Innehållsförteckning för No 175 December 2019 från NZV8

Winter’s an interesting time in the car scene, and with the transition to spring comes a change of atmosphere that runs right through the heart of it. At least, that’s how I feel. Over winter, it’s definitely harder to get motivated to go and play in a cold garage, especially when it’s dark when you leave home and dark by the time you return. The weekends, though, seem surprisingly free, without the events that are on every weekend — and that can become all-consuming if you let them — during the summer months. Working in this job is a double-edged sword in some ways, as it turns my passion for cars into, well, work, for lack of a better term. So my view on things is a bit different from…

Chev gave us a surprise debut alongside the new C8 convertible at the start of October by pulling the curtain back on the 2020 Corvette C8.R race car — and we’ve got the details on what makes it tick! The first thing you must know is that it won’t be using the same 6.2-litre LT2 engine found in its production counterparts; rather, it will have a specifically designed race engine. According to Chev, that means a naturally aspirated (NA) 5.5-litre V8 that has similar output to the production unit. It makes 500hp and 650Nm of torque — gaining just five more ponies than the regular C8. Where it will have vastly different character, though, is in how high and fast it will rev, thanks to the double-overhead-cam configuration with a…

The most epic event on the Australian car scene calendar, Street Machine Summernats, is fast approaching on 2–5 January 2020, and we’re giving one lucky reader the chance to win the trip of a lifetime to attend. The $5000 prize package includes return flights for you and a mate to Canberra, departing Auckland, four nights accommodation, and, of course, Platinum Passes to Street Machine Summernats. If you’ve not been to Summernats before, it’s an experience like no other. Based at Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC), it runs for four days. The event attracts entrants from all around Australia, and includes not just the best show cars in the land but also the toughest burnout cars, dyno kings, vendors, trade displays, concerts, and more. To go in the draw, all you’ve…

Developed by Ford Mustang stalwart and world-champion drifter Vaughn Gittin Jr with RTR Vehicles, alongside Ford Performance, the new Series 1 Mustang RTR focuses on precise street performance, intense agility on the track, and a driver-centric experience. “Our goal was to take the driving and owner experience of the iconic Ford Mustang to the next level,” said Vaughn. “This collaboration has created a Mustang that offers smile-inducing street driving, diverse capability on the track, and a very distinctive owner experience for those looking to stand out from the crowd.” The Ford Performance suspension features adjustable sway bars. This alters the chassis balance and allows drivers to go from taming vicious S-curves to owning the straight. The Track Handling Pack is one of the most popular Ford Performance Parts upgrades for…

Geoff Hale is well on the way to finishing his stunning-looking 1957, 210, two-door post Chev. The car has been in Geoff’s possession for eight years, with the latest transformation consuming more than six of them. “I always wanted a cool old car that drove like a new one — something I could just jump in and drive,” he says. With the body off the chassis, the frame was treated to tubular front-suspension arms and a four-bar rear holding a narrowed nine-inch diff. All underside components were covered with black powder coating. Up front is an LS1 and automatic box sitting in a very tidy engine bay. The interior has been reupholstered in 210 style — unlike the outside, which has Bel Air–style chrome trim. “I’m building a 210, but…

There’s more than just pre-’49-bodied hot rods under the knife at GMS Hot Rods in Kumeu, West Auckland. One of the latest builds under way is this ’59 Chev Corvette for a client. Interestingly enough, this car was started more than 20 years ago by the late Pete Dore and Daryl Slater. That was back before you could buy an Art Morrison or Roadster Shop chassis, so underneath is a handcrafted chassis with C4 Corvette suspension and an early LS Corvette engine. The plan is modern underpinnings under ’59 Corvette styling, but with a twist. The wheels emulate a Chevrolet Corvette hubcap but measure 18x8 inches. While the car is still under construction, progress is steady; the team are working with MS Vehicle Certification to keep the car legal to…

When Bill Flowers decided that the time was right to relive his youth by purchasing a pro-street ’65 Chev Malibu, he was intending for it to be an easy ride. Sure, seeing that he’s an elite-level car painter by trade, cars built to his standards aren’t exactly thick on the ground, but he did manage to find what he was after. It came in the form of a tubbed ’65 two-door that had recently been traded on a Plum Crazy Plymouth Cuda. The fact the car’s new owner had been happy to let the Cuda go for it gave Bill some confidence that it must have been a good car. He was right too; when it landed from Florida, he had no complaints — although the trip home was a…

