Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2022 i NZ Hot Rod

WHEN I was at the Palmerston North Hot Rod Club Swap Meet held at Manfield on 6 August, I spotted parked near one of the side entrances to the Stadium a cool 1934 Ford Roadster. Something told me this was a new build and I just had to follow up on it to see if I could feature it in the NZHRM. Tracking the owner later wasn’t too hard as I knew him. It was Mark Blenkinsop, a hot rodder well known in street rod and drag racing circles in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. Mark was seen at just about every rod run going in his 1947 Mercury Coupe, then a nice 1933 Ford 3-window Coupe, and if he felt like burning some rubber, he could be found at…

AROUND late September each year, Scenic City R&CC in New Plymouth started having a memorial run to honour one of their members. This year it was a well-known local hot rodder Shane “Chicken” Neighbour, but is now to honour all passed local rodders. Since then, the Annual get-together has grown steadily, and other local hot rod club members are coming along for the day. Meeting up at the Awanui Cemetery gives people a chance to visit the headstones of some ex-members and friends, plus a quick visit to spend some time with late parents and friends who have passed away over the years. The winner of the previous year gets to write the run sheet for the next year, and this year Warren & Lorraine Hopkins did a great job…

DOUG Ferguson grew up in Howick, Auckland and got bitten by the hot rod bug at the tender young age of nine. Two brothers, Greg and Steve Roy, lived next to Doug’s school and just happened to be building a T-bucket. He’d marvel at the sight of them driving it up and down the road. Even though he was still riding his bike to school, he was hooked and wanted a T-bucket just like it. Doug’s mum gave some solid advice saying, “if you’re going to build a car, that’s fine, but an engineer must build the chassis”. Doug heeded those wise words and commissioned Terry Vaughan to build him a chassis. Terry Furness’s influence stepped into play when Doug spotted his T Coupe at a Hot Rod Show in…

LES and Katrina Platt came up with the idea of this car show a dozen years back as a fundraiser for the local Girl Guides. The annual show is held in Amberley Domain, about 30 miles north of Christchurch. A few short years after the first show, Rock ‘n Wheels became a Charitable Trust, and many other local concerns have benefitted since. This year, all proceeds went to Amberley School, Broomfield School, Leithfield Boxing Club and Amberley Squash Club. Les Platt, a retired traffic cop, was a member and past President of East Coast Rodders in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, with a ‘32 Ford Roadster using a Glass Repros body, fully fendered, a smallblock Chevy and Powerglide, and painted black to match his work vehicle! Long story short,…

AS WITH all outdoor events, great weather is the most critical item required bar none. Last year the show and shine only just happened as it poured with rain just after lunch. This year the rain came on Friday to coincide with the Poker Run. Saturday saw a huge car attendance with over 50 cars in attendance from the lower North Island, especially Wellington. The weather was perfect, with no wind at all. A live band played, the bar was popular, and thousands came along to not only see all the cars and stalls but again to support the “gypsy fair” and all its offerings. Well done to Doug and all his helpers.…

MY article on Tony and Kerry Payne’s Junkyard Junction in the September issue was originally intended as a backdrop for Tony Vittle’s Hamilton-based ‘32 Ford Victoria. I’d long admired the Payne property, and after looking through it, the chance for a stand-alone feature was just too good to miss. A break in the winter weather also meant Tony Vittle and his lady Ngaire Hamilton were able to skip down to Rotorua with their Vicky and share in the unique Payne property. It’s long been known that the Model A was Edsel Ford’s brainchild. Towards the end of Model A production, he introduced the Victoria body, a cross between a coupe and a tudor with its distinctive sloping rear body panels. They say Edsel greatly admired the reign of England’s Queen…

NOTHING beats a good day out amongst the enthusiasm of a grassroots, no prize money, volunteer run drag meet. On Saturday, 17th September, Southern Dragway’s second meeting of the season at Teretonga Park was a further indication of the renewed interest in drag racing in the south. There was lots of sun, an increase in participants, a huge crowd of spectators and a general upbeat feeling in the air that life is good. The coming season is looking great with an increase in entrant numbers and a committee dedicated to taking the club forward. It also bodes well for the club that there were over a dozen newbies in the Have a Go Class, a healthy sign that so many new entrants are coming through to nip at the exhausts…

