Custom Car - March 2023

MAR 2023

£4.99

DEJA

Andy Saunders’ tribute to the masters of art deco coachbuilding

Camping it down There’s low, and then there’s Grant Kennaird’s F-100 camper CC Cover Mar 23.indd 1

03/02/2023 23:55

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Contents

is A s p 16 ue ril ’ M on 23 ar sa ch le

Find us on Facebook at mCarMagazine www.facebook.com/Custo

Regulars

24

2

News & reviews Lots happening on the eve of the season

46 Readers’ Rods Converting a Cortina from strip to street

54 Auto Focus Then-and-now musings

56 The Custom Car Years A Corvette special and (sorry) Wimoweh…

58 Events

46

36

We can almost smell the beer tent

64 Next Month A Pop to make your eyes, er, pop

Out and About 20 Knuckle Busters at the Barns Including a visit from an old favourite

22 Abbots CC

20

34

Let’s all go down the pub!

52 V8 Hot Rods Meet Custom cars take over the village

Features 6

Deja The making of a masterpiece

8

www.customcarmag.co.uk

24 Lowdown camper F-100 motorhome in the weeds

34 Rømø sapiens Report from the Danish beach classic

36 Mopar Nationals Hot action and a show’n’shine sensation

SUBSCRIBE! 18 Custom Car subs offer The best value way to get your monthly fix

MARCH 2023 CUSTOM CAR 1

CC Contents Mar.indd 1

03/02/2023 20:48

News & reviews

Very Charitable SURREY STREET RODDERS STAGED THE GRAND QUIZ just before Christmas and it was a great success. Teams paid a nominal entrance fee to cover costs and then battled it out for the grand prize of £1000 for their chosen charity. The competition was stiff with the top score of the evening being tabled by the team representing the Royal Surrey County Hospital.

Pictured is Fund Raising Manager Sandy Lowry with the £1000 cheque, which was donated to the hospital’s Pledge a Present appeal. A repeat of the evening is planned for later this year.

Of course, The Grand Quiz can only happen with funds raised from the club’s Pics: Dave Biggadyke annual Wheels Day. As ever this takes place on Good Friday, 7 April being the date this year, and over the years it has established itself as something of an institution. Surrey Street Rodders thank all participants for their continued support and welcome them, along with any Wheels Day virgins, to the season’s opener.

Pre-entry is a must, although two-wheelers are exempt from that, with the show vehicle gate opening at 8.00am. The public gates open at 10.00am and close at 4.00pm after prize giving. Admission is £10 per adult, with under 16s free and an OAP concession price of £5.

There will be the usual wealth of traders, auto jumble and food vendors, along with a children’s funfair, face painting, colouring competition, children’s entertainment and scale model exhibition. John Price will compere proceedings, along with Rob Ashard and Radio Caroline.

All manner of wheels are welcome including hot rods, customs, race cars, bikes, classics and so many more. Hurry if you want to exhibit your pride and joy – there may just be a few spaces left on the pre-entry list. Visit www.facebook.com/surreystreetrodders to find out.

It’s hard to believe this will be the 48th Wheels Day. Time sure does fly when you’re having fun.

Something for the weekend?

Going straight If you’re reading this issue as soon as it hits the newsstands (and why wouldn’t you be?), you will be in time to make it along to the Straightliners Open Day Weekend. This takes place at l ington Airfield, or shire A on 25MARCH 2 ebruary.

2 CUSTOM CAR 2023 Hot rods, customs, choppers and scooters will be on display alongside all manner of drag racing machinery in heated

marquees. The organisers are even aiming to set a world record for the largest number of vehicles on display that ha e tra elled at o er 2 mph on tarmac. The weekend will also offer drag racing demo runs and a et car ame and thunder display. Free camping is available for those wanting to make a weekend of it. www.straightliners.events

Fancy a swap?

The 34th NSRA Southern Swap Meet takes place on Sunday 5 March at North Weald Airfield, CM16 6HR. The Swap Meet provides an ideal opportunity to off-load those parts you will never

get around to fitting, or even find that missing piece to complete your project. One man’s trash is another’s treasure, as they say.

On the social side, for many it will be the first chance of the year to catch up with friends for a chat over a cuppa and bacon roll.

Admission is £5 for NSRA members, or £10 for nonmembers, with access to the trade area being open from 9:30am. Trade pitch bookings or enquiries should be directed

to the Trade Co-ordinator Andy Sawyer, either via email to nsra. trade@nsra.org.uk or by calling 25 . www.nsra.org.uk

Restoration time The Classic Car Restoration Show returns to the NEC on the wee end of 2 2 arch. he show offers over 1000 display vehicles, more than 150 car clubs (including the NSRA) representing a variety of marques and models and in e cess of 25 e hibitors and autojumblers. As if that’s not enough, throughout the three days there will be classic car auctions, celebs, comps and workshops on resto techniques.

2 CUSTOM CAR MARCH 2023

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Aussie Outlaw heads for Britain after fundraising campaign

Celebr ating 74 years IN OUR DECEMBER ’22 ISSUE, we mentioned the Go Fund Me Page set up by Rob Nixon. The aim was to raise £10,000 towards the cost of bringing Australian Outlaw Anglia racer John Willard, and his six-second car, to the UK to race at Santa Pod this season.

Thanks to the money raised, together with sponsorship from Santa Pod Raceway, John will be heading to these shores along with Paul Stephens and his Altered. If all goes to plan, following some checkout runs at the Sportsman Nationals, you’ll be able to watch the cars run at the Summer Nationals and Dragstalgia, finishing off with demonstration passes at the Ford Show.

Bring it on, we can’t wait!

Discounted advance tickets can be had until midnight on 23 March, with day ticket prices starting at £25, two-day passes from £40 and full weekend passes at £57. Concessionary prices are offered for children aged 5-15 years, while under fives go free. Family tickets are also available, together with tickets for groups of 10 or more. www.necrestorationshow.com

Money talks Easter Sunday, 9 April, sees the third staging of the Grumpy Bastards Motorcycles’ Hot Rod, Motorcycle and Classic Car Day. It takes place at Grumpy’s in Canal Street, Longport, Stokeon-Trent ST5 4LU. The venue is described as an experience like no other; one part speakeasy and two parts dive bar, with a huge shot of

automotive nostalgia thrown in for good measure. A further nod to days of old being that Grumpy’s is a cash-only joint, and there are not many of those to be found these days.

The Easter Sunday event is sponsored by American-V.com, with admission costing nothing, and it runs from 1-10pm. Food and drink will be available and live music will come from rockabilly trio The Mee Kats. www.grumpys.uk

MARCH 2023 CUSTOM CAR 3 Custom Car_2022_12_Winter_North Hants Tyres_HP.indd 1

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06/02/2023 16:13

News & reviews Where were you in ‘72?

Back to the future past What’s that I was saying…

YOU’LL KNOW BY NOW THAT I DON’T MIND SAYING I WAS WRONG. I also don’t mind owning up to being wrong about being wrong.

What am I on about? The same subject as last month, actually. After the first appearance of The Custom Car Years, I read enough comments on our Facebook page to put me off running it again. But then after saying as much in last month’s column, I started receiving emails and even phone calls from people telling me that actually, they liked it.

So I’ve decided to refine the idea and give it another bash. This time it’s on two pages rather than six, and it’s on a four-column layout rather than three (the point of the latter change being that this way, the pictures of cars are bigger than those of things like Richard Nixon’s face). It was only ever meant to be one of those short and sweet curiosity sections you get in magazines, so I hope it will work for you lovely lot.

Interestingly, one of the people who said they like The Custom Car Years was Andy Saunders, which I take as a big old vote of confidence. Andy’s cars need no introduction, of course, and chances are you’ve already seen pictures of his latest, Deja, which graces the cover of his book, The Automotive Alchemist. It also graces the cover of this magazine, and

however famous the car might become I’m pretty certain you won’t read a better story about it than the one Mike Pye has penned for this issue of CC. A top bloke who builds top cars, a top writer to tell the tale and a top photog in Matt Woods to bring it to life. Shame about the guy in the editor’s chair, etc.

You’ll also have noticed that our news pages are back the way they used to be.

Once again, this is us listening to what our readers have asked for. It’s also the result of Dave Biggadyke being on the case and having his ear to the ground like a good newshound should. I’ve noticed that a lot of what’s going on in this scene doesn’t make it on to social media; there ain’t no substitute for good contacts.

Talking of things there ain’t no substitute for, let’s talk cubic inches. Someone said to me the other day that with petrol being so expensive now, hot rod owners are starting to think about turning their back on V8s.

Surely to goodness this can’t be true?

I mean, what would you use instead?

A four-pot? A diesel? Oh, the horror. If the market is about to be flooded with unwanted V8 engines, though, I can think of a few people who’re going to be very happy indeed…

Alan Kidd, Group Editor alan.kidd@assignment-media.co.uk

Assignment Media Ltd, PO Box 8632, Burton on Trent DE14 9PR

EDITORIAL Group Editor: Alan Kidd alan.kidd@assignment-media.co.uk Art Editor: Sam D’Souza Contributors

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Dave Biggadyke, Mike Pye, Keith Lee, James Webber, Alice Fairhead, Olly Sack, Dan Fenn

THANKS TO CHRIS VINING OF CUSTOM COACH TRIMMING, we now know that the ex-Marc Lamude ’68 Camaro (p47, January issue) is owned by Jason Darling. If that name sounds familiar, it could be because he owns the long-wheelbase Chevy 3100 pick-up with a scaffold cage in the bed, along with the Gasser Circus campaigning Sinister ’38 Chevy coupe.

Seemingly there are also a few other toys stashed at Jason’s house. Maybe we should pay him a visit…

Tandem Media Ltd.

Publisher: Sarah Moss Photographers

Toy house

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MANAGEMENT www.customcarmag.co.uk

TO MARK THE ASSOCIATION’S GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY, a movie depicting 50 years of the NSRA was put together by the working group with help from Nick Pettitt, Jamie Webster, Conor Cross and John Price. The movie has a running time of more than 70 minutes and can be viewed on the NSRA 50th anniversary YouTube channel.

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Every effort is made to ensure the contents of Custom Car are accurate, but Assignment Media accepts no responsibility for errors or omissions nor the consequences of actions made as a result of these. When responding to any advert in Custom Car, you should make appropriate enquiries before sending money or entering into a contract. The publishers take reasonable care to ensure advertisers’ probity, but will not be liable for loss or damage incurred from responding to adverts Where a photo credit includes the note ‘CC BY 2.0’ or similar, the image is made available under that Creative Commons licence: details at www.creativecommons.org © Assignment Media Ltd 2022 All rights reserved

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4 CUSTOM CAR MARCH 2023

News Mar.indd 4

06/02/2023 16:17

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06/02/2023 11:42

News & reviews

cast

Make a weekend of it

The latest happenings at the home of UK drag racing – Santa Pod

Pics: Julian Hunt

This Easter, Santa Pod welcomes the return of the explosive Festival of Power. Running over the weekend of 7-9 April, this promises three days of action-packed fun for all the family.

Want to experience the heart stopping power of Top Fuel Dragsters and Nitro Funny Cars as they eat up the quarter mile in seconds? A fiery quintet of cars will take to the track for the annual Jet Car Shootout, and in addition the unruly Pro Mods will be in attendance to dominate and delight with side-by-side 250mph racing. As always, the headline classes will be supported by a huge variety of drag cars and bikes competing in the first round of the National Drag Racing Championships.

To complement the on-track action, world class stunt duo Terry Grant and Lee Bowers will be on hand to thrill with an abundance of nail-biting stunts in the Live Action Arena, alongside synchronised precision drivers Team Maximum Lock and not one but two Monster

Trucks. This behemoth line up is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.

John Lawson’s Circus will be making its thrilling debut at Festival of Power and there’ll be monster truck rides, a funfair, stunt displays and plenty of children’s entertainment to keep the whole family happy all weekend.

Detailed event information can be found online at santapod.co.uk/ festival-of-power. Tickets need to be pre-booked either online or by phoning the Box Office on 01234 782828. www.santapod.com

NEW TO THE CALENDAR THIS YEAR IS STREET WEEKEND, designed to find out who really is king of the street. In a format similar to Hot Rod Drag Week in the States, drivers will need to set a time at Santa Pod before driving 200 miles to Melbourne Raceway to set another time on day two and then returning to the Pod to set a final time on day three.

The dates are 16-18 June and track conditions will be vastly different on each day, kicking off with the Sportsman Nationals test day, then an unprepped eighth-mile challenge at Melbourne, before finishing off on a championship prepped track on the Sunday.

Entry for the weekend costs £275, which includes signing on fees for all three days and venue admission for the driver plus one other person. The minimum prize fund will be £500 for the winner and £250 for the runner-up, with the possibility of this being increased subject to the number of entries. Entry deadline is 5pm on Friday 26 May and conditions apply. www.santapodtickets.com IN OUR HOT ROD DRAGS FEATURE in the January issue, we implied that Cracklefest was a misprint in the programme.

Well, Max Frost from Santa Pod Raceway has been in touch to let us know that despite it being a popular misconception, this is not actually the case. ‘Cacklefest’ is nowadays a registered trademark of the NHRA Motorsports Museum, giving them exclusive rights to the name – hence the Pod tweaking it slightly. Good job the museum didn’t trademark ‘burnout’ at the same time…

6 CUSTOM CAR MARCH 2023

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John Bennett BRITISH DRAG RACING PIONEER and Santa Pod Raceway founder John Bennett has passed away aged 92. John joined the committee of the British Hot Rod Association in 1962 and as Chairman organised the first ritish ustom ar show at his Spa Engineering workshops in South Norwood over the Easter weekend the following year.