In our last issue, you learnt a little about Wild Bunch Wars, brought to you in association with the Kumeu Classic Car and Hot Rod Festival, met a few of the stars of the show, and found out when and where it’s happening. And what you can expect to see at Masterton Motorplex on 4–5 January as part of the Dragstalgia event is something pretty damn cool, a step back in time, updated and presented to a whole generation of drag racing fans who never got to witness the Wild Bunch first time around. They say that sometimes to move forward you have to take a step or two back; this just may be something that relates perfectly to that philosophy. The sheer amount of interest and commitment from sponsors…

David Jeffery and his wife Suzanne are not your traditional hot rod enthusiasts or builders. They don’t walk the same path as most, instead preferring to design and build their own idea of what a rod should look like. David is quick to point out that he isn’t really into shiny paint and chrome, which explains why the rat rod path was the one chosen by the Rolleston couple. Cars are in their blood, and David can recall his first build as a youngster: a 460 big block–powered Wolseley that he named ‘White Knight’. Things have come a long way since those early days, not only with the building but also the rules surrounding them. David has his own ideas when it comes to rat rods, with some fairly radical…

How cool are station wagons?! Actually, let’s rephrase that a little. How cool were station wagons? Countless geezers have decried the natural progression of — well, just about everything — with the famous words, “They don’t make them like they used to”. They are usually right too. They’re extraordinarily right when those words are used when discussing the topic of station wagons, because they really don’t make them like they used to. In the 1950s and ’60s, the world was different: the future was full of promise, and American vehicle manufacturers produced the vehicles that people wanted. Over the ensuing decades, the world changed. Vehicle production shifted to what people needed, or thought they needed, and cars became less like automobiles and more like appliances — a disappointing trend easily…

A lot can happen in 60 years. We’re not talking about Robert Pegler’s age, either, but his ’59 Ford Country sedan! With only three owners before him, you’d probably be right in assuming that the old girl had a quiet and nondescript kind of existence — an assumption that, for all intents and purposes, would be totally correct. But a lot can happen in 60 years, and a car like this can easily spend a portion of its life with one foot in the grave, as this one has. Robert purchased this one a year ago out of Shady Cove, Oregon, from its third owner, who had bought it out of the town of Weed, California, five years earlier. Before then, it had been used to tow vintage caravans or…

Amid a flurry of controversy, Scott McLaughlin held off a strong-charging Shane van Gisbergen to clinch his maiden Peter Brock Trophy in an exhilarating Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. After 160 laps and more than six hours, it all boiled down to one final hot lap following the last in a series of safety car periods. McLaughlin crossed the finish line a mere 0.6800s ahead of the Holden of van Gisbergen / Garth Tander. McLaughlin had been the fastest driver all weekend. The reigning series champion had done everything in the sport but win Bathurst, making it not only a major personal achievement but the first win at the Mountain in 25 years for Dick Johnson Racing (DJR). McLaughlin cut an emotional figure to tick Bathurst off his bucket list, having…

While the Americans churn out countless Mustangs, Ford Australia has gotten on board to announce an exclusive 700hp, right-hand drive Mustang coupe, to be priced at A$99,602. Only 500 will be built, and you won’t see them anywhere else. If an approximately 700hp Mustang rings Shelby GT500 alarm bells, shut that thought down; this is no Australian-spec GT500 from any angle. Instead, it’s a Mustang GT with a 5.0-litre V8 that’s been littered with Ford Performance parts and received a working over by Australian tuner Herrod Performance. Power figures can be attributed to the Ford Performance Roush supercharger. An active exhaust has been added and, to handle the extra power, the R-Spec also gets Ford Performance magnetic dampers, lowering springs, adjustable stabilizer bars, and Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres. We…

The Ken Hopper–restored Fox Body Mustang featured in our last issue (No. 174) has an impressive racing pedigree, including Bathurst starts. With that pedigree comes all the Group A homologation paperwork, which Ken refers to as the ‘golden ticket’ to go racing with the likes of John Bowe and company at Muscle Car Masters. While Hoppy’s keen to get in on that action, he did let slip after our article came out that the car would be for sale for the right price, if anyone was interested in owning a cool piece of history. With just a handful of Group A Mustangs ever built, we’re guessing that it’s not an offer that’ll come up all that often! If you’re keen, and have the right amount of zeros in your bank…

Ken Hopper may be most associated with high-performance race cars, but he’s been working his magic on a number of street cars lately, including this Smokey Yunick–tribute Camaro. The car belongs to Calvin and Linda Bray, and is now at the point in the build at which there’s just the paperwork and legalities to go before it hits the road. Under the hood is a 500ci big block with aluminium heads that’s backed by a TKO 600 five-speed manual gearbox. A nine-inch has been slotted under the rear, along with disc brakes all round, which operate off a hydroboost system. A full leather retrim has seen the interior brought up to spec, while a swag of aftermarket suspension components have got the car handling as it should. As with many…

