Innholdsfortegnelse for No 166 March 2019 i NZV8

I always thought it was funny that some people could view cars as a mere appliance — a necessity required to transport oneself and passengers from point A to point B. But, thanks to someone of low morals managing to hit my dailydriver while it was parked and then proceeding to make a run for it, I was recently left behind the wheel of one the most appliance-like vehicles possible. Sure, I was grateful that the panel beater had one available, no doubt about it, as the timing couldn’t have been worse with the toys off the road and one other car recently departed from the fleet. At first, I didn’t think it was too bad — and, in some ways, it wasn’t, for a courtesy car — the second…

LETTER OF THE MONTH Hi Todd, Another good editorial in last month’s issue of NZV8 [Issue No. 164]: The Future is Near Here. A couple of points from my perspective. Commentary around EVs [electric vehicles] is healthy; they are here and growing in numbers on our roads. And they will be a useful tool in emissions reductions. But, they are only one solution and not a silver bullet, and the sooner media, EV zealots, car companies, and government calm down, [the sooner] I think we’ll start to see a balanced discussion and subsequent investment across other viable emissions-reduction technologies. At the moment I fear that we are witness to a series of emotional pleas from some genuinely well-meaning groups to save the world — from New Zealand. And then we…

EMAIL YOUR BUILDS TO EDITOR@V8.CO.NZ LONG TIME COMING This VK has been a long-term project for Rhys Wallace from Thames, so long in fact he could almost claim ownership to the hoist at Barrie Richard’s workshop as it has been sitting on it for years. Working overseas and building a car when home is the slow way to build a car, but the VK is well on the way to moving under its own power again with a 600-plus HP allalloy Brodix 406 up front. This is backed with a five-speed manual and the obligatory nine inch rear. The end of the long build is in sight though with the car almost back together. Barrie reckons a good week’s work would probably knock it off — it’s just a matter…

Colin Pope is a regular, salt-of-the-earth kinda guy — a dairy farmer from Taranaki, with a few years’ life experience under his belt, if you must know. When a guy like that decides to get into the classic car game, you’d be forgiven for expecting him to be driving something a little less glamorous and maybe a little more utilitarian — and that was his original plan. When Colin decided to sell his road bike and get the next best thing, the arduous search online finally turned up a solid-looking ’51 Chev pickup on Trade Me. It hadn’t been complied and there was no price, but, after a few days, curiosity took hold and Colin rang the seller to have a look. “It looked pretty good, and I couldn’t see…

The advert read: “If you have a 1969 Mustang shell, what better way to build the ultimate pro-touring fastback than to give it a Boss 302 look with a big, honkin’ V8 under the hood? This handsome silver attack-craft is every bit as potent as you’d hope, with a Keith Craft 409ci V8, 6-speed gearbox, a road race-ready suspension, and a very tasteful black leather interior. “Full of tricks, this very impressive resto-mod is both fast and comfortable, the perfect blend of looks and technology. It lives up to the Boss 302 look, and will earn fans everywhere it goes. Call today!” Sounds awesome, right? With photos to back it up too, it’s easy to see why, after a bit of headscratching — and with permission from the wife —…

With minimal track time before the season began, Tristan Teki knew that it was going to be hard for him to stick it to the big guns in his big block Camaro. Now, halfway through the season, due to various on-track and mechanical issues along the way, he’s conceded that he’s out of the points race. This isn’t all bad though, as it has allowed him the chance to make changes to the car mid season without the threat of ruining a successful championship. While, performance-wise, Tristan has no complaints about how the 500ci big block is going, the overall weight of the vehicle, coming in at 1640kg including driver, was a bit more than he’d hoped. So, between rounds four and five, the car went on a serious diet.…

WHERE IS IT NOW? GARTH WILLIAMS — 1965 CHEV MALIBU It wasn’t just the photo studio shaking when the 572ci big block–powered ’65 Malibu rolled in, but all the buildings in the near vicinity too, such is the depth of its rumble. Driven at the time by Garth Williams — good friend of the vehicle’s true owner, who preferred to keep a low profile, and the man who was lucky enough to get to store the car in his home garage for many years. Fast forward a decade, and it’s still the one car that comes to mind for our editor whenever he’s asked which feature car he’d like to own the most. Prior to being fitted with that monster crate motor, the car had competed in various Targa events,…