It was at the BHRA AGM in 1965 that ohn announced a consortium of fi e, including himself, had obtained a acre site in the heart of England. A company nown as ational ragways had been formed to de elop the site which opened in under the banner of anta od Race way. ohn was inducted into the R o in 2 .

Our thoughts go out to John’s family and friends. RIP

Love this…

Parking up and dumping your air ride on the floor is one thing. But Grant Kennaird wanted to go lower than that, and he managed… believe it or not, his F-100 is moving in this picture

NEAT STUFF in this issue

Jeff Beck 24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023 Legendary rock guitarist Jeff Beck passed away in January after contracting bacterial meningitis.

The musical pioneer played with the ardbirds and the eff ec roup along with pursuing an illustrious solo career, often in collaboration with the li es of ric lapton, ting, hil ollins, op and oss tone among many, many others. f course, Custom Car readers will remember eff best for the other great passion in his life – hot rods. eff’s lo e affair with our sort of cars has been ery well documented, both in print and on film, and his passion was pi ued when it came to a certain piss yellow ’32 coupe. f you can get your hands on a copy, the limited edition ec is a great read and full of images of eff and his cars. ore readily accessible is the American ot Rod oundation’s eff ec rodcast www.ahrf.com eff bec rodcast ep , a candid and enlightening interview with the man himself which is well worth listening to.

Our thoughts go out to Jeff’s family and friends. RIP

Lemon Squash shows up at Stonham

Our cover car before getting the Andy Saunders touch

Ken Block 21 November 1967 - 2 January 2023 en oonigan’ loc tragical ly lost his life in a snowmobile accident earlier this year. Ken was a co founder of hoes before focusing his attention on ooni gan ndustries, an auto enthusiast apparel brand. ell nown for his prowess behind the wheel of rally cars under the banner of the oonigan Racing i ision, en also competed in a number of action sports e ents including s ateboarding, snowboarding and motocross. any, howe er, will be familiar with him from his drifting exploits on Top Gear.

Our thoughts go out to Ken’s friends and family. RIP

e

Taking over the villag

Lusted after as a child, owned as an adult: Blondie Melbourne’s old ‘70 Superbird back on the strip after three decades away

MARCH 2023 CUSTOM CAR 7

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Words: Mike Pye Pics: Matt Woods

L

ook on www.andysaunders. net, and you’ll find a full rundown of the UK’s best known customiser’s output to date.

It’s impressive, spanning four decades and covering everything from chopped Minis and an asymmetric 2CV to replicas of one-off concept cars and designs born purely out of Andy’s own head. As back catalogues go, it’s among the most extensive and diverse of all custom car builders the world over.

In recent times, however, Andy has been delving deeper into the roots of customisation. And by that we don’t mean the early pioneers in America who were

chopping and sectioning 1940s’ and 50s’ Fords and Mercurys, but the European coachbuilders who were building entire car bodies from scratch at a time when, if you knew the right people, you could have a truly unique automobile built that echoed your position of unbridled privilege.

Unsurprisingly, the leading exponents of the craft came from Italy and France, countries that have always had an inherent sense of style and couture. Names like Giuseppe Figoni and Jacques Saoutchik crafted outstanding automobiles on the chassis of luxury cars of the 1930s and ’40s such as Delahaye, Hispano-Suiza and Talbot-Lago.

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Unmistakably Andy Saunders, Deja is the great man’s latest creation. But beneath its Delahaye-esque bodywork, would you believe it’s just a plain old Riley 2.5?

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The car ndy cites as his main in ence is the 1 elahaye 1 with odywork y ssian- orn renchman ac es ao tchik. The ltrae tra a ant two-seater roadster was commissioned y dis raced ritish property tycoon ir ohn a l, who rep tedly a e it to ritish actress iana ors efore she e en had a dri in licence. eat res s ch as its f lly enclosed wheels, sweepin chrome trim and clear cite steerin wheel are all e ident on ndy s e a. fter to rin the conco rs circ it for a few years, the car ended p in merica where its elahaye en ine and front s spension were replaced with those of an lds Toronado. t was e ent ally restored and re-appeared at the e le each onco rs in 006 efore later ein re nited with its ori inal .6-litre inline si .

The car sold at a ction in 010 for a cool

The second of ndy s in ences is the 1 elahaye 16 . nly two of these cars were ilt y elahaye itself in rance, one co pe and one ca riolet, the latter with odywork y i oni and alaschi. The 1 ca riolet was slated for de t at the New ork orld s air in 1 , tho h it was displayed there witho t a workin en ine. fter ein impo nded y c stoms after the war, it ended p with a sed car dealer in Honol l and was o ht y a ser iceman and fitted with a adillac en ine. ts ne t owner was a tow tr ck dri er, efore it was finally restored in the mid-1 0s and fitted with a 1 en ine, ilt from scratch from ori inal l eprints.

This car now resides in the

llin

tomoti e

se m in alifornia

. m

‘I bought four wings at Beaulieu in 2018 and then started to look for something to put them on’

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Cross dressing

So, when Andy describes this car as ‘a beautiful cross between Joseph Figoni’s 165S and Jacques Saoutchik’s 175 [which] somehow appears to be some 85 years late for her debut at the Paris Salon de l’Automobile,’ you get some idea of where he’s coming from. At least you do if you study the pictures on these pages – each of which is, as the saying goes, worth a thousand words.

What I really wanted to know, then, was which came first – the car or the concept?

‘Neither,’ laughs Andy. ‘I bought four wings at Beaulieu in 2018 and then started to look for something to put them on.’

It’s no secret Andy has had a few issues with the DVLA over the years, and what he’s learned through the process is that there’s only really one way to put a car like this on the road legitimately – which is to use the entire chassis and running gear from a single donor vehicle.

‘Trouble is, there’s not many suitable cars around these days. The best ones are a London Taxi and a Riley. The Taxi’s diesel, though, and I didn’t want that, so a Riley it was.’

Model behaviour

Andy’s the first to admit he’s no Riley aficionado, but a bit of research turned up a number of variations on the post-war RM (Riley Motors) model. The four-door 1.5-litre RMA (1945-’52), the four-door, 2.5-litre RMB (’46-’52), the sporty two-door RMC roadster (’48-’51) and the two-door RMD cabriolet (’49-’51). There are other models too, but something from the RM series of that period seemed to fit the bill.

From there, it came down to the engine. The Riley 1.5 looks like any number of other British workhorse fours but the 2.5, otherwise known as the Big Four, is a classy looking unit.

‘The cars are very unexciting, in my opinion. I wouldn’t want to actually own one,’

says Andy. ‘But the more I looked at the 2.5 engines, the more I liked what I saw.

‘People have asked me why I didn’t just put a small block in it and the answer is because I wanted it to look old. The Riley engine is all polished ali, twin SUs and copper tubing. It just looks right.’

So, with the decision made that it had to be a 2.5, the final deciding factor was the wheelbase. The RMB is basically a lengthened and uprated version of the RMA and, as length is everything with a car like this, that’s what Andy went on the hunt for, finding one ‘somewhere up north’ on eBay. Mind you, when you live in Poole there’s not much of the country that can’t be considered up north.

If you’re wondering about the ride height, and questioning why Andy hasn’t used air bags, it’s because this is how cars like this were built in the 1930s and ’40s. It’s also because Deja uses entirely 1950 Riley running gear, right down to the stock wheels, powder coated and fitted with 6.0016 whitewall crossplies from North Hants Tyres

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1

3 2 Needing a car to hang them on, Andy opted for a 1950 Riley four-door saloon

Hmmm, a rotten Jaguar MkV in the woods.

That roof looks a nice shape…

6

5 The starting point – a set of Delahaye wings bought at Beaulieu Autojumble in 2018 for £700

As did the rears. Then a new rear deck was made to fill the area etween the two

9 Windscreen post angle was crucial to the overall ow of the car

8 arly mock p to confirm the proportions. till a very long way to go

They were original Delahaye wings, but Andy felt the front end looked too Jaguar, too British…

12 13

11 Lowering the headlight pods changed the look, but led to a whole lot more complex metalwork

That Jag roof looks right at home. This was the point Andy was at when he agreed to have the car finished in time for his ook deadline, st fi e months later

15

16

The first prime is one of the most e citin stages in any project

t s ama in how different the car looks without its fenderskirts in place

A stock Mini windscreen was a surprisingly ood fit. nd that s the ord treet roof assembly in place

17 ndys ood ddy and metalwork sc lpter att Edley made the bonnet top, expansive fenderskirts and all the brass trim on the car out of brass

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A lot of thought went into getting the front end right. They’re original Delahaye wings, but heavily modified and with the headli ht pods lowered. The rille is from a pre-war elahaye and the headli hts are ori inal rench ei ht-inch archals with handmade e els, whose eam pattern is produced by nobbles on the yellow 6V bulbs. The bumperettes are ’63 Buick Skylark optional e tras. o ht them 0 years a o and e tried to fit them to e erythin e ilt since then, la hs ndy, t this is the first one they e act ally worked on

4 The front wings needed a bit of ‘minor alteration to fit the ima e in ndy s head

7 With that sorted, the doors started to come together. Can you guess their origin?

Strip joint

10 …so some further ‘minor alterations’ were made to the front wings

14 The finishin metalwork and the final shaping work could then begin

18 With time running out, Andy handed the car to another friend, ohn ethel, for final prep and paint, though that doesn’t detract from how much work he put in to get it to this stage. Quite the transformation, huh?

24 hours after the 1950 donor car arrived at Andy’s workshop, it was stripped to a rolling chassis and the body looked like a scrap metal man’s wet dream.

‘Once I’d started work on the car, I really studied the Diana Dors car [that’s the ’49 Delahaye 175S] and was out walking the girlfriend’s dog one day when this Street KA drove past and I thought, that’s the roof I need. Honestly, it’s so near to the one on the Saoutchik car that if you took them both off and put them side by side, you’d think they’d both fit.’

The Street KA donated its roof mechanism and steel tonneau cover, while a rotten Jag MkV gave up the rear part of its roof and a Mini its doors, for good reason.

‘I’ve built enough cars now to know that the hardest part is to get the doors to open and close properly,’ admits Andy.

‘So I figured if I start with something that’s already got hinges, I’d make my life a whole lot easier.’ A 1985 Mini was the answer there.

To explain the process of building this car in under 2000 words is nigh-on impossible, but essentially Andy started with the oorpan and rear tub of the Riley, on to which were tacked the Delahaye rear wings which didn’t fit. hey were subsequently lengthened 12 inches to the rear, though that was later reduced to a fi e inch stretch in the wheelarch area, and a further fi e in the trailing edge.

A new rear deck and boot lid was then constructed between the two using one part treet A and four parts Riley. hat was the relatively easy bit.

‘The car really is all about the front,’ says Andy, the rest ust ows away li e an Art Deco sculpture.’

Long stretch

ith a section of the original Riley front bulkhead back in place on the chassis, Andy had a starting point for hanging the Delahaye front wings. Hmmm… nowhere near long enough. So they were chopped in two and 14inch filler pieces added through the tops of the wheelarches. Better, but still not quite right.

Here’s how Andy explained the next stage in a Facebook post: ‘I knew at this point I had all the right shapes, but getting the ow and elegance wanted when all had in front of me were a couple of old panels chopped into bits, three trolley jacks and a Riley tub, which none of the panels touched, was time consuming and thought provoking to say the least.’

Seven weeks of solid work during the first loc down in 2 2 , though, and things started coming together.

Two big issues were getting the rake of the windscreen posts right and the position of the headlights. ‘Although they’re Delahaye wings, it just looked too much like a Jaguar XK120 / 150 for my liking, explains Andy. ‘Too British, in other words, and that’s not what I wanted at all.’

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Andy says one of his favourite parts of the car is that delightful swoop in the leading edge of the door, and the way it returns to meet the rake line of the windscreen. That and the ow of the front wings into the running boards. In each case, you’re unlikely not to agree that it’s superb

‘The idea of a curved, split windscreen came about through studying the work of Jacques Saoutchik’ Dropping the headlight pods further down into the wings solved that problem, but that makes it sound a lot easier than it actually was to do. In the process, the centre of the wings were sectioned longitudinally by 8cm and a sharp peak created along that line, which would become a defining feature when later enhanced with chrome trim.

The front grille came next. Several in fact.

First, Andy tried out one he had left over from a previous project, Metropolis. Nah, too boring. Next, he tried the post-war Delahaye one that had come with the wings. Nope, not right.

French polish

‘I knew what I wanted, and that was a prewar Delahaye grille, so every spare second I had was spent searching the net for one.

After many months, the one that’s now on the car came up for sale in France. It was expensive, but I had no option.’

Disappointed is the only word to describe Andy’s feelings when the grille arrived. ‘I’d expected a proper chrome on brass trim

over a tin surround from a car as luxury as a Delahaye, but what turned up was more like an old British motorcycle tank!

‘It was the thinnest pressed tin I’ve ever seen, and the bottom 14 inches were a piece of e ion with the shape car ed out of filler.

It was absolutely knackered, and I reckon I’ve used about a seventh of the original part but at least it gave Matt Edsley, my artisan panel beater friend, something to do as he made a whole new brass surround for it.’ att also made new bonnet tops to fill the extended gap between the Delahaye grille shell and the Riley scuttle, as well as all the chrome over brass trim that adorns the car.

Next up came the windscreen. Remember this was a four-door saloon to begin with so, to elongate the bonnet in a form more fitting of an ostentatious two door roadster, the original Riley bulkhead was moved back.

Then a section of it was cut out and moved forward again so the engine wouldn’t look lost in the engine bay.

‘The idea of a curved, split windscreen – something I thought I’d never seen before

– came about through studying the work of Jacques Saoutchik, notably the Delahaye 175. I knew then I had to use this idea. Paul Burnham later reminded me that the 1949 Chevy also has such a feature, so I’d seen it before but never clocked it.’

