Innehållsförteckning för December 2023 från Custom Car

It was with great sadness that I heard the news Dave Haskell had passed away. Dave was one of the most colourful characters in the hot rodding scene, and I’m not just talking of his profanities. Born in Leytonstone, Dave was a true East Ender and a man with many strings to his bow. Having built his first hot rod when he was a teenager, he turned his passion for rodding into his occupation, opening his rod shop in 1981. The portfolio he accrued since then is as extensive as it is impressive. Multi-talented Dave was prepared to tackle everything from chassis fabrication through to bodywork and paint. There was no one signature trademark to the cars he built; they were all uniquely individualistic. Every one of them was built…

Experiencing your dad bump the family car could easily be something of an upsetting experience for a 12-year-old. While that may well have been the case for Mark Barrett, his initial despair was short lived. The car was being repaired at the garage at the end of his road and Mark would call by after school to check on progress. Unsurprisingly, considering the time he spent watching, he became friendly with the guys who worked there. So much so that one of them gave him evening lessons, teaching him the art of welding. A short time later, Mark bought his first ever issue of Custom Car. Good lad. It wasn’t too long before Mark was to turn his back on school for good and that signified it was time for…

When Ford released the Zodiac in 1950, it was billed as an executive car. Indeed, it remained the largest passenger car in the company’s range until its replacement came along in 1972. What Ford didn’t say was that with a bit of fettling, you could still have that four-door executive car – but with a 300+ bhp V8, so you could take your family up the quarter mile and still go and do the weekly shop afterwards. And that’s what we have here, courtesy of Steve Harrison. Although he didn’t do all the work, Steve finished the car off – and he’s fully intent on both cruising and racing it. If the name is familiar to readers, Steve used to own the Anxious Pop and regularly crews with Steve Wright…

A non-championship round for Street Eliminator at the Mopars offered some welcome extra track time for a bunch of racers. Mark Sheridan took full advantage, running the quickest at 7.895 / 199 (then 7.707 / 203), while newcomer, Victoria Smith, put in a very stout 8.649 / 167, only a few runs in from her 9.257 / 155 first pass on Friday in the big Buick GS, then improved further to 8.506 / 167. Also of note was Phil Winstanley, who had his very understated Morris Minor in the very low tens at over 130mph, and a flying Rob Carter in the Passat, steadily improving over the weekend from an 8.336 to an 8.126 / 170 PB on Sunday afternoon. The Taz lads were also out in force, Den Reynolds carding…

Event: NSRA Fun on the Beach 2023 Date: 3-4 June Venue: Great Yarmouth This summer saw the first running of a new get-together, the NSRA’s Fun on the Beach held in Great Yarmouth. The event was centred on the Joyland American Diner – which really is as close to the sand as you can get, so the ‘beach’ name was very appropriate. The ‘fun’ part was too. Those travelling from further afield motored down on the Friday and stayed in local hotels for the weekend, using the evening to have a cruise about. Then Saturday morning came and the venue soon filled up, with parking being around the diner itself and the surrounding gardens. The sun came out, making the day a lot more enjoyable, then late morning cars gathered…

This year saw the 29th running of the Mopar Euronationals. And while we had to split our time between it and the Hot Rod Hayride in Surrey, in the process unfortunately missing the best weather and the best of the racing at the Pod, we still had a great time. One thing we will say about the Mopar and muscle contingent: a bit of rain doesn’t put them off, whether it’s from taking part in the Friday night cruise, which this year headed to The Aviator hotel at Sywell Aerodrome, or lining up for the show’n’shine on the Sunday. Despite the threat of rain, the latter was still a well-attended affair, with some fine examples of the Chrysler breed on display. Other muscle cars are available, of course, and a…

With Mopars featuring so heavily in its ranks, it was no surprise to see one of the biggest turnouts yet for NSS. A 64-car ladder proves the popularity of this class, as do newcomers, like Allan Matthews at this event, seemingly at every round. Lee Chiles went into the round at the top of the championship, but Beavis Allen nailed his Impala to the number one spot, 12.405 / 105 on a 12.45 dial. In Q2 it was all change as faster times, and subsequently more breakouts, came thick and fast. Andrew Bishop, Glenda Thompson, Dan Williams and Bob Main were all on the charge, taking over the top five spots, with Allen hanging on at number two. Round one of eliminations brought Saturday’s racing to a close with some…

