Innehållsförteckning för January 2023 från NZ Hot Rod

BACK in 1997, the idea of holding a Pre 49 Street Rod Nationals was initiated by Oceanside Street Rods and two members, in particular, Ron Gubb and Starry Malcolm. The inaugural event was held in Mount Maunganui. The enthusiasm shown by Oceanside Club, Ron and Starry has cemented it on the hot rod calendar culminating in this year's Pre 49s as the 25th Anniversary event. The Wairakei Resort, Taupo, was the official hotel for this year's event. With strong winds over the whole of the North Island and rain on its way, most entrants headed to the Resort on Thursday to be registered with an evening meal at your own cost being put on at the Taupo Cossie Club. Friday - At 9.15 am, the event was officially underway, and…

BILL Flowers is a devout performance car nut with roots reaching right back to small beginnings at age 15. Back then, he shared ownership of an Austin A35 that featured a chrome dash. Ostensibly it was his mum's car, but while she used it during the week, Bill got to drive it on weekends. His next car was a Humber 80, which ran a hotted engine fed by twin Weber carbs. That was followed by a few Vauxhalls before his first American car, which was a ‘61 Ford Fairlane that was painted in Metalflake burgundy and ran a 460ci big block Ford. From then on, it's been USA all the way, and Bill has owned many after starting out with Fords but has progressed into Chevrolets. The list of previously…

IT'S not often you receive a VIP invite to a film premiere in Las Vegas, so when the opportunity arose to attend a documentary premiere about The Shifters Club, a small bunch of us Kiwis tagged along for the ride. There was no red carpet, and the “stars” weren't dressed in tuxedos. The venue was the Atomic Liquors bar in East Fremont St, and the big screen was one of those sign trucks you see driving up The Strip parked kerbside. The night was courtesy of some generous sponsors who also provided 300 goody bags which included a commemorative T-shirt. Marla Moore, the Marketing Director of Coker Tires. She is also the 2012 SEMA Person of the Year and 2019 SEMA Hall of Fame Inductee. She experienced some reciprocal Kiwi…

JANUARY > 1 Rodders Breakfast Kustoms’ Club Rooms McLean Island > 1 Western Spring Speedway International Midgets & Special Event > 1 World's First Hot Rod Show in Whangamata. > 2-3 Dragstalgia plus the Wild Bunch Wars and the FED Challenge brought to you by The Mount Shop at Masterton Motorplex. You won't want to miss it so put it on your calendar now!! > 2 Annual Car Show hosted by Golden Bay Rodders at the Motueka A&P showgrounds in Marchwood Park from 10am-2pm. Set amongst beautiful mature trees. Food and coffee on site. Free entry for show cars and $2 per public entry. All makes, models, years of cars welcome. Any guestions contact Gary or Justine Gary: 0274 733 646 Justine: 027 208 3629 > B Western Springs Speedway - Midget 50 Lap Classic…

KEVIN Grainger has been playing around with old cars since the ‘70s. In 1974 he started work on ‘48 Ford Pop, running an HA Viva front end, 105E Anglia rear, and a hotted 1725cc Hunter engine. It was painted in blue with the name ‘Blue Moves’ (after an Elton John album title). Once completed in ‘77, and as his daily driver, the Pop was a regular sight around Hamilton ‘til the mid-'80s. A lot of the original Pop's build set the pattern for Kevin's next project, the Van you see here. A trip down to Horopito in ‘77 bought back the remains of the ‘38 Thames; yes, it's a ‘38 Thames. While many folks instantly assume it's Pop Van, this one is a ‘38 Thames and proudly wears the rare…

THIS event was designed to be an in-house, low-key celebration for Rod Benders. Club current and past members but without any advertising or public show. It was planned to be just a great time without the fuss. Things kicked off on Thursday night at their infamous clubrooms on Waterloo Road with rego and catch-ups. Friday was a public holiday (show day) in Christchurch, and we set off at 9.30 am to Woodend Beach to combine with Kiwi Goodguys for their annual display. Vanz Unlimited club joined in with 17 vehicles. Lunch was supplied. That night a hilarious quiz night was organised, combined with a crazy hat theme and appropriate prizes to boot. There were lots of laughs - a great job by Don and Leah Edwards and their supporting cast,…

TERRY O'Keefe is a true-blue hot rod enthusiast, but his journey into the high-performance realm began back in the early ‘80s with his RX3 Mazda. That ownership came to an abrupt end when he raced a mate's T-bucket and got soundly beaten. Terry saw the writing on the wall and purchased a T-bucket of his own. It was a finished car that was in the process of being treated to a custom paint job, but unfortunately, thieves broke into the paint shop and stole the supercharger off the motor. Disheartened, the owner sold the T-bucket to Terry for $3,500, and he promptly fitted a 4-barrel intake and carb and hit the road. Terry says it was quick but scary at 60mph. Eventually, he sold it and owned four or five…