With the idea settled, and the position of the bulkhead and the angle of the frame set, largely by drawing a straight line through the proposed rake of the screen and the front edge of the door, Andy broke out his trusty Eastwood shrinker / stretcher and set to work making it.

We have lift off

Having found a shot Mk V Jag in the woods behind a local Jaguar dealer, Andy lopped off the back half of its roof, together with its subtly curved window. It looked to be just about perfect for the car’s lift-off hardtop but, when push came to shove, the Ford Street KA roof worked better, especially when rendered devoid of its ‘stupid big back window’ and turned into a split window by reworking a junk ’39 Dodge window surround.

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o e The elahaye rille came with its ori inal mascot, t ndy lost it somewhere alon the line. The eometric one on the car now is desi ned for a ord and came ia an old friend in New ork tho h ndy added the lar er p rple tinted acrylic ohican, which is echoed f rther ack in the windscreen trim o e ri ht The car s di ine colo r came a o t after ndy had so rced the p rple material for the con erti le hood from artrim. t walkin with his irlfriend, a ime, with the sample piece in his pocket, he spotted some l e ells and fo nd the colo r he was lookin for. t s act ally a ercedes commercial paint, contrasted with l scio s Toyota ark rple on the roof and dash oard i ht ookin at the doors now, it s hard to elie e they started life attached to a 1 ini. The wonderf l eco handles are from a piece of old f rnit re and were a tenner on e ay

These might be the only pictures you ever see of the car fitted with its hardtop, which e an life as the rear half of a a ar k roof. ndy says it s too cramped for him in the car with the top in place, t it s a ea tif l piece of work all the same. nder that lon onnet is the performance en ine from the iley line- p, a twin cam cc i o r . ith its twin 1. -inch car s and hemispherical com stion cham ers, it made 0 hp initially increasin to 100 hp in 1 , i in the company s a ship models a top speed of mph in the late 0s

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‘I made the deadline by working 23 straight 90-hour weeks on the car. In total, I’ve got 6500 hours in this one’

Top left: The convertible roof mechanism and closing panel is straight out of a Ford Street KA. That’s one of Andy’s true gifts – being able to spot shapes and proportions on the most unlikely sources that he can combine with the ideas in his head into something entirely different

The Street KA also donated its convertible top frame. So now Andy has the option of a roadster, a convertible or a hard top, and he’s hard pushed to decided which he prefers.

With that – and an epic amount of welding, grinding, filing, filling and general bodywor ing – the car was in primer and Andy could finally step bac and see if he had got it right. new e ery cur e and e ery line was following the plan I had in my head. But seeing a car in primer for the first time is when you now whether you’ e got it right. r not.’

Convinced he had, and with time running out, the car was handed to Andy’s good friend and longstanding trade painter John Bethel for the top coats that bring the whole concept to life.

With the colour-matched leather interior completed by Scott Lloyd, all Andy had to do was fire the old Riley up and go. cept there was a hole in one side of the bloc he could put his fist in, and a foot long crac on the other side. Arse. His trusty local engineering shop offered to repair it for him but suggested a new bloc a better course of action. ne further Riley short bloc , countless machining hours, some e pensi e parts and a complete rebuild later, he had a running car.

‘I could have bought three and a half crate motors for what the engine ended up costing me,’ Andy muses, ‘but it’s sweet as a nut now. And it loo s the part.’

Top right: A 1930’s Talbot single bucket was stretched into a bench with a drop down centre so you can see the cut glass decanter that resides behind it. We like to think of Andy reclining in the ench seat after a hard day at work sippin a fine o nac Above left: Having spent four days making a dash from scratch to house a 1931 Nash speedo he’d had restored, Andy found an original Saoutchik dash for sale at auction. What were the chances of that? It was a total mess, but came with all the clocks and trim and Andy just had to have it.

Chopped into three, turned upside down (it was LHD originally), narrowed and with the gauges painstakingly restored by Adrian Sidwell, it’s now the crowning glory in the cockpit.

Above right: That curious Art Deco box that slides out on runners from behind the faux radio and speaker grille is an antique cigar box sourced from Andy’s old friend, ‘Deco’ Ron France. Every car should have one. It’s actually now been removed and the car’s switchgear sited behind the dash here, but we like to think it’s still in there. The steering wheel is a Flat4 Banjo designed for a VW, with a new Perspex rim made for it in homage to the Lucite one in the 1949 Saoutchik roadster and an original Lalique St Christopher horn push Andy bought 20-odd years ago. The gear knob is an upside-down candlestick holder from a charity shop

Copy deadline

o ust how long does it ta e Andy to build a car li e this? t too three and a half years, this one. hat’s not wor ing on it full time as ’ e got the garage business to run but, when I had agreed a deadline for the publication of my boo see sidebar , promised ’d get the car finished so it could be the final chapter. hat was on April last year, with the boo deadline the end of August.

At that point, the body was ust tac ed together, with the Jag roof thrown on top. It nearly illed me, but made the deadline by wor ing 2 straight hour wee s on the car.

And that was ust to get it finished. n total, ’ e got 5 hours in this one.’

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Left: Tail lights are late 1930s / early ‘40s French Scintex units, while the rear bumpers are narrowed Mk10 Jag corner sections.

The finishin to ch is the ea tif l n m er plate, hand painted by Neil Melliard. What a ma nificent com ination Below left: One of the must-have features on the car for Andy was a curved split-screen windscreen. Now this one will blow your mind. t s a re lar ini front screen, which st happened to be the exact right width for the iley cowl, c t down and fitted with a fa split screen central trim and surround all handmade

by Andy. Originally, this was to be paired with a curved Jaguar MkV rear screen, but that idea went down the pan when the shapes of the Jag window wouldn’t play ball with the Street KA tonneau cover

Deja, as Andy has called it, made a triumphant debut at the NEC Classic Car Show in November last year and, aptly, is the dust co er star and final chapter of his new boo . had to as . Are you telling us something? s this your final chapter? ah, ’m gonna do more cars, and ’ e made a plan. e’ e run a garage for years now and don’t really li e it any more. was going to noc the place down and build some ats, but ’ e decided to eep it running, ust partition off an area for me and wor on my cars all the time. oing the boo and finishing e a, now can do pretty much anything now, and ’m in three wee s’ time. need to do something to eep e ercising my brain muscle.’

Ah, see. o what’s this one li e to dri e then? dunno. t’s been pissing down since finished it so ha en’t dri en it yet.

‘And to be honest, I’m not really that bothered. ’ e realised through the process that I absolutely love the creation, but I can’t be fussed to dri e ’em now.’ f you’re wondering what Andy could possibly do to top this one, he’s already got the ne t car in stoc and told me, with great enthusiasm, what his plans are for it. don’t want to spoil the surprise, other than to say it starts with a incoln ontinental and ends with some ’ hunderbird tail lights. o there you ha e it. e’ll be bac after a short intermission…

A lot of people have suggested to Andy over the years that he should write a book, but it was while researching the noble philosophical art of alchemy that he had his moment of clarity. Apparently, it takes 40 years to complete an apprenticeship in alchemy (which, it must be said, is a si nificantly roader topic than st the common notion of turning base metals into silver and gold) and 2022 st so happened to mark 0 years of Andy’s car building career. Perhaps it was meant to be?

When Rodger Attaway offered to proofread Andy’s musings, the idea gathered steam. But, having punted his idea around all the relevant book publishers in the UK, nobody wanted to know. Until the serendipitous moment he was introduced to Dalton Watson Fine Books in Illinois, USA. Company owners and publishers Glyn and Jean Morris were interested eno h to y to n land to meet ndy and Rodger. And, liking what they saw, they agreed to publish the book. t s not st an a to io raphy, says Andy. ‘It’s about my cars, but it’s also a history of car design as seen through my eyes, with many never before p lished from the dream car period. hope people will like it.’

The Automotive Alchemist by Andy Saunders costs £94 including P&P and is available to buy in the UK thro h ndy himself. mail him at andysaunderskustoms@hotmail.com. lternati ely, yo can find o t more at www.daltonwatson.com

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Out & About

Busting out

Words and pics: Alice Fairhead Knuckle Busters once again came together with Stonham Barns to host their annual show over the August bank holiday, filling that long weekend for us enthusiasts in East Anglia. It started on the Friday, which was just a set-up day for those who decided to camp – though with food traders and a bar open in the evening, plus music from DJ Nadge in the barn, it was well worth being there.

On Saturday, the main event was a cruise out to Dunwich beach. Plenty took part, leaving at 11 o’clock and returning in the afternoon. Staying on site, there were traders and an autojumble to look round – as well as the Stonham Barns village of shops to browse. Throughout the evening, entertainment came from DJ Nadge again as well as the Ratpack.

Sunday was show day, with people arriving all morning in trucks, muscle cars, hot rods or classic Americans. There were even some European cars for good measure – something for everyone, certainly.

Sunday also featured the famous voice of John Price, providing entertainment and info for the day in between music from Foxyrock and the Glamtastics. John was of course the voice of the Show’n’Shine presentation, which took place at 3pm, with the usual best in show awards plus a Top 10 chosen by members of the Knuckle Busters car club CC

Every now and again you turn up to a local show and come face to face with a bona fide legend. Lemon Squash is a ’61 Consul which hit the scene in the late 70s, having originally been built by Mark Spooner. It was Gary Tripp who gave it its current look, having totally rebuilt it in the early 90s after it had been through the hands of a few owners who weren’t so kind to it. Great to see a piece of British rodding history still wowing the crowds today

Above:Simon Cook made an appearance in one of his many vehicles, this time the Buick Above right: Hayden Mummery out in his Mercury Below left: You don’t see many Corvair wagons around. Definitely one of the rarest on site

‘The main event was a cruise out to Dunwich beach’

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Above: ‘Devils Brew’ was a stand-out car from the day Above right: Suffolk Hotrodders out in force Right: Ray Wickers out in his recently finished Corvette Below left: Amii Rachel’s ’57 Thames, Hoity Toity Below middle & right: It was a perfect day to own a roadster… though of course every day is a perfect day to own a roadster

Few things are more purposeful than big tyres under a muscle car…

…and few things are more elegant a nicely turned out ’34

Trucks were there en masse, ranging in make and year

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Out & About

Down the pub

Words and pics: James Webber

The pub: a quintessential British staple of village life. A place where, after a hard day’s work, a well-earned drink could be had; a meeting point before the big night out; and where many deals have been done over years.

And with most having a decent sized car park, it’s easy to see why it’s also a great place to hold a car meet or show. Which is exactly what Devon based car club the Abbots did.

This was held at the Sandygate Inn, in Kingsteignton near Torquay. The show was free to enter and open to all American customs, classics, hot rods, bikes and anything of interest.

It was advertised to start from 4pm and run until 9pm, but some of the club were there early organising and arranging space in the car park. Abbots member Dave Peters set up his DJ rig on the back of another member’s pick-up and had retro and rockabilly tunes banging out all afternoon.

A bumper crowd of visitors came out in their cars and take the chance to catch up with people they normally only speak to on social media. A few of the vehicles were new to me, including an in-progress chopped Dodge Van and Nick Eaton’s recently restored 51 more-door Mercury, which was a CC cover car way back in October ‘79 CC

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here are a lot of slammed, ratty trucks about these days. Speaking with some of the professional hot rod builders we regularly talk to, they’re just about the most commonly enquired about vehicle. A lot of people are put off, though, when they hear how much one is going to cost to have built, mainly because they look like they should be simple and cheap.

You know, just buy some old farm truck off eBay and slam it. Simple, right?

‘What we do is perverse in a way,’ says Grant Kennaird. ‘If we get it right, we make it look easy, like it’s not hard work at all.

The perverse part is that then people who don’t know what’s involved think it really is easy to do.’

But all you need to do is buy one and slam it, right? Wrong.

‘The whole ethos for me with this truck was that it looks pretty stock, but you can’t get a fag paper underneath. That’s what I wanted.’

He also wanted a 1960s’ American short bed pick-up, but laughs when he explains how he accidentally ended up with a long bed. ‘I looked at C10s and Fords and decided I liked the curves of the wheelarches better on the Fords, so I bought this one off Craigslist basically because I really liked its Caribbean Turquoise colour.

‘I though it was a short bed, and the guy selling it assured me it was. But it wasn’t until he sent a picture of it on a trailer heading for the port that it finally dawned on me that I’d bought a long bed!’

You can forgive Grant that minor oversight, what with his previous cars having been anything but American trucks. His ever-supportive dad Graham, meanwhile, is an all-out Angliaphile.

Classic influence y dad’s been a hea y in uence since was tiny. He’s always working on something, and Custom Car was always lying around. I loved Split Screen campers, though, so that was the first classic got into. hen had a iat Uno and then an MG ZR. I fully modded that – wheels, suspension and put a Lotus Elise 160 engine in it.

‘I probably should have listened to my dad at that point and got another classic but I went the other way and bought an Elise and started doing track days and driving like a lunatic, so I had to get rid of that. Then I went back to a Split Screen camper!’

From the ridiculous to the sublime in one fell swoop…

‘The whole ethos for me with this truck was that it looks pretty stock, but you can’t get a fag paper underneath’

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Grant Kennaird has a motto on life: there’s only way to go, you’ve got to sit it on the floor Words: Mike Pye

Pics: Matt Richardson

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‘I made my own front beam for that, narrowed the rear end, did the bodywork, interior, engine rebuilding… always with my dad there as a safety net. I’d give it a go and, if I cocked something up, he was there to help me.’

Being what he calls a 90s’ kid (he’s actually 38, so not quite as young as that makes him sound), much of Grant’s in uence comes through social media. And fired up by his online e posure to air ride, he set to designing his own set-up on a itro n Ami for his wife ianne.

‘That was about eight or nine years ago and the whole air ride thing was really taking off over here. I came up with my own system for that car that was different to how other people had done it, and was quite proud of that, but then we had our daughter Amber and needed something with more carrying capability.’

