Octane Fix Online Issue 24

ISSUE

It’s wheels-up for our 2nd year issue! GET AMONGST the EPIC day out at Nostalgia Drags with some awesome olds-cool drag racing. Then come cruising at the Southern Grills and Gasoline show in the deep South. Plus check out this blown and dumped Impala and sneaky Muscle Car in disguise.

WOW!

the shows, drags and burnout events to bring you videos and a heap of photos over the past 23 issues.

It’s been an awesome ride for sure and I’ve fully loved every click of the camera’s. I want to thank all the event organisers and feature car owners for letting me do what I do.

Getting up so close to the action like I do is just awesome! Even when my ears hurt from the extreme loudness of a screaming blown V8 drag car or methanol snorting blown burnout car shredding tyres within meters of me. My eyes watering from the methanol or nitro and the feel of the compression punching me in the guts straight out of the open headers of a blown drag car. It sounds insane but it is soo cool! You know you are alive when the adrenaline almost scares you but you love it!

The addictive sound of a performance built V8 screaming at its happy place on the rev counter is hard to explain but it instantly makes you smile and want more and more of it!

Just the turn of the ignition key to hear the rumble start is enough to make every problem in the world disappear. We all know it, you wouldn’t be reading this magazine or watching our youtube clips if you didn’t! They are our happy places, even when they play up and leave us on the side of the road, we still love them!

I certainly know I’m not the only one that pats the dash and says “good girl” to our ride when she’s done well.

I’m actually not sure how an automobile gets sexed, haha. I’m sure there must be “good boys” out there too. Maybe that’s where Mini’s

To all our feature car owners as well. It’s truly an honor to be allowed to climb all over your cars like I do to. A lot of times I’ve seen and photographed the car at a show, but not actually realized how work has gone into it until I actually get to do the photoshoot. It is honestly awesome to see the effort that some put in their build and the ideas that come out. It’s super-cool!

Our sponsors over the past two years have been amazing as well. Definitely get in touch with them if they have a product you need and pay back the support they give us. This magazine wouldn’t exist without them!

I feel a bit of a party coming on being two years old now too! Haha. We’ll be doing random giveaway’s this month to celebrate this 24th Issue so make sure you keep a track of our Facebook page and make sure you share, like or just comment on one of our posts. I’ll be grabbing random names out for free goodies from the people who I see on there.

So this month has been a little bit quiet on the car show scene, but for me that’s a bit of a bonus as I’ve managed to get back into my own build at last. Max is coming along not badly, so looking forward to turning the key again for sure.

There are a heap of runs coming up in the near future. Mangakino Hop along with the Rotorua Weekend is happening next month and preparation for Aroha Cruise In is well under way later on.

Bay Rodders are having their Winterblast run in June. You can

check all these events out in our back issues. Jump over to our redesigned webpage and head for the “Back Issue” tab. All our issues are now on there for viewing at anytime and in any place you are on the net. We are certainly portable with our new webpage layout.

So GET AMONGST this issue. It’s action packed with Drag Racing and an awesome show in the Southern land. Plus we have two wicked cool feature cars to check out.

Cheers all and make sure you watch us on Facebook this month to score some freebies.

ROCK ‘N ROLL all.

Cheers,Giggles (aka Bogan)

We are up to Issue 24 already! That means two years of Octane Fix hitting

Photo credit goes to the awesome Rod Dunn from Creative Auto Photography

GRAEME AND ROBYN YOUNG’S

1958 FORD CUSTOM 300 SCREAMER The Gold Digger

Now how’s this for a sneaky lil sleeper!

I’d seen this gorgeous car a few times at different events around the country but never really climbed over it to see just how tough it actually is.

This classic 1958 Ford Custom here packs some serious Muscle Car goodies under that hood, yet it still retains its classy 58 factory appearance with the molded side trims and detailing that the cool era of wings had.

These Custom Tudor Sedan’s as they were known way back then were the bread-and-butter car for Ford company.

