Custom Car October 2024 by Assignment Media Ltd

OCT 2024

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A-stounding

Adam Sayers’ Model A Sedan has been a long time coming – but you can’t rush perfection

PLUS Valley

Gas’ tribute to the mighty Thunderbolt • ‘43 Stude rescued from the ﬂames

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Contents

i 26 ssu No v Se e o ’2 pt n 4 em sa be le r

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

8 22 Regulars 2

News & reviews Get your diary out – 2025 is here already!

32 Centre Spread

All that glitters sometimes is gold

44 Readers’ Rods A ‘43 Stude rises from the flames

58 Auto Focus The rise of Nostalgia Superstock

62 Events

What’s that we were saying about 2025?

64 Next Month Kevin Barnaby’s big-block Zephyr Zodiac

Features

Scared Yet? Jimmy Hibberd’s Thunderbolt tribute

18 Wales Tales Stirring action from Pendine

22 Wowz-A Adam Sayers’ glorious sedan breaks cover

34 Dragstalgia The rain couldn’t get in the way of history

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50 Best in Britain National Hot Rod Show crowns its winner

60 Duchy Courage A frenzy of Fords down Cornwall way

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News & reviews

Weeks of fun

fter being absent from the event calendar for the last 2 years, the NSRA has conﬁrmed the return of the Fun Run in 2025. With the change in its format, it is being billed as an unforgettable adventure as having teamed up with Away Resorts, the Fun Run will last for a whole week, or even more, should you want it to. The dates are 26 May – 1 June, and the location for next year is St Ives Bay in Cornwall. The agreement between the NSRA and Away Resorts is for 5 years, which will see the Fun Run relocate to the Isle of Wight in 2026. Subsequent years will then take in Mersea Island in Essex, Dumfries in Scotland, and Rhyl in North Wales. The Away Resorts in each of the 5 locations offer accommodation options including static caravans and chalets, or touring pitches for those bringing their own caravan or tent. The duration of your stay is entirely

down to you, and you can go along for the whole week or just a few days, or maybe just for the show day only. You could even make a 2-week break of it, as the NSRA negotiated discount rates will apply from 23 May through to 6 June. The cost obviously depends on the accommodation option you go for, but an event discount rate will apply across the board using discount code NSRA25. Bookings will be conﬁrmed following payment of a 10% discount, with the balance due no later than 8 weeks before your stay. Staying on-site offers the full Fun Run experience, but local hotels and B&Bs are available if that suits you better. The NSRA has planned a variety of activities throughout the week, with the help of the Proper Cornish Cruisers. There will be cruises, cider farm tours, and go-karting adventures, together with other hidden

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gems. Party nights on Friday and Saturday will offer the opportunity for everyone to let their hair down, and the week culminates with a grand show on Sunday. The NSRA has also announced a couple more event dates for 2025. The season-opening Southern Swap Meet at North Weald Airﬁeld is on Sunday 2 March, whilst the Hot Rod Supernationals dates are 7 – 10 August meaning it will not clash with the Hot Rod Hayride. www.nsra.org.uk / Facebook: NSRA UK

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2 CUSTOM CAR OCTOBER 2024

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Phil Skoyles

Jamie Webster writes… Phil Skoyles, who had been in the hot rod and custom car scene since the ‘70s and was a mid-Kent roadster guy back in the day, sadly passed away just prior to the Supernationals. Phil had a few well known cars over the years, two of them being a Standard and a yellow Ford Pop with V6 power. The Pop was featured in the October 1981 issue of Custom Car and the Standard followed on in January 1984. He also had a car featured in Street Rodder magazine in the States. Phil was a familiar face at shows all over the country, which he attended in the early ‘80s with his wife Penny and kids. His family still own his Standard and will continue to take it to shows around the country. If you knew Phil and would like to attend his funeral, it is on 5 September at 11.30am at Tunbridge Wells Crematorium. RIP Phil

Celebr ating 74 years

Deuce of a day

Another date for next year’s calendar is Deuce Day, which will be held on Sunday 20 July. Full details to follow. Facebook: Deuces of Britain RAISED WHITE LETTER TYRES 13”-15” MOST SIZES IN STOCK NARROW BAND, WHITEWALLS 13’-15”

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Pic: David Hodge

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News & reviews

Something for the weekend?

Power show Sunday 1 September is the date for the American Car Show at the Museum of Power in Langford, Essex. The show runs from 10:00 am through to 4:00 pm, and along with the exhibits it will offer a variety of refreshments, miniature train rides, and live music from The Blazin’ Aces with compere /DJ Mark Vincent. Exhibitor admission is free, with the public prices being adults £10, concessions £9, children aged 5-15 years £5, and under 5s free. www.museumofpower.org.uk

Show Valley The A602’s Autorama is on Sunday 8 September at Fairland Valley Showground in Stevenage. The day offers a show and shine, live music, and trade stands, with show vehicle admission costing just £5 per car. The public admission price is £3 per person, with free entrance for children. Please note that payments at the entry gate will be cash only, and the show runs from 10:00 am through to 4:00 pm. www.autoramashow.com

Nostalgia at the strip

Chill in the sun

The weekend of 13-15 September will see the Original NSRA Hot Rod Drags hit the hallowed strip at Santa Pod Raceway. The weekend promises a non-stop mix of nostalgia drag racing, run what ya brung, a Dirty Dozen show display, a nostalgia trade village, a ﬁreworks display, and more live music than you will have time to listen to. If you’re quick you can still bag admission at the early ticket price until 5:00 pm on Friday 30 August. www.santapod.co.uk

The Victory Wheelers 10th Hayling Sunset takes place at Funland, Hayling Island PO11 0AG on Sunday 6 October. All are welcome with the Wheelers offering a chilled-out day for all things custom, rod, rat, muscle, chopped and bobbed. Facebook: Victory Wheelers

Knocked for six

What a Mopars weekend was had by Roy Wilding and the Chariots Of Fire team. Roy has spent a very long time chasing the 200mph barrier and a 6-second quarter mile, and he bagged them both. He nailed it in fact, with a 6.9695 / 199.91 and then a 6.9547 / 199.00 on Saturday. Not one to sit on his laurels though, on Sunday Roy carded a PB 6.8861 / 203.48. Awesome. The question now is what has the team got their sights on next?

Pic: Kirstie Tramm eurodragster.com

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News & reviews Record breaker

Congratulations to Land Speed Record racer Geoff Stilwell and his crew for their performance during the Bonneville Speedweek. Geoff ran 4 PBs at over 260mph, culminating in him setting a new

B Fuel Rear-engined Modiﬁed Roadster (BFRMR) class record of 277.869mph, smashing the previous record of 258mph that he set in 2018. Top job guys.

Facebook: Geoff Stilwell

Switch blade

The 2-in-1 folding scraper and utility knife from Laser Tools features a dual-position blade which folds out and can then be rotated through 90° to use either as a knife or as a scraper. When used as a knife, the handle locks into three different positions, making it easy to use if access is diﬃcult. For added safety, the blade incorporates a locking device in both knife and scraper functions. Blades can be changed quickly and easily at the press of a button, with spare blades being stored in the handle. www.lasertools.co.uk

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News & reviews A bit of all white

Currently on special offer from Serck Motorsport, this 5-piece Autometer Gauge Kit includes a mechanical speedo plus clocks for fuel level, oil pressure, water temp and battery voltage. Finished in Old Tyme White, the gauges measure 3 1/8″ and 2 1/16″. The kit comes with senders for fuel level, oil pressure and water temperature as well as bulb and socket assemblies, red and green bulb covers, mounting hardware and detailed instructions for installation. The speedo accepts a 5/8″ x 18 thread cable and is calibrated to show 60mph at 1000 cable revs; it includes a traditional rolling drum odometer and a reset button for the trip. All the dials are lit by an incandescent ring around their edges. Serck is currently offering the Autometer kit at 30% off its original price, meaning you can get it for £366.42 including VAT. When it’s gone it’s gone, though, so best get straight on down to serckmotorsport.co.uk.

Go with the ﬂow

Also currently on offer from Serck Motorsport is this Adjustable Electric Fan Controller from Aeroﬂow. This lets you set your fan to come on and off at selected temperatures and comes with a backlit digital LED display as well as a wiring kit and two 1/8” NPT make threaded temperature sensors. The unit can also be used to monitor voltage and water or oil temperature in real time. The discount is even bigger on this item, with a 44% reduction bringing the price down to £116.30 including VAT. Once again, serckmotorsport.co.uk is the place to go.

More choke

Webcon offers a single choke to twin choke carburettor conversion kit featuring the water auto choke Weber 38DGAS. The kit is designed to replace the large (up to 42mm throttle plate) single choke carburettor, and is supplied with a genuine Weber 38DGAS carb, a single choke to twin choke adaptor kit, air ﬁlter, and a universal throttle wheel set. The price is £638.08 including VAT. www.webcon.co.uk

Many heads

The Multi-Head Ratchet Spanner Set from Laser Tools is designed to tackle jobs in conﬁned spaces with ease. The 12 interchangeable ratchet ring spanner heads range from 8mm to 19mm, each boasting a 72-tooth mechanism for fast engagement. The set is supplied on a versatile mounting tray, at an RRP of £88.39 including VAT. www.lasertools.co.uk

Blow job

This new Compact Swirl Blowgun from Laser Tools is ideal for cleaning for those with an eye to detail. It has a strong turbo vortex which is pulsed directly through the trumpet-shaped nozzle to blow dirt and dust out of every nook and cranny. Perfect for car interiors and upholstery. The aluminium-bodied air blowgun weighs just 171g and works off a standard workshop compressed air supply at a working pressure of 90psi (6.2 bar). www.lasertools.co.uk

Float tools

The Webcon carburettor tool range now includes ﬂoat height gauges to suit the Weber 40 and 46 IDA3C models and the Weber 48IDA. A close reproduction of the original Weber tools that went out of production over thirty years ago, the tools are precision made in the UK and are priced at £46.74 including VAT. Other Weber carb tools in the range include choke and auxiliary venturi extractors, box spanner ﬂoat height tools, jet drills and gauges, and synchrometer vacuum adaptors. www.webcon.co.uk

6 CUSTOM CAR OCTOBER 2024

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Fear starts with FE! Jimmy Hibberd’s homage to Ford’s legendary Thunderbolt has been a long time coming and, now it’s finished, the journey is just beginning… Words: Mike Pye, with thanks to Jimmy and Eloise for all their assistance Pics: Red Dot Media and Valley Gas Speed Shop

ckal,

very American car manufacturer has what these days are referred to as ‘halo’ models in their back catalogue. Those high-spec, killer cars that most of us can only dream of ever being able to own. If you’re a Dodge or Plymouth guy, they almost invariably begin with the word Hemi. But if you’re a Ford guy, and into the history of drag racing, the word Thunderbolt is sure to set your pulse racing. A one-year-

only Ford racing programme concept, the Thunderbolt was one part of a two-car ‘maximum performance’ package for the 1964 season. The full-size entry was a stripped down Galaxie 500 two-door hardtop for A/Stock competition. Equipped with Ford’s 427 8V High Riser engine and fourspeed transmission, it cost $3940 (autos were $4150). Slightly cheaper, at $3780 ($3980 with a temperamental Lincoln automatic), was the

427 FE-powered Ford Fairlane 500 Tudor sedan, aimed squarely at the Super Stock drag racing class. The cars were heavily modified by Dearborn Steel Tubing with a wide range of lightweighting features, and optimised for drag racing, including traction bars and a 4.57 gear set. The 13:1 compression FE motors were said to produce 425bhp at 6000rpm, though anecdotal evidence suggests that figure was probably closer to 600bhp.