Insta’ influence

And there was nstagram, flooding rant’s mind with pictures of slammed American pic up truc s on air. hen ianne said go for it, he didn’t need telling twice – and soon after that he was stood looking at the immense proportions of a ’ long bed, wondering if it was going to fit it in the garage.

‘I did the Citroën with the cheapest air ride it could find, so went the complete opposite way with this one and bought AccuAir e e el digital management and one of their Endo-CVT packages,’ he e plains. hat was a neat idea that put the valves and compressor inside the air tank, saving space and offering quieter operation. cept thin they brought the product to market too quickly and hadn’t worked out that the moisture in the tank would quickly kill the compressors. I had mine replaced

under warranty, but I think that was the product that sunk the company in the end.’

You don’t just buy an air ride kit, bolt it on and away you go, though. You have to lower the truc in the first place, and that’s when Grant discovered why so many more people modify he y s than ord s.

‘Mine had the twin I-beam front suspension, which it turns out is great for off-road racers but makes life a lot more complicated if you want to lower one.’

Now, there’s lowering and there’s lowering. y daily dri er Audi A has lowered springs to tighten the handling, for e ample. ut that’s not lowering in Grant’s book.

Below: Believe it or not, this is an action shot and that’s the truck’s driving height. It can be raised, of course, but this is the way Grant prefers to roll

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The Build The truck as it was bought, from California, though it spent its early life In Idaho. Ah yes, that’ll be a long bed then…

This is a bit more than a simple lowering job.

First step was to set the cab where Grant wanted it when aired out. That’ll be on the oor, then

As the Ford’s twin I-beam front suspension was oin to e too di c lt to work with, a Jaguar XJS IFS was brought into play and the ord s frame modified to take it

Rear end is the stock Ford 9-inch, but with the chassis rails reduced from 6x2 to 4x2-inch and given a heavy kick in the pants. Note the ride height sensors on the upper four bar links

As well as a two-inch engine and gearbox raise, the front wheel tubs had to come up too for wheel clearance

There are lots of neat tricks on this truck, but this is one of our favourites. The rear wheels have been banded but all on the inside so they look stock from the outside, and that hardworn patina remains intact

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‘The six-inch deep box section rails under the cab have been reduced by two inches to achieve the snake’s belly stance’

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The first thin did with the tr ck when ot it was p t a slipper in it. o can t o aro nd writin ones on the road, can yo la hs rant. nd yes, my ne t o is to fit a new cl tch

Ground zero

wanted the chassis to sit on the oor, so that’s what did first – too all the suspension off and then ust wor ed things out from there.’ a ing decided the ord front suspension wasn’t suitable, a ag was procured and wheeled into place so he could wor out where the front chassis legs needed relocating to for that aired out position. hen it was on to the computer to model the chassis modifications in Auto A . he si inch deep bo section rails under the cab ha e been reduced by two inches to achie e the sna e’s belly stance, and new

2 inch sections cut and welded into place with a huge ic up o er the truc ’s original inch a le. hen there were the arious notches re uired for the prop, steering and suspension components. And then the engine and gearbo had to be raised. And then the bed had to be raised. And so it goes on. ee the bit abo e about ma ing it all loo a lot simpler than it actually is. he 52 engine and four speed manual 5 transmission are original to the truc , with an delbroc manifold, cfm four barrel, stainless headers and anton Racing sump being the only modifications.

rant made a nch of his own waterslide decals, t the only one that has e en partially s r i ed is the daho one, which is where the tr ck ori inated from. pooky, h h

he latter is there to facilitate a change from front to rear sump, necessary to clear the ag crossmember. o fit the lam pecialties air bags, the ag coil seats were re made at the front and more Auto A designed brac ets folded up and welded to the bac a le. rant also designed and made his own parallel four lin and atts lin age for the rear, as well as modifying the factory crossmembers to clear the propshaft.

All of this wor was done at home in a two car garage and too about months, outside of wor hours, and with a two year child.

The ord en ine is a it of a dark horse. i en e citin names like nterceptor, Th nder ird and ara der o er the years, dependin on desi nation, the nit peaked at 60 hp and 0l f.ft of tor e in rare 1 60 form t also performed the role of a asic workhorse l mp for ord s line of tr cks. n . 1 compression form, as here, it prod ced 0 hp at 000rpm and 10l f.ft at 00rpm. Not a race motor y any means, t a solid, dependa le rno t machine

o e elow heels are ori inal ord 16inch steels, t widened to 16 at the rear and wrapped in load-rated alken commercial r er. f yo re thinkin those rears m st e a ri ht T to remo e, yo re a sol tely ri ht.

Tyres are 1 -16 front and 6 -16 rear

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Not much to report in the cab. The dashboard had a dash top on it from new, and removing that was a ball-ache by all accounts, but worth it when the factory paint underneath cleaned up so well. The only additions are some subtle atomic-style details by Miss Atomic Pinstriping Right: The camper shell was a Facebook Marketplace bargain, just given a dose of turquoise to blend it in with the truck. ‘It’s practical, and I’ve slept in it many times, but really I just like the aesthetic,’ says Grant. His next job is to re-purpose the rear roof lights as additional stop / tail lamps, and maybe a pair of extra indicators as well Right: Grant’s all about the details. The clear front indicator lenses came from Australia, while any amber ones that were originally on the camper shell have been changed to red to minimise the number of different colours on the truck

Right: Talking of details, we love the way Grant has repurposed one of the original heater controls in the dash to work as the line lock switch. And how he commissioned NumNob (aka Jason Teraoka) to make a colour-matched shift knob with a sea glass polish to better suit the tr ck and re ect his lo e of beach combing

o e Top rant made the new ed oor, raised to clear the chassis kick up as he wanted a completely at deck, oth for con enience and because it provides a useful bed when he’s away at shows and can’t be arsed to put a tent up. The twin iair compressors li e eneath it, fillin the AccuAir Endo-CVT tank (with the compressor no longer in it) and a secondary tank for 10 gallons of stored air Above: Home from home, and also a useful space for trips to the dump, kids’ toys or the local DIY store

i ht hich came first, the blanket or the truck? In this case, it was the blanket, which Grant and Dianne had as a throw on their bed for years before the truck came along. That was a neat touch as it’s a near perfect match for the turquoise exterior colour

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Health kick

‘It’s good for your mental health, I think, having a project on the go. It gives you somewhere to escape to when you need a break, and somewhere to channel your thoughts. I geek out on all the details and it helps me deal with normal life. Maybe it’s a bit of escapism, too. Either way, I love thinking about all this stuff.’

And the details are way more intense than you might initially think. Take the wheels for example. They’re the truck’s original 16-inch option steels, but required custom-made adapters to fit to the stoc ag disc bra e hubs at the front. The rears, meanwhile, have been banded on the inside to 9x16s, to get more rubber on while also keeping the patina on the outside. Then a two-inch spacer was used to get the fitment spot on.

Even the tyres took some serious research as Grant wanted matching ones all round, and for them to have the correct rating for what is a reasonably heavy commercial vehicle. He settled on Falkens.

‘I’ve done the stupid tyre thing in the past. I had Smart car tyres on the front of my Split Bus, so learnt my lesson there.

I’d run a nice piecrust cheater slick on the back if I could, but I drive this thing all the time and I’m not taking any chances now with the family on board.’

Gypsy caravan

The final touch was the camper shell, complete with carefully thought out and aged waterslide decals that reflect the truck’s former home in Idaho. ‘When I first saw the truck for sale, it had this gypsy caravan back on it and I loved it, but the guy sold that to someone as a play house before I could buy it.

‘Believe it or not, I found this one on Facebook Marketplace in Essex for £300.

So I drove over there, bolted it on and couldn’t believe how well it fitted. I just love the way the front of it rolls around and almost perfectly matches the back of the cab.’

The side stripe was red when he got it but, given a quick coat of turquoise, it looks like it’s been there all along.

As for the Slamspiration thing, what’s that about?

‘It’s just a bit of a side hustle at the moment. Ideally, I’d like to work more with cars and less with highways (Grant’s day job is as a highways engineer designing, as he puts it, anything from a cul-de-sac to a motorway junction), but for now I’m just helping out on the odd project to build up my skills and experience. I feel like it’s something I need to do and will live to regret if I don’t give it a good try.

From what we’ve seen so far, he’s more than just giving it a try. His logical mind and eye for detail shows through in all the cars he’s worked on and his skills with AutoCAD are proving their worth on every one of them, whether it’s mocking up ideas or designing his own suspension and chassis components.

For now, though, he’s just content to roll low and enjoy the fruits of his labours so far.

‘The truck is pure escapism to drive, and definitely one of my happy places. I often have people hanging out of car windows taking photos or videos, or turning around in the street to look at it when it’s laid out parked up. That makes all the effort it took to build it worthwhile.’

Thanks ‘I must say a massive thank you to my insanely supportive and tolerant wife Dianne. Also to my dad Graham for giving me the car modifying bug in the first place, and always being there to help and support my builds’

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We have recently added a new 5 Axis CNC Machine to our manufacturing department supported by the latest design software to enable us to meet your requirements for any parts machining or cooling solutions. We are also the official UK Distributor Setrab Oil Coolers with a huge range in stock from Diff Coolers to Transmission and Engine Coolers all instock and featured on our growing website.

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01/02/2023 13:47

RØMØ SAPIENS

M

beach racing got its start with The Race of Gentlemen in 2012, quickly followed by Pendine in 2013 and Rømø, Denmark in 2016.

Rømø can trace its history back to Fanø beach in 1919. In 1923, Sir Malcolm Campbell set the fastest speed to date at 240kph but unfortunately in 1924 an errant tire killed a spectator, putting an end to racing.

Danish beach racing was revived by Thomas Toft Bredahl, Carsten Bech, Steffen Sonnberg, Finn Andresen and Holger Sonnberg. They chose Rømø, just south of Fanø on the west coast of Denmark. The week-long event is attended by more than

 I tagged along with McLaren F1 designer Peter Stevens, who was racing his Winfieldheaded, B banger-powered ’25 T on a ’28 A frame. He won eight or nine of his 10 races but nobody was really counting

 Second fastest man at Rømø was Swede

Krister Lindblom, with his Deuce Roadster powered by a 304ci Offenhauser-equipped flattie with parts sourced from H&H Flatheads.

I got to drive; it was fast

 A little ratty but nevertheless this centersteer Deuce Roadster belonging to Hans Rikk had the perfect stance. ‘The Crimson Flash’ is an old drag car last raced in 1958 and powered by a hot flattie with triple Strombergs

■ Words and pictures: Tony Thacker

20,000 people from all over Europe. It’s a huge party – well two, actually, anchored by the one-day, 1/8-mile sand drags.

While everything has to be pre-1948, there’s an eclectic mix of bikes and cars from a humongous Hispano-Suiza to several Rileys, an Austin 7, a Morris 8 and even a Bentley. At the end of the day, the fastest car was Jens Nybo’s S.Co.T.-blown, Ardun-headed, flathead-Ford-powered ’34 5-window.

Rømø is an easy trip for Brits – and a great event to add to your bucket list.

This year’s is on 17-20 August – you can find out more by paying a visit to www.romomotorfestival.dk.

west to California to work for Hot Wheels, but took time out for Rømø in his banger-powered Model A coupe ‘Old Red’

 Plenty of young ladies behind the wheel at Rømø, including Susanne Ruppel behind the wheel of her 1917 Dodge-bodied roadster fitted with a ’24 T turtle deck. It’s powered by a Stromberg-equipped 24-stud flathead

 Another Brit, Ken Robinson of Bonnie and Clyde Vintage Racing, brought this ’27 T ‘Bonnie’ up from Málaga, Spain, where he is involved with Andres Ullstein’s restoration shop Coast Classics. Car is powered by a 1930 Model A banger

 Fastest man of the day was former Top Fuel racer Jens Nybo with his S.Co.T.-blown, Ardun-headed, flathead-powered ’34 5-window. It was a fast tribute to the late Dusty Hill of ZZ Top

 Ex-Lego designer Craig Callum is now headed

 This little ’30-’31 Roadster belonging to

Nick Seitz was powered by a Lion-headed banger fitted with a Riley intake sporting a couple of Stromberg 97s and dual ignition

 There were plenty of Ford-based speedsters such as the 1928 ‘K’N’K’ German entry from Kurt and Katharina Guffanti. Besides the tiny cycle fenders, it also sported a neatly formed aluminium nose ahead of the grille

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 Björn Ewertsson’s full-fendered Roadster from Sweden was powered by a quad-carbed flattie and sported a rare spare tyre carrier out back. Bjorn’s entry described it as a ’31, which the cowl was, but it looks more like a ’32 to me

 This nicely proportioned 1929 Miller-style

speedster of Louis God’s sports a home-built aluminium body atop a hot rod T-bucket frame.

It’s powered by a V8-60

 Looking as if it was made entirely of Corten

steel, ‘Eight Banger’ is a heavily louvred, flathead straight-eight powered modified built atop a Model A frame

 I love old wreckers and this Belgian-based ’55

3800 spotted in the huge spectator area was a favourite, especially as it offered 25/8 Service.

Maybe it was a panel van with the back cut out?

 Since we last saw Mia Strandgaard Fluck’s belly tank, when it was military green, it has been painted with a traditional nose scallop.

