NZ Hot Rod

Changes LAST month's magazine (Aug’ 24) was our milestone 20th Anniversary, and I missed mentioning, due to space constraints, that our cover shot of Brian Ogle's” True Blue” Deuce Coupe shot by Greg Stokes was the first taken with a smartphone. Winding the clock back 20 years to July 2004, I remember negotiating a business deal with incumbent Art Director Glenn O'Connor. His quote to convert the magazine from film and print production to digital was on the table, and it included a price of laying out the pages, plus $10 for each photo to scan them to digital format. There are many images in each issue, which meant the $10 quote to scan them made our bottom line cost too high, so I tabled my opinion, “That won't fly”. Glenn responded,…

Lost & Found ANY help on this one, Paul? We published it in Custom Rodder, Out of The Past section back in Jan 1986. We had no ID then or now, other than it was done in 1964. Looks like an older South Island location? Keep well, Eddie Ford, Editor, Custom Rodder (NLA) & Restored Cars, Australia. Hi Eddie, A quick call to Craig Stare in Christchurch confirmed this car is unrestored and in the hands of Allan Brookland in Invercargill. Ed. My First Mag HI all from here in Oz. Recently, I came across my first mag, which I bought in 1974. It was the first thing I got after arriving from the UK. I tracked Wally Pushkey down ten years ago, had a good chat, and he signed it. I thought you might…

Stratford – new track update WORK on a new multi-purpose motorsport facility dubbed Stratford Park in New Zealand's north island is about to begin. The project is a joint venture between the Taranaki Motorsport Facility Trust and the Stratford A&P Association. The facility will cater to car and drag racing and a new speedway alongside a redeveloped equestrian centre. A new road racing circuit will use 200 walls from the recently disassembled Pukekohe Park south of Auckland. “A committee is a group of the unprepared, appointed by the unwilling to do the unnecessary.” Unknown. Gee Cee Ess GEORGE Smith is well known for his exploits in racing his famous homebuilt special, but we've never seen this shot of his tow car before. The ‘36 Ford Coupe sported a roof rack, sunvisor, radio aerial, fog…

TO me, the soul of a hot rod begins with its history, who has owned it, the changes in its appearance, and its many adventures. Tim Kennedy, the owner of this 1932 Ford 3-Window Coupe, has made changes to it, had adventures in it, and will continue to do so. Since day one, the ‘32 has gone from an all-steel, stock-bodied coupe to a fully-fledged hot rod. There have been numerous builds, re-builds, and times when it was parked up and just sat around waiting for the right person to come along, take it out of its barn, and give it a new build and look. In 2017, it was shipped from Texas and arrived in New Zealand. Its new owner made a few changes and vowed it would never be sold.…

THE Palmerston North Hot Rod Club held this year's event under clear blue skies and a light, cool easterly wind. It's one of the biggest and longest organised Swap Meets & Hot Rod Displays on the New Zealand Hot Rod event calendar, and as expected, when the gates opened at 8 am, the public poured in. They're there to purchase that part or parts needed to finish a project or just to browse and catch up with fellow hot rodders. The car park area had the biggest turnout of vendors the event has experienced, but oddly enough, paying public numbers were down on the previous year, as were hot rods & customs on display in the “Paddock”. The Main Arena, which is inside under cover, is always full. There were ample food…

MANY years ago, a local Rangiora hot rodder, Reid Caldwell, owned a small North Canterbury auto parts store. He carried a good range of hot rod parts and became the New Zealand distributor for US-based Outlaw Performance, importing their high-quality fibreglass bodies. Only a few were imported, and this Roadster body was the last to sell. It was sold to a local hot rodder. Unfortunately, his workload increased, and he reluctantly sold it to Steve Allan. His Rangiora-based hot rod shop, Steve Allan Customs, proceeded to build it. Steve had a massive workload, and this was a sparetime project, so it took a while. Steve is a “top-end” car painter and chose a very understated Vanilla cream colour offset by a dark red vinyl interior by Andy Walker (A&V Auto trimming)…