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Below: Jimmy’s main inspiration was the John Healey-prepped Tasca Ford T-bolt, driven by Bill Lawton, which held the NHRA Super Stock record and proved almost unbeatable across America in 1964

In the 11s

“These cars are all-out vehicles, not for operation on streets and capable of running in the low 11-second bracket… Dealers should be cautioned that these ﬁne cars should only be sold to the knowing, capable enthusiast,” said the missive from Ford HQ at the time. Oh, and no warranty supplied or implied, okay? The ﬁrst 11 cars produced were painted Ford Vintage Burgundy and given to chosen

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while Len Richter snagged the ’64 AHRA Championship in a T-bolt too. Ford fans went wild. A further 89 Thunderbolts were built, all painted Wimbledon White, and of the total production run, 41 were manual. If you had the green, you could buy one of these weapons from your local Ford dealer and be an instant hero. Circuit wheels are 8 x 15-inch Bassett D-hole ‘lightweight’ steels with 235/60-15 Nankang NS-2Rs all round, though next time out the car will be on Hoosiers and probably lighter wheels. For drag racing, Jimmy has a set of 3.5 x 15 Rocket ﬁve spokes and slicks on steels

members of the Ford Drag Council. The new Thunderbolts made their debut at the ’64 Winternationals and, come the ﬁnal, had proved their worth. Gas Ronda lined up against Butch Leal, both in T-bolts, and Ronda lifted the trophy, having run 11.78 at 123.4mph. He improved that to an 11.49 at the Bakersﬁeld Smokers meet and went on to claim the NHRA National Top Stock Eliminator, Super Stock and World Championship crowns that year,

Ford guy in a Ford

Fast forward a couple of decades and Valley Gas Speed Shop’s Jimmy Hibberd went similarly wild when, as a young man, he ﬁrst learnt of the dominant T-bolts. A Ford man through and through, Jimmy decided there and then that one day, he would have one. So when the opportunity came up to buy a ’64 two-door post Fairlane in good condition here in the UK, he bagged it and put the car in storage. Next came the engine, as Jimmy recounts: “I had a Roush pick-up for a few years and, to keep the Roush stamps up, I’d take it to Roush UK to get serviced. When I ﬁrst walked in there, I noticed they had a side

oiler, crossbolt main, 427 FE engine on a stand and commented on it, telling them it’s my all-time favourite engine. I’ve even got a tattoo of one on my arm! “Anyway, turns out the engine was one of three engines built by Roush UK when Ford was developing the new GT. They were all dyno tested, and made about the same power – 460 or 470bhp and 550lbf.ft of torque – but Ford management wanted a more modern engine for the car, so the allaluminium 427 was just left here.” Long story short, Jimmy’s better half, Eloise, eventually managed to persuade the guys at Roush to sell the engine, and now Jimmy had two pieces of his Thunderbolt jigsaw. That was 14 years ago. “So in a way the car’s got some history, even though it’s a brand new car,” says Jimmy with his customary grin.

Secret’s out

I can remember Jimmy telling us on CC about his Thunderbolt project back in the Shakespeare County Raceway days. But good things like this take time to come to

“It takes a bit of getting used to but it’s so quick, the car just doesn’t stop accelerating”

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fruition, especially when you’re building customer cars for a living. Then late last year, Jimmy’s long-term project broke cover. “It was always going to be a dualpurpose car,” he explains. “Well, three, if you count going down the pub in it with Ellie. I wanted to be able to drive it on the street and do a little bit of drag racing with it, but really it’s built for circuit racing. “Not many people know that Ford built two experimental Thunderbolts to go around corners. There were to be ﬁve cars built to race in NASCAR, but the plug was pulled after just two were built, though not before one had set a new track record at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina.” One of those two cars was given to Tasca Ford in Rhode Island. The other went to Alan Mann Racing in England, though what became of it is unknown. That was all the inspiration Jimmy needed. His car would be in Tasca Ford livery, and a kind of ‘what if’ NASCAR

“Bernie’s V8s rules are brilliant. There’s all the usual safety stuff but you can run any kind of tyres, providing they have three lines of tread, and the third rule is no moaning!”

The Build

1. The car itself was bought some 20 years ago, when the right one came along for the right money. It had to be a ’64 two-door post

3. To add rigidity to the monocoque, Jimmy welded in substantial tubular subframe connectors, plus additional outriggers and a prop hoop

5. To give it a more period feel, Jimmy painted the aluminium FE block in Ford racing blue

7. Here’s a neat one – on Lee Holman’s advice, the aerodynamic rear bumper inﬁlls were made from sill kick plates, exactly the way Holman Moody did it in the ’60s

2. The ﬁrst 20 T-bolts built had ’glass doors but Jimmy chose to keep his steel, hole sawing them down to the same weight as their glass counterparts

4. The talented team at OCS Paint took care of the body prep and paint, using colour codes conﬁrmed by the grandson of the guy who painted the original Tasca Ford car

6. Jerico four-speed ’box has a magnesium top plate that squirts oil where it’s needed after it’s been pumped through a ﬁlter / cooling loop

8. When it came to the lettering, there was only one man for the job – Neil ‘the master’ Melliard

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“You’re not just ragging the engine for 10 seconds, you’re doing it for 30 minutes” Above: Ask Jimmy about racing with Bernie’s V8s (and Historic Outlaws) and he’ll tell you it’s the most fun he’s had in years with cars. It’s an all-action, V8-only race series with the emphasis on “fast, fun, fair and safe racing with like-minded people and some good old fashioned hospitality.” See berniesV8s.com for more information

racer version of a Thunderbolt, rather than just a clone of the drag cars. A sturdy Ford 9-inch back axle with 3.23 cogs was donated by Currie Enterprises as a thanks for all the axles Valley Gas has bought from them for customers. Likewise, another VG stalwart, Denny’s Driveshaft in New York, came through with a super lightweight ali prop, which hooks up to a Jerico Performance clutchless four-speed manual trans via a Quick Time bellhousing.

Smashing gears

Why manual? Jimmy: “Firstly, the Tasca car was manual. Secondly, this car won’t be doing much drag racing. It’s been built

to race on the circuits of Europe in the vintage American racing classes and, being clutchless, you just smash it through the gears when you’re upshifting. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s so quick, the car just doesn’t stop accelerating.” You might think that’s down to the 550lbf. ft of torque on offer. Except there’s a bit more available than that now. “I’ve known Jeff Bull for a long time and he knew about this project. When Covid came along, we were talking about engines one day and I mentioned this one. He told me to bring it down and he’d have a look at it.” When Jimmy got it back, it had new pistons, ported heads, a custom grind

Dash is largely stock, just with Stewart Warner gauges, and that’s a very rare genuine radio delete panel as used in the original Thunderbolts

Chet Herbert circuit race cam and more compression. To that, Jimmy added the Edelbrock Victor Junior manifold and custom made BLP Racing Products carb Jeff supplied. Safe to say it makes more power now than it did, and it didn’t exactly fall short in that department before. The crowning glories – at least as far as Thunderbolt fans are concerned – are the repro aluminium ﬁlter housing, cast for Jimmy by another Thunderbolt fan in the States, and the genuine Holman Moody valve covers. The latter were a gift from Lee Holman himself, who Jimmy has forged a lasting friendship with since spending time working in the Holman Moody race shop in

Likewise, you don’t need two seats to go racing, but then where would Ellie sit when the Hibberds take this car down the local for a drink?

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Left: Underneath the massive, Thunderboltstyle air intake and ﬁlter is an all-aluminium 427ci Ford FE side oiler with cross bolt mains. It was originally built by Roush UK and made around 470bhp with 550lbf.ft of torque, but has since been rebuilt into a more powerful combination by Jeff Bull Race Engines and now breathes through a custom BLP Racing Products four-barrel carb that ﬂows 1150cfm

Right: Though Bernie’s V8s isn’t an FIA-sanctioned race series (it runs under Jonathan Palmers’ MotorSport Vision colours), they still take safety seriously. So there’s nothing period about the fuel system, which starts at an ATL cell sunk into the boot

Charlotte, North Carolina a number of years ago while ‘on holiday.’