EMAIL YOUR INFO TO: EDITOR@V8.CO.NZ 1–3 NOVEMBER BIG BOYS TOYS ASB SHOWGROUNDS, AUCKLAND It’s one of the country’s iconic automotive shows, and this year Big Boys Toys will celebrate 21 years in the game. As you’d expect, organizers are putting on a banger of an event to mark the occasion, with the latest and greatest products and services from the automotive, lifestyle, and consumer electronics industries — encompassing six halls filled to the brim. The Driven Hall is the premier automotive area and, according to the team behind it all, this year’s supercar is arguably the greatest ever. Meanwhile, the Action Arena will offer up all the extreme sports that your mind can handle. It will feature the world’s best freestyle motocross rider, Levi Sherwood, as well as BMX icon…

Working with numbers day in and day out, Steve Radich has always needed plenty of physical hobbies to distract himself in his spare time and to help preserve his sanity. They have mostly had a flora and fauna theme, consisting of deer hunting and tracking pigs in the bush, and fishing off a kayak. Those hobbies swallowed a fair amount of his downtime but the burning desire to restore a muscle car was also on his list; he just needed to work out how he was going to make that happen. Around 15 years ago, Steve began the search for something to put in the shed — kind of. He tried on several occasions to hatch a plan to secure something suitable but lacked the financial confidence, i.e., balls, to…

The movie Grease was released way back in 1978 and concerned the friendships, adventures, and romances of a group of high-school kids in the ’50s. The theme for this year’s Kaikoura Hop was this movie, and the organizers probably couldn’t have selected a more fitting theme. It comes as no surprise that Doug O’Callaghan and Fonda Novis, the event organizers, are themselves big car enthusiasts, and, fittingly, they chose this year’s event to tie the knot at, dressing as characters from the movie to exchange their vows. For those arriving early and wanting to make a great weekend of it, the Hop got under way on Thursday, 19 September, with vehicles gathering at the South Bay Racecourse for the Cruise to Picton. The weather was awesome, and, with record numbers…

Ross Richards admits that he never quite intended to get as carried away with drag racing as he has, progressing from a Capri street car through to purchasing an altered to use for bits for a second Capri, before deciding that running the altered was a better idea. From those nine-second passes at 150mph, the way to go quicker wasn’t to throw more power at the altered but to step into something else. “I like the engine up front and the wind in your face; it gets the heart pumping,” states Ross of the decision to purchase a front-engine dragster (FED). The 225-inch-wheelbase car, bought from Brisbane’s Peter Duffy had, in fact, raced in New Zealand before, coming across the ditch for the 2016 Nostalgia Drags. While the car has…

Fabian Goldbert states that he first purchased his 1970 El Camino to have a go at drag racing. Looking at it now, with a freshly completed double frame rail chassis and 1500-plus-horsepower motor, we think it’s fair to say that he caught the bug. Mind you, anyone who’s ever drag raced could have told him that that would happen. Before purchasing the car back in 2013, Fabian had owned more than his fair share of cool cars and fast motorbikes. As he recalls, “I’ve been buying, selling, and collecting cars and motorbikes out of the States for years — since 1987, in fact — as well as buying for other people.” Going back in time even further than that, before his kids were born, Fabian first visited the strip at…

I’ve been building race cars for various employers and customers for more than 20 years now, and, in that time, I’ve built hundreds of roll cages — yes, hundreds. It is one of those jobs that reminds you how old you are every time you climb in and out of a car for a week or so putting together a chromoly jungle gym. That’s why I no longer build roll cages other than for cars that I am building from the ground up. It is also why, when my old mate Paul Manuell asked me if I wanted to put a cage in a Corvette for his mate Stu, I thought, Yeah, nah. At the time, I was flat out running two NZ V8 utes for a customer and two…

“My dream car is a six-inch-chopped ’32 five-window coupe,” Bill Flowers states casually, as if he’s describing a beige Toyota Corolla. What Bill doesn’t mention in that statement, besides all the finer details, is that he’s already a long way through the completion of the build, and, if it weren’t for the fact that he needed to rebuild the Malibu due to the fire, it might very well have been completed already. So, rather than a description of a concept that he has in his mind, what you’re seeing here is, well, a concept in his mind, granted, but also a reality that’s awaiting completion. The car utilizes a full steel body, which, as you can guess, has been roof chopped six inches all around. The body has been sat…