Since its inception, the Chevrolet Corvette has been designed to excite, thrill, and scare anyone daring enough to climb inside the cabin. So, when Chevrolet announced that they would be unveiling a new edition of the coveted nameplate at the recent Rolex 24 at Daytona, expectations were high for the Detroit steel. And those that saw it in the flesh were not disappointed, when the covers were pulled off what we now know to be the 2019 Corvette Drivers Series special-edition Grand Sport — a bit of a mouthful, but with all that these bad boys are packing, it’s only fair to have such a title. There are four versions built upon the Grand Sport models — which boasts a naturally-aspirated 6.2-litre LT1 heart good for 460hp. And like the…

The Motorhood is the online home of NZV8 and its sister publications NZ Performance Car and New Zealand Classic Car. It’s the hub for all things automotive, from news and reviews to event coverage and more. You can enjoy articles from the magazines on The Motorhood’s home page, themotorhood.com, or, if you want a purely V8-scene experience, just head to our old website — v8.co.nz — to be redirected straight to NZV8’s part of the site. HOONITRUCK F-150 The latest instalment of Ken Block’s Gymkhana series may be taking over the internet — and you’ll find the full hit in our article on The Motorhood. We took a closer look at the tool that was used to get the job done: a purpose-built ’77 Ford F-150 four-wheel-drive 900hp pickup of…

FEBRUARY 26 WANGANUI ROAD RODDERS STREET DRAGS For decades, the Wanganui Road Rodders have held their annual street drags on Taupo Quay — an excuse to let the inner hoon free, with big burnouts and high speed down a public road! Not only is the event an experience for the drivers, it’s one hell of a spectacle for those on the sidelines — after all, it’s widely stated that the Road Rodders are the ‘most-supercharged’ car club in New Zealand. You can bet that there will be one heck of a lot of firepower on display, as usual. Lock the date in, cruise to the river city, and don’t forget to bring your earplugs — you’ll thank us for it! 15–16 FEBRUARY REBEL ROUND UP 2019 March is a busy…

Last year, we said that the 2019 season of drag racing was going to be a significant one with the introduction of the Kiwi Thunder Group One National Series — a joint series between Masterton Motorplex and Meremere Dragway — that would see the best in the country lining up side by side, with Group One competitors in Top Alcohol and Top Doorslammer battling it out for the top spot. And, according to Masterton Motorplex track promoter Bob Wilton, the first round, which took place during the Wellington Invasion at Meremere Dragway (12 January) was a huge success. “The first round went off really well. I was on the gate giving out the programme for it, and the feedback was consistently that it’s about time the two tracks got together…

When Todd suggested that I write an article about my trip to New Zealand, I felt very honoured and scared at the same time. I’ve been a fan of the magazine for years — thank God for social media and the internet — but to actually contribute was something really special. Yeah, I’ve had photos and articles featured in my local mags, but that’s different. The heavy cold I’m dealing with that transformed me into a zombie doesn’t help much, either. But first thing’s first — let me introduce myself. I’m George Lucian Mutu and I’m a chopper and hot rod enthusiast — that really sounds like an AA introduction. I’ve been playing in my little corner of the internet called dWrenched.com for quite a while, let’s say since late…

As soon as we mentioned this Concept Corner to the team at Mitchell Race Xtreme (MRX), builders of this month’s cover car, the talk about the ultimate GT-type race car began. The issue was only ever going to be what shape. MRX head honcho Derek Mitchell started the business 26 years ago and was known in the 1990s for his flame-adorned ‘64 Chev Nova SS, so that’s where the discussion soon went. The car was built for Pre ‘65 racing and held every lap record in the North Island for a period, something that Derek wouldn’t mind repeating. In theory, the car would be the modern-day version of that same old Nova, but, rather than follow the tight rules of Pre ‘65, it’d be the anything-goes approach of GTRNZ. For…

Imagine being in your teens and having all the knowledge you have now. Cam North doesn’t need to imagine that, he’s living it. No, he’s not back from the future, but, at the tender age of just 19, he’s built a car that should, in theory, have been built by someone well beyond his years. The key to his abundance of knowledge and experience lies in his relationship with his dad. While some — let’s call them boring or sensible — dads would wisely advise their kids to get nice economical and reliable cars, Cam’s dad Peter isn’t that way inclined. Instead, he’s the dad that the rest of us wanted but generally didn’t get. Back when Cam was just starting primary school, Pete had a tough VH Commodore, something…