New PB for Andrew Clifford (8.761 / 149) and quickest in class in the first round time trial on Friday. Next time out it was Ford Skipp collecting a PB ticket (9.520 / 139) and then John Sharod blew his PB out the water by over four seconds in the Never Say Never Wild Bunch T, 8.958 at 142mph. At the end of the day, it was Pete Brown in the number one spot (8.374 / 158), with Phil James and Dan Wilson close behind. In round one, Alan Lloyd put in his quickest pass of the event at 7.664 / 168, Ruaridh Hart squeezed a PB out of the Opel GT mini flopper (11.601 / 107) and Steve Field clocked a fine 8.369 / 159. By the end of…

Event: The Trip Out Date: 8-10 September Venue: Euston Hall, Suffolk Ah, the Trip Out, our annual pilgrimage to all that is right and proper and holy about old-school hot rods and motorcycles. The event so many of us look forward to literally all year round. As fast as one Trip Out is done, we are all already making plans for next year… In more than 50 years of motoring events, I’ve been to a few. But rarely if ever have I been to one that inspires such love and devotion to its participants. The phrase ‘one big family’ is often misused or overused but, despite perhaps sounding a trifle trite, it does kind of sum up the Trip Out ethos. As the signs on the way in remind you,…

What a fantastic season we have had here at Santa Pod Raceway this year. The highlights have been plenty, including the first ever Street Weekend and an incredible summer of UK Drag Racing, culminating in one of the best European Finals in recent memory. With our 2024 dates taking shape, now’s the time to mark your calendars and save your spot at one or more of our many events! All your favourites will be back next year – including the ever-popular NSRA Hot Rod Drags and Nostalgia Nationals, Mopar European Nationals for the muscle car enthusiasts and of course Dragstalgia, the largest nostalgia drag racing celebration outside of North America. For the race fans, our full complement of FIA European Championship and STP Sportsman Series events will be enough to…

Grahame ‘Whiff’ Smith will need no introduction to many Custom Car readers. He’s a long-term Surrey Street Rodders stalwart and stitcher of countless rod and custom interiors, and now he’s the leading light of generations of Smith family hot rodders. In a nutshell, that sums up Whiff, but there is far more to the man than that – as those who know him will be aware. Over the years, Whiff has owned many cars and they all get driven, driven a lot. Take the ’32 coupe he owned for 10 years for instance; he clocked up 67,000 miles in that. Whiff confesses that it hasn’t all been plain sailing, though. “I think I hold the dubious accolade of having broken down in nearly every country on the continent,’ he says.…

There may have been fewer heavy hitters in attendance this year, but there was still plenty of desirable heavy metal to feast your eyes on in the show car corral. Of particular note we thought was the SS396 Chevelle of Alan Burgess, Linda Cooke’s wonderfully original ’73 Road Runner, which rightly picked up the Tony Oksien Memorial Award, Andy Carruthers’ ’70 Coronet R/T and a super clean ’68 Mercury Cougar XR-7. The big winner, though, was Roland Anderson’s 440-powered ’69 Charger. This is the first time ever the award has been bestowed on the same car twice – last time was in 1999, with a different owner.…

A new breakaway class that, unlike Nostalgia Superstock, allows back halved door cars to join the party. Choose you own dial in, add slicks and away you go. There was a bit of crossover between classes, making for a mixed bag of entries from Nostalgia Superstock, Outlaw Street, Gasser Circus, Super Gas and Pro ET. We hadn’t seen Ethan Lisle and his Road Runner for a while and, from what we’ve heard, he’s the driving force behind the new class, so will surely have been happy with his number one position at the end of Q1, 9.726 / 137 on a 9.69 dial, though Cliff Turner, Brett Featherstone, Paul Marston, Simon Fulton and Stuart Thompson all ran quicker. In round two, Guy King put in his first pass and went…

Event: Duchy Capri Classic Ford Club show Date: 20-21 May Venue: St Merryn, near Padstow. The weekend of 20-21 May saw the Duchy Capri Classic Ford Club stage their annual show, located at St Merryn near Padstow. The event is open to anything wearing the blue oval badge, whether a vintage model T or a modern Focus ST, which made for a great selection and variety for all to see. The camp site was open from 2pm on Friday, then on Saturday there was a cruise from the campsite, along the coast roads to Davidstow Airfield for a park up and photo opportunity. Sunday was show day, and participants were asked to be in and parked up by 10am ready for public gates to open. Commentary throughout the day was…