Flathead powered, it has been stretched to fit the Model T frame

 Lars Kjaer owns this nice ’32 5-window that was originally built in Ford’s Copenhagen factory. Used as a dirt track racer in the fifties, it’s powered by a 286ci flathead with a ¾-race cam and dual Strombergs

 Markus Huener brought along his ’32 Model

18 5-window hi-boy from Germany. Flathead powered, it runs a pair of Holley 94 carbs

 Tina Sommerfeldt raced this well lettered Deuce Roadster, powered by a 286ci flattie fitted with Moon-converted Zephyr distributor with dual external coils. It’s backed by a Buick transmission

 Heading up the line to run is Swede Krister Lindblom’s Deuce Roadster. Rømø is one of those rare events that is well organized but remains casual and the lack of trash anywhere is Denmark is staggering

 Proportionally and even stylistically, Belgian Danny Claes’ belly tank is spot on. It runs ’35 Ford axles front and rear and a stock 100hp flathead. No doubt a little bit of racing will soon have him uppin’ the ante

 The ‘TM Special’ of Anders Åslund is a historic Scandinavian special built in the forties using a 1932 Ford chassis powered by a flathead V8.

The car won the 1949 Norwegian Grand Prix at Gardermoen with Thure Melin driving

 As my first car was a Riley, I’m partial to the brand and loved this little cut-down 1936 12/4 Roadster owned by Johanna Muller.

It was a favorite among several vintage British sports cars

Perhaps sporting the neatest profile was this streamliner based on a 1930 Ford Model A. Owned by Soren Karmdal, the banger is equipped with a Scintilla magneto and a brace of Stromberg 81s

 I never saw this neat, channelled roadster

racing; no doubt it was just a spectator’s ride.

Still, I couldn’t resist this shot of it parked on the pristine beach at Rømø

 This nice traditional Deuce Roadster with a rolled pan belongs to Sergio Fontana from Switzerland. The car was built by Andy Kohler at Kohler Kustom, Pennsylvania and is powered by a mild, Navarro-equipped flattie with a pair of Strombergs.

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Mopar Euronationals

■ Words: Mike Pye Pics: Julian Hunt (action), Mike Pye (static)

Adam Nowak v Andy Robinson

T

he last weekend of July last year saw the 28th running of the Mopar Euronationals.

Unfortunately, this clashed with the Hot Rod Hayride, which meant very little sleep and some double timing from Team CC to attend both events.

Sadly, the clash meant we missed qualifying in the sunshine on Friday and drove through rain to watch the conclusion of the race classes and enjoy the show’n’shine under mixed skies on the Sunday.

The Mopars is always a great event, with a laid-back, good-natured atmosphere set against a backdrop of fiercely competitive racing on track.

Naturally, Nostalgia Super Stock, with its heavy Mopar presence and 47-car field for this event, takes centre stage, but there’s always plenty of additional runners present representing Outlaw Anglia, Supercharged Outlaws, 100E Challenge, Wild Bunch, Gasser Circus, Outlaw Street and more.

The proposed wheelie competition was cancelled again this year, but the Friday night cruise was back.

Swings and roundabouts I guess.

‘A laid-back, good-natured atmosphere set against a backdrop of fiercely competitive racing’ Overnight rain on the Saturday evening saw racers awake to a damp track on the Sunday, but the usual sterling work by the track crew saw racing underway around 11am with the second round of Nostalgia Superstock. From there on, it was solid racing through to the end of eliminations but we took some time out to check out the show’n’shine, which always brings out some special cars.

Graham Barton

This year it was Tommy Roberts’ Superbird that had people talking, a car that was used as a daily driver over here in the mid-70s, and remains exactly as it was back then, having spent 30-odd years tucked away in the interim.

What a treat to see Tommy enjoying it and running it down the track.

Another highlight for us was seeing Wendy Baker roll round to the start line just after lunch in the Time Warp Mustang II Nostalgia Funny Car. It sounded strong, but Wendy was having problems selecting reverse and the nitro motor lost fire after the launch. Better luck next time.

I was about to write that hopefully there won’t be another similar clash of dates this year, but then the Hayride announced its return as I was writing this… on the same weekend as the Mopars.

Again. That sucks. Oh well, No Sleep Till Podington it is, then…

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NEM Plant Nostalgia Superstock

Stuart Thompson

Gary Cork

Q1 saw the top three as follows: Richard Granger WINNER (11.516 / 117 on an 11.51), Dave Billadeau (9.867 / 136 on a 9.85) and James Sweeney (10.519 / Ash Rawson 126 on a 10.50 dial in. Though the top 22 cars all ran within 0.1 seconds of their dial in in Q2, that didn’t mean there weren’t some big changes on the ladder. Chris Tyhurst, Lee Chiles, Ash Rawson, Chris Goodale and Dan Williams all made big gains, but Simon Rickwood in the Bossa Nova made the biggest of all, up to no.1 spot with Rawson and Granger behind.

The top half of the ladder continued to run just as close to their dial ins but it was all change again in Q3, with Lee Chiles pulling a number one out of the bag (9.953 / Chris Goodale 134 on a 9.95 dial) – only to be outdone by Gary Cork (11.852 / 125 on an 11.85 dial), who in turn was pushed into second by Gary Carr when he produced a Perfect ET awardwinning 9.150 / 146 on a 9.15 dial.

Come the first round of eliminations, over enthusiasm led to plenty of Simon Rickwood breakouts: Pete Christmas; John Davidson, Bob Main, Nick Martin, Pete Wiseman, Karl Kenyon, Mike Graham, Ty Strevett, Mick Elsworth, Chris Goodale, Carly Watts and Mick Sharpe. Throw in a few red lights and a no-show Niamh Frances Smith from Andy Robinson and things were looking interesting.

Sunday morning saw Tyhurst, Smail, Chiles, Cork, Thompson, Elsworth, Howard Holmes, Nic Williams, Jim Smith, Carly Watts, James Oliver and Guy King all through to the next round. By the afternoon, the ladder had been reduced further to Oliver, Williams, Thompson, Chiles, Cork and Elsworth, with Smail, Tyhurst, Smith, Holmes, King and Carly Watts all sent packing.

Round four was a shocker for some, Oliver lighting a cherry and both Williams and Elsworth breaking out, leaving the door open for Chiles, Thompson and Cork, who snagged the bye into the final.

When the chips were down, it was Stuart ‘Kiwi’ Thompson who held his nerve the best, breaking out less than Lee Chiles (9.868 / 138 on a 9.87 dial vs 9.889 / 134 on a 9.92 dial) in the semis, which put him up against Gary Cork in the final. Again, both drivers crossed the line too soon, but Thompson by less of a margin than Cork (9.848 / 138 on a 9.85 dial vs 11.811 / 112 on an 11.85). Not the most textbook end to the weekend, but racing’s racing.

Gary Carr

John Pratt

PERFECT ET

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04/02/2023 00:10

Gasser Circus At the end of Qualifying 1, it was Ray Irish on top (10.095 / 128 on a 10.06 index) followed

by Sean Milsom and Brian Gibson. Due to publication dates, we now know that Ray started where he meant to finish, taking the 2022 Gasser Circus Showdown crown. Well done, sir.

Irish and Milsom held position through Q2, while Paul Dominey and Simon Prest leapt up the ladder to the number three and four spots respectively.

In Q3 it was Graham Barton and Nick Hewison who fought hardest for position, Barton (10.895 / 119 on a 10.85 dial in) muscling into second spot ahead of Milsom, who in turn stayed in front of Billy Jones in the Willys. And that’s how the top four stayed going into Sunday’s eliminations.

In round one, Irish was out first and despatched Simon Glenn, before Hallam, Jones, Jason Pickett, Hewison, Prest and Brian Gibson all continued their charges – the latter after points leader Milsom broke out, opening things up in the championship race.

By round two, breakouts by Prest and Gibson saw the field reduced down to Pickett, Hewison, Hallam and Irish, the latter maintaining his position in the lead with a 10.23 / 127mph bye.

It was a similar story to the NSS crescendo in the Gasser Circus final rounds, with multiple breakouts in the semis – Nick Hewison by less than Jason Pickett (9.936 / 133 on a 10.10 dial vs 11.132 / 118 on an 11.36) and Ray Irish throwing away his chance by posting 10.121 / 129 on the timing board on a 10.19 dial in, letting Hallam through for the win (10.125 / 124 on a 10.06 dial in).

At the end of play, when Hallam was a no show at the line, Nick Hewison and the Short Fuse ’48 Fordson was crowned Gasser Circus round five winner – an impressive achievement for a driver who only ran away with the Circus earlier in the year at Dragstalgia.

2022

Sean Milson v Billy Jones

Brian Gibson

Nick Hewison

WINNER

Ray Irish

CHAMPION

Martyn Hallam Jason Pickett

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04/02/2023 00:10

NATIONAL STREET

ROD ASSOCIATION

34th ANNUAL SUNDAY 5th MARCH 2023 NSRA members £5.00 Non members £10.00 NORTH WEALD AIRFIELD CM16 6HR For more information contact: Andy on 07810 770256 or Email: nsra.trade@nsra.org.uk Custom Car_2023_02_Feb_National Street Rod Association_FP.indd 1

05/01/2023 16:55

Vintage Hot Rod Supplies Ltd

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1929 Ford Model A roadster All Steel, original running gear. £12,000

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1930 Model A roadster, very original in green and black , all running and driving and in very good order throughout. £22,000

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01/02/2023 09:53

06/02/2023 14:08

Joel Kerr

Supercharged Outlaws Great to see Joel Kerr back out to play in the Stiff Shifter Pontiac on the Friday, though the potent car was clearly suffering some transmission related issues and didn’t make a full pass all weekend.

Emerging at the top of the ladder through the immense half-track burnout smoke of qualifying was Roy Wilding, 7.171 at 191mph.

Behind him came Gary Parkes in the Purple Daze T (7.586 / 182) and

Ian Merryweather

Gary Parkes

Chris Pattison

Aaron Windridge (7.860 / 169), Ian Merryweather in the Banzai Topolino (8.667 / 161), followed by Mike Couch, Simon Boot and Keith Freeman.

Hayley Hadfield was given the opportunity to take over starter duties on the line for the final round of qualifying on Saturday evening, which put a big smile on her face and saw great runs from all entrants, save for a missing Merryweather. But of note were Roy Wilding’s storming low sevens and Thomas Cook Abbott’s impressive licensing passes in Mike Couch’s Lil’ Hemi Hunter rail, 10.032 / 102 on Saturday afternoon improving to 9.148 / 145.

Thomas Cook Abbott Hayley Hadfield

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04/02/2023 00:11

Ray’s Classics

San Carlos CA since 1980

California Collector Car Export Sales Specialist TWO OF THE BEST FROM A CALIFORNIA COLLECTOR OFFERED EXCLUSIVELY BY RAYS CLASSICS 1958 CHEVY CAMEO V8/4SPD HYDRO AUTOMATIC - $POA

Concoures quality rottisserie restoration, excellent condition throughout right down to the very last nut and bolt, runs and drives like a dream, the last year for the cameo and the hardest one to find especially with the more desirable hydro gearbox and this colour combo, the attention to detail everywhere you look is stunning, none nicer.

1962 CHEVY BELAIR BUBBLETOP - $POA

409/4spd, P/S, rottiserrie restored with very particular attention to detail, flawless condition throughout with very few miles since restoration, you will not find a nicer example anywhere, runs & drives as good as they come, the Belair was the only model in the 62 line-up with the bubbletop carried over from the 61 impala, very few were built and all were powered by the 409 seen mainly on the dragstrip super stock class, blue chip investment grade car.

1951 CHEVY CROSSLEY HOTSHOT ROADSTER, EXCELLENT CONDITION THROUGHOUT, ON THE BUTTON GREAT LITTLE DRIVER - $14,750

1949 CHEVY 3100 PANEL VAN - $22,750

6cyl/3spd , one California family owned since new, documentation since 1949, bone stock, runs and drives excellent.

WELCOME TO 2023 25 VEHICLES UK REGISTERED READY FOR PURCHASE IN THE SW OF ENGLAND POA Prices include shipping from Oakland CA to UK mainland. Check the website for complete inventory list.

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27/01/2023 10:17

Wild Bunch Saturday saw a new speed PB for Dan Wilson in the Antique Toy slingshot of 121.55mph on a 10.20 pass. Tim Roy was on form too, clocking low eights in Boston Straggler II, a best of 8.409 at 158mph.

Next it was Gary Atkinson’s turn to celebrate, a PB 140.35mph on a 9.845 pass.

With Wild Bunch competition operating differently to other classes, results being decided on an average to dial in basis, it’s always a little hard SPEED to work out what’s going on from the PB 121.55 stands. But Bob Morgan in B-Sting, Phil James in Rampage, Dan Wilson in Antique Toy, James Auld in Little Rich Butcher Faus, Ian Wild in Wild Cat, Pete Brown in Rebel and Paul Tarry in Trigger’s Broom (bye) all crossed the line first in their respective pairings in round one.

In round two, Rob Brown took out his brother, Auld went past Wild, James beat White, Tarry disposed with Rich Butcher, Gary Atkinson sent a wayward Jim Tanner packing, Morgan beat Wilson and Roy had the track to himself.

To round off the weekend, Atkinson in Time Lock posted a 9.622 / 134 to beat Butcher, Pete Brown in Wrathchild (8.518 / 154) got his own back on his brother, Wilson’s Antique Toy (10.204 Pete Brown / 120) crossed the line ahead of Wild and Morgan’s B-Sting (10.171 / 130) beat Tanner.

Meanwhile, White (13.175 / 101), Auld (13.175 / 101) and James (9.560 / 137) all enjoyed the feeling of space afforded by bye runs.

Dan Wilson

Jim Tanner

Gary BobAtkinson Hawkins

PB 9.845 / 140.35

Tim Roy

Bob Morgan

Roy Wilding

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Factory big block A-body Mopars are very few and far between, but the 383 badge on this ’67 Barracuda marks it out as something very special indeed. Its ex-pat American owner, Joe Azzolina, knew its every feature from the stripe delete Formula S package to the recall steering wheel. We liked the D70 and E70-14 Goodyear Polyglas and Firestone Super Sport redlines Right: Talking of rare ones, how about a ’64 Pontiac GTO, arguably the first muscle car to see the light of day? With an Edelbrock dual quad set up on its 455, all original interior and a repaint a decade ago, it was up for £30k Below: A very fine example of the special edition 1979 Dodge Lil’ Red Express, the first of the fast production pick-ups. This one sat in a Dodge dealer showroom for the first few years of its life and is unrestored, still with its police special 360 motor and 727 TorqueFlite trans Below middle: Last time we saw this ’69 Bee it was being valued by late Mopar expert Tony Oksien, and it’s a bit special.

