Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2022 i Custom Car

Pure gold Since its inception in 1972, the National Street Rod Association (NSRA) has evolved over the last 50 years more than anyone could have envisaged back in those early days. The club was spawned when the dozen or so members at the time decided it was time the Roadster Register, a sub-division of a drag racing club, be disbanded and a stand-alone street rod club formed instead. Half a century on, membership stands at around 2,500. Many things are planned to mark the NSRA’s golden anniversary throughout this year, including specific vehicle displays at a couple of events. The Fun Run at Rutland Showground on 17-19 June will play host to dedicated displays of previous Participants’ Choice winners (coordinated by Mick Harle) and Cars of Significance Part 1 (coordinated…

The Trip Out has become a lifestyle. It’s about using your vehicle as a vehicle to meet up with like-minded souls. That can probably be said of many rod runs, but the Trip Out harks back to the glory days of the late ’60s and early ’70s. No negative waves, man. There’s no attitude, it’s just about the earned respect for keeping an old Harley or Triumph or classic Flathead V8 or beat-up old Yank on the road, and travelling the miles in it. It’s about ‘feeling it’. After missing last year due to Covid, this year we really tied it on. Lots of people saying afterwards this was the best ever Trip Out, despite the word beforehand being that this would be the last ever Trip Out. Shame, though…

Despite a seemingly healthy number of eager buyers, vendor pitches were definitely thinner on the ground at the NSRA Northern Swap Meet last year. Nobody we spoke to could work out why that should have been though. It was the usual time of year, the venue was still Magna in Rotherham, the meet was well advertised, Steel City Cruisers helped with the organisation and the weather was amazing for October. If anything, we expected the place to be rammed as there hadn’t been an NSRA Swap Meet of any sort for the last 19 months. more cars and trucks on display than ever Regardless of quantity, the quality of much on offer was high, and we’ve heard of a few bargains that were bagged, so those that did make the…

Late September saw the 10th edition of Popstalgia, the show dedicated to all things Ford Pop, Anglia, Prefect and Model Y/C.That said, there have been several additions to the line up over the years, including Austin Devons, Model Ts and ‘non-Pops’, and this time round the weekend featured the inaugural Fordson Nationals, too. The Saturday has always been dedicated to going on a cruise, and this year a large group of us trundled over from Bosworth Water Park to the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull. The local bike lovers were in for a treat as we rolled up to our allocated section of the car park, before enjoying a coffee and a look around the museum. After that, we headed back to the campsite for a relaxed evening in preparation for…

Email photos and details of your car to: cc.ed@kelsey.co.uk or post to Readers’ Rods, Custom Car, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent ME18 6AL. Include you name and address. All digital photos must be at least 300dpi Although having admired rods and customs from a young age, work, marriage and kids didn’t leave John Capon enough time or money to indulge in his passion. His interest was re-ignited in the ’90s, though, when he visited one of the all-day bike shows in Newmarket. It was big, ugly and just right “The show took up the whole of the High Street,” he recalls. “It was a beautiful sight, and a couple of guys turned up in customised Ford Pops. They had the lot, right down to Carlos Fandango wheels.…

Write to: Custom Car Mail, Kelsey Publishing, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent ME18 6AL E-mail: cc.ed@kelsey.co.uk Fax: 01733 557235 Uncovered Dear CC, I thought readers might like to see some former cover cars that are now living here in central Florida. Unfortunately, the green Pop had an accident last summer, but is being fixed back to original like in the magazine pictures. Greg Saunders, via Instagram > Thanks for getting in touch Greg. It’s great that an ex-pat hot rodder (@britrodder in your case) still keeps in touch with his roots. Glad to hear that the damage to the Mark Simkiss-built ragtop Pop, Participants’ Choice winner at the 1999 Supernats, is repairable. Ed. Impala hunter Dear CC, the ’64 Impala pictured in your February issue letters page…