As the little brother to the Fairlane with a smaller engine, they were sold as the

economical version with business owners picking them up as their fleet cars.

I’m not sure if this one still classes itself as economical now though. When I jumped in for a ride with Graeme, the first thing I noticed was the floor shift four speed gear lever poking up from the floor. Then when Graeme flicked the key, it was very apparent that things had been altered a tad under that long hood up front as well.

This beautiful looking cruiser now packs a tough 351ci Windsor backed by a four speed Top Loader to shove the revs back to the rear wheels.

Graeme has done an awesome job with the rebuild of this automobile.

The full bare metal rotisserie rebuild with a bunch of modifications including swapping the steering wheel over to make it a right hand drive, has all been

done to such a standard that you would think this had just rolled off the factory floor.

Being a good ole American desert car for thirty years of it’s life, this fully original car was perfect for what Graeme had in mind for it.

The body being straight and clean of the rust problems often encountered, made life a lot easier for the finish to capture the gloss and reflection of the modern Tangerine Scream paint that simply glows in the sunshine.

The rebuild didn’t stop at the body here. The interior has been fully refitted with leather upholstery to the original styling to keep the classic fifty-eight look going. The original gauge cluster moved to the opposite side and finished to look as if factory.

The engine bay where the growly ole

Windsor sits in place of the original engine, is also detailed to a show standard with polished aluminium rocker covers framing the polished ribbed air cleaner. This entire creation looks to be straight out of the factory which is probably why I hadn’t climbed over it earlier. It sits with a low stance but not over done taking on the unassumed sleeper styling that it has. Of course, with these sort of engine mods going on, you can bet Graeme didn’t leave the brakes and suspension alone!

The front received a set of Wilwood calipers and rotors to help pull it up, while the rear received a set of Caltrack traction bars for when the torque from the tricked-up Windsor hits the tarmac to get her going without hesitating too much.

This ride isn’t just a show piece though, Graeme and Robyn have been clocking up the miles from the day it hit the road. We seem to be following each other around the country from show to show which is absolutely awesome! Driven-not hidden is definitely the moto here!

Give me the dirt…

NAME: The Gold Digger

MAKE/MODEL: 1958 Ford Custom 300

COLOUR: Tangerine Scream – The colour is a Ford Focus Special Edition

How long since the new paint was done? 2 years Painted at Paul Herron Painters in Gore by Thomas Kennedy

ENGINE: 351 Windsor Edelbrock heads, inlet manifold, cam, timing gear, roller rockers with the block bored to 40 thou

TRANSMISSION: Manual 4 speed top loader

DIFF: Factory diff with a 3. 1 to 1 ratio with a Tru track centre

SUSPENSION: 2a1 shocks on front with Caltrack rear suspension

BRAKES: Drums on the rear with the front fitted with Wilwood disc brakes and calipers

WHEELS/TYRES: American racing wheels - 8” rear x 15” with 7” front x 15”

INTERIOR: Original seats slightly modified - all new leather upholstery by Mark Booth, Walkers Upholstery in Alexandra, Central Otago

STEREO: Still waiting to be rebuilt

OTHER MODS: Lowered the rear bumper for a smoother appearance

Q&A:

So how long have you owned the car? 6 Years. It took me four years to complete the rebuild, full rotisserie and convert to right hand drive

What condition was it in when you got it? Very original but sat in the desert for 30 years.

Where did you find it, import or around NZ? A good friend Peter Woods imported it from California for me.

What made you pick this car? Actually I wanted a 1957, but, this was a good straight car.

What would be your favourite car to have?

1934 Ford Coupe

What car would you like to test drive? A GT 40

Any other cool cars in the shed?

Yep, a 1946 Ford Coupe and a 1962 Ford Consul, Robyn has a 1976 MkII Capri, and a 1984 XR4I Sierra

What other cool cars have you owned?