All original, numbers matching, time capsule cars like this don’t come along very often. Even the original redlines were with it last time we saw it. £39k or ‘good offer’. So cool

Above: Kevin Martin bought this ’71 Plymouth Satellite Sebring Plus in 1979 when serving with the British forces in Germany. He fitted the Keystone Turbos in 1980 and it was his daily driver for 17 years. He’s recently given it a nut and bolt restoration, upgrading to a 419ci small block and painting it Foose Huntington Blue Pearl.

A worthy Top 5 winner Left: Best in Show 2022 was Tommy Roberts ’70 Superbird, a car he remembered seeing drive by when he was 14 and it belonged to Blondie Melbourne. When the 440 fourspeed car came up at auction recently, having spent 30 years off the road, Tommy acquired it, still wearing the Radial T/As fitted in the late ’70s

Ian Duckitt’s pale yellow ’67 Nova SS is fresh out after a lengthy build. We didn’t get to find the exact spec but the Sonny’s fabricated valve covers, ali heads and nitrous suggest it’s probably got enough to need its apparently 8.50-tagged cage

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One look at the pair of snails in the engine bay of Pete Smith’s ex-John Sleath Audi S2 explains why he calls it Boost Monkey. After an 11.131 / 139 test pass, Pete hit 161mph in 8.441 seconds on the Friday for quickest pass of the day

Left: Young Ben Elerey delighted the crowd at prize giving by saying he’d done the full restoration on this 1970 Buick GSX, including paint, himself ‘in a dusty old shed.’ Hats off to that, and a well deserved Top 5 win at the Mopars Below: James Cribbs owns this gorgeous ’65 Plymouth Belvedere II. It has a bored 426 big block with dual quads under the bonnet, which pushed it to 14.9-second quarters at 94mph

Below: Good to see Brendan Clancy’s Comp Eliminator ’53 Vette back out after some eight years away. 8.90 at 115mph on a half-track pass on the Saturday, improving to an 8.756 / 165 full pass late in the day with undoubtedly more to come

Below: Sweet ’64 Polara looked and sounded awesome but didn’t live up to the promise, posting a sedate 16.432 at 84mph on track. Maybe its owner was just being careful, aware he had to drive it back to Germany at the end of the weekend

Paul Smail and his El Diablo bagged the Paul Worrow Memorial Trophy for being no.1 qualifier in Nostalgia Superstock on Friday

Car of the show for many was Mike Smith’s 1 of 282 built ’70 Buick GS Stage 1 convertible. Mike has owned this ultra-rare car since 1984, but it’s spent the last 11 in Canada having a concours restoration. Respect to him for then spanking the 455ci beast down the track

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S D O R ’ S R E D A RE post to Custom Car, alan.kidd@assignment-media.co.uk, or Email photos and details of your car to 5 0YZ. Please include Business Park, Bretby, Derbyshire DE1 by Bret , 1.08 se Hou ton Rep Ltd, ia Assignment Med size you have available ing digital pictures, use the largest file your contact details – and when send

Love at first sound

O

ld racers never die, they say.

Well, this Cortina is exactly that, an old racer, and it’s still alive and kicking. Though talking of kickings, fate has thrown a few at it along the way.

It was once a 12-second strip weapon.

Well, it was once someone’s family saloon, but you knew that. That was then, though, and this is now. Having been sold on out

Words: Olly Sack Pics: Richard Hair

unexpectedly painful process of turning it into a street sleeper.

You wouldn’t look at it and think it’s a standard one, certainly. But you probably would think that if you were pulling away from a roundabout on a fast bike and all of a sudden some character in a purple Mk3 was giving you aggro in the next lane, you’d only be a squirt away from putting him in his place. Paul doesn’t say exactly how many

The Mopar 318 once had it running 12s on standard tyres of the race game, it became the property of Paul Pope, a time-served member of the rodding scene round Kent way, who started what turned out to be the slow and

bikers have made this assumption, but it’s taken each and every one of them several hundred yards before they can relax and stop feeling ridiculous.

The key to this is the 5.2-litre Mopar 318 V8 that once had the Cortina running 12s on standard tyres. ‘I loved the sound of it,’ says Paul of why he bought the car in the first place, which won’t be the first time you’ve heard someone say that about, well, anything with a proper engine.

‘A guy local to me was selling a Humber Hawk and a 3.5-litre V8 from a P6’ is the longer version of the story. ‘I was looking at a swap for a P5 I had, but he kept going on about this Cortina. When I went along, I didn’t want the Humber – but I saw the Cortina and liked it. And then when he started it up, it was love!’

It wasn’t unconditional love, however.

Paul explains that the Cortina had a lot of bodges in it, such as an electrical system without one single relay in it. The car was

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S The 318ci Mopar V8 dates from the days when this was a 12-second strip weapon – though having had a new block, after some likely sounding mob who were meant to be putting paint on it went out for a joyride instead and destroyed the big end, it’s only the same engine in a Faith, Hope and Charity sort of way. Paul didn’t do anything radical to make it suitable for the street use, though the small, lightweight rad was replaced with a f ll-si e one that co ld cope with tra c and later on he swapped o t the dizzy for an MSD electronic ignition system. The twin-pipe exhaust was added y a s se ent owner, t a l was definitely the man ehind the ssie onnet with its standard power bulge – when he bought the Cortina, its standard bonnet was adorned by a bulge made of chicken wire, which he describes as ‘horrible’

yellow, had a ‘horrible’ bonnet and came with rev, oil and temperature gauges but no dashboard, door cards or carpets. ‘My wallet fell out of my hoody one day while I was driving and melted on the floor like chewing gum,’ he recalls.

Chicken wire

That bonnet was a proper Mk3 one, but there was nothing proper about the way it had been treated. ’Someone had cut a hole in it and given it a chicken wire power bulge.’

Ooof. He was already having visions of tossing that in a skip and fitting one from an Aussie vehicle – which have power bulges as standard. So much more elegant.

Cue a project.

This was about a decade ago, and what followed was a mixture was variously

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Aside from the obvious, have you noticed anything unusual about this Cortina? Paul admits that he didn’t, until someone pointed it out to him at an event. It’s a two-door, as anyone who can do sums will be able to tell you, however those doors are the wrong size for a factory coupe – on which they’d end more or less at the back of the Santa Pod sticker in the window. What you’re looking at here is in fact a four-door which, somewhere in the annals of time, has paid a visit to a pretty handy body shop

unfortunate, frustrating and outrageous. And rather wonderful too, at times – like when Paul’s girlfriend bought him a new radiator for his birthday to replace the small and lightweight racing unit that was fine for a quarter of a mile but wanted to make Pot Noodles in traffic.

The misfortune came when, in Paul’s words, ‘my mate smashed it up.’ You might be forgiven for wondering what kind of mates he hangs about with.

The clumsy kind, it would appear. ‘While he was working on it, he accidentally knocked it into reverse and it went through the back of his garage. Then he panicked

and threw it into drive, and it flew forward and smashed one of the doors which was open. It went right through his gate and then his fence and ended up in his neighbour’s garden.’ You’re well into Laurel and Hardy territory there.

As if this wasn’t unfortunate enough, the door that got wrecked was one of a good pair Paul had only just found after months of searching and several days spent trailing round the country on the word of dodgy eBayers who turned out to be selling scrap.

His mate ended up £2000 worse off after making the damage right, and we shudder to think what that figure must have turned

into once he’d sorted out his neighbour and rebuilt his workshop too.

Outrageous

Next came the outrageous bit, which involved the outfit Paul went to for paint. ‘I took it back to them three or four times,’ he says. ‘They kept getting it wrong.

‘Then the last time they had it, I reckon they took it out and thrashed it. When I went to get it, it was completely empty of petrol and I found them pressure washing under the bonnet.

‘I think the lad was cleaning off oil that had blown out. It was making low pressure

hat was once the stripped o t ca in of a racecar is now a s ita ly ci ilised place to e, e en if it s not what yo d call standard. a l fitted the carpet after his wallet fell o t on a cr ise and promptly melted itself on to the hot oor, followin it p with door cards and leather seats. The plywood dash oard is his, too the a es mo nted on it definitely hint that this is a car with a fr ity past and indeed present . The shifter wo ld definitely want with a bit of trim around it if you were going for the full street machine look, but it operates a 727 box and that was clearly the main thing

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  All prices include VAT. Prices subject to change without notice. Correct at 25-1-23. E&OE. Freight extra.

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                                                           

                

                 

                                                            

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          

 Front wings 64-68 ......... fr£244.43 Bolt & clip kit, top of wing £20.03 Splash shields 64-68 ........ fr£25.56 Rad panel 64-68 ............ fr£169.27 Front valance 64-68 ....... fr£64.79 Fr frame rail 1965-70 ..... fr285.01 Rr fraim rail 65-68 ....... fr£305.36                                                                               

                       

             

                

                

 HD 3cor US rad64-6 ........ £525.25 Alum rad Shelby copy ... fr£352.27 Rad hose kits 64-8 ............. £38.08 Heater seals 64-66 ............. £21.04 Htr plenum 64-68 .............. £36.85 Heater cable set 64-6 ......... £27.62 Heater rads 64-73 ........... fr£61.04 Htr core end caps 65-8 ...... £11.09 Therm housin 64-73 ...... fr£19.01 Shroud-fan-steel 64-6 ........ £37.10

             

                                                          

       

            

        

                                        Rack & pinion kit, manual, 65-66 ......................................... *£981.00 Power rack&pinion conv kit, 6570 inc pump .............. *fr£1933.56

 V/reg inst panl 64-8 ........ fr£38.95 Park light kt 64-66pr ...... £106.93 Reverse lt kit 64-6 ............. £72.32 Number plate lite 64-70 .... £33.71 Indicator switch 65-6 ........ £31.30 Dipswitch 64-73 .................... £7.74                                                     

                                                              

                        Latch or lock 65-68 ....... fr£71.99 Door lk knob 64-7pr ......... fr£6.54 Chrm grommet 65-68 ...... pr£4.42 Door card clips 30 ........... fr£14.84       



    

                                                                                      

KEY: An asterisk [*] indicates the Gold Card club price is being quoted.

  

            HOLLEY- USA kindly gave us permission to use the “Blue Mustang” picture

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Distributors of some of the most respected racing components manufacturers in the United States.

We are very proud of our machine shop which is equipped with the finest machiner y availab le. A number of Europe’s leading engine builders utilize our facility due to our extensive equipment capabili ties and reputation for accuracy.

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website: www.performanceunlimited.co.uk

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06/02/2023 14:08

‘He accidentally knocked it into reverse and it went through the back of his garage. Then he panicked and threw it into drive. It went right through his gate and then his fence and ended up in his neighbour’s garden’ on the way home, and it kept cutting out every time I stopped at the lights.’

Going after them would only ever be throwing good money after bad, so Paul sucked it up and took the Cortina to a chap who was known throughout the scene down his way as a safe pair of hands for engine work. So well known that here’s where the frustration kicks in, because it sat in a garage for a full year before finally making it to the head of the queue and getting some spanner time worthy of the name.

‘It needed a new block and crank, and pistons too,’ says Paul. ‘The heads were okay but the bottom end was knackered.’

You can start seeing why Paul describes the six years during which he owned the Cortina as ‘pay out, pay out, pay out.’ But at least he now had a totally sound engine – and the good news is that the Torqueflite 727 behind it was sound – having never needed rebuilding, he says that by the time moved the car on it was the only major

mechanical item that hadn’t been, though the history shows that a subsequent owner replaced the torque converter.

A fault in the stars

So now it had a good engine, upgraded to electronic ignition, and a good box, as well as a good axle (it’s from a Foxbody Mustang and Paul had the crownwheel and pinion replaced by Davies Preparations in Gravesend), and the paint had eventually been done well enough to pass muster.

Paul fitted a dashboard at the same time as having the wiring sorted; carpets and door cards followed to make it right inside too, as well as leather seats, and finally the Cortina was beginning to look the way he had always wanted it. But as can happen when a project takes so long to come together and hits so many snags along the way, in his mind there was now a fault in its stars.

‘I think we were virtually there with it,’ he says wistfully. ‘But I was always watching

the dials in it. It was off the road more than it was on.’

So when the opportunity came to get out, he took it. ‘I swapped it for a Japanese Peugeot 205 GTi. ‘That was too girly for me, though, so in turn I swapped it for a Moggy Minor convertible with a Rover V8 in it.’

The guy who took the Cortina off him didn’t keep it for long, either. ‘He was going to do all sorts to it,’ says Paul. ‘But then a month later I saw it for sale on eBay.’ He reckons it’s been through several pairs of hands since then, and sure enough when we came across the Cortina it was in the trade. Surprising, perhaps, after one owner had put so much into a project which proved that old racers do indeed never die.

Thanks to Hill Farm Automotives for their help in compiling this article. They’re based near Kettering and always have a range of interesting customs, classics and American motors; call them on 01933 650486

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Hot Rod takeover

Out & About Words and pics: Alice Fairhead

‘This little club event in a countryside village had the best vibe of the whole summer’

The V8 Hot Rods meet at the Cross Keys in Redgrave has now been held three times. It’s organised primarily by Kev and Tracey Bridges, with the rest of the V8 Hot Rod club supporting them.

