Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2025 i NZ Hot Rod

FOR over 55 years, Kelvin Cormack has owned his Ford Coupe; in fact, it was featured in NZHRM almost 50 years ago in the November 1975 issue. The story begins with Kelvin getting an auto electrical apprenticeship at the long-defunct Woolf and Salverson, a huge auto electrical business of the day. Gary Arps was in the parts department. Many well-known hot rodders worked here in the late sixties. Dennis Stanley had just started building the “Lollipop”, his '34 3-window Coupe. Maurice Gaskill also had a chopped and channelled '34 five-window Coupe he was building. Then there was John Milligan with a 1956 Chevrolet and later Len Dunn with a 1936 Ford Pickup. As they all worked for the same company, it wasn't long before Kelvin purchased a 1947 Ford Coupe,…

DEUCE Days 2025, presented by Magoo's Street Rods, looked to have an ominous start as a weather storm swept the country, but that didn't deter the likes of Gerald & Lorraine Ward from driving all the way down from Whangarei to Masterton for the event. Nor Steve Rogan, who single-handedly drove his topless Roadster 885km from Dunedin in the rain the whole way. That man deserves a medal! Speaking of heroes, the T-shirt and impressive plaque with artwork by Craig Robb featured the 3W Coupe of the late Chris Hornblow. Chris attended all Deuce Days (except the very first), even when he was terminally ill and going through chemo during the Deuce 90th anniversary held in Napier. On arrival in Masterton, where registration kicked off with a tour of the…

THE 13th Annual Kiwitown Cruisers Rod Run was held 11-13 April. All functions, daily briefings, and prizegiving were held at the Clubrooms, which are unique as they are centred around a walk-in bail cowshed. The club was ‘gifted” the disused cowshed and yard; over the past three years, an enthusiastic group of club members have done substantial work on the building to make it an ideal clubhouse and venue for holding local and provincial hot rod events. Friday, 11 April, was set aside for entrants to register, and a paddock close by was for entrants to set up tents and caravans within walking distance of the clubrooms. The Kiwitown Club builds itself on a reputation for putting on a low-cost rod run. The entry fee included up to three meals…

I REMEMBER seeing this '40 Ford Tudor at ex-pat Kiwi Steve Curle's Lancaster property a few years back, complete with half a dozen bullet holes. Steve told me that he had just sold it to a young ‘kid' in the North Island. Well, that 16-year-old lad is Louis Redshaw, who lives in the rural sector just out of Palmerston North. It turns out that Steve Curle is a family friend and knows dad Kevin very well. Kevin has a hot rod shop and restoration business called Timeless Autos. Louis had been saving up for his ‘pipe dream' of building his own hot rod. After purchasing the Forty, the next three years were spent collecting and buying precious metal for it - a new gas tank, fancy rocker covers, gauges, etc.…

KENT first purchased this 1968 Dodge Challenger from the internet when he was just 23 years old. The car was found in Tennessee and still drivable. He describes it as a bit of a “mongrel” but fairly staunch, just the same being powered by a tunnel-rammed 440 big block Mopar and coated heavily in matt black paint. It did look cool, but Kent wanted a near-perfect finished car, so this was just a starting point. A ground-up resto was required. The car was soon stripped back to bare metal, ready for a finished paint job. Of course, “all will be revealed,” and it was. It became clear that the main problem was a rear quarter panel was in very bad shape. Kent quickly decided to import both rear quarter panels…

ONE day, Greg Haliday hatched an idea that he needed a '57 Bel Air sport coupe in his barn. Over time, ideas were thrown around, and a plan evolved, centred on a super straight and rust-free original '57 Bel Air sport coupe that had been located in the States by Rex Kelland of Kiwi Classics in Modesto, CA. The plan was for the car to retain the outward appearances of a stock '57 Bel Air sport coupe, but underneath, it would have a new drivetrain, suspension, brakes, and wheels/tyre combo to ensure reliable driving while having enough power to get up and boogie with the best of them on the motorway, all whilst hauling five people in comfort in an upgraded interior. Built-in just nine months by Rocket Speed Equipment,…

THE Ties That Bind - a famous quote from some movie? Or was it the title of a song? Maybe, just maybe, when the surnames Clouston and Mather come up in conversation, two well-known names in hot rodding circles, that has you scratching your brain thinking, “I know those guys, yeah Tom Clouston and David Mather”. Now, their offspring, Tom's son, Craig, and David's daughter, Stacey, are following in their respective fathers' footsteps; they are right into hot rodding since age dot and are a married couple. That is a powerful combination with all that hot rod upbringing; it shows in their respective passion for building and driving hot rods they jointly own. Their '30 Ford A pickup was featured in the November 2024 issue of NZ Hot Rod magazine.…