Circuit racer

Having tried his hand at both drag racing (an off-the-trailer 12.45 / 124 on road tyres and with an ill-timed shift the result) and circuit racing with Bernie’s V8s this year, Jimmy has learnt a lot. And freely admits he has a lot still to learn. “I can’t tell you how much harder the circuit racing is than I thought it would be. And if you think drag racing is hard on cars, you want to see what circuit racing does. You’re not just ragging the engine for 10 seconds, you’re doing it for 30 minutes. It’s hard to keep things cool and to keep the

fluids in the right place, and it kills the tyres, brakes, brake fluid, everything. On top of that, the gearing has to be right, and so do the tyres and compounds.” Consequently, the engine is now apart for an upgrade to full dry sump oiling, while the suspension needed a major re-work after the first outing. “The other racers were laughing, saying all they saw of my car was the door handles,” remembers Jimmy with a grin. “I was all over the place, going sideways more than I was going straight. And I hadn’t heat sunk my tyres; who knew you had to do that?!” He’d already considered the effects of the roundy roundy stuff when he designed and built the suspension, and equipped

Below: Back axle is a fully ﬂoating Currie 9-inch with LSD and 3.23 gears, located by a 4-link, Watt’s linkage and leaf springs on custom-made sliders. Though Wilwood disc brakes feature up front, it’s drums at the rear but with Holman Moody-inspired drilled backing plates, ali air scoops and alternator fans inside to draw in cooling air

“It’s my all-time favourite engine. I’ve even got a tattoo of one on my arm!”

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The cast metal Tasca Ford badge on the tail was donated to the project by Tasca Ford in Rhode Island. A perfect ﬁnishing touch

Jimmy has a special connection with renowned Ford racing specialist Lee Holman, whose insight and advice proved invaluable

The inner headlights were re-purposed as ram air intakes on Thunderbolts. Naturally, Jimmy has gone the same way

the transmission and back axle with dry sump evacuation pumps and ﬁlter / cooler systems. But, unsurprisingly, the engine needs similar.

how to adjust it for different circuits and conditions is where the real skill comes in, and that will come with experience. Likewise, gone are the stamped steel front wishbones, replaced with a home brewed Mustang II-style set up with tubular upper and lower arms, more anti-dive and a beefy anti-roll bar. Steering is by rack and pinion. If you’re wondering how the car sits this low, it’s because the centre section of the ﬂoorpan between the frame rails has been cut out and raised, as has the boot ﬂoor.

Because the leaf springs are just holding the car up, Jimmy could re-position them higher in the car, with mini tubs to allow the rear wheels to tuck up into the ’arches. “After that first race, I changed the brake fluid to Castrol race fluid, the brake pads to Hawk race pads, added more toe out and fitted a lighter rear anti-roll bar, as well as making a bunch of other adjustments to the suspension,” he recalls. At the next outing, Speed Fest at Brands Hatch, the car was a completely different

Learning process

The car already has fully adjustable AFCO Racing shocks on it, Jimmy’s own design of sliders in place of the rear leaf spring shackles, a 4-link, adjustable Watt’s linkage and anti-roll bar, so there’s plenty of adjustment available at the rear. Knowing

“It was always going to be a dual-purpose car. Well, three, if you count going down the pub in it with Ellie”

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animal, with better brakes and vastly improved handling. “The Ford vs Chevy race was unbelievable, with 42 V8 cars lined up, all on open headers. The noise was incredible. The power of the 427 has never been a problem, outpacing lots of the cars on track, but the handling still needs further tweaks. I’ve also junked the fast road tyres and am switching to full race Hoosiers. “The car needs to lose more weight too so, with the engine mods as well, I won’t be out again until next season now, but what an introduction this year has been. “If you haven’t been to see Bernie’s V8s in action, I really can’t recommend it enough, and I’ll deﬁnitely be doing more races with them next season. If funds allow, I’d also like to ship the car to the States for the FE Nationals events.” Jimmy might call the car the Scarelane, but talking with him about it it’s clear it’s the realisation of a dream, not a nightmare. And the way things are looking, it’s the dream that’s going to keep on giving. CC

Similar, but smaller

Can’t afford the real thing? Don’t worry, not many people can. But if you’re taken by the Thunderbolt story, how about creating your own 1/25 scale version? Produced by Revell in 1990 as part of its HOT ROD magazine branded line of kits, this is the one you’ll want to look out for if you want the decals to reproduce the Tasca Ford livery Jimmy went for with his car. The Thunderbolt kit has been re-issued several times, so they’re not hard to ﬁnd and the detail is superb, including three choices of wheel – factory steels, Keystones and some excellent Radir Tri-Ribs – street / race exhaust systems and manual and automatic transmission options. The beauty of a small-scale version is you can modify it however you like, you don’t need a garage or specialist tools to build it – and it’s a damn sight cheaper than the real thing! Ours was a decent

£27 from eBay and is destined to be an as delivered, body-in-white racer on steels. Or maybe an altered wheelbase version like Emmett Austin’s.

“A massive thank you to my wife, Eloise, for all her help and understanding, all the VGSS team for their help, Jeﬀ Bull Racing, Lee Holman, John Webster, Simon Parﬁtt, Rod Hands, Neil Melliard at Prosign, OCS Paint, Red Dot Media, Custom Car Magazine and all the original Ford Thunderbolt fraternity for providing invaluable information about the original cars”

The first run of 11 cars were fitted with glass fibre front bumpers and a moulded gravel shield, but when other competitors complained they were replaced with aluminium bumpers and stock front valances. Jimmy’s car has ’glass bumpers, teardrop bonnet, front wings and boot lid, all sourced from Crites Performance Parts in Ohio

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Out & About

Traeth Pentywyn

Words: Alice Fairhead and Olly Sack Pics: Alice Fairhead

Event: VHRA Pendine Sands Hot Rod Date: 22-23 June Venue: Pendine Sands

For well over a hundred years, Pendine Sands has been a venue for all kinds of racing. The Welsh TT had its home there from 1922 until the early 50s; the battle between Malcolm Campbell and JG ParryThomas for the world land speed record played out on the sands between 1924 and the latter’s death in 1927; in 1933, Amy Johnson used the seven-mile Carmarthenshire beach to take off in a bid to fly nonstop to New York; and since 2013, the Vintage Hot Rod Association has been taking over the small seaside village of Pendine once a year for an annual weekend of racing. This is a very focused event, open only to VHRA members and restricted to pre-1949 vehicles. A vast range of classes cover the age and type of the cars’ engines, their

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cylinder count and induction tyre, as well as the body type of the vehicle itself. Thus for example, V8BF/K would mean Vintage (V, meaning pre-’54), 8-pot, supercharger or turbocharged (B, for blown), Flathead (F) and full-bodied (K, for post-’34 factory cars). Other body classes are Roadster (which must be raced with the top down), Closed

(fixed-head from the factory), Modified (open-top specials) and Streamliner (fixedhead specials, including belly tanks). In theory, all the permutations add up to a potential 160 different classes! This year, a total of 32 were contested. A good number of these only had one entrant, however it’s still competitive under these circumstances as there’s a strong

The competition numbers on the cars vary in style almost as much as cars themselves. Dudley Palmer, whose ’40 sedan featured in the October 22 issue of Custom Car, has some definite art deco going on, whereas Roger Morris’ Model A favours a more modernist approach…

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Half past eight on a murky Sunday morning… time for the road past the village shop in Pendine to be turned into a car park like no other

Sunday’s weather saw some roadster drivers using umbrellas as makeshift roofs… while others sheltered beneath the event crew

At 22.93mph, Mick Mears didn’t threaten the L6/K record aboard his Pontiac Streamliner. Not the upper record, at least. Still, you’ve got to be in it to win it and as the only competitor in his class, that’s exactly what he did

focus on record-breaking. You’re not just trying to be fastest on the day – you’re trying to be the fastest in history. The Sands’ availability for racing is dictated by the tide, which by the very nature of a wide, flat beach comes in a long way. This year, Saturday morning saw the sun shining as the sea receded, and the action was ready to kick off at around 10am.

There’s a window of about five hours available, so the cars gathered on the beach as soon as the tide allowed. That’s five hours of absolutely non-stop racing, with a line of competitors queued up ready and waiting to run. As soon as the car in front is clear of the strip at the top end, the next one is flagged off. And they really are flagged, too. Timing beams are part of life nowadays and that’s

fine, but you hit the gas when the start line girl, kitted out in traditional style, waves you off. Following a half-mile run-up, you’re timed over a flying sixteenth, with average speeds here determining the winner. Each racer is allocated four runs over the weekend, but on Sunday we woke up to a heavy sea fog. It was the kind of day when it doesn’t even have to be raining – you’re going to get wet anyway. Roadsters drivers were tooling around under umbrellas as everyone headed to the Sands.

David Sollis won L8/C by a long way in his Model A with a speed of 127.72mph – over 12mph ahead of second-place Donald Cobell, though not quite enough to break his own record of 130.12, which he set last year. These times put Sollis and Cobell second and third respectively in the King of the Beach standings

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Chris Jarvis was fastest in V4F/C, though he was run close by Simon Richens – both in Model As

When we featured Nic Rossano’s ’31 Model A roadster in our July 24 issue, he said his aim was to get into the 100mph club. Still work to be done on that one, but 93.53 was enough to see off Julian Shoolheifer and take victory in V8/R

In V8BF/S, Jamie Williams won an uncontested victory with a speed of 81.58 in his P38 drop tank

Sadly, the misty conditions never cleared. Hot rod racers are a hardy bunch and they won’t let a bit of rain stop them, but safety is safety. And when you can’t see the finish line from the start line, it’s a non-starter. So Sunday’s racing had to be abandoned before it even began. Only a tiny number of competitors had already made four passes, with the majority having to be

content with two. But that was at least enough to provide the VHRA with a set of times, and a good number of records were broken – stand up Steve Read, Neil Fretwell, Jody Bennett, Mark Aldridge, John Hayward, Anders Toft, Nic Rossano and Brett Pillinger. Of these, it was Steve Read who went home with the overall King of the Beach award, having demolished the old record

Roy Holmes took a convincing victory in V8BF/K with a 104.56 run aboard his blown Flathead-powered ’47 coupe – complete with a ‘for sale’ sign in its windscreen

in L8/R. All three of his passes managed to beat the old record, but it was an outstanding second run of 138.22mph that raised the class bar by more than 10mph. Better still, he drove his needle-nosed ’34 Model T to and from the event – the weather may have tried its best to dampen people’s spirits, but that’s still a perfect example of someone keeping the spirit of Hot Rod Racing alive.

