Innehållsförteckning för November 2024 från NZ Hot Rod

IT'S great to see another great Kaikoura Hop. Doug and his team did another great job on the 14th year that it has been held. The early birds that attend the entire event are treated to a quiz night, a shed tour, a Poker Run and a drive-in movie. The show itself has many attendees from the North Island. I noticed one truck from Whangarei and about a dozen cars from Capital Rodders in Wellington. The weather was perfect for the Saturday show, very hot in the morning then a bit overcast in the afternoon - perfect. This year's theme was dress up like a cowboy, and there certainly were some sights to be seen while others were just stunned at what they were seeing. Doug said it was the…

THE Ignitors may be the new kids on the block and are the latest club to affiliate with the NZ Hot Rod Association, but when it comes to hot rodding credibility, the club is made up of decades of hot rodding experience, and it shows with the quality of their hot rods. Ironically, incorporated on 4 July (Independence Day) this year, The Ignitors is a pre-49 club with a very positive vision for the future of that niche of the hobby. Recognising that with communication through social media, etc, the traditional club model is less relevant than it used to be in the past, the primary emphasis is the camaraderie of the members who are spread around the North Island: Auckland, Tauranga, Matamata, Waihi, Putaruru, New Plymouth, Napier, Hastings, Dannevirke,…

PUKEKOHE Hot Rod Club passed their 60th Anniversary milestone in September with a celebration of hot rodding that included a show and a social function. Friday night saw club members working together smoothly on show set up and load in at the Indian Hall for the diverse range 45 cars on display. That was followed by a few drinks. Saturday was the first open day of the two-day show with good weather and crowd attendance. That night 130 guests attended the formal part of the celebrations with a function at the Cossy Club. Speeches from Ralph, Tony, Goober, Ray & Vonni and also Wade Foy's son. Ralph likened rodding to nature - plant the seed and feed it and water it and watch it grow. If you neglect it, then…

TAURANGA Street Machines & Customs 46th Birthday Bash Car Show was once again held in Greerton's Chadwick Rd in conjunction with the local business association, Greerton Primary School and a collection of street performers. Unlike some previous years, the blossom trees were in full bloom which added to the vibrant atmosphere. The display always has a great range of vehicles, and it's the one event that Street Machines members always aim to finish a car for. The general public turned up in their thousands, and you really need to get there early just to secure a car park close to the event. This is also a great event for entrants as there is plenty of street entertainment, Al Dawson & The Wild Kats performing, and a great range of shops…

Once a Knight HI PAUL, Thank you so much for the mag today and the writeup. Who is that old guy's photo that is the editor with the beard? Ha. I remember when you used to come to my shop from school in Henderson. Doesn't time fly by. Thanks again, Jim Crain Sr. Deuce Coupe HI PAUL & Liz, Thanks very much for the feature on the little Deuce Coupe in the October Magazine. Also, thanks to Graham J Park for putting it all together. A huge thank you must go out to all the people who helped to get it to where it is today. Cheers, Karen & Ewen Cameron. Ghost Hot Rods HI PAUL, I have enjoyed the Ghost Hot Rods of the Capital. The attached photos were…

A FATHER and son (Tom and Craig Clouston) homebuilt project was purchased in April 2000 when Craig was 21. It was advertised in Trade & Exchange as an unfinished ‘30 Ford A Pickup project. Craig bought it for $1500 from Matt Haseltine in New Plymouth. It was a ‘30 Ford Model A cab, wellside tray, stock chassis, an L300 front end and a Jag diff along with many parts. Like his longtime hot rodder father Tom, Craig had lived and breathed hot rodding from the moment he could walk and talk. From his family home in Turakina, Craig and brother Robert often accompanied Mum & Dad to hot rod events across the country in the family's ‘33 Ford 4-door Sedan. So, when it came time for Craig to build his…