In 1960, Ford completely redesigned its full-size vehicle range. The new decade saw a more streamlined approach to design — sleek lines and tighter, tidier details — and the 1961 models developed further on this stylistic change. The real teller of great design is a car that looks good unmodified, and the 1961 Ford is a prime example, especially in wagon form, which has got to be why there are two of the things in this feature! Craig Douglas is pretty much an honorary Pegler brother, and his ’61 Country Sedan slots into the fold just perfectly. It isn’t any kind of wild street machine but a sedate cruiser that covers all the bases Craig wants it to, while oozing style. “I brought the wagon in from the States about…

When last year’s Group 2 Championship–winning Camaro rolled up to the opening round of the season, everyone thought it was business as usual. That was until the car’s owner, Mark Holland, stepped aside and his son Shane jumped into the hot seat. While it may have seemed like a bold move, Shane’s actually had plenty of experience behind the wheel, campaigning a Pro7 Mazda RX-7. Driving the car to success in endurance racing, he’s finessed his craft behind the wheel, and it showed when he managed to beat his dad’s lap time around the Pukekohe circuit by a fraction of a second. The event was just the second time that Shane had driven the Camaro, perhaps in part due to his spinning it out around Hampton Downs during his initial…

GREAT TASTE Think the Pegler brothers’ wagons are cool? Then you may also like the other type of cars they’re into: aero cars from the glory years of Nascar. Yep, think Superbirds, Mercury Cyclone Spoilers, and Torino Talladegas. Thanks to the kind folk at Hampton Downs, we managed to get the ultimate group of aero cars together in their natural environment a few years back, and it remains one of our favourite shoots to this day. You can find it by searching ‘Aero warriors’ at themotorhood.com. HAULIN’ RATS David Jeffery’s motorcycle hauler isn’t the first of his creations that we’ve featured. Back in our Repco Beach Hop Annual 2016, we took an in-depth look at his ‘SemiRat’ fifth-wheel tow wagon, a car specifically built to tow another of his creations…

The lads at Speedkore Performance are clearly nowhere near finished with the Dodge Charger! At the SEMA Show last year, the Wisconsin-based tuner showed off a 1970 Charger Evolution with carbon and aluminium body panels, and a 996hp Hellcat engine. This year, they’re teasing a profile rendering of a 2020 Charger Hellcat Widebody on Facebook with the caption, “All we’re going to say is this all-wheel drive, twin-turbo, widebody Charger is going to be unveiled at the MagnaFlow booth.” The rumour mill has also extracted further details that allude to another tuned version of the 6.2-litre Demon Hemi V8 that’s swapped its supercharger for twin turbos and produces more than 1000hp. Speedkore is known for making grunt; its twin-turbo Hellcat-powered Demon cracked almost 1400hp, so the addition of an all-wheel-drive…

EMAIL YOUR NEWS TO:EDITOR@V8.CO.NZ Southside Streeters Hot Rod Club, based in Howick, Auckland, hosted the Ditron Precision Engineering Hot Rods in Howick Show over 12–13 October and raised the impressive sum of more than $5K to be donated to St John New Zealand. Llew Picton claimed People’s Choice with his Chev Camaro, Sean Williams walked away with St John’s Choice for his ’33 Ford roadster, and Sponsor’s Choice went to Neil Baker with his ’28 roadster.…

We know you’ve been itching for a massive hit of eight-cylinder goodness since the last season concluded, and, lucky for you, Teng Tools Muscle Garage is already back on screens for its fifth season on Three’s CRC Motorsport! That’s 10 sweet, sweet episodes of New Zealand’s coolest V8-powered cars, events, sheds, and workshops, airing every Sunday for your viewing pleasure. By the time you read this, we’ll have already seen two episodes, but there’s a further eight to go. If you haven’t already, head to The Motorhood (themotorhood.com) to enter the prize draw to win a Meguiar’s pack worth $700, a $500 Mount Shop voucher, and a subscription to NZV8! Stay tuned for the full suite of dates to be announced — and, of course, the details for the epic…

If you think that Beach Hop giving away cars is a new thing, you’re wrong. Seasoned hoppers will recall in excess of 15 cars from over the years, and they keep on coming. Thanks to the continued support from the event sponsors, Repco Beach Hop 20 will see a stunning 1965 Ford Mustang convertible given away! The previous owners of 35 years have undertaken a quality restoration and provide a full history of the car. It’s won a wheelbarrow full of awards over its time, and even features the OEM Ford Tri-Power carb set up with three twin-barrels. The car is currently in a container on its way to our shores, thanks to Famous Pacific Shipping, and is expected to land in Auckland in just a few weeks’ time to…