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Steve ’Stinger’ Read rebuilt his needle-nosed ’34 Model T over the winter, adding a hot 383 Chevy mill in a bid to up his Pendine game. The result? He won L8/R by a mile, in the process smashing the class record held by Jim Henshaw since 2017. A speed of 138.22mph was also enough to secure the King of the Beach title for the fastest run of the weekend – and the next morning, he climbed back aboard the ’34 and drove it home

No-one came close to Martin Clewlow’s 97.76mph record in V8F/K, but a very tightly fought race saw Nick Ball’s ’40 Ford sedan take the win with a speed of 79.24 – less than half a second ahead of runner-up Tara Harvey

A speed of 110.28mph gave Brett Pillinger the V8F/S win, and a new record, in his belly tank

“You’re not just trying to be fastest on the day – you’re trying to be the fastest in history”

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If you reach a point in life when it feels like the right time to fulﬁl your dream, the best option is to make that happen Words: Dave Biggadyke Pics: Alan Kidd

Custom Car would like to thank Shuttleworth House, Old Warden Park, Bedfordshire for the photoshoot location: www.shuttleworth.org

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The build has been comprehensively covered in previous issues, but it’s only right we let you have sight of the painted and detailed chassis before it was tucked away under the body

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“His plan was to use what he had and build the sedan on a budget”

ver the last few months, we’ve brought you a series of comprehensive build features on Adam Sayers’ Model A. The Tudor sedan was unveiled at the NSRA Hot Rod Supernationals at the beginning of August, and here we take a look at the finished item. We will bring you the story of how the car came about, and fill in the blanks surrounding the tech spec. Oh, and we’ll also let you into the secret of exactly what colour it’s painted. From memory, and it was indeed quite some time ago, Adam recalls buying the ’30 Model A in 2006. It came devoid of an engine and ‘box, and Adam wasted no time stripping down the rest of it and selling on the parts he had no use for. That all too familiar boys and their toys syndrome then took hold and Adam went out and bought a race car. It wasn’t just any old race car though, but the former Shack Attack

’57 Chevy that graced the cover of our November ’10 issue. The Dart Big M block-powered quarter miler took up all of Adam’s spare time, not to mention spare cash, meaning the Model A was conﬁned to the back burner. Undercover storage was an issue, however, with Adam unwisely opting to stash the body outside under a tarpaulin. The sedan lay out of sight and out of mind for a good few years, with the internal wood structure sweating away and destroying the roof. A reality check following a medical diagnosis in 2022 saw Adam realise that time was marching on and he needed to get the A built. There was nothing for it: it was time to move on his Harley and the race car, along with the motorhome, trailer and tow truck. The ’57 Chevy wagon he had in longterm storage also found a new home. The Model A chassis had already been boxed and kicked up at the rear by the late Steve

Lang and Dave Haskell and, already having a spare small block Chevy engine, Adam had got his hands on a blower in 2018. His plan was simple – use what he had and build the sedan on a budget, with no paint on the outside and a couple of bomber seats and a home-made interior on the inside. Things then got silly. Fellow rodder Russ Pepper had removed the 331 Hemi from his ’32 roadster and it was too tempting for Adam to pass by. Deep down, he had always imagined living in California in the mid‘60s and the guy next door had an almost cartoon-looking show car in his garage. It dawned on Adam that he could now become that guy. All he needed was someone to build the car for him…

Stretching it

With his sensible head back on, Adam asked around among his mates for

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The sedan rolls on polished Radir Tri Ribs, with Adam buying back the 4½ x 15 front rims from the guy who bought his race car. He already had the 6 x 15 rears as they had been ﬁtted to his Chevy wagon project. Despite them having the look of crossplies, the tyres are actually wide white radials

recommendations. That led to him speaking to three different hot rod builders, but only Adrian Smith at Buckland Automotive Engineering could grasp his vision. Besides that, they make a mean cuppa there. Adam dropped off the chassis in early 2022 and, as he had no intention of fitting a bonnet, the decision was taken to lengthen the chassis by 2-inches to help with shoehorning the Hemi in without cutting the firewall about. This was a task someone referred to as ‘stuffing 10lb of poo into a 5lb bag.’ The team at Buckland assembled the rolling chassis using components supplied by Adam, with attention then turning to the body. Sandblasting resulted in plenty of ferrous scrap being discarded thanks to the tarpaulin faux pas. As the roof was pretty much non-existent, a 4-inch chop was suggested, with new outer edge panels and an insert roof skin being fabricated and

The sedan’s front profile is dominated by the fully detailed blown Chrysler Hemi which now displaces 346ci. Internally, the engine is fitted with forged JE pistons with Total Seal rings, billet K1 rods and a Herbert roller cam and lifters. Topping off the block is a pair of ported 1956 354ci heads with a Hot Heads Hemi high-rise blower intake manifold nestling between them. A fully polished, large port 6-71 blower mates to the manifold via a 2-inch spacer, with a brace of 600cfm Edelbrock carbs, also mounted on spacers, and a Hilborn scoop completing the induction system. Adam already had a pair of Marine valve covers that he had picked up for a bargain £60 at an Essex swap meet 20 years previously, but more recently sourced a pair of Industrial covers and can now switch between the two at will. The covers mount via 1-inch spacers, machined up by Nick Smithburg, which adds to the carton look… as if the engine needs any more help on that front. On a practical basis, the spacers allow for the fitting of an ali valve train should Adam go down that route in the future. Engine ancillaries include an Aeromotive fuel pump with braided line and black fittings, a Hot Heads big block Chevy water pump conversion, an electronic dizzy and an MSD 6BTM ignition. Just visible are the stainless steel headers that feed the full stainless exhaust system

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The expression on Adam’s face during our photoshoot says it all. But is it euphoria or ultimate relief?

“Stuffing 10lb of poo into a 5lb bag” welded into place. It sounds easy if you say it quickly but the amount of work required was immense. The end result, though, was just stunning. More mundane bodywork included repairs to the doors, fabricating and fitting a new floor, reversing the firewall for additional clearance, extending the front wings by 2-inches and generally repairing 90-plus years of wear and tear. The window apertures and doors were cut down and a tow bar and licence plate holder were fitted. Adam expresses his thanks to Trevor Springall for his involvement with the metalwork while with Buckland. The Hemi needed a transmission and it just so happened that Adam had a ‘new’ TCI Streetfighter TH700R4 tucked away in his garage. When we say new, it hadn’t yet turned a gear as it had been removed from his ’57 Chevy wagon project more than 20 years previously. Adam got Zane at Zannetec to check the ‘box over and fit a polished sump and fully manual valve body, which does away with the pesky TV cable. The Hemi was already fitted with a Wilcap conversion plate when Adam bought it, meaning the transmission

The chromed Model A dash plays home to a couple of Stewart Warner gauges, while a period half-sweep rev counter mounts off the polished steering column. The chromed dash and window garnish mouldings add to the interior’s wow factor

…though you may be there for some time as they’re everywhere, including the headlining

Pic: Buckland Automotive

While Chris Vining knows the amount of vinyl he used, he didn’t get around to counting how many diamonds he stitched into it. Maybe you could tot them up when you come across the car…

The front buckets are reworked Morris Minor, while the rear bench is original albeit heavily modiﬁed. The slightly off-white vinyl has the look of a leather grain, the colour being the perfect complement to the ivory paint. It’s no surprise to hear that 14 metres of the vinyl have gone into the interior

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bolted straight on together with a Mini starter motor. With the engine and ‘box installed, the dry build of the car was pretty much completed so it was pulled apart and transported up to Roberts Motor Bodies in Sheﬃeld for prep and paint.

Smeg head

Adam and spray gun maestro Bryan Whitfield didn’t initially see eye-to-eye on every aspect of the paint. So Bryan pointed his gun at the door of an old Smeg fridge. Point proven, Chris Lister took over and completed the job on the car itself. The chassis and running gear were painted first, with Adam then collecting the 100 or so painted parts for reassembly while the body was being painted. That, however, could only happen after countless hours of filling and sanding interspersed with numerous layers of guide coats to ensure the metalwork was arrow straight. The inside of the body was coated with sealant before everything was finished off in Bryan’s special mix top coat, with the underneath and firewall being coated in a complementary colour. Each hue used was carefully selected as Adam was insistent they were all as near as possible to colours available in the mid-‘60s.

“Bryan reckons from bare metal there are over 60 layers where it’s flaked and almost as many on the straight gold,” he told us. With the wow paint job complete, the body was collected and married to the chassis with the sedan looking like a car again. Supercharged Outlaw racer Paul Watts supplied the glass, which he cut to size from templates supplied. Adam covered the interior with Dynamat Xtreme and then had the rolling car delivered to Chris Vining at Custom Coach Trimming in Evesham. With the car painted in its sixties vibe, the interior had to have an equal wow factor and reflect the show car persona of that period. Adam and Chris bounced ideas off each other until a basic remit of the trimming was decided upon. With regular WhatsApp updates, Chris worked to a very tight deadline, virtually starting before the milkman and staying as late as the potential for divorce would allow. It wasn’t all plain sailing as, part of the way through, Adam visited for a fitting and it was instantly obvious the seating position was too high for him – an issue rectified by Chis lopping off an inch of the framework. We often say the devil is in the detail, and the more you look at the interior the more

Metalﬂaked panels adorn the gold on the wings and roof. These are enclosed within metallic brown borders which in turn are edged by a Chevy Indian Ivory pinstripe

Pic: Buckland Automotive

Rear lights are repro ‘50 Pontiac, and the number plate conceals the mounting tube for a detachable towbar that will prove useful for those weekends away

“It was an industrial engine built to power anything from an air raid siren to a snow blower”

Initially, Adam wasn’t overly receptive to Bryan’s idea of the ‘ﬂaked roof design – until the trial on a Smeg door convinced him otherwise. The colours come together perfectly in the play on a Yin and Yang design and the way it extends down the roof sides a little prevents it looking like an insert

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Time for the big reveal. The exterior wow factor comes from a special-mix gold paint known as High Spirits 2. It’s pretty much the same colour as Bryan Whitﬁeld used for the detailing on his Altered, but allegedly nobody could remember exactly what that mix was. Or maybe Bryan wants to keep that to himself… The ﬁrewall and underbody are painted Chevy Indian Ivory

you pick up on. When did you last encounter a brown carpet outside of an Austin Allegro? In this instance, it works perfectly as it matches the striping. A black carpet simply wouldn’t have cut it. To say Adam was blown away with the ﬁnished interior would be an understatement.