WAYNE has been a car enthusiast for many decades and has owned plenty of excellent examples. Some of the more recent ones I remember were a red 1930 Model A coupe, a custom 1954 Ford Victoria in bright green, then a hot pink 1934 Ford Tudor followed up by a flamed bright yellow 1932 Ford Victoria that we featured with its current owner Tony Vittle in the November issue of NZHRM. After selling the ‘32 Vicky, the couple started looking for a suitable replacement but really wanted something that was a bit different and would stand out at local events. The 1938 Ford convertible is a very low-production car and was spotted advertised in Hemmings. Catherine mentioned she liked it and that this could possibly be ‘the’ car. So, an…

OCEANSIDE Street Rods have a very special wall of honour for their members who have their cars featured on the front cover of New Zealand Hot Rod magazine. Lloyd “Magoo” Wilson's fabulous Full Tilt ‘32 Ford highboy roadster was featured in the December ‘22 issue with the characterization of him driving it on the cover. So, the question facing the club and Magoo is: does our December cover qualify for Oceanside's wall of fame? What do you think? And not to be outdone, his wife Anne has already made the cover with her ‘34 Ford Tudor and recently scooped a Top Ten trophy at the Pre 49s in Taupo. Any way you look at it, it's a doubly superb achievement!…

The Naked Policeman KIT Parker and Paul Crew, both members of Garden City Rodders, and yours truly, recently went for a Tuesday cruise in Paul's ‘62 Chevy 2-door. Amongst the various topics of conversation were big-inch wheels on traditional hot rods (“money can't buy good taste,” claimed Kit), progress on Paul's ‘34 Chevy Coupe, as well as collecting the correct period parts for the Graham Vautier Model A Roadster, also in Paul's possession, to what we were having for lunch. Another topic was upcoming events. Paul said that there was a car show in Kaitangata. Where the hell is that? I asked. According to Kit, somewhere near Balclutha. To which I replied, well, if you're going, say hello to Tom Taylor. “Ahhhh…!” replied Paul, with a slight grin. “The naked…

Flash Flatheads THESE “dressed to thrill” and “set on kill” flatheads have most certainly stretched their power envelope since their introduction 90 years ago. The Ardun is in a street rod, the one with the Hampton blower and Offy heads is in a Willys Race Car, and the “high tech” one is in a Bonneville salt flats racer. From Bruce Taylor. Trends from SEMA 2022 HOW long will it be before we start to see this variant of the mini truck trend in New Zealand? Hydraulic rams raise, tilt and spin the wellside, often while driving along. These mini trucks seemed to appeal to a broad age group of spectators. From Bruce Taylor. Peter Brock & the Modern Daytona Coupe AT the recent Shifters 30th anniversary car show, meeting the…

THE NHRA Nevada Nationals were held on the weekend before the SEMA Show, and it was pretty obvious from just walking through the gates (and metal detectors) that COVID, a so-called recession, high gas prices or any other excuse that people could think of, had absolutely no effect on top-level drag racing. Race fans were spending up large on T-shirts and souvenirs in the NHRA marquee, drinking cocktails and tall cans of beer at US$14 a can.…that's $26 in our money. My travel companions had the tough decision as to whether to sip it slowly to make it last longer or just drink it before it got too warm. The John Force roadshow was in full swing. One rig for selling T-shirts and other merchandise, another for media, marketing and…

THERE is no doubt in my mind that the Beach Hop is still the number one event in the country, especially for attendance, cars and people. However, most event hosts will know that there is one ingredient more important than anything, the only thing you can't control, the weather. The rain came down by the truckload on Tuesday; it didn't really stop. Wednesday looked really bad on the way to Waihi with 3-400 cars in convoy, and upon arrival, heavy rain was already in place. Then the sun came out and the process repeated for most of the day. Hot rodders are a resilient bunch and continued on unfazed, having a great time. The rain went into the night, and cruising finished early. The next day was the run to…

The 30th Anniversary of the California Hot Rod Reunion held at Famoso Dragstrip in Bakersfield was also the final round of the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series. THE inaugural event back in 1992 was organised to reunite old friends, talk about the good old days, mingle with past and present drag racing heroes, and enjoy some traditional drag racing. Thirty years later, not much has changed. Cacklefest cars were down on previous years, and the number of swap meet vendors was well down. But if you enjoy traditional-style race cars racing hard out, then this is the place to be. Sadly, there were 69 notable people who had passed away the previous year, including Pat Ganahl, Hayden Proffitt and Mike Boyd. SWAPMEET PEOPLE CARS RACE CARS PURE NOSTALGIA…

FLASHBACK A RECENT working bee at The Garage revealed a plastic container with Grazee's old photo albums. So naturally, I hijacked them and picked a selection for your perusal, mostly taken in the seventies and eighties. Enjoy.…