1970 Ford Maverick, 1949 Customline, 1971 Escort (only new car ever owned), 1971 Mk IV Zodiac, 1970 Fairlane

Any you wish you still owned? No, have moved on.

What cars are on the wish list?

An older 30s Ford Coupe

Favourite style of car ie. Coupe or Wagon etc? Coupe

What do you love about the car scene the most?

The cruising to awesome places, figuring things out, the problem solving and the people.

Favourite car movie?

Too busy in the shed to watch movies

Favourite band or singer to go cruising with on the stereo?

Anything with a good beat, no yodelling!

Are you involved in any car clubs?

Belong to Cobra Rodders in Gore ( said with three r’s)

Anyone you would you like to thank for helping with the car?

Yep, Peter Woods for parts and knowledge, Brett Heslip - motor,

Anything else you would like to add …..

In this car we’ve done 12,000 miles in 2 years, driven from Bluff to Cape Reinga, including New Plymouth to Gisborne, and in between and back again. Attended over 15 car shows and been lucky enough to be in Top 10 several times. Already attended 8 shows this year.

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IT’S WHEELS UP TIME AT Nostalgia Drags 2023

This is one of my alltime favourite events to get amongst over the car show and drag racing season.

Bay Rodders – Tauranga put on this fantastic weekend which kicks off on the Saturday with the epic Nostalgia Drags. Open to pre 78 American Cars through to FED’s, Gassers, Wild Bunch, Flat Heads and Pre 49 Cars, this weekend fully takes you back in time to when the drag racing kicked off from the streets to the track.

Watching these olds-cool builds doing what they were built for is fantastic, not to mention listening to the sound of a good ole V8 screaming and slamming gears down the quarter mile. That is just music to the ears really!

This weekend is obviously not just my favourite either. The crowd turnout at this event is awesome to see as well.

This year, the weather didn’t really want to be inviting and play ball to start with, but as the morning progressed, the sun began to peak through, warming and drying out the track enough to get things cranking.

Kicking off with the competition cars and Pre 49’s to get the smiles going before it was wheels-up time with the FED’s and Gassers rolling up to the lights for some awesome old school drag racing action.

I fully love these builds. The no frills style of the Gassers with the nose in the air on a straight axle to throw the weight back onto the rear wheels for launching is way cool! Watching a cool old car fully wheel standing to head off down that quarter mile is just awesome!

Russell Low with his 56 Chevy and Glenn Munro were putting on an awesome display for the crowd with their races. Russell fully launching the fifty-six’s front wheels in the air as he does.

The FED’s – Front Engine Dragsters, are insanely cool if you ask me. The thought of sitting on top of a nine-inch diff with as big of a blown V8 you can get your hands on, snorting alcohol to launch down that quarter is epic to watch.

From the rolling burnout to get them huge tyres sticky, watching the tyre expand into a skinny in front your eyes with smoke shredding off the back of them is just super cool. Then to watch them launch, front wheels way out in front lifting off the tarmac with the torque of that screaming blown V8 about to hurl the lightweight tubular chassis down the track while the driver complete with gas mask due to the fumes, is sitting on top of the diff at close on 200mph is beyond epic and ballsy!

It is such an awesome class to watch, but the action doesn’t just happen with them at the Nostalgia’s. The Wild Bunch crew get amongst the action as well with more awesomely built old rides. These builds are just as spectacular to watch! The engineering that goes into these creations to carry them huge blown V8’s again is just as awesome. At the other end of the timecard is the Flat-head challenge. These cool old hot rods from way back are still cool to watch. It is still impressive when you think of what trickery went on way back

then to get these old flat head engines to pull hard down the track.

The competition 1 class was a fiercely fought out battle with Jim Carroll and Steve Daniel’s battling out the finals. There was only 0.5 of a second between them with Jim Carroll cranking 153mph through the finish lights to take it out. There was a fantastic field of cars to take on the days racing.