Industrial revolution

While the interior was being worked on, Adam’s plan was for him to build the engine. But that timetable went as smoothly as one from British Rail. Many parts were unavailable and those that were cost an arm and a leg, and even the odd kidney. “I

reckon I could have built three small-block Chevys for what this Hemi has cost,” Adam joked. Or was it a joke? “Bearings are manufactured in Israel but haven’t been produced for over a year. The only way around that was to cut a perfectly good crank to -.030 for the mains, as that was all that was available, and use Pontiac bearings on the .010 rods. “Not trusting the Chineseium metal on today’s ﬂat tappet cams, I ﬁtted as many branded parts as I could. Let’s just call that an insurance policy.” Russ Pepper of R&R Hot Rod Imports brought in the twin carbs, just as he did with

many running gear and brake components. The Hemi block is stamped IND24, denoting it was built as an industrial engine with the ability to power anything from an air raid siren to a snow blower. In the late ‘50s and ‘60s, Hemis used in this manner were commonplace – a far cry from the use this particular engine is being put to now. Adam had his mind set on debuting the sedan at the Supernats. But the clock was ticking, and fast. Adrian and Charlie pulled out all the stops and somehow crammed a month’s work into 10 frantic days. If it could go wrong, it did – but only with delivery, not the people supplying the bits.

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The Super Bell I beam is the last to be drilled by the late Steve Lang and, together with the leaf spring, was chromed by Vehicle and General Polishers and Platers in Arlesey, Beds. The axle is located by So-Cal Speed Shop stainless hairpins, with the rest of the installation components coming from the same source. Note the Panhard rod mounted behind the axle, and that all the hardware is either stainless or chrome plated

The rear axle is a narrowed Ford 8-inch with the pumpkin centralised by Langy. The axle is stuffed with a 3.55 ratio Detroit Locker and Moser shafts supplied by Hauser Racing. The axle was built by Paul Lechford at Southern Axle Services in Watford and features new brakes from the Roadster Supply Company in California. Axle location is by hairpin and a Panhard rod… chrome plated, of course

Adam bagged the repro steel ’32 Ford grille shell and stainless steel insert on eBay for just £160. The headlights are copies of the originals from Speedway

Serck provided a fan, moved two water outlets and pressure-tested the new but untried 23-year-old Becool radiator as it hadn’t held water for almost a quarter of a century. Bryan Whitfield popped down from Sheffield to flat and polish the paint over a weekend so as not to take up precious time from the Buckland working week. Thanks for the loan, Diane… The efforts of all involved got the car 99.9% finished on the Thursday of the Supernats, and Adrian delivered it to Old Warden the following day. “I was blown away again by the response and comments the car received

over the weekend,” says Adam, “with a crowd constantly around it telling me all the planning, hard work and late nights were worth it.” The wow factor was acknowledged at prizegiving when the sedan took the Liberty and Lows pick trophy, along with a coveted place on the list of Top Ten winners. After such a monumental journey to get the Model A across the finishing line, it seems only appropriate that we should leave the parting words to Adam. He has owned the car for almost 20 years, after all. “This project was very much a joint operation involving what is possibly the best

team that could be assembled; Buckland Automotive Engineering, Roberts Motor Bodies and Custom Coach Trimming. Let’s not forget the B-team, though; Serck Motorsport UK, US Automotive, Hauser Racing, Southern Axle Services, R&R Hot Rod Imports, Brentacre Insurance Services, Dave Homans and Stuart Flitton, together with everyone who pushed and willed the build along. “And my special thanks go to my wife, Mandy, who has had this project in every aspect of her life for two long years. She has been the rock that projects like this are built on.” CC

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■ Words: Olly Sack ■ Pics: Julian Hunt

Water we waiting for? A monster of a thunderstorm threw down the gauntlet to Santa Pod’s clean-up crew on the first full morning of Dragstalgia. They took up the challenge and won – and the reward was a spectacular weekend of heritage racing action The big drag racing weekends at Santa Pod haven’t had much luck with the weather so far this season. With the ridiculously wet spring now hopefully in the past, however, and some semblance of summer beginning to emerge, hopes were high that Dragstalgia would be spared. A bumper crop of vintage racers were lined up to compete, some legendary dragsters from the very first days of the sport were on their way from America for the crowds to see, and everything was set for a weeklend to remember.

So what happened? Friday evening, it rained. Not enough to completely wreck the first rounds of qualifying, but enough to render them pretty meaningless in the greater scheme of things. Everyone in Gasser Circus got a round in, but on reflection the organisers decided to scrap Q1 and start again in the morning. So what happened? (Yes, that question again, and a similar answer.) Just around the time when the sun was starting to poke its head above the horizon, Santa Pod was hit by a monster of a thunderstorm – complete with torrential rain. It finally abated late in the morning, after which the

clean-up crew swung into action to brush away the surface water and dry off the track – and at long last, at around 3.30 in the afternoon the action could start. As always, it was worth waiting for, with plenty of lurid burnouts, epic wheelies and no end of fast, furious action. We saw close-run duals, wild rides, PBs aplenty and, surely the highlight for many, a confirmed European record being set before our eyes. Add in the static displays of historical dragsters and much more besides, as well as the ever-animated action in and around the pits, and Dragstalgia wasn’t about to let a storm steal its thunder!

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Gasser Circus

Gasser Circus produced some unexpected twists and turns – not least when an alternate came through to win it overall. Harvey Turner had topped the field in qualifying but when he couldn’t make the first round of eliminations, up stepped Pat Hobbs in his Falcon – and he made the most of the opportunity, seeing off Keith Bartlett, Nick Hewison and Sean Milsom before a red light for Ray Turner handed him victory in the final. There was another kind of surprise for Adam Kruczynski, who had knocked down his Not So Mellow Yellow ’55 Chevy for the trailer ride home after finishing well out of the action at the end of qualifying – only to be informed that he had in fact placed 8th. Cue a mad panic to get the car built back up into race trim, with an army of fellow CG racers and their crews gathered round to help. That’s the spirit of drag racing at its best – a camaraderie that was also demonstrated by Tony Pearson, who threw open the doors of his workshop so Simon Prest could stop off on the way to the Pod for some much-needed welding. Both ultimately made it through to the eliminations, with Tony getting the prestigious Wheelie of the Weekend award along the way after pointing Guzzler, his ’56 Chevy, at the sky in Q1. Not that Sean Milson can have been far off in the reckoning for that gong, with a spectacular double-wheelie of his own in Ain’t Misbehavin’.

Dragstalgia Cannonball

Tim Garlick and Apache took victory in Dragstalgia Cannonball when Tony Betts, whose crew had worked tirelessly to overcome an earlier fluid leak and help him get Venom to the final, was ultimately forced out of the running by a failed rear main oil seal. Thus the crowd was denied what would surely have been a close-run climax to a weekend’s racing that saw PBs for Bob Hawkins (6.6228 / 212.07) and Garlick himself (5.9458 / 236.53).

Betts wasn’t the only one having engine issues, as Hawkins’ time came at the cost of a lunched piston which went around three-quarter track and took his supercharger with it. There’ll certainly be more to come from Time Traveller II once its engine is rebuilt – Hawkins reported that it was smoking its tyres at launch throughout the event, so tuning that out as a priority is bound to result in better times ahead.

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Wild Bunch

An impressive field of 32 teams showed up to represent the Wild Bunch Nostalgia Drag Racing Club, including a quartet of debutants – Terry Robbins and Mark Houghton in the Soultown Shaker slingshot, Tim Evans in the Buford T Justice altered, Colin Childs in the Boxo Bomb Topolino altered and Ian Armitage and Damian Halliwell in Grumpy Monkey, another slingshot. The weather meant runs were limited, with a scheduled four sessions on Saturday ending up with just the one happening. That didn’t dampen the racers’ spirits, though, and it was the Wild Bunch

Outlaw Anglia

Dalton Scarlett set the early pace in his 540ci Fordson with a PB of 7.1008 / 192.18 in Q1 – then went even faster while despatching Rob Stone in eliminations. But Outlaw Anglia is all about who can stop Colin Millar, and the Flying Fyfer was laying down markers too with a 6.9513 / 197.16 PB that swept him into the semis.

who provided all but one of the cars for that evening’s cracklefest. Sunday saw three scheduled runs pared down to two – an improvement on the previous day if nothing else, and enough for Graham Rawlings to mark his return after a couple of years away with a 9.605 / 136.98 PB that had him leading the pack when time, and the prospect of a marathon journey home (not to mention yet more rain forecast), put him on the trailer. There were PBs for several other Wild Bunch competitors, too, including Terry Clifford, Ford Skipp, Bob Main and Rich Butcher. In addition, Paul Tarry posted a time PBs and Alan Skipp hit a new fastest

speed. Best of all, perhaps, was a sideby-side PB run by Andy Roy and Dave Shoemark, with both getting into the 9s for the first time. Tim Evans was in the 9s too, and upstairs of 140, on his first run aboard their rebuilt altered, and by close of play he had gone on to a PB of 8.491 / 150.12. In the end, though, it was Dan Wilson in Antique Toy who took the win with an average of 0.087 difference to his dial-in – aided by an unbeaten 0.0002 in the second round. That makes it three Dragstalgia successes in a row – with James Auld also repeating his 2023 finish as runner-up in Little Fauss.

Sadly, Scarlett’s luck ran out here and he didn’t manage to make it to the start line, leaving Millar and Barnaby Levy to ease through into the final. It was the Scot who triumphed here, as so often seems to be the case, a 8.3368 / 143.90 run keeping Levy’s 9.7107 / 114.92 at arm’s length.