IF YOU HAVE A COOL DAILY-DRIVER AND WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT APPEAR IN DAILY GRIND, EMAIL EDITOR@V8.CO.NZ Have you owned it long, Dave? Yeah, I’ve had it for about four years. It was just factory and bought as a shop truck, running a standard LS1 engine. Judging by the hardware bursting through the bonnet, we’re guessing it’s not stock now? Haha, yeah; got an LQ9 sitting under the bonnet now. It’s a six-litre cast-iron block, with fully forged internals built by Thompson Motorsports in the US. Backing that up is a fully built TH400 trans we got from Aussie. Got a Cass head in the diff, with aftermarket axles. It’s the fourth diff we have gone through. And the blower? It’s a 2.9-litre Whipple. It wasn’t on the engine…

We mentioned Noel Richmond’s ’50 Ford Bonus in these pages a few years ago, and now the team at Kruzin Kustoms are nearing completion of the build. While we’ve seen plenty of Bonuses before, there is none that looks quite like this or is packing the same power plant. The engine in the truck is a 2011 Ford F-150 Raptor–sourced 6.2-litre V8. Obviously, with the engine being a touch out of the ordinary, the electronics required for the conversion have been extensive, but the Kruzin Kustoms team have recently fired it into life for the first time. Under that flawless cab is a Mustang II–style independent front suspension (IFS) subframe and disc-braked nine-inch diff. Airbag suspension gets the wheels sitting deep up under the guards and should have the truck…

With entries from the US, Australia, and New Zealand, the Aeroflow World Fuel Altered Challenge certainly saw some excellent racing from the 10 entries as well as some of the shenanigans for which fuel altereds are known. Throughout the Aeroflow Outlaw Funny Car Series, Graeme Cowin and his series manager, NZV8 columnist Morice McMillin, have shown both Australia and New Zealand just how good nostalgia funny car racing can be. When the idea was raised for a similar racing series for fuel altereds racing in Australia and New Zealand, it was full steam ahead with three cars from the US and two drivers from New Zealand facing a gaggle of Cowin’s own ‘hot rod’ fuel altereds. McMillin informed me that the four international teams were impressed not only with the…

Sunday, 1 September was a big day for car enthusiasts around Canterbury. Not only were families celebrating Father’s Day but the car show season was also about to kick off with two large events set down for that day. The first of these was the monthly Rodders Breakfast held at the Kustom Car Club’s rooms at Mcleans Island — always a popular morning out for the Canterbury automotive faithful, and the Father’s Day event would have to be the largest, with in excess of 800 vehicles showing up. But, after a bit of a catch-up and chinwag, many left and headed north up the motorway to Amberley, where the 2019 Rock’n’Wheels show was to be held. This was the ninth year of the event, and, with the temperature looking to…

All eyes are on the latest addition to Rex and Debbie McIntosh’s growing Invercargill collection of Americana as Rex fires up the big green beast and moves it out into the sunlight for the eagerly awaiting gathering of custom enthusiasts celebrating its arrival in the south. It’s been just over a year since the McIntoshes bought the car from its Los Angeles owner, but the wait for it to head their garage line-up has been worth it. The 1970 Plymouth Barracuda fitted with a six-pack 440 has easily one of the nicest-sounding exhaust set-ups around and stops the crowd in their tracks. “It’s a bit of a noisy beast, but I’m pretty happy with it,” Rex admits to us with a suitably large grin. Rex and Debbie are members of…

Ford Torino; Starsky & Hutch — as far as pop culture goes, the Ford Torino begins and ends with that red and white machine. In the real world, though, that isn’t quite true. In coupe form, the Torino was Ford’s chosen Nascar base and became a motorsport icon, but, behind the televised drama from Hollywood and the oval track, it’s a lesser known fact that the Torino badge actually appeared on a range of vehicles — the muscular coupe but also sedan and wagon variants, all sharing the immediately recognizable front sheet metal. As you may have figured by now, the Pegler boys like their cars a little left of centre, putting this 1971 Torino wagon right up Robert’s alley the moment it appeared on the market around five years…

“While not generally being known as one to hog the limelight, being involved in an incident at the Supercars meeting in Pukekohe, at the opening round of the CMC [Central Muscle Cars] 2019–’20 season, I didn’t really have a lot of choice, with the events unfolding on television for all to see,” admits CMC club president and Group 2 Camaro driver Paul Boden. What Paul’s referring to is a lap-one hit into the concrete barrier over Pukekohe Park Raceway’s infamous hill. We can certainly sympathize with him, though, due to how it all came about. “Prior to the race starting, we were sitting on the dummy grid, ready to head out onto the track, all of us on slicks, when it started to rain. There wasn’t enough rain to go…