Wandering around the pit area is a Hot Rod sShow all by itself at this event. Olds-cool rides, Muscle Cars and Hot Rods filled the parking area inside the venue, making up the unofficial show for everyone to get amongst. Food and vendors stands were all go with a heap of goodies for sale from engine parts to clothing.

With the Pre 90’s Teams Champs being held on the Sunday as part of the weekend, there is a camping area set aside on the back field for anyone wishing to stay over and get amongst that as well. This makes for an awesome weekend of racing for those wanting to take on both events.

Luckily for this as the weather didn’t play ball the entire day with the rain settling in late afternoon before the final rounds could be held.

With the Pre 90’s set for Sunday anyway, as soon as the fog lifted and the track dried out, the final rounds for the Nostalgia’s was run with the Gasser crews rocking straight out to put on a massive show for the crowd. Followed by the Wild Bunch boys and Karl Boniface with the Castrol Edge Nitro Funny Car.

Karl’s always in for an awesome demonstration race down the strip. This crazy wild Nitro snorting machine is always awesome to see in action and definitely a crowd pleaser.

The Bay Rodders crew do an awesome job at running this annual event. Running the two events on consecutive days works out great for everyone involved and makes for an epic weekend to get amongst.

If you love olds-cool drag racing, this event needs to go into your diary and stay in your diary!

HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO SHINE...

If you think your ride deserves to be in here, drop us a photo and let us know about it. Every issue we will be picking a random car to show off. Plus, we may just stop in and do a full photo shoot for you and for us to feature.

Email us: info@octanefixonline.com

We check out an awesome His & Hers pairing of Hot Rod and Muscle that sit nicely together in the shed

STAUNCHEDSports Coupe

If you know me and my love for black coupes and big-as blowers, you will understand how hard it was for me not to trip over my tongue when I first spotted this at the Cromwell Classic Car and Hot Rod Festival. This thing is Hot Wheels COOL!

Wandering along the rows of cool-as cars with the camera’s came to a complete stand still when I got to this one!

The gloss black paint was honestly gleaming, and that huge blower dawned with black twin FiTech injection units sitting on top and the black shot gun scoop feeding air into this big block unit

was just too much to simply grab a photo and carry on!

I’ve always loved the Forth Gen Impala Sport Coupes. The long body with the sleek semi fast-back roof sliding back into that huge boot lid gives them a real aerodynamic arrow look for ripping down them long straight American highways,

yet still maintaining their cruiser look with their long wide bodies.

After helping a good friend Gorja work on hers a few years back, I’m honestly still surprised there isn’t one in my shed yet!

The finishing of the Sport Coupes is simply top class. Taking on the Caprice standard that Chevrolet developed for

– GRAHAM & FRANCIS WHITE’S –

their top-of-the-line models, these two door Impala’s were the junior Cadillac of the Chevy brand and hugely popular with their customers.

With simple facelifts to the fronts and tail lights identifying the models from 1965 through to 1970, they came with the option of ten different engine combinations.

This baby here came with the Big Block 427, so imagine owning this hunny back in 1968 and hitting the highways!

The huge open side space with the pillarless doors and rear side windows adds to the aerodynamic shape as if the roof floats in mid air from the windscreen back. The windscreen drops into the bonnet to conceal the windscreen wipers adding to the whole concept of smooth air flow and modern styling.

This new generation of Impala’s was a full redesign by Chevrolet. The chassis became a full Girder-Guard layout to full-width frame for carrying the new suspension layout giving wider bodies

with big guards to fill with wider rims and tyres.

The wings of the fifties and sixties disappearing to be replaced with the raised swage lines along the top the guards as if not wanting to drop the popular wing style fully.

The polished headlight surrounds incasing the twin headlights above the big chrome bumper wrapping the front fenders together while splitting the grill, adding to the class of these gorgeous big rides.

Graham & Francis have only enhanced Chevrolets dream here. The gold finish on the Chevrolet and Impala badges adds to the class. The polished five spoke, deep dish wheels bearing them wide tyres taking the stance to the next level of coolness with the rear dropped to the tarmac.