You read it here first, ladies and gents! The world’s most expensive Mustang, ever, has just sold at Mecum’s Kissimmee auction for a head-scratching figure of $2.2 million USD! How did a Mustang sell for such a ridiculously large figure? — you might be left wondering. Well, the car in question happens to be a 1967 Shelby GT500 Super Snake — a one-off prototype that was far too expensive for Ford to greenlight it to go in to production — roughly double the cost of a regular GT500 — and offered up 520hp back in ’67. To put that into perspective, the 2019 Shelby GT500 just revealed at the Detroit Auto Show is claimed to pump out “over 700 horsepower”, so some five decades later, the Super Snake could still…

There aren’t many instances where a 410hp/581Nm-making 6.4-litre Hemi V8 is described as the ‘entry-level motor’, but when it comes to the 2019 Ram Heavy Duty pickups and the 3,500kg max payload and 16,000kg tow rating, it is just that, very entry level. The massive haulage comes courtesy of another big number: 1355Nm of torque from the high-output version of the 6.7-liter Cummins inline-six turbodiesel — a nearly 100Nm increase on the 2018 incarnation. What’s even crazier is that all that torque is produced at just 1,800rpm, with all 400hp made by 2,800rpm! Thanks to developments like a compacted graphite iron block, lighter pistons, hollow camshaft, and new forged connecting rods and bearings, the Cummins engine has lost more than 30kg, and coincidentally makes exactly 135Nm more torque than the…

Nice car, Nathan; had it long? No, only a few months. When I moved back from Australia, I found that I needed a ute for hauling stuff around. I really wanted something that would be a good daily-driver and that could also be used for picking up parts, etc. as required. I looked at a few options, and I guess I could have dropped $50K or more on a new Ranger like everyone else, but something like this made more sense to me. It’s a much better option that fits in with me and the rest of my cars. I get far better use out of this than I would with a new Ranger. The Ranchero probably worked out to be similar money to a modern ute, except I won’t…

THE NAME SAYS IT ALL A car of this scale had to have a name, and what better than ‘Kowalski’? Thanks to Stainless Design, this name now sits at both ends of the vehicle on custom laser-cut badges. Like Kowalski, the main character of the cult hit movie Vanishing Point, Nick Ross has driven his share of impressive cars, at speed. But, unlike Kowalski, who was a paid car-delivery driver, Nick is a true racer. Having started in karts back in 1991 and progressed to Formula Ford in 1997, and on to NZV8s from 2001, he’s had success in each class as he’s stepped up the ranks. The rise and rise of his racing career saw the team at Mitchell Race Xtreme (MRX) build a Nissan Altima touring car from…

Now, anyone in the car world knows that nothing bad ever happens when you get a bunch of bored blokes sitting around in a shed, drinking whisky, and talking shit — right? That was the exact scenario Bevan Parker found himself in a few years ago. Sitting in his shed was a bagged 1938 Ford that he wasn’t really looking at selling. However, after a couple or three glasses of Dutch courage, and some enthusiastic mates agreeing with the ridiculous idea that was flowing from his mouth, he placed an ad on a Facebook hot rod marketplace group advertising the ’38 for sale. “No one will be interested; it’ll never sell; I don’t really want to sell it anyway …” Before the group could pour another round of stupidity, Bevan…

As a feature at the Legends of Bathurst meeting, the Enzed Central Muscle Cars (CMC) had a lot to live up to. Its growing reputation as an entertainment category, along with the extremely tight points table, meant that there were plenty of pressures laid on the shoulders of the teams and drivers. After a topsy-turvy round three at Pukekohe for many of the competitors, the fourth round of the season was quietly set as a defining moment in the series; anyone losing further points would likely be out of contention come the final points tally. This came true for Group 2 champion Steve Noyer, who dropped a valve during the opening laps of race one, and, while he could have pressed the team for an overnight engine repair, he was…

THEMOTORHOOD.COM SIMPLE COMPLIANCE You’ve probably now read Vaughan’s tale of misery in this issue, about how the compliance process shouldn’t go. NZV8 has previously run a five-step guide on how compliance should work, and we’ve loaded it up to themotorhood.com so you can check it out. While compliance can be a minefield — especially if your car’s not up to scratch — reading this simple guide should show that it doesn’t always need to be difficult. Search ‘VIN-ing an old car’ to put your mind at ease. BUILT TO RACE The Mitchell Race Xtreme (MRX)–built Dodge Challenger may look too good to ever hit the track, but we can assure you that that’s exactly what it was built for. As the team at MRX started with a bare shell, the…