36 CUSTOM CAR OCTOBER 2024

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N729

NA-1

Classic American Sizes Designed for UK Roads 165/70R13 165/80R15 175/70R13 175/70R13 175/70R14 185/65R14 185/70R13 185/70R14 185/75R14 195/65R14 195/70R14 195/80R14 205/50R15 205/60R15 205/65R16 205/70R14 205/75R14 215/50R13 215/60R15 215/60R17 215/65R16 215/70R15 225/50R15 225/60R14 225/70R15 225/70R15 225/75R15 235/50R13 235/60R13 235/60R14 235/60R15 235/75R15 245/50R14 245/60R14 245/60R15 255/60R15 265/50R14 275/60R15 295/50R15

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sales@nankangtyre.co.uk 16/10/2023 12:48

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Ford 302- pre 75, can be used for Kit car build ** ............. £917.83 ....... £826.05 Ford 351W- 1 piece rear seal version ............................... £747.78 ....... £673.00 LM7 GM 5.3ltr 1999 on,CUTOUT UNITS: These units have either a cable or electronic throttle, & come with a 4L60E 2wd auto transmission. The LM7 is from the LS family. In pickup trucks they are around 270-295bhp. The block is cast iron & so is much stronger that the OE Aluminium block. It can be rebored & has 6 bolt mains. We keep many parts for them, including Edelbrock or Holley kits to run the std injection & ignition. ..................................................................................................................................................... RETAIL: ........................ GOLD CARD:

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Custom Car_2024_08_Aug_Real Steel_FP.indd 1

18/06/2024 14:36

Nostalgia Superstock

Don Scott kicked things off in Q1 by winning the Bad Habit Racing Perfect Light Award with a 0.0007 RT. With a field of 56 racers competing, however, it would take more than that and by the end of the first session there were 27 cars ahead of him, Pete Christmas leading the way and getting the a bye in E1 after a disqualification for Bob Gallagher. Ultimately, Scott made it all the way to the semis in his unmistakable Superbird, only to fall to Jim Smith. Dan Williams was another Pod regular falling at the penultimate hurdle as Chris Tyhurst took the win – only to lose out as Smith won it with a 10.4092 / 126.88 run.

Supercharged Outlaws

Aaron Windridge won Burnout of the Weekend after smoking his T-bucket past half track and just about reaching the stripe. Supercharged Outlaws also saw the first outing for Mat Cooper’s Foolish Behaviour Topolino – but it was another T-bucket, this time Andy Hadfield’s Twister, that triumphed in the final, a 7.9420 / 170.52 pass getting the better of Nigel Rigden’s 8.7889 / 157.93 in his Topolino.

Daniel Bates triumphed in the Willys Wars ﬁnal, a 10.0949 / 130.26 run on a 10.09 dial being enough to defeat Shawn Hinden’s 11.1147 / 131.66 on 10.96

BDRHoF raises £4000

The British Drag Racing Hall of Fame’s fundraising sales raised £4000 for its Benevolent Fund during Dragstalgia. This was aided by contributions from the Dos Palmas, Mooneyes and Bradford’s teams, plus a collection of items loaned by Keith Bartlett, Bev Bradbury and Rob and Pete Brown. As always, the BDRHoF welcomes donations of drag racing and hot rod related items for its future auctions.

This year’s Gala Awards Dinner will once again be at Oatlands Park Hotel in Weybridge, Surrey. The annual event, scheduled for 23 November, will feature the induction of five new Hall of Fame members which were announced at Dragstalgia – these are Ray Baskerville and Pete Miller; the Huxley Family; Martin Hill; John Spuffard; and Straightliners.

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Havoc sets new European record As we reported in last month’s News pages, Nick Davies ran a new European and MSUK record in his altered, Havoc – then backed it up on his next run to seal the deal and make it official. His new best time now stands at 6.0440 / 237.43 – beating a previous record of 6.081 / 215.87 which was set by Nick himself back in 2015. Not surprisingly, Nick and his team also went home with the Moment of Dragstalgia award

Dragstalgia is a race meet, for sure, but the sport’s heritage is celebrated more than just on the strip. The BDRHoF was busy all weekend in its marquee, not just fundraising but helping visitors understand the history behind what drag racing has become today with an array of classic dragsters from half a century and more in the past

The Mooneyes Dragster and Dos Palmas Machine Special played a huge role in bringing drag racing to the UK, and they were shipped back over from the US to help Santa Pod celebrate the 60th anniversary of that momentous event. Both had their moments on the strip as well as being on static display, as did the Bradford’s Topolino – though Moon’s Shige Suganuma had a little more of a moment than he was banking on when he launched straight out of a burnout and into a wild ride which, thankfully, ended with no harm done.

40 CUSTOM CAR OCTOBER 2024

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ENGINEERS HEAVY

DUTY STEEL • Sturdy lower shelf • Durable powder WORKBENCHES coated ﬁnish FROM ONLY £ DOUBLE.98 exc.VAT DOUBLE £347.98 FOOTER inc.VAT

BEST

Shown ﬁtted with optional 3 drawer unit ONLY £155.98 INC VAT * WAS £394.80 inc.VAT Dims. Model LxWxH (mm) CWB1500D 1500x650x985 CWB2001P 2000x650x978 CWB2000D* 2000x650x978

329

£ FROM ONLY .00 DOUBLEexc.VAT DOUBLE £394.80 FOOTER inc.VAT

SELLER

SUPERSTORES NATIONWIDE

289

5 DRAWER WORKBENCH

EXTRA LONG 1700mm WORK TOP

INCLUDES SINGLE LOCKABLE DRAWER exc.VAT £289.98 £299.00 £319.00

Britain’s Tools & Machinery Specialist

inc.VAT £347.98 £358.80 £382.80

CWB1700P

MODULAR GARAGE STORAGE SYSTEMS SAVE UP TO

PRICE CUT NOW FROM ONLY £ .00

£394

1149exc.VAT

£1378.80 inc.VAT DOUBLE

WAS £1437.60 inc.VAT

COMBGSM01

10 PACKAGES IN THE RANGE

A choice of stainless steel or wooden worktops

Customer Pictures

compared to individual prices

✔ CREATE THE PERFECT FITTED GARAGE/WORKSHOP ✔ HEAVY DUTY, PROFESSIONAL PACKAGES ✔ ALL UNITS ALSO AVAILABLE SINGLY FOR CUSTOM BUILD

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154

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THE ULTIMATE IN TOOL STORAGE!

FULL DETAILS SEE IN STORE OR VISIT WEBSITE

279

NB Overall length includes handles

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PRO396 222 PIECE TOOL SET WITH 7 DRAWER TOOL CABINET

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629exc.VAT

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CHT859 300 PIECE AF/METRIC HOME GARAGE REPAIR KIT

£12 inc.VAT

LxWxH (mm) 716x316x256 710x315x420 710x315x420 710x315x475 758x468x815 758x468x975

104exc.VAT

£125.94 inc.VAT DOUBLE

exc.VAT inc.VAT £86.99 £104.39 £149.98 £179.98 £154.99 £185.99 £169.98 £203.98 £249.00 £298.80 £279.00 £334.80

£FROM ONLY .99 DOUBLE exc.VAT DOUBLE FOOTER £68.39 inc.VAT

PRO378 PROFESSIONAL 1/2" DRIVE SOCKET SET

WAS NOW Model Desc. LxWxH (mm) exc.VAT inc.VAT inc.VAT 1 CLB900C* 9 Dr Chest 685x305x474 £159.95 £203.98 £191.94 2 CLB1007C 7 Dr Cabinet 740x465x955 £259.00 £310.80

259

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84exc.VAT

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.98 139 3 £DOUBLE DOUBLEexc.VAT PROFESSIONAL £167.98 FOOTER inc.VAT

• Superb quality & value for DIY & professional

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PRO394 PROFESSIONAL 91 PIECE TOOL KIT WITH CANTILEVER TOOLBOX

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249exc.VAT

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Model Desc. LxWxH (mm) exc.VAT MECHANICS RANGE 1 CTC600C* 6 Dr Chest 620x257x335 £84.99 CTC900C 9 Dr Chest 620x257x380 £89.98 CTC500C 5 Dr Cabinet 680x330x765 £149.98 CTC800C 8 Dr Chest/Cab Set 616x295x1027 £149.98 2 CTC700C 7 Dr Cabinet 680x330x875 £179.98 PROFESSIONAL RANGE CTC103C 3 Dr Step Up Chest 691x310x256 £74.99 3 CTC109 9 Dr Chest 685x305x419 £139.98 4 CTC107C# 7 Dr Cabinet 739x461x953 £249.00 NB Overall length includes handles

BOLTLESS SHELVING/ BENCHES Simple fast assembly in minutes using only a hammer

RED, BLUE, SILVER, GREY & GALVANISED STEEL

189

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30KG

MAX DRAWER LOAD

SEE WEBSITE FOR PACKAGE DEALS WITH TOOLS

32 PIECE SET

2 £ FROM ONLY .00 DOUBLEexc.VAT DOUBLE £334.80 FOOTER inc.VAT

Model Desc. CBB203C 3 Dr Step Up CBB205C 5 Dr Chest 1 CBB209C 9 Dr Chest CBB210C 10 Dr Chest CBB215C* 5 Dr Cabinet 2 CBB217C 7 Dr Cabinet

159exc.VAT

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Combines premium quality with ﬁercely competitive pricing & super smooth ball bearing roller drawers

• Extra heavy gauge double wall steel construction

Rubber grip side handles

PRICE CUT £ DOUBLE.95

279

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MM1 Custom Car 275x200 pg1.indd Mart_3PS.indd 1 Custom Car_2024_10_Oct_Machine 1

PRICE CUT NOW FROM ONLY £ .98

39exc.VAT

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WAS £51.59 inc.VAT

NOW inc. VAT £101.99 £107.98 £179.98 £179.98 £215.98 £89.99 £167.98 £298.80

179

£ FROM ONLY .98 DOUBLEexc.VAT DOUBLE £215.98 FOOTER inc.VAT

WORKBENCHES WITH PEGBOARD

Easy to assemble, providing valuable working space and plenty of additional storage capacity.