The slotted brake rotors up front with the red brake calipers taking on the Sport Coupes attitude with the upgrade or rear disc brakes to keep up with that huge blower addition up front.

The engine bay is fully detailed with performance and class in mind here. If it isn’t polished or black anodized, it’s coated in shiny black paint to match the body.

This isn’t just for show either this build. This ride cruises the show scene and gets to shred some rubber whenever possible when Graham’s behind the wheel.

The interior is fully back to factory apart from the addition of some cool sounds. The classy, embossed cloth, stainless and polished trims set the standard right from the word go when you open the huge doors to the cabin area, exuding luxury and class form the sixties era of cool.

This is definitely a ride you do not want to just wander by, it’s way too beautiful for that!

The staunchness yet classy attitude of this Sport Coupe is a credit to Graham and Francis here. Beholding two of my favorite things, big blowers and black coupes! YEAH BABY!

Give me the dirt…

MAKE/MODEL: 1968 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe

COLOUR: Black

ENGINE: 468ci Chevy. 990 Casting heads, Blower Roller cam, Forged pistons, Big Chevy Rods, FiTech Fuel injection

TRANSMISSION: T400 automatic

DIFF: 9” TruTrac 3:7 Ration

SUSPENSION: Stock but lowered springs

BRAKES: CPP 13” Disc rotors all round

WHEELS/TYRES: Polished Coys 20 x 8.5” up front with 20 x 9.5”on the rears

INTERIOR: All stock but re-upholstered in factory cloth

STEREO: A BIG ONE!

Q&A:

What other interests do you have?

More cars!

So how long have you owned the car?

8 years now

Where did you find it, import or around NZ? Found it in Port Angeles, Washington DC

What made you pick this car?

Bought it for Francis originally

What would be your favourite car to have?

Lamborghini Miura

What car would you like to test drive?

The Lambo

Any other cool cars in the shed?

Some – ( that’s an understatement!)

What other cool cars have you owned?

70 Cuda, 70 GS Buick, 65 Impala

Any you wish you still owned? No

What cars are on the wish list?

69-70 Mustang CJ

Favourite style of car? Convertible

What do you love about the car scene the most?

The people

Favourite car movie?

American Graffiti

Whats on the stereo right now?

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Did you buy the car as is or build it?

Built it

How long was the build time?

2 years

What condition was it in when you got it? It was pretty good body-wise, but the engine was no good

Anyone you would you like to thank for helping with the car?

Yep, Tony Dudfield, Derek Orr, Neil Saddler, Grant Findley and Phil Withington for their help

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> We head South again to the Cromwell Classic Car and Hot Rod Festival before tearing up the drag strip again at the NZ Hot Rod Teams Drag Racing event at the NAPA Auto Parts Dragway, Meremere.

+ More Feature Cars!

Southern Grilles and Gasoline

A FULL-ON WEEKEND OF CRUISING AND FUN!

This show was one out of the bag for me. I hadn’t actually heard of the show, but after getting a quick message telling me the show was on and checking the date to realize it was straight after Muscle Car Madness in the South Island, it seemed wrong to not head down the island further to catch it! What a cool idea that turned out to be!

The show isn’t just the Show ‘n Shine on the Saturday. It all kicks off on the Friday night with a cruise into the main street of Invercargill for the public to catch these cool old rides cruising the streets together.

The main street was closed off to public cars leaving just the olds-cool rides to cruise the main. What an awesome sight it was too, with the old cars fully capturing their era wandering the main street lined with the historic buildings of the pioneering days.

It could have easily been a scene from a 60’s or 70’s movie set.

Both sides of the street were lined with people kicking back to watch the parade of cars cruising up and down the main like the good ole days on a Friday night.

Saturday was Show Day and boy did that kick off well. The show officially kicked off at 10am and by then the grounds were almost full with Hot Rods, Classics, Muscle Cars and pretty much any ride that was cool, lined up and gleaming in the sunshine for everyone to wander through and check out.