MANY people have heard of Tony Jeffs; he's a lifelong Ford fanatic. He's especially well known for his escapades with early Ford Galaxies. For decades, he has circuit-raced a 1962 Galaxie in the pre-'65 class and any other event that will let him in. Then there is a well-patina'd '62 Galaxie called ‘Surfie Sam' that took New Zealand by storm, knocking out a bunch of 11-second quarter mile runs complete with a surfboard on the roof. Also in the garage is a genuine R-code 1963 Ford Galaxie, so you get the picture. Tony has amassed a great motorcycle collection and an unhealthy side collection of CA Bedfords! During the pandemic, Tony developed serious health issues, a ‘near-death experience' and suffered for many years. He also has a severe stubborn streak…

BRIGHT sunshine blessed the IHRA Nationals two-day event. Track preparation was fine-tuned and delivered two days of great racing. Michael Franklin's Nitro Hoon from Drunk Goat Racing made three blistering 5.5-second passes, the fastest being a 5.57 pass at 264.3 mph and the fastest car at the Nationals. Results…

The Double Down Saloon IT was in that insomniac's dream, Las Vegas, in 2008. A twenty-strong party of Kiwi hot rodders in two 12-seater vans pulled into The Gun Store for a bit of target practice. Framed photographs in the reception area showed that Arnie's been here. And Ozzy. For the next two hours, a bunch of normally sane Kiwis lived out their Rambo fantasies. I waited outside to guard the vans, with no interest in weaponry and a desire to catch some 105-degree vitamin D. Not a pretty sight but nobody saw me. Nearing the end of the shooting session, I wandered inside to be confronted by Kevin Boler, trigger-happy and holding up his bullet-ridden Bin Laden target poster; Gerald Perkins from Con Rodders Club stroking his Uzi, and…

IN the 1980s, Gary Vanderwall owned a two-acre lot just down the road from Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park, Los Angeles. Gary was a fan of 1940 Fords, so much so that people used to drop off their cars to him in various states, knowing he would accept them. Eventually, he had over one hundred 1940 vehicles on the lot. At some stage, he decided to clear them out but retained twenty. Still, it was a far cry from the 27,919 Deluxe Coupes produced from the Ford Assembly Plant in Chicago. There are some differences between the '40 Deluxe and Standard models, but for all practical purposes, they are the same car with cosmetic differences. The Deluxe model has a three-piece grille with horizontal bars, while the Standard had…

DAVE Best has owned, and still owns some very cool cars. His first modified car was a Ford Pop he built while in the 5th form at Katikati College. He chopped the roof after school, then repowered it with an engine of European origin. Dave painted it, including flames, using an Electrolux vacuum cleaner-powered spray gun. A couple of ‘55 Chevs followed along with an Impala wagon and then Trevor Biggins T-bucket purchased from Terry Card (RIP) in parts. By this time, he was 17 years old, and it was promptly repowered with the engine out of Bruce Grant's (RIP) C/ Altered. After the bucket, along came a ‘38 Ford Sedan with 272 Y-block and 4-speed. Steve Levine purchased the sedan from Dave, and he still owns it. That car…

EARLY in 2008, Doug & Gillian located the 1964 SS Chevrolet Impala in an advertisement in an automotive publication in the Cars for Sale column. When contacting the seller, they found that expat Kiwi Alan Jones owned it. Alan emailed the Hoopers many photos. It was a genuine numbers-matching car and ran a 327 with Powerglide. The motor and transmission were in good working order, and they still have them sitting in one of their several sheds, just in case they want to put the car back to its original matching numbers. The original engines that this Impala model came with were cast in Tonawanda, New York and then sent to the Chevrolet assembly plant in Van Nuys, California, for installation. If we want to talk “rare”. In '64, Impala…

ONE hundred and seventeen competitors fronted for the 2024-2025 racing season's final round for the Competition Series. The quickest qualifier was the Karen & Lindsay Hay '23 Altered with a 6.689-183.45. Karen set the quickest and fastest lap of 6.691-198.40 in eliminations before a red light ended their run in Round 2. Results…

Matamata's Dave Green and his Specialty Cars concern covered everything from bodywork to engines and transmissions. In the years before he retired, Dave was the go-to guy for that very special Chev V8 with EFI and fancy induction, including fuel injection at the top of the list. So, when a certain '56 210 2-door post ex race car became available in the small NorCal town of Hughson, Dave already had his very own special engine ready to fit the bill. Hughson sits inland due east of San Francisco, and the Tri-5 had been parked up in an open-sided carport for the better part of 25 years before rescue and shipping to En Zed. Pants and shirt removal started (body off chassis) immediately back at Green Acres and after a furious…