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CWB-R1B

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14/08/2024 14:44 13:41 14/08/2024

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Superb range ideal for DIY, hobby & semi-professional use

CDP102B

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Britain’s Tools & Machinery Specialist 8/260 Motor Tank WAS NOW Model HP CFM ltr exc.VAT inc. VAT inc.VAT 8/260 2 7.5 24 £109.98 £143.98 £131.98 11/260 2.5 9.5 24 £119.98 £155.98 £143.98 8/550 2 7.5 50 £149.98 £191.98 £179.98 11/550 2.5 9.5 50 £169.98 £215.98 £203.98 16/550 3 14.5 50 £239.00 £298.80 £286.80 16/1050 3 14.5 100 £299.00 £370.80 £358.80

HIGH VELOCITY FANS

39exc.VAT

DEHUMIDIFIERS & AIR CON

CFF18B100 * WAS £56.38 inc.VAT # WAS £52.79 inc.VAT Model Size CBF20# 20" CFF18B100* 18" CPF18B100 18"

exc.VAT 239 £286.80 inc.VAT

3-in-1 ✔ Air Con ✔ Dehumidifier ✔ 2 Speed Fan Inc. Remote control, ﬂexible outlet hose & window slider vent

Model AC7050 AC10050 AC13050

£ DOUBLE .98 DOUBLE exc.VAT FOOTER £107.98 inc.VAT

Model AC5000B AC7050 AC10050 AC13050

exc.VAT £199.00 £239.00 £279.00 £319.00

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JUMP STARTS

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exc.VAT £89.98 £104.99 £149.98 £159.98 £184.99 £219.00 £259.00

inc.VAT £107.98 £125.99 £179.98 £191.98 £221.99 £262.80 £310.80

INTELLIGENT BATTERY CHARGER/ MAINTAINERS Max. exc. WAS NOW Model Volts Charge VAT inc.VAT inc.VAT IBC7 12/24V 7A £39.98 £47.98 IBC15 12V 15A £49.98 £59.98 IBC20 12/24V 20A £62.99 £80.39 £75.59 IBC25 12/24V 25A £79.98 £101.99 £95.98 IBC40 12/24V 40A £99.98 £125.99 £119.98

Extraction Rate CAT131 Motor (ltr/day) exc.VAT inc.VAT PRICE CUT 785W 16.8 £239.00 £286.80 £DOUBLE exc.VAT 59.98 1100W 21.6 £279.00 £334.80 £71.98 inc.VAT DOUBLE 1370W 28.8 £319.00 £382.80 WAS £83.98 inc.VAT

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and roadside assistance Integral exc.VAT 96inc.VAT work light 910 includes air DOUBLE £116.39 FOOTER £ DOUBLE .99

IBC20

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18"

Cooling Capacity 5000 BTU/h 7000 BTU/h 9000 BTU/h 12000 BTU/h

AC7050

14"

AC7050 CPF18B100 exc.VAT inc.VAT £39.98 £47.98 £45.99 £55.19 £59.98 £71.98

Ammeter Multiposition charge regulator Overload protection on charging cycle

Model BC125 BC190 BC210C WBC180 WBC240 WBC400 BC520P

CHV18WF

3-in-1

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199exc.VAT

BC210C

.00

Lightweight, portable, durable and suitable for home indoor use. Strong and sturdy 360° tilting stand Max air ﬂow up to 2338cfm

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DOUBLE £238.80 FOOTER inc.VAT

BATTERY CHARGERS /ENGINE STARTERS FROM ONLY

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£47.98 inc.VAT DOUBLE

WAS £52.79 inc.VAT

.00

†V-Twin *230V # WAS £1438.80 inc.VAT ‡ WAS £1678.80 inc.VAT ▼ WAS £1774.80 inc.VAT AIR. DISP MOTOR AIR MODEL CFM (HP) RCVR EXC.VAT INC.VAT XEV16/100 (OL)†* 14 3 100ltr £589.00 £706.80 XEV16/150 (OL)†* 14 3 150ltr £659.00 £790.80 XEV16/200(OL)†* 14 3 200ltr £719.00 £862.80 XEV16/150(400V)† 14 3 150ltr £699.00 £838.80 XE18/200 (OL)†* 18 4 200ltr £759.00 £910.80 30 7.5HP 200Ltr £1179.00 £1414.80 XE36C200†# 28 2X3HP 270Ltr £1349.00 £1618.80 XE29/270†*‡ XE37/270 (OL)†* ▼ 36 2x 4 270ltr £1459.00 £1750.80 SE46C270† 40 10HP 270Ltr £2129.00 £2554.80

18"

PRICE CUT NOW FROM ONLY £ .98

FROM ONLY HEADER

exc.VAT 589 £706.80 inc.VAT

Mobile Units provide quick & effective cooling & drying

18"

INDUSTRIAL AIR XEV16/100 COMPRESSORS

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Ideal for creating a powerful air ﬂow, suitable for both domestic & commercial locations 3 Speeds Tilts to adjust direction of air ﬂow

STARTS VEHICLES UP TO 6L

MICRO JUMP STARTS

Model 910 JS1100C BEST 4000 SELLER JS12/24

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compressor Long life battery Starting Peak Boost Amps exc.VAT inc.VAT 400 900 £96.99 £116.39 500 1100 £96.99 £116.39 700 1500 £164.99 £197.99 1000 2000 £179.98 £215.98

PARTS WASHERS FROM ONLY £ DOUBLE .98 exc.VAT DOUBLE FOOTER £71.98 inc.VAT

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CW1D

AWD1

BEST SELLER LOAD RATING: 500KG PER DOLLY

£FROM ONLY .99 exc.VAT DOUBLE £76.79 inc.VAT PER PAIR

PGF14

GARAGES/WORKSHOPS

603x370x150mm

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ANGLE GRINDERS

249

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FROM ONLY

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* WAS £179.98 inc.VAT # WAS £226.80 inc.VAT ‡ WAS £275.98 inc.VAT Tank Model Cap. Type exc.VAT inc.VAT CW2D 10Ltrs Bench £59.98 £71.98 CW1D* 45Ltrs Floor £144.99 £173.99 CWM20# 22.5Ltrs Floor £179.00 £214.80 CW40‡ 75Ltrs Floor £219.00 £262.80

CW2D

PRICE CUT £ DOUBLE.00

HOT WASHERS

589exc.VAT

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Heavy duty steel construction

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sandblasters for the quick exc.VAT 29 DOUBLE FOOTER £35.98 inc.VAT removal of surface rust, £ DOUBLE .98

CIG81220 Ideal for use as a garage/workshop Extra tough triple layer cover Heavy duty powder coated steel tubing Ratchet tight tensioning Model CIG81212 CIG81015 CIG81216 CIG81020 CIG81220 CIG81224 CIG1432 CIG1640

size (LxWxH) 3.6x3.6x2.5m 4.5x3x2.4m 4.9x3.7x2.5m 6.1x3x2.4m 6.1x3.7x2.5m 7.3x3.7x2.5m 9.7x4.3x3.65m 12x4.9x4.3m

exc.VAT inc.VAT £249.00 £298.80 £279.00 £334.80 £329.00 £394.80 £349.00 £418.80 £399.00 £478.80 £499.00 £598.80 £1099.00 £1318.80 £2599.00 £3118.80

ALUMINIUM RACING JACKS

CIG1432

LENGTH UP TO 40’

Model Disc (mm) Motor exc.VAT CAG800B 115 800W £29.98 CON1150 115 1150W £36.99 CAG2350C 230 2350W £69.98

KEEPS THE WEATHER OUT! BRIGHT WHITE INTERIOR

CIS8612

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.00 exc.VAT 269 £322.80 inc.VAT

Model CTJ2GLS CTJ3GLS CTJ5GLS CTJ10GLS

Tonnes 2 3 5 10

150mm PAD DIA.

64exc.VAT

£77.99 inc.VAT DOUBLE

WAS £83.98 inc.VAT

CP150

FROM ONLY

.98 DOUBLE exc.VAT .VAT 109 DOUBLE £131.98 FOOTER inc.VAT

exc.VAT £109.98 £139.98 £169.98 £199.98

inc.VAT £131.98 £167.98 £203.98 £239.98

MM2 Custom Car 275x200 pg2.indd Mart_3PS.indd 1 Custom Car_2024_10_Oct_Machine 2

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GATESHEAD 50 Lobley Hill Rd. NE8 4YJ 0191 493 2520 GLASGOW 280 Gt Western Rd. G4 9EJ 0141 332 9231 GLOUCESTER 221A Barton St. GL1 4HY 01452 417 948 GRIMSBY ELLIS WAY, DN32 9BD 01472 354435 HULL 8-10 Holderness Rd. HU9 1EG 01482 223161 ILFORD 746-748 Eastern Ave. IG2 7HU 0208 518 4286 IPSWICH Unit 1 Ipswich Trade Centre, Commercial Road 01473 221253 LEEDS 227-229 Kirkstall Rd. LS4 2AS 0113 231 0400 LEICESTER 69 Melton Rd. LE4 6PN 0116 261 0688 LINCOLN Unit 5. The Pelham Centre. LN5 8HG 01522 543 036 LIVERPOOL 80-88 London Rd. L3 5NF 0151 709 4484 LONDON CATFORD 289/291 Southend Lane SE6 3RS 0208 695 5684 LONDON 6 Kendal Parade, Edmonton N18 020 8803 0861 LONDON 503-507 Lea Bridge Rd. Leyton, E10 020 8558 8284 LUTON Unit 1, 326 Dunstable Rd, Luton LU4 8JS 01582 728 063 MAIDSTONE 57 Upper Stone St. ME15 6HE 01622 769 572 MANCHESTER ALTRINCHAM 71 Manchester Rd. Altrincham 0161 9412 666 MANCHESTER CENTRAL 209 Bury New Road M8 8DU 0161 241 1851 MANCHESTER OPENSHAW Unit 5, Tower Mill, Ashton Old Rd 0161 223 8376 MANSFIELD 169 Chesterﬁeld Rd. South 01623 622160 MIDDLESBROUGH Mandale Triangle, Thornaby 01642 677881 NORWICH 282a Heigham St. NR2 4LZ 01603 766402