Heaps of vendors had their goods for sale for the caves along with food stands and bbq’s going flat-out raising funds for various charities and groups.

A live band jamming out good ole Kiwi classics had the bounce going through the crowd with people kicking back under pop up gazebo’s and deck chairs to fully soak up the awesome atmosphere of the day.

Heaps of entertainment was organised throughout the day for the public and car owners to get amongst. Kicking off with a Retro Pageant to bring back the era of fashion to match the cars is always a crowd pleaser at these shows. Rocker cover racing drew an impressive lineup of purpose-built rocker cover race machines to battle it out for the fastest rocker cover down the purpose built ramp.

By the enthusiasm of the owners, there’s obviously a bit of thought and design gone into some of these creations. There’s definitely some designs that are faster than others, so I guess I’ll be studying my video’s for my next trip down, haha.

The variety of fine automobiles on display was impressive to say the least. From

American and Aussie Muscle to English Classic and Import Performance, there was definitely something for everyone at the show. Nate Rolston grabbed an impressive trophy and prize money for Best Overall and Peoples Choice with his awesome well restored and tricked Mazda 626 running a rotary power plant, which is pretty impressive when parked amongst some very cool Muscle Cars.

The South is definitely Aussie Muscle Car country. As you know with me and my Coupe, I’m a big fan of two door Muscle and Aussie Performance with the Cleveland, so to get amongst NZ’s capital of Aussie Muscle was pretty damn cool for me!

The show itself is run by the Southland Chevrolet Club with the purpose of raising funds for local charities. This show was in aid of Autism Southland with the massive amount of ten thousand dollars being raised by the club and presented to this awesome society to help fund the great work they do.

Kiwispan Sheds also ran a bbq at the show raising another five hundred and sixty-two dollars for the society making for a fantastic day for an awesome cause.

With the sun beaming in at thirty-two degrees celsius in the afternoon, a vintage airport firefighting truck parked up on the field to give whoever wished a quick drenching in absolutely no time firing water across the field.

The natural milkshake and ice cream trucks on site had a good queue of people lined up looking to cool down with cold refreshments fully taking in the festival.

With a heap of donated prizes for the raffles and winning groups and cars, the prizegiving took out the rest of the afternoon before everyone slowly dispersed ready to get back into a track day planned for the Sunday at the Teretonga Park Raceway.

Invercargill has an amazing set up when it comes to motorsports and pretty much any sport that needs a good size area for things to happen.

The Teretonga Park Raceways sits amongst all sorts of clubs from rowing on the river to dirt track and field sports all set in the one huge area. It’s honestly impressive to see such a cool set up.

The track itself is the Southern most track in the world recognized for FIA competition including truck racing.

Unfortunately for us, the weather decided not to play ball on Sunday after the stunning day Saturday was. Rain settled in for the day making the day more of a cruise day with an awesome bbq lunch supplied by the Southern Chevrolet Club again.

We did manage to get a few laps in, although pretty contained to our usual standard.

I was lucky enough to meet up with the MacDonald family (MacDonald Racing team) and hitch a ride with Liam MacDonald in his fully tricked turbo charged 2L SR Escort for a few laps around the track. You may have heard Liam’s name mentioned a couple of times during the BNT V8 series. He just happened to win the series at his first crack at it peddling a Falcon, which is pretty damn impressive!

Although the wet weather meant we couldn’t play in the Falcon on the Sunday, Liam certainly gave the crowd and myself an awesome bit of entertainment peddling the Escort with hands and feet going everywhere drifting the circuit. If you’re planning a cruise to the deep South in January make sure you suss this weekend out and sneak it into your itinerary. It’s well worth getting amongst and the Southern hospitality tops it off for sure.

Huge thanks to the Southland Chevrolet Club for the invite and looking after me, along with the MacDonald family for looking after me on the Sunday, it certainly topped the weekend off! Awesome event!

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