Hot rods and Gassers have been a feature of the Goodwood Revival for several years now, but never before on the scale of the 2021 event. More than 60 cars, including a contingent of 12 Rolling Bones-built hot rods shipped in from the US (at their owners’ expense, incidentally), were one of the main attractions and, as you can imagine, that took quite some organising. And so it was, in February 2021, I received a call from local hot rodder and Goodwood inside man, Greg Waters, asking if I could help find some British hot rods to augment the display. The brief was simple – traditional style, no shiny bits and keep it quiet as it may never happen. But by April, the ’Bones attendance was confirmed, and we had…

Both the 2021 Car Fest events, North at Bolesworth Estate in Cheshire and South at Laverstoke Park Farm near Basingstoke, enjoyed fabulous weather and huge crowds. Visitor numbers totaled 110,000 over the two events, with £3 million being raised for various children’s charities. This year I worked as part of a new motorsport management team, which requested a repeat of some of the best of previous Car Fests, so I opted for a proven and reliable cast who put on a great display, both in the paddock and on track. £3 million being raised for children’s charities With the planned Retro Car Fest at Bicester being cancelled, we also had the opportunity of sourcing some great classics, both British and American, to add to the mix. CC…

There’s always a feeling of joy and sadness when we feature a car that was started a long time ago by someone else. The sadness arises from the fact the original builder never had the opportunity to see their vision through to a finished car. The joy, on the other hand, comes from the person who finally finished the car and has the pleasure of blasting it up the road with a grin on their face. In this case of this ’34, there are two elements of sadness and one of joy, as there are two previous owners who deserve honourable mention, though Stuart Gilbert is the one with the broad smile on his face. Antony was a very quiet, shy guy, and he’d done an awful lot of planning…

Flame & Thunder, Santa Pod’s season closer is billed as a stunts and drag racing family firework spectacular, and that’s exactly what it is. On the last Saturday of October, track action was provided by cars and bikes from a cross section of national drag racing classes, along with a cluster of jet-powered machinery. Heavy rain meant nothing ran in the morning, but the always hard-working track crew ensured things were up and running by early afternoon. cars and bikes from a cross section of national drag racing classes Off-track entertainment included monster trucks, the Terry Grant stunt display, drift cars and stunt bikes. A mega firework display then rounded it all off at the end. Here’s a look at some of that family entertainment on track…

The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Gala dinner was held at Oatlands Park Hotel in Weybridge, Surrey on 20 November 2021. The formal part of the evening centres around awards and the presentation of Bootsies to the latest Hall of Fame inductees and this year, Honorary Chair, Lesley Wright, opened the proceedings commenting, “It’s been a tough two years for all. However, thanks to the amazing efforts by our tracks, I am pleased to say that drag racing is alive and kicking.” Tony Thacker then announced the inaugural Stuart Bradbury Junior Drag Racing Awards, which went to Liam Holgate, Luke Fulton, Hollie King and Harry Redshaw. Earlier, Tom Davis of VP Racing Fuels made presentations to these 2020 and 2021 Junior Drag Racing champions. drag racing is alive and…

Norm Grabowski and Tommy Ivo… were my hot rodding heroes, my idols The fabulously-named Johnny Belair has long had a love for the beach, and the lifestyle that surrounds it, which led to him spending much of his early years in the water surfing the waves. As he grew older and his interests spread to clothes and machines, it broadened to take in all the elements of the vintage lifestyle, and so it was only natural those should be his inspirations with his hot rods, too. Further adding to the influences, in 2013 Belair hooked up with, and soon after became a member of, the Dead Man’s Curve LLC Car Club. It was then he decided he needed to build something new to initiate his membership into the club. His…

Of all the memorable spectacles we have witnessed on the drag strips over the years, few have left a mark like the awesome performances by the Funny Cars and dragsters piloted by east coast American racer, Sammy Miller. The crowds of British race fans really didn’t know what to expect when he lined up for his very first run at Santa Pod in September 1978, but Sammy literally blew them away as he instantly became the quickest driver over the standing quarter in Europe. At that point in time, there had only been one pass below six seconds, and here was Sammy coasting his Vega-bodied Vanishing Point projectile through the top-end traps in 4.94 seconds at 225mph after running out of fuel at half track. The age of rocket power…

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