis from New Zealand for decades. Before the second bottle was finished, a plan was “hatched.” A strong effort was made to get our ‘32 5-window finished to take to the event, but as the event was getting closer, it became apparent that this car would not be completed in time. Luckily there was a ‘plan B’ This plan involved purchasing a 1932 Ford in the States, take it to the event, and then tour around Canada and America, then sell…

Pete ‘Builda’ Rees 10 Dec 1955 -- 21 May 2023 PETE Rees, better known as Builda due to his trade, got into hot rodding by building a ‘49 Chevy with 6-cylinder Holden power, joining Tornadoes Rod Club in his hometown Timaru. The ol’ Chevy painted peach with a matching caravan went like the proverbial clappers and epitomised Builda's philosophy of minimal investment and maximum fun. This was followed by his ‘55 Dodge convertible with the rego plate LOBUCK, which, to Builda's humble amusement, won a string of Top 5 and Top 10 awards at various car shows and rod runs over some big dollar cars. In the mid-noughties, Builda moved to Christchurch, started going out with Liz, joined Garden City Rodders and became a regular at The Garage. A lifetime…

Red Hot GOING back to the eighties, Ash had already built a 1938 Chevrolet coupe; then, the family came along. So the next one he put together was a Deuce Farm (his brother's company) 1932 Ford 3-window coupe. This fully ‘glass car was a stunner and was finished around 2005. Both were built with a lot of help from his big brother Steve, who, of course, produced the 3-window body. Ash finally decided to have a go at a full build where the majority of the car was built himself in a 10’ by 9’ “no-hoist” shed at home. 1936 Fords have always appealed to him with their excellent design lines, eventually deciding that a cabriolet would be the answer, with proper wind-up windows. This would be more suitable for…

IT was in 2019 at the Grand National Roadster Show when I had the good fortune to meet Jim “Jake” Jacobs. His fun with Model As since the sixties had inspired my own Model A fun, and naturally, we hit it off. You wouldn't know it at all speaking to him, but Jake is hot rod royalty in the greatest way but also totally humble in the purest sense. His nononsense approach to life sees him enjoying things in the most fun and genuine way possible. Getting to know him in recent years, I admire the man; he is as real as they get and has absolutely no ego – he lets his work speak for itself and what a body of work he has done in his very full…

Gary Timms is no stranger to hot rodding, having cut his teeth way back in 1976 when he acquired his first car, which was a 1936 Ford V8 sedan. Even before then, when in his younger days when he was starting his apprenticeship as an engineer, he'd often ride his motorbike past the Mahora Gas Station in Hawke's Bay where the well-known local hot rodders, the Morris brothers, had their ‘32 Ford 3-window coupe and sedan. The brothers eventually sold the Deuces and bought an orange 1936 Ford V8 sedan, and it was that car which sowed the seed in Gary's mind and locked him into a love of early Fords. To slake his thirst for high performance, he'd attend the local street sprints, then when Thunder Park drag strip…

THEY say hindsight is 20/20 vision, and when we look back at our roots, that's certainly the case. Henry Ford and his team of engineers trailblazed and broke new ground when they introduced the revolutionary 1932 Ford. It was a new concept in all aspects and a leap ahead of the previous Model A. The Deuce featured a new chassis with a longer wheelbase. All new drivetrain with the first V8 in the low-cost field, a new transmission and 13 new body styles. Those roots have proven to be the foundation for thousands of hot rods with creative iterations of everybody's style, fitted with all manner of engines, transmissions, rear ends paint jobs and interiors. For ninety years, the Deuce has struck a deep emotional chord by providing basic transportation,…

TOWARDS the end of 2022, I received a message via Instagram from Peter Ingram in Australia inviting me as the Kiwi Guest of Honour for the 2023 ASRF Street Rod Nationals in Hawkesbury, just out of Sydney. I was a bit taken aback by this out-of-the-blue invite, but I graciously accepted it and didn't think too much more of it. To be honest, I hadn't done a lot of hot rodding in Australia, always opting to go further to the USA. I would be joined by Matt Murray of Iron Trap Garage in the USA; we would both have trade booths, assist with judging the Top 25 cars and also select our own picks. Australia has always been unique with its hot rod style mainly due to their own unique…

THIS year, the event could have been renamed “Rust and Mud” as there was no dust in sight, just a very damp paddock. In the lead-up to the event, a huge amount of rain had fallen. Hard to believe this is the 6th year Ben Winter and his faithful buddies have organised this great event. We are also very lucky to include now a practice event on the Friday afternoon of MCM. The ground conditions certainly tested out driving skills with some interesting results. Around 30 cars competed, 100 or so watchers, and Tracey's food van made the day. The not ‘old ones’ stayed overnight to the sounds of “Sign of the Firebird” To keep the unwanted people out, the event is ‘invite only’ and harks back to simpler times.…

Ramification BACK in 1960, one of the classiest, sexiest new cars available was the Chrysler 300F, which had a 375hp 413 cube V8, a 3-speed Torqueflite auto, 6-way power swivel bucket seats (4 of them), a full-length centre console, power steer, power brakes, power windows, and a 150 mph speedometer. Standard equipment on the ‘60 Chrysler 300F (and the ‘61 300G) was the most outlandish cross-ram manifold with twin Carter AFB 4-barrel carbs on 30-inch long intakes like a pair of outstretched monkey's arms, with the carb hanging over the left bank feeding the right bank, and vice versa. Many Mopar enthusiasts at the time referred to this manifold as the long ram, and the whole set-up was about the size of a village. It gave gobs of low-end torque…