Innehållsförteckning för Winter 2024 från Custom Car

With the aim of promoting straight line sport for cars, bikes and boats, the Straightliners Top Speed Show highlights sprinting, drag racing and speed records on both water and land. The third staging of the show takes place at Elvington Airfield, just outside York, on 24-25 February 2024, with exhibits housed in four large marquees which will be heated and lit. The organisers are also planning live displays from exhibition vehicles, weather permitting, together with a 100-metre ‘dash-for-cash’ track. Last year’s Top Speed Show featured Top Fuel bikes, a rocket bike and two jet cars, along with more than 100 race bikes and 60 race cars. Of note were the ex-Dennis Priddle Tudor Rose slingshot, the Fireforce 3 Jet car, the Spider Man Jet dragster, the Force of Nature steam rocket…

Retro panel vans are a subculture all of their own in the custom car world. Mainly, we tend to see Fords and Chevys, either prewar or from the 1950s, and they absolutely lend themselves to being modified. Celebrating its 50th birthday this year, though, is this Peugeot J7. And what a beautiful thing it is, too. Beautiful and, before you start, just nicely modified. It’s the property of Mike East, who runs Speed Merchants Garage in the French town of Angoulême. Draw a triangle with Limoges, Bordeaux and La Rochelle at its corners, and you’ll find him pretty much smack bang in the middle of it with you mainly being jealous of him. ‘I’m into cars and love barn finds,’ he says. ‘For the last three or four years, I’ve…

Event: V8 Hotrods at the Cross Keys Date: 28 August Venue: Redgrave, Suffolk The August bank holiday Monday has become the date for the annual one-day event at the Cross Keys pub in Redgrave, Suffolk. It’s organised by Kev and Tracey Bridges with the help of the rest of the V8 Hotrods group. People were there bright and early at 9am to make a day of it, with the village centre pretty much packed by 11am. The pub was serving bacon rolls and coffee early on, changing the menu to burgers and beer later in the day to keep us lot in line. In the beer garden, a couple of bands were playing in the afternoon, with the trophy presentation in between. Cars on show were strictly pre-’72, with public…

In January 1986, when Tony Thacker wrote the feature on Ian Dawes’ other car, he made it all sound so easy. Call a couple of guys in America and, a couple of months later, you’re picking up a steel 1941 Willys coupe and a hot L88 427 from the docks here in Blighty. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I did,” says the ever-enthusiastic Ian of that whole process. “I don’t know about everyone else, but I used to subscribe to every American hot rod magazine going. I mean every one there was. I’d read them all cover to cover and go through all the adverts in the back. I must have made a million ’phone calls over the years looking for cars, or parts for cars.” That incessant enthusiasm, not to…

Event: Knuckle Busters at the Barns Date: 25-28 August Venue: Stonham Barns, Suffolk The August bank holiday weekend arrived with the Knuckle Busters not far behind, as they hosted their annual event at Stonham Barns, Suffolk. As usual, this offered weekend camping as well as a variety of live music throughout the weekend, as well of course as a cruise on the Saturday. Come Sunday and it was show day, with people arriving throughout the morning to fill up the show arena and surrounding area. There was everything on site from classic American cars, hot rods, European cars, muscle cars old and new, trucks to suit everyone and even a few motorcycles. To keep us occupied, John Price was on the mic catching some owners for a chat. There were…

“It just looked so right. The stance, colour, everything. It just had the look” I love hearing the back stories behind the cars we feature. How the owners came to go down a particular route, and why they made the choices and decisions they did that end up with the cars we see – all of which are expressions of individuality and a desire for personal freedom, to paraphrase Nicolas Cage on his snakeskin jacket in Wild at Heart. In Nick Mellett’s case, it all started in a small newspaper shop in England in the early 1970s. “I called into my local newsagent one lunchtime while studying at tech college. They had a few American car mags on the shelves, but one in particular caught my eye. It was an…

The last weekend in May offered the best and longest opportunity to lose yourself in the spectacle of European drag racing so far this year when the FIA/FIM Main Event rolled into town. Things kicked off on the Thursday with a test day, which was followed by a full day of Sportsman qualifying on the Friday. After this came two whole, almost uninterrupted days of qualifying on Saturday and Sunday, in preparation for finals day on the Bank Holiday Monday. The weather and atmospheric conditions remained good all weekend, every session ran to completion and visitors were not left disappointed by the variety and performance of the four-wheeled action on track. An impressive two-wheeled supporting cast of Top Fuel, Pro Stock, Supertwin, Super Street and Junior bike classes and the…

Event: Plus 44 Automotive Show Date: 4 June Venue: Hartham Park, Wiltshire Now in its third year. the team at Plus 44 Automotive produced their best show to date. Held in the grounds of the wonderful Hartham Park and House for the second year running (the first was at Melksham Football Ground), there was room for more than 750 cars and bikes – with new showcase areas including the Meguiars Lawn, classic showcase and Hartham showcase. Rather than a regimented parking regime, cars were parked at all angles spread out over the grounds – making it far more interesting for to walk around. A small section was set aside for food vendors, while a licensed bar and a couple of coffee trucks providing much needed refreshment was backed up by…