The meet was started after the Cross Keys pub was bought by the villagers to keep it open. Everybody helping on the day was a volunteer, part of a team who give up their free time to help maintain the pub and keep it open. They use the village green outside the pub, and surrounding driveways, to host the one-day meet.

I got there around 10am in case parking was an issue later on, to find a lot of people already there. Most space had already been filled by the original start time of 11am, with more squeezing in as the day progressed.

The afternoon featured live music from two bands, Backstreet and Walkway.

It took me a few hours to get round everyone with my camera, although it was worth it with the little country village making a great venue. Vehicles varied from classic Americans and muscle cars to trucks and some Europeans, so there was something for everyone. The day also featured an appearance from Eyeball Mike doing pinstriping on multiple cars, including organiser Kev’s ’33 Chevy.

Trophy presentation took place at 3pm, with awards on offer for best

interior, best hot rod, best British and would you believe even best tot rod, in addition to special trophies from Krazy Horses in Bury St Edmunds, the Thermoreg top fuel funny car team and the NSRA, presented by John Proctor.

I did so many shows last summer I barely had a weekend to spare, and I can honestly say this little club event in a countryside village had the best vibe of the lot. It was one of my favourite events of the year and I’ll certainly be going back.

We can’t thank Kev and Tracey enough for putting on such a great day out CC

John Stearman out and about in his Austin

Organisers Kev and Tracey Bridges’ cars

NSRA Pick winner Amy Rachel – you don’t often see Corvettes of this age

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Top: Lewis Stemp made the trip out in this bagged Bel Air Above: Best Kustom went to Gary Knight – very well deserved Above right: Steve Marley made it out in his coupe Right: Just right for a hotrod – few cars you’ll see are as spot-on as this Below: John Proctor made it out in his hot rod Below right: Shaun Larnder out in the ’35 Below far right: A whole array of trophies to be won

Above: Eyeball Mike working on the rear end of a Mercury Left: Let’s hear it for the author’s Volvo Amazon kustom – being a professional photographer doesn’t mean you have to turn up in something boring!

’51 Studebaker Champion – not something you see very often

Stuart Farr and Terry Gardiner out and about

This little line-up perfectly demonstrates the enormous variety of vehicles at the show

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Auto focus ■ Words and Pics: Keith Lee

There’s a ‘then and now’ theme to Keith’s memories this month

O

ne of the recurring topics on social media is the old-day-versusmodern racing debate. It has been the subject of lively discussion at times, and it got me to thinking about the pros and cons of the arguments.

Perhaps I should say that I do lean towards nostalgia racing – which is maybe not surprising, given my advancing years. However, there is a lot more to it than that, as I also admire engineering excellence – which the current breed of race car showcases in spades.

Drag racing is a pursuit which encourages its exponents to strive for ever quicker times. Over the decades, cars have evolved and become ever more sophisticated. A consequence of this is an inevitable narrowing of design philosophy in order to achieve the desired performance. Whatever era one looks at, there are skilled and dedicated people doing what they can to produce standout race machines. There is no denying that current state of the art race machinery is capable of stunning performance, which is breathtaking to watch.

Fundamentally, drag racing has grown up around the V8 motor, which is firmly at its core. If you wanted to go really fast in the early days, then a well prepped V8 was the way to go, and over half a century

Above: A popular draw in early years was bringing over top line US drivers and adding their cars to the UK ranks. Gene Snow pictured in 1980 Left: The toilet facilities have come a long way in more recent years. Pictured behind this American double-engined dragster of Ron Jellinek are the original facilities, which demanded a strong constitution!

Below: It was a nice nod to the old Gladiator f nny car when ason helps first wheeled out the modern version with its neat graphics

later it is still the prime choice. Okay, so the top performing current machines are light years ahead of their old school forefathers, but they are still really just refined versions of a well proven design.

What inevitably happens over the long development process is that the sense of individual character tends to get lost. This is particularly true in funny car, where the bodies now resemble jelly moulds with huge aero appendages, in contrast to their much loved predecessors.

Aerodynamic performance drives the look – but then again, the cars they are now based on share that same lack of real identity, for the same reason.

One thing to bear in mind, when we yearn for nostalgia, is that there really was no such thing back in the 60s and 70s and even beyond. Rapid progress,

coupled with expansion of this developing sport, was the focus of attention.

The biggest change in the seventies was the move away from slingshot fuel dragsters. Funny cars only properly came into being during 1973. Everything was new and evolving before our eyes, so maybe it’s not surprising that there is so much love for that era. Well, that and the

Left: The non-stop Ian Marshall ensuring the track is in top condition, as he wheels the tractor with precision Above: Pro Mod still attracts a variety of visually interesting body styles. e lyfield s 6 Th nder ird is in stark contrast to the sleek t r o Firebird driven by Nick Davies – and both have proved highly competitive

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fact that they could wow the spectators with the most enormous side-by-side rolling burnouts! These undoubtedly are fondly remembered. With the advances in track tech and tyre technology, the burnout is not so important to the teams nowadays as the glued track is so enormously grippy.

Sometimes I do think that we can look back at past experiences through slightly rose-tinted glasses, as we remember classic events. Health and safety was not generally taken as seriously as it has to be in current times. When you consider the facilities at Santa Pod these days, there is a world of difference. There used to be a single water tap, as I recall – and loos that threatened to kill your sense of smell (added to which one could say burn your nose hairs off when chemicals were added into the holes in the ground!) It is a far cry from the toilet and shower blocks now available.

When it rained, the bike pits behind the stands would be running in mud, as would the pit side camping area. All that area is now fully paved. Watching the Pod’s track crew swing into action nowadays to clear the track of debris or water is also fascinating to watch – especially Ian Marshall, who knows where the extremities of the multi-purpose tractor are to the inch!

Going to a major meeting now is truly is a full day out for the family, given the added entertainment on offer to those attending. One thing that I do not miss from my early years is the amount of litter that used to accumulate during a long weekend. It even got on to the track, causing lost times on occasion.

With all of the many advances, a visitor from 40 years ago would still recognise many similarities to today. The winding drive up to the track, to seeing what still looks like the barn. The control tower stretching

Above left: I suppose you could say that the early cars had built-in nostalgia, way back in 1966. John Wright used an old Austin A40 cab with power from a Jag motor and featuring a pre-WWII radiator from a Rolls Royce!

Above right: Many older fans lament the loss of the barn to watch from. You can appreciate why health and safety concerns would make it a nostalgic memory!

Above: One of the survivors from the old days. Chris Hartnell off on another wheels-up run in the Backdraft slingshot, as part of the eclectic Wild Bunch nostalgia class Left: Outlaw Anglias reek nostalgia, but six-second times are turned by the best of this crossover breed which marries old style looks with outstanding performance. This impressive example is raced by Jon Webster

across the start area. Flanking the whole of the right hand lane is the grassed banking.

It may be higher, and more user friendly, but it still has some of that familiar feel. Even some of the names on the entry list will undoubtedly resonate from over 40 years ago, as some of those pioneering racers are still hammering down the quarter mile.

Race fans will always have their favourite classes and style of car. The good thing is that we are given a choice. If nostalgia is your thing, then Dragstalgia, coupled with the two NSRA events (the Nostalgia Nationals and Hot Rod Drags) are excellent meetings to go to. If full-on, state of the art racing is your bag, the FIA championship events offer the very best that Europe can offer. Either way, we should enjoy the top-class action on offer to us.

Poignantly, just as I was completing this piece, I learnt of the passing of John Bennett. He was the face of drag racing in the first few years of Santa Pod until he

walked away following a heated AGM of the organising club, the BDR&HRA. I often wonder if the sport would have progressed in a different manner had he still been up front. Happily, drag racing did achieve his aims, by making rapid progress to build on that early decision to set up a permanent strip.

A personal memory of how times were so different in 1967: John advertised that anyone arriving on a coach from Victoria Station would be transported from the bus stop on the A6! This 15 year old travelled by train to London, then took the underground to Victoria. I was the only passenger to alight for the Pod. Shortly afterwards, a big LHD Pontiac cruised up – and John’s wife Ann chauffeured me along the lanes to the strip as I slid around on the bench seat!

That was a memorable trip. John must have been happy that all these years later, his dream for Santa Pod is now in the best shape it has ever been.

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the Custom Car years March 1982: A dip into history from Custom Car and the rest of the world Dublin, 9 March: Following a hung election, Fianna Fáil’s Charles Haughey becomes Taoiseach of Ireland for the second time by cobbling together support from minority parties and independent MPs. The coalition fails to last the year.

The Solar System, 10 March: A unique full syzygy occurs, with all nine planets lined up on the same side of the sun. The event, which was predicted to cause mass global catastrophes in the 1974 book The Jupiter Effect, doesn’t after all.

London, 18 March: A legal case against the National Theatre by morality fanatic Mary Whitehouse is ended following the intervention of Attorney General Sir Michael Havers. Whitehouse claimed that The Romans in Britain, which explores abuse of power, was pornographic.

The Falklands, 19 March: Argentinian soldiers posing as scrap metal workers raise their national flag on South Georgia, an act which will trigger the Falklands War. Glasgow, 25 March: Roy Jenkins wins the Hillhead by-election, becoming the final member of the Social Democrats’ ‘Gang of Four’ to enter the Commons. At the same time, Bill Boaks enters the record books by getting just five votes.

VETTE’LL DO NICELY… SOME FOLKS JUST CAN’T GET ENOUGH. That’s Lil’ John Harvey’s problem. You see, John is preoccupied with going fast and to him that means FAST. This year, John and friends Ed Carole, Les Leggin and Neil Thompson are shooting for that elusive figure of 200mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats and so far they have attained 192mph. Not so shabby for an auction refugee turned into a race car.

When John found this ’58 Corvette at a dealer’s auction, it was running the drags with an old tunnel port 427ci Ford motor. Over two years, he has turned this old warrior into the knight you see here.

Despite the difficulties of making both a drag car and Bonneville salt racer out of a ’58 Vette (the weight needed for the Flats creates a problem with quarter-mile runs, meaning more breakage of parts), it has seen times in the Pro Gas category of 9.80 and 140mphplus. And it still managed to take first place in the B/modified sports class at El Mirage dry lake last time out.

The motive force emanates from 426ci of full tilt, getting down all the way to a ’ya can’t boogie no more’ Keith Black all-aluminium motor featuring all the best racing tricks of lightened parts, full balancing and block preparation. This

is mated to heads by Sonny Bryant, cam and lifters by Isky, springs and retainers by Crane and Venolia pistons with hefty 13.5cr that sit atop Bill Miller aluminium rods with a Kellogg crank and Black 10-quart oil pan. Donovan Gear Drive keeps the timing right on the nose and the eight separate ports of the Hilborn injectors make sure the fuel is finitely distributed between the cylinders.

All this power is transmitted by a Mopar 727 Torqueflite automatic tranny with a B&M shifter and flywheel. This would be the handiwork of John’s friend Gordon, and that’s what you call a friend.

A tube axle up front runs Ford Pinto rack and pinion steering and basically standard Corvette suspension. Stopping is helped by the standard Ford drum brakes, augmented by a Simpson 200mph parachute for those salty runs.

The rims are by Cragar. For Bonneville, they mount Fires-

tone high speed ’Indy style’ tyres while for the drags they carry Firestone slicks.

The incredible colour scheme is Brandywine, tangerine, pagan gold and lots of clear lacquer to seal that Candy Apple paint which John and the guys at Vette Set Auto Body so tenderly laid on. John’s friends Kim and Ed did the tasty striping and Stan Betz gets the credit for the paint mixup.

Lil’ John and his Instant Insanity machine certainly have their work cut out for them to nail the 200 this year. And believe it or not, John also has interests in other fast cars. For instance, a ’29 Ford Roadster Pickup, a ’36 three-window coupe that’s mildly chopped and a ’69 Z-28 Camaro.

Of course, there are always fast women in John’s life. But with the selection of cars in his stable, you’d figure he must have a date for each mood as well as each car. Sometimes life just ain’t fair.

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From racecar to street machine ART RICHARDS IS THE OWNER OF ART’S CORVETTES, A CUSTOM SHOP IN BEAUTIFUL DOWNTOWN AMERICA. He wanted a late model IMSAstyled Corvette based on a ’68 or later coupe, but all he had lying around was a ‘64 roadster that had been prepared as a B-production SCCA race car.

Transforming this sow’s ear into a silk purse took more than a little elbow grease, but Richards doesn’t make a big deal of it. ‘It wasn’t as hard as it looks,’ he says. ‘The late model interior and body panels fit on to the earlier chassis, so I just had to fabricate mounting points.’ hen it came to flares, Richards had his own idea of the way he wanted to go – so he made up moulds to cast his own. While they can be compared superficially to reenwood or MSA items at first glance, they are actually wider in front, permitting the use of 10” wide wheels.

Richards did the job in a total of three months, in between working on customer’s cars.

‘I’m glad it took a long time,’ he reflects, because refined my concepts as it went along.’

The cabin uses bits from a ’73 and ’69 Corvettes – all originally black, but Richards dyed some to resemble the interior of the 1978 Indy Pace Car. The bucket seats are similar to Recaros in style but covered with surprisingly plush dark grey mohair.

The engine started out as a 1968 396ci ’porcupine head’ block. Richards bored this out .030” to 402ci before Corvette Works added most of the components from Chevy’s own ’King Kong’ big-block engine, the L-88, including the crank, rods and valve train. Pistons are by TRW and have an 11.5:1 compression ratio.

The intake manifold is aluminium, carrying a single pumper Holley four-barrel rated at 780cfm of airflow.

For both looks and durability, the water and fuel lines were replaced by Aeroquip braided stainless steel and the stock water pump was replaced by an aluminium one. An electric fuel pump is used as a pusher to keep the fuel moving.