FOR 30 years, this Chevy Pickup was a general-use vehicle for its owners in the San Francisco area before it was sold in 1993 to a Washington local, Jim Clemens. Jim was a well-known biker in the area and would frequent the local bars in the Grey Primer pickup. Soon after, he had it painted Duck Egg Blue and never seemed to be short on female company after a long night at local bars. In 2010, Jim passed away, and his son Mark inherited the Pickup. At the time, the Pickup was painted in an Eastwood GM White. It's a popular colour for commercial vehicles; it is slightly lighter than Bright White. Four years later, Mark decided he had no real need for the Pickup and Dan Curran from Salinas,…

THE 6th Mangakino Lake Hop ‘24 was held on Saturday, 21st September. The past five events have been held around mid to late August, and the weather has not been kind at times. This year, the organising committee decided on September, which proved to be a winner. It was a brilliant spring day, and the crowds turned up in huge numbers, and over 600 entrants entered, the biggest number so far. Mangakino is a small town on the banks of the Waikato River 85 kms Southeast of Hamilton. The town is close to the Hydroelectric Power Station, and there would be a fair percentage of its current and past residents employed at this facility. With a population of 900, the town grows two or threefold when the Lake Hop is…

LES Van Der Geest's love affair with the ‘57 Chevy began about twenty-five years ago when he purchased a 4-door pillarless which has had a few facelifts over the years, including black suede with McKenzie flames. Les still owns the pillarless, currently in shiny black. But he really wanted a 2-door Sport Coupe, and in 2009, he bought a project from Earl Thompson in Lower Hutt, who'd found it in Arizona. Although it was a big project, it was a fairly sound car with only a little bit of rust under a body mount. The 2-door is actually a 210 model, although it now has Bel-Air trim. The first thing Les did was contact Chris Blackmore, the proprietor of Muscle & Classic Restorations in Bromley, Christchurch, and between them, they…

A FEW years ago, all the Zone 5 clubs used to have a day run with a small trophy at the end of it presented to the winning person's club. It fizzled out over the last few years mainly because of some pandemic or something. Along came Brian Atkinson, the Zone 5 new director, who suggested that it be reinstated. Egmont Rod and Custom Club put their hand up to run the first revised one, which was held on the 28th of September. All the Zone 5 clubs were represented, and it turned out to be a really neat cruisey day, which incorporated a run of about 1-½ hours. The trophy was won by Egmont R&CC, and the next run will be held in New Plymouth and hosted by the…

TORNADOS Rod & Custom Club's first Dam Run was back in 1971, and recently, they decided to re-enact those great times with a modern version. It was promoted via social media, with free entry, and was open to all makes and models. After heading out through the countryside, there was a leisurely lunch stop at the Otematata Pub before arriving at NZ's largest earth dam on Lake Benmore for photos. The return journey ended in Timaru at the clubrooms for socialising over beers and a BBQ. All reports are that it was a one-hundred per cent success.…

IF YOU were present at a drive-by parade of all the early Ford V8s, you could throw a blanket over the top five body styles; those five are without question the Deuce Roadster and three-window coupe, accompanied by the rakish style of the ‘33-’34 Roadsters, the ‘33-’34 three-window coupe and the ‘33-34 five-window coupes. Dave Tuke's collection included four of those five top Fords. His hankering for the ‘34 Ford Roadster to fill the gap was inspired by Dave Mehelich's timeless Roadster featured in The Rodders Journal #56. That super-cool hot rod featured a chopped top, 50-year-old paint and sat on chrome and reversed 15” early Ford solids. The search was on, but the tip-off for Dave's hot rod Roadster came out of the blue back in early 2021 from…

ROB and Steph Fowler have had many great rodding moments over the last four or five decades, including shipping their Model A coupe to the US in 1997, driving across America as part of the Americruise, as well as taking it to other events across the country, then shipping it home to NZ. Two years later, in ‘99, some friends in the US offered Rob and Steph their ‘32 roadster to drive cross-country on Americruise. Although, they forgot to tell Rob and Steph that the ‘32 had no roof! Even with a couple of drenchings, they still had a blast. More recently, they found this 1940 Ford Deluxe convertible at a high-end dealership, Hylens, in St Louis, Missouri. It only had ninety miles on the odo since it was built.…