Innehållsförteckning för December 2025 från Custom Car

Step back to 2005, when, working as a mechanical engineer, Adrian Smith was offered the opportunity to restore a Flathead V8-powered race car. So, after 17 years on the clock in a variety of factories, and having already built a good number of magazine-featured vehicles, he decided it was worth the gamble to follow his passion. Based just outside Bedford, Adrian opened the doors to Buckland Automotive Engineering for the first time in 2005. He enthusiastically told us: “Here we are 20 years later, feeling lucky to have worked with a great mix of customers that enabled me to build or work on some amazing cars. I have never looked back. I’m still learning every day, striving to make each job better than the last with a great team alongside…

The British Motor Museum in Gaydon will once again play host to Deuce Day in 2026. The date is Sunday 19 July and the day will again be part of the Old Ford Rally. Tickets are not yet on sale, but we will let you know when they are available. For those planning to travel to the event the day before, Saturday’s Deuce Day HQ will be at The King’s Head in Wellesbourne, which is also the overnight stay of choice. Space is limited, though, so book early. The now-famous pre-Deuce Day dinner on Saturday night will again be happening and, for those arriving early afternoon, the organisers are looking into some added activities. More info will be announced later but visit the Deuces of Britain website for accommodation suggestions…

It’s always interesting to hear what people who own our kind of cars do to put food on the table, and when someone tells you they run their own business and work 24/7 you immediately form an impression of the sort of person they are. Hard working for a start. A bit of honesty goes a long way, too. “The only thing I can take credit for on this truck is that everything you see is my choice, or my input.” Those commendably frank words came fairly early on in a very enjoyable conversation with Paul Tresidder, the owner of this ’54 F-100, and they neatly sum up the process that has brought it from an up and together modified Ford pick-up truck to one that scoops up trophies wherever…

Clint Wildish left the 2022 NSRA Hot Rod Supernationals with more than he arrived with: a Top Ten trophy and the Liberty & Lows’ Pick award. They were awarded to his ’53 GMC pick-up, which had been built by Burnham Autos with most of the work being completed by Jay Andrews. For a number of reasons, the pick-up slipped off our radar at the time, but that oversight will be corrected in the not-too-distant future. We will bring things up to date in this issue, however, and take a close look at the ’49 Chevy Clint drove to this year’s Supernats. He went one better on this occasion and went home having collected the coveted Participants’ Choice trophy. “With my business having become full on, I got into cars to…

Most people agree that hot rods and custom cars are part engineering, part art. The connection is obvious in vehicles like lowriders, with their elaborate paintwork and chrome details morphing them into rolling masterpieces, though the same could be said of the wild kustoms of the 60s – an era when some cars weren’t even built to be driven, merely looked at. Southern California’s Coby Gewertz certainly shares this perspective. With a background in art, he carved out a successful career as a graphic designer which saw him producing movie posters for a Hollywood studio, among other projects. He’s also the creator of the pocket book Church, a collection of his automotive photography that highlights bold colours and designs. Coby is no stranger to Custom Car, largely due to Van…

Event: Lay’N’Play Lowrider Night Date: 20 September 2025 Venue: Great Northern Classic, Derby Lowriders don’t appear as frequently in Custom Car as maybe they should. There are differences between lowriding and hot rodding (you just have to listen to their respective musical soundtracks to see that), but in the art of taking a tired old car and making it cool, they’re cut from the same cloth. The combination of mechanical mods and great paint is one we all appreciate, after all. This was the background to Lay’N’Play’s new Lowrider Night, held at Great Northern Classics in Derby on a wet September Saturday. The venue is close to CC Towers, so we bought our tickets and went along as paying punters… only to find that we couldn’t resist the opportunity to…

Following adverse weather in recent years, it was high time that the Kings Lynn Kruisers struck lucky with the weather for their annual Extravaganza. And that’s just what happened at the end of July. The weekend followed its traditional chilled-out format, with a Saturday cruise and socialising in the village hall. Word is that the chilling out may have involved alcohol, but that could just be hearsay. The Extravaganza really came to life on Sunday, no doubt helped by the sunshine. I don’t know if there was an actual record number of vehicles on show but if there wasn’t, it must have been very close. The field was rammed. For me, the attraction is the diversity of the exhibits. The show isn’t genrespecific and hot rods rub shoulders with classics,…

MPH Drags #3 descended upon Deenethorpe Airfield, near Corby, Northants, on the first weekend in July. The gates opened at midday on Friday, with scrutineering taking place throughout the afternoon in readiness for the track opening the following morning. The day was rounded off with music from DJ Strops Hop and a live performance by Howlin’ Ric and The Rocketeers. A drivers’ briefing for the 100 entered to race was held first thing Saturday, followed by eighth-mile flag-start grudge racing from 10am through to 4pm, save for a lunch break around noon. The evening then provided plenty of time for bench racing and bragging rights, along with DJ Ray Newe and live sounds from The Hicksville Bombers and Lobo Jones and the Rhythm Hounds. More of the same was planned for…

PROGRESS REPORT: PART 2 Part one of this series of progress reports covered the story behind the build and also briefly delved into the progress made in the early stages. Changes of direction were highlighted, which inevitably proved to be factors in slowing down the process. Let’s face it, the need to fabricate an entirely new body would put the brakes on any build, let alone changing it from a coupe to a Woodie at the eleventh hour. That is all in the past, however, and with Steve Cook and his partner in grime, Graham Slater, having settled on a definite path, steady progress was being made. It’s fair to say the car being built is not strictly the Cruella de Vil-style Atlantis A1 that Steve bought as the base…