Because stock fan belts in a Corvette have a tendency to let fly, Richards consulted Corvette Works and they came up with a ilmer belt-dri e system similar to that used on road racing cars. ‘The cog-driven belt won’t slip or stretch,’ he says. A Flex-A-Lite fan is used – the blades change pitch depending on the speed the fan is revolving at, so the fan robs the engine of less horsepower at high speed. The ratios of all the pulleys were also slowed down, which is another way to add horsepower.

Richards’ goal was to build a big-block Corvette that was still streetable yet which could be used for occasional demo

runs. He achieved that with an engine putting 500-560bhp on pump gas at 6000rpm.

Now that he has the moulds, he says he can duplicate the body on any ’68-or-later Corvette. ’That way it won’t be as much work for me, because I won’t have to change the body mounting points,’ he explains.

The only over-the-counter ‘production part’ used is an Eckler hatchback kit, which uses gas struts to hold the hatch up when opened.

The acrylic lacquer is Caddy Se ille Academy rey on the bottom and Porsche silver on top, with hints of red and blue pearl. Richards used Centerline rims and tubeless tyres, Concord HSOs up front and Pos-A-Traction NSOs out back.

‘I need a taller tyre to stop the front spoiler from scraping the ground,’ he admits.

Suspension was beefed up with many Dick uldstrand parts. In fact, Richards had to remove a roll bar to make room for the new interior. He plans to have much of the rear suspension Heim-jointed to cut down on compliance and give more accurate geometry.

What Richards wants is a suspension that can take both the torque of the engine and the loads of the racetrack, but which is still soft enough to use on the street. ‘Maybe a race car wasn’t the best donor for a street machine,’ he says. ‘But I had to start with something!’

Wembley, 13 March: Liverpool beat Tottenham 3-1 after extra time to win the League Cup in front of a 100,000 crowd, with two goals from Ronnie Whelan and one from Ian Rush. Spurs had led 1-0 until the 87th minute; had they held out, they would have won the trophy without conceding a single goal.

LA, 29 March: Chariots of Fire wins the Oscar for Best Picture at the 54th Academy Awards. Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn are Best Actor and Best Actress for their roles in On Golden Pond.

Awards for Best Sound, Visual Effects, Editing and Art Direction are all won by Raiders of the Lost Ark, but director Steven Spielberg loses out to Reds’ Warren Beatty for Best Director.

HIT PARADE

UK Top 10, 7 March 1982 1 (1)

The Lion Sleeps Tonight Tight Fit 2 (2) Mickey Toni Basil 3 (4) Love Plus One Haircut 100 4 (6) It Ain’t What You Do Fun Boy Three / Bananarama 5 (5) Centrefold The J Geils Band 6 (8) See You Depeche Mode 7 (11) Run To The Hills Iron Maiden 8 (39) Seven Tears Goombay Dance Band 9 (16) Go Wild In The Country Bow Wow Wow 10 (15) Poison Arrow ABC

New entries this month: • Ain’t no Pleasing You (Chas and Dave) • Dear John (Status Quo) • Ghosts (Japan) • Memory (Barbara Streisand) • More Than This (Roxy Music) • Blue Eyes (Elton John) • Iron Fist (Motörhead)

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NB: We advise you to double check with organisers that the event or show as listed is still going ahead, to avoid any wasted journeys.

To submit an event, email alan.kidd@assignment-media.co.uk

APRIL 1 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 1-2 Straightliners Race Meet Santa Pod. www.straightliners.events 2 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk 5 Hot Rod Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 7 Wheelsday Rushmoor Arena, Aldershot. surreystreetrodders.co.uk 7-9 Festival of Power Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 15 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk Plus Four Four Show – Hartham Park, Wiltshire, 4 June Pic: James Webber

FEBRUARY 18 Spitfire Raceway Drag’n’Drift.

Parranporth Airfield, St Agnes, Cornwall. www.perranporthdrivingcentre.com 19 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk 21 VW Air-Cooled Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 25 All American Cruise In. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 25-26 Straightliners Open Weekend Elvington Airfield, Elvington, West Yorkshire. www. straightliners.events 26 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

MARCH 1 Hot Rod Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 5 NSRA Southern Swap Meet North Weald, Essex. www.nsra.org.uk

5 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 11 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

15-16 Straightliners Race Meet Melbourne Raceway, York. www. straightliners.events 15-16 Wagon UK Offset Show Royal Cornwall Showground, Wadebridge. www.wgnuk.com

18 Drag & Drift Dakota Raceway, Honiton, Devon. www.straightliners. events

17 Top Speed Monday Elvington Airfield, Elvington, West Yorkshire. www.straightliners.events

19 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

18 VW Air-Cooled Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

21 VW Air-Cooled Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

20-23 Race the Waves Bridlington. www.backfirepromotions.com

24-26 Classic Car and Restoration Show NEC, Birmingham. www. necrestorationshow.com

22 Drag & Drift Dakota Raceway, Honiton, Devon. www.straightliners. events

25 All American Cruise In. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

22 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

25 Run What Ya Brung Saturday Night Special Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

25 All American Cruise In. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

26 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

29 Barnstormer Weekend. Kay’s Barn, Dunnington, York. www.backfirepromotions.com

27 Top Speed Monday Elvington Airfield, Elvington, West Yorkshire. www.straightliners.events

29 Spitfire Raceway Drag’n’Drift.

Parranporth Airfield, St Agnes, Cornwall. www.perranporthdrivingcentre.com

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29–1 Springspeed Nationals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

MAY 1 BHP Show Kent Showground, Detling, Maidstone. bhpshows.com 3 Hot Rod Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 5-7 Nostalgia Nationals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 13 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 13-14 Spring Autojumble Beaulieu. www.beaulieu.co.uk 13-14 Springbreak Kustom Kulture. Stonham Barns, Suffolk. www.stonhambarns.co.uk 13-14 Straightliners Race Meet Melbourne Raceway, York. www. straightliners.events 15 Top Speed Monday Elvington Airfield, Elvington, West Yorkshire. www.straightliners.events 16 VW Air-Cooled Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 19-21 Doorslammers Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 20-21 Custom and Classic Show Earlswood, Solihull. www. motormayhemcc.co.uk 20-21 Duchy Capri Club Show Constantine Bay, Padstow, Cornwall. www.duchycapriclub.co.uk 21 Herts Auto Show Oaklands College, St Albans. www. hertsautoshow.co.uk 26-29 The Main Event Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 27 All American Cruise In. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 28 Lincoln Castle Classic Car Rally.

Lincoln Castle, Lincoln. castlerallylvvs@ gmail.com

JUNE 2-4 VanJam Fir Tree Farm, Warmington. www.vanditos.co.uk 3 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

3-4 Classic and Performance Car Spectacular. Tatton Park, Knutsford. www.tattonclassiccarshow.com

24-25 Top Speed Meeting Machrihanish Airport, Campbeltown, Argyll. www.straightliners.events

4 Plus Four Four Show Hartham Park, Wiltshire. www. plusfourfourautomotive.co.uk

25 Fast Show Reloaded Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

4 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk 7 Hot Rod Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 8-11 Hot Rods and Hills Park Foot Holiday Park, Pooley Bridge, Cumbria. parkfootullswater.co.uk

30-2 Summer Nationals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

JULY 1-2 Stars and Stripes Car Show Tatton Park, Knutsford, Cheshire www.tattonstarsandstripes.com 5 Hot Rod Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

9-11 Retrofestival Newark.

Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.retrofestival.co.uk

6-8 Västerås Summer Meet Västerås, Västmanland, Sweden. vasterassummermeet.se

10 Run What Ya Brung Saturday Night Special Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

7-9 Dragstalgia Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

11 Bespoke Show West Malling, Kent. bespokeshows@gmail.com 11 BHP Fuel Fest Westpoint Arena, Exeter, Devon. bhpshows.com 11 Bromley Pageant of Motoring Norman Park, Bromley. www. bromleypageant.com 16-18 Sportsman Nationals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 17-18 Pendine Sands Hot Rod Races Pendine, Carmarthenshire, South Wales. www.vhra.co.uk 17-18 Straightliners Race Meet Melbourne Raceway, York. www. straightliners.events 18 Custom and American Show Beaulieu. www.beaulieu.co.uk 18 Retro Show Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 19 Top Speed Monday Elvington Airfield, Elvington, West Yorkshire. www.straightliners.events 20 VW Air-Cooled Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 24 All American Cruise In. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 24 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

8 Drag & Drift Dakota Raceway, Honiton, Devon. www.straightliners. events 8 Spitfire Raceway Drag’n’Drift.

Parranporth Airfield, St Agnes, Cornwall. www.perranporthdrivingcentre.com 8-9 Historic Vehicle Gathering Powderham Castle, Exeter, Devon. historic-vehicle-gathering.info 8-9 Kernow Old Vehicle Rally Penhallow. KOVC Facebook 13-16 Goodwood Festival of Speed Goodwood Estate, West Sussex. www.goodwood.com 15 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 15-16 Straightliners Race Meet Melbourne Raceway, York. www. straightliners.events 16 Ford Show Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 17 Top Speed Monday Elvington Airfield, Elvington, West Yorkshire. www.straightliners.events 18 VW Air-Cooled Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 21-23 Bug Jam Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 21-23 Rock’n’Ribs Festival Wincanton Racecourse, Somerset. www.rocknribsfestival.co.uk

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SEPTEMBER 1-3 VW Action Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 2-3 International Autojumble Beaulieu. www.beaulieu.co.uk 2-3 Jurby Drag Racing Jurby, Isle of Man. www.straightliners.events 3 Brooklands American Day Brooklands Museum, Weybridge, Surrey. www.brooklandsmuseum.com 6 Hot Rod Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com NSRA Hot Rod Supernationals – Old Warden Biggleswade, 10-13 August Pic: Dave Biggadyke

22-23 National Hot Rod and Custom Show Lincolnshire Showground, Lincoln. www. hotrodandcustomshow.co.uk 22-23 Carrot Town Garage American Car Show. Stonham Barns, Suffolk. www.stonhambarns.co.uk 22-23 Straightliners Race Meet Llanbedr Airfield, Llanbedr, Gwynedd. www.straightliners.events 28-29 Weekend of Wheels Moorgreen, Nottingham. www.coffencars.club 28-30 Hotrod Hayride Bisley Shooting Ground, Woking. www. hotrodhayride.co.uk 29 All American Cruise In. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 29-30 Mopar Euro Nationals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 29-30 Ten Of The Best Elvington Airfield, Elvington, West Yorkshire. www.straightliners.events

AUGUST 2 Hot Rod Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 4-6 Ultimate Street Car Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

7 Top Speed Monday Elvington Airfield, Elvington, West Yorkshire. www.straightliners.events 10-13 NSRA Hot Rod Supernationals Old Warden Park, Biggleswade. www.nsra.org.uk 11-13 Retrofestival Newbury Showground. www.retrofestival.co.uk 12 Best of British Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 12 Drag & Drift Dakota Raceway, Honiton, Devon. www.straightliners. events 13 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk 13 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 15 VW Air-Cooled Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 18-20 Greenlight Nationals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 19-20 Passion for Power Classic Motor Show. Tatton Park, Knutsford. www.tattonpassionforpower.com 25-27 GOW! Speed Hill Climb Prescott Hill, Cheltenham, Cotswolds. www.vhra.co.uk

5-6 Festival of Wheels Trinity Park, Ipswich. www.motorshowevents.com

25-27 Knucklebusters Car Show.

Stonham Barns, Suffolk. www. stonhambarns.co.uk

5-6 Straightliners Race Meet Melbourne Raceway, York. www. straightliners.events

26 All American Cruise In. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

7-10 European Finals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 8-9 Hindenberg Dirt Track Races www.hindenberg-dirt-track.com 8-10 Goodwood Revival Goodwood Estate. www.goodwood.com 9-10 Straightliners Race Meet Melbourne Raceway, York. www. straightliners.events 10 VHRA Swap Meet Ramsey, Cabridgeshire. www.vhra.co.uk 11 Top Speed Monday Elvington Airfield, Elvington, West Yorkshire. www.straightliners.events 15-17 Hot Rod Drags Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 15-17 Isle of Man Festival of Motoring www.iomfm.com 01732 879153 16 Spitfire Raceway Drag’n’Drift.

Parranporth Airfield, St Agnes, Cornwall. www.perranporthdrivingcentre.com 17 American Car Show.

Stonham Barns, Suffolk. www. stonhambarns.co.uk 17 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk 19 VW Air-Cooled Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 22-24 National Finals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 22-24 Flat Caps and Ferrets Lepton Highlanders, Huddersfield.

Facebook: Huddersfield Hot Rod and Custom Car Show

60 CUSTOM CAR MARCH 2023

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23-24 ACU/UKITA Records Elvington Airfield, Elvington, West Yorkshire. www.straightliners.events 30 All American Cruise In. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 30 Drag & Drift Dakota Raceway, Honiton, Devon. www.straightliners. events

15 Straightliners Race Meet Santa Pod. www.straightliners.events 17 VW Air-Cooled Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 21 Run What Ya Brung Saturday Night Special Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

19 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk 21 VW Air-Cooled Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 25 All American Cruise In. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

30 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

22 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk

OCTOBER

22 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

25 Spitfire Raceway Drag’n’Drift.

Parranporth Airfield, St Agnes, Cornwall. www.perranporthdrivingcentre.com

4 Hot Rod Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

28 All American Cruise In. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

DECEMBER

7 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

28 Flame & Thunder Show Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

6 Hot Rod Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

7-8 Straightliners Race Meet Melbourne Raceway, York. www. straightliners.events

29 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

10 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk

9 Top Speed Monday Elvington Airfield, Elvington, West Yorkshire. www.straightliners.events 14 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

NOVEMBER 1 Hot Rod Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

25 NSRA AGM. Venue TBC. www.nsra.org.uk

19 VW Air-Cooled Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 30 All American Cruise In. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

MARCH 2023 CUSTOM CAR 61

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