REMEMBER the man who bought his first Remington shaver? Inspired by the results of his close and clean shave; he decided to make another purchase – the company Dave Best can relate to this; he liked the Cerakote finish on his own cars so much that he purchased the local business – CerakoteNZ. CerakoteNZ is located in Tauranga, working alongside Gravel Motor Garage and strongly compliments their products and services. Sam Hughes has come on board to manage the new venture. He is passionate about the product and offers excellent customer service. With this, they have seen the customer base grow quickly over the last six months. Cerakote is industry-leading in thin film ceramic coatings. It is renowned within the firearms industry, perfect for many car parts and motor applications…

THE 1940 Ford coupe, especially the deluxe model, would have to be one of the most glamorous prewar Fords ever produced. But, unfortunately, they were never commercially available here in New Zealand, except for the odd private import in more recent years. Australia was luckier as they produced their locally made Fordor sedans, convertibles and a handful of coupe utes, but still no coupes. This particular car was a very low mileage, (just over 50,000 miles), totally original, low-owner car. It is believed to have spent 26 years in a museum. The car was sold and eventually discovered by Colin Willoughby and Gary Barnett. Colin really wanted the coupe but was not in a position to buy it at that time, so Gary stepped up to own it. The car…

FUN in learning. This car show held on Sunday, 11th September at the Motukarara racecourse was actually a school project at Christchurch Boy’s High School. One of the courses for the older boys is a business course that required the class to create a small business and launch it through to completion. Four lads, Jak, Robbie, Sam and Ben, all love cars. So first off, they had to come up with an idea, then do a feasibility study, launch it, promote it and turn up with a finished product and with amazing results. Very professional. They met everybody at the gate, showed them where to go, and part of the guidelines was to choose a charity to donate to; this was the “I am Hope” foundation. The weather started a…

NZHRA celebrated their 60th anniversary with the two-week-long Diamond Cruise starting in Bluff and concluding in Cape Reinga. Twenty-two vehicles completed the entire Cruise, while an estimated 500 joined in at various stages and stops along the way. The event was considered a complete success with tour stops to visit collections, museums, hot rod industry suppliers and fabricators, hot rod clubrooms and other places of interest. It united rodders in ways not seen before and has left fond and enduring memories you could write a book with. So ride along with us to get a taste of the Diamond Cruise. Ashburton to Christchurch Photos by Craig Stare Christchurch to Greymouth Photos by John Eva Taupo Photo by Allan Porter Whakatane-Tauranga Photos by Bruce Taylor THE Diamond Cruisers arrived from Gisborne…

AFTER a hiatus of two years due to Covid, Tauranga Street Machine’s & Custom’s popular Blossom Festival display returned for 2022. As usual, there was a wide range of vehicles on display that appeals to an equally wide range of spectators, and the event just seems to run like clockwork. The spectators get value for money. It costs them nothing to look at all the cars, and they are treated to free live entertainment. This year Al Dawson performed on stage, and all that the Greerton business’s hope for was that they spent some money on the day.…

FLASHBACK WE stepped out and over the traditional boundaries with our Part 2 and subsequently received new and additional information, enabling us to present this extra look at Kiwi Deuce Fordor sedans in Part 4. Footnote: We do not claim this to be a complete list, but the door is always open, so please let us know if you have information to share. Off the Radar We heard about various other deuce Fordors but could not track them down in time to make this issue’s deadline. If you have any info on these cars listed below or any others, we may have missed; we’d love to hear from you. 1. Brett Martin, Auckland 2. David Spencer, Wanganui sold his unfinished Fordor to Tauranga, new owner, unknown.…

THE first AutoFest was held in 2016 at Mystery Creek, Hamilton. The event was held there for the next four years and was open to all makes and models. However, in 2020 the event company Downtime Entertainment took time out to re-invent the event and with new ideas and a huge amount of enthusiasm, they had to sit out 2021 as it was cut short by COVID. So, with the future looking a lot brighter for event organisers, the Downtime Entertainment team announced AutoFest was going to happen in 2022 with a new date, a new format and a new venue, rain, shine, regardless it was going to take place at Manfield, Feilding on the weekend of September 10 - 11th 2022. Entry was open to Hot Rods, Classic Cars,…

AS you can see by these pics where the name comes from because it certainly is a spectacular show. It is open to a huge variety of cars and clubs. The huge collection of Packards this year was immense. There were close to 350 cars in the show held at the Edgar Centre. There was an auto jumble and a first this year was the Dunedin Darlin’ Girls’ pageant. The organisation is split between the Falcon/ Fairlane and Otago Classic Motoring clubs. The crowd numbers were strong all day, and whatever you were into, it was definitely on display.…