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VISIT YOUR LOCAL SUPERSTORE Open Mon-Fri 8.30-6.00, Sat 8.30-5.30, Sun 10.00-4.00 BARNSLEY Pontefract Rd, Barnsley, S71 1HA 01226 732297 B’HAM GREAT BARR 4 Birmingham Rd. 0121 358 7977 B’HAM HAY MILLS 1152 Coventry Rd, Hay Mills 0121 7713433 BOLTON 1 Thynne St. BL3 6BD 01204 365799 BRADFORD 105-107 Manningham Lane. BD1 3BN 01274 390962 BRISTOL 1-3 Church Rd, Lawrence Hill. BS5 9JJ 0117 935 1060 BURTON UPON TRENT 12a Lichﬁeld St. DE14 3QZ 01283 564 708 CAMBRIDGE 181-183 Histon Road, Cambridge. CB4 3HL 01223 322675 CARDIFF 44-46 City Rd. CF24 3DN 029 2046 5424 CARLISLE 85 London Rd. CA1 2LG 01228 591666 CHELTENHAM 84 Fairview Road. GL52 2EH 01242 514 402 CHESTER 43-45 St. James Street. CH1 3EY 01244 311258 COLCHESTER 4 North Station Rd. CO1 1RE 01206 762831 COVENTRY Bishop St. CV1 1HT 024 7622 4227 CROYDON 423-427 Brighton Rd, Sth Croydon 020 8763 0640 DARLINGTON 214 Northgate. DL1 1RB 01325 380 841 DEAL (KENT) 182-186 High St. CT14 6BQ 01304 373 434 DERBY Derwent St. DE1 2ED 01332 290 931 DONCASTER Wheatley Hall Road 01302 245 999 DUNDEE 24-26 Trades Lane. DD1 3ET 01382 225 140 EDINBURGH 163-171 Piersﬁeld Terrace 0131 659 5919 EXETER 16 Trusham Rd. EX2 8QG 01392 256 744

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NORTHAMPTON Beckett Retail Park, St James’ Mill Rd 01604 267840 NOTTINGHAM 211 Lower Parliament St. 0115 956 1811 PETERBOROUGH 417 Lincoln Rd. Millﬁeld 01733 311770 PLYMOUTH 58-64 Embankment Rd. PL4 9HY 01752 254050 POOLE 137-139 Bournemouth Rd. Parkstone 01202 717913 PORTSMOUTH 277-283 Copnor Rd. Copnor 023 9265 4777 PRESTON 53 Blackpool Rd. PR2 6BU 01772 703263 SHEFFIELD 453 London Rd. Heeley. S2 4HJ 0114 258 0831 SIDCUP 13 Blackfen Parade, Blackfen Rd 0208 3042069 SOUTHAMPTON 516-518 Portswood Rd. 023 8055 7788 SOUTHEND 1139-1141 London Rd. Leigh on Sea 01702 483 742 STOKE-ON-TRENT 382-396 Waterloo Rd. Hanley 01782 287321 SUNDERLAND 13-15 Ryhope Rd. Grangetown 0191 510 8773 SWANSEA 7 Samlet Rd. Llansamlet. SA7 9AG 01792 792969 SWINDON 21 Victoria Rd. SN1 3AW 01793 491717 TWICKENHAM 83-85 Heath Rd.TW1 4AW 020 8892 9117 WARRINGTON Unit 3, Hawley’s Trade Pk. 01925 630 937 WIGAN 2 Harrison Street, WN5 9AU 01942 323 785 WOLVERHAMPTON Parkﬁeld Rd. Bilston 01902 494186 WORCESTER 48a Upper Tything. WR1 1JZ 01905 723451

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14/08/2024 14:44 13:43 14/08/2024

S D O R ’ S R E D A RE post to Custom Car, alan.kidd@assignment-media.co.uk, or to car your of ils deta and tos pho il Ema de your contact details Burton on Trent DE14 9PR. Please inclu Assignment Media Ltd, PO Pox 8632, the largest file size you have available – and when sending digital pictures, use

Stude The Dude ick Pandegth has always been in and around vehicles. Starting his career as a mechanic, he moved on to restoring classic vehicles and over the years, multiple vehicles have come into and passed through his ownership. This latest project of Nick’s, a ’43 Studebaker, might well be the creme de la creme of his work. It was no easy feat, and the car (or what was left of it, as he will shortly explain) fought him and his good mate Dave Chivers all the way from start to finish. What this build also shows is that in the modern era of hot rodding, it is very easy to sit at a laptop or smartphone and, at the tap of a couple of buttons, order up a brand new crate engine, suspension system, chassis or whatever and have it delivered just as easily (if perhaps at a slightly higher cost) as a Saturday night take away.

Words and Pics: James Webber

Sure, to some people this is the way and there’s nothing wrong with it. But what about utilising other vehicles that would otherwise just be scrapped? Back in the seventies, a hot rodder’s favourite pastime would be going to local scrapyards and rummaging around to find bits off of other cars to fit their project. Well, this has more than just other car parts to it. And it doesn’t just have to be older vehicles either, as Nick tells us… ‘When I acquired the car in 2022, it was a burnt out shell. It was in really rough shape but cheap enough to take a punt, especially as it still had its original chassis and axles – and, after a bit of digging, turned out to be quite a rare model, even in the States. ‘While I was digging, I also found that it appears the car appeared in the Captain America film and was sold off at auction after the production company was done with it.’ So it’s old, it’s original and it has a bit of a story behind it. But it’s in one hell of a

state. Not to worry, that just makes it all the more roddable! ‘I got it back to the workshop and the first thing me and Dave did was to pull the old axles out and see if it was straight,’ continues Nick. ‘That would tell us if it was worth doing.’

Falling to bits Turns out it was indeed going to be worth the boys’ time, so with that in mind they boxed the original chassis and added crossmembers. ‘We tried to fit the doors,’ says Nick, ‘but they were so bad they just fell to bits. Luckily I had some old Beetle doors at home and by cutting them about, using the door handles and combining them with what was left of the Stude’s doors, they now fit a treat. ‘A couple of bits of scrap from the Beetle doors were cut and welded up and now make the rear screen appear to be to

44 CUSTOM CAR OCTOBER 2024

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Powder-coated modern Jag alloys are not the first thing you expect to see on a car from the forties, rodded or otherwise. They do go quite well with the DAF Sea Green paint colour, though. Tyres are similarly modern Accelera PHIs measuring 215/45R18 up front and 255/45R18 at the back end

pieces, as that’s what I felt would have been around in the 40s instead of the one piece of glass that it actually is.’ Beneath this, the boot is original – but now it’s opened using a Beetle handle. ‘We left the hinges and a panel behind the rear bulkhead in as-burnt condition, as a reminder of what we actually started out with,’ explains Nick. A scrap Subaru Forester donated its

boot rubber, which proved to be an almost a perfect fit. Continuing the litany of random donor cars, a Jaguar XJ8 laid down its life so its running gear could carry the Stude into the future. We’re talking the full works – the entire front and rear running gear including suspension, brakes and shocks. The car’s alloys are Jag too – these were powder

coated before getting wrapped in a set of Accelera PHIs measuring 215/45R18 up front and 255/45R18 out back. New floors were fabbed out of scrap metal the boys had lying around, and a bulkhead was made from tube and guesswork. Cue another cool donor car. ‘I got hold of a Lexus with a quad-cam V8 in it. I drove it around for a few months and it was really great, so

P700 headlights sit in bezels which Nick moulded himself

The widened bonnet opens and shuts on hinges from a Moggy Minor

Nick tried a few designs for the tail light bezels before finally settling on a nice frenched arrangement

OCTOBER 2024 CUSTOM CAR 45

4pp Readers Rods Pandegth Studebaker.indd 45

14/08/2024 20:25

Two rows of Ford Focus ST seats line up behind a hand-formed dash featuring Jag gauges in an upside-down bakelite cluster from a Riley. The speedo is a modern GPS-fed job, while the steering wheel and column are from a 70s’ Caddy

we pulled the motor and set to fitting it in the Stude. As predicted, it wasn’t going to go in easily, so we cut the front and the bonnet and widened them to accommodate the engine.’ A Morris Minor lent its bonnet hinges so the Stude’s could open and shut. Jag, Lexus, Beetle, Moggy… that’s the beauty of scrapyard shopping, it’s a great leveller. ‘We couldn’t quite get the front wings to meet as the original did,’ continues Nick. ‘So a scrap piece of metal was bent and modified and fills the gap – but to the untrained eye you wouldn’t know.

An A-mazon find ‘Finding any parts for these is nigh on impossible. So when thinking about what we were going to do for the grille, we were

having a coffee and in the yard was a Volvo Amazon. We both looked at it, looked at each other, took the grille panels, married them up and hey presto, they now look as though they’ve always been there. ‘The headlight bezels were shot, so I made up a mould and created my own. Same for the rear lights, I tried a few different ones but, in the end, made up what was in my head.’ The Lexus also donated its pedal assembly and shifter, and Nick came across a company called Phoenix Management – which he now cannot praise enough. ‘Basically, they asked for all the wiring and sensors and asked which model the engine came from. I sent it off to them and what came back was a brand new loom, sensors and a diagram of how to fit it. I literally just followed the diagram and on the first attempt it fired with no hesitation.’ Turning their attention to the inside, once again no vehicles were safe. ‘The dash is

The vast boot lid is original, but like the doors it’s now opened using a Beetle handle

The one-piece rear window is disguised by a fake pillar made up from a couple of bits of scrap from the Beetle doors Nick used to make replacements for the knackered originals

46 CUSTOM CAR OCTOBER 2024

4pp Readers Rods Pandegth Studebaker.indd 46

14/08/2024 20:25

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Custom Car_2024_03_March_William Bros Speed Shop_FP.indd 1

RUST/CORROSION PROTECTION

VISIT US Williams Bros Speed Shop Brook Farm, Bugbrooke Northamptonshire NN12 8LQ

23/01/2024 11:26

The original Studebaker doors fell apart while Nick and Dave were trying to fit them. Plan B was to cut up a pair from an old Beetle, combining them with the good bits from the Stude to make a set that would fit. The wartime handles didn’t make it, but at least the Volks ones were good to go

hand formed. The gauge cluster is original Riley in Bakelite, but flipped upside down. All the gauges are Jag except for the speedo, which is a modern one with GPS. ‘The front and rear seats are out of a Ford Focus ST. Apart from making and modifying the bases for the fronts, they fitted perfectly. The steering wheel and column are from a 70s Cadillac purchased from local hot rodder Andrew Lacey, and with a bit of modifying to fit to the Jaguar rack plus a phone call to a guy in the States who breaks Caddies, some bits went in and now it looks the part.’

The boys then set to prepping the car for paint and spraying it. ‘It’s DAF Sea Green,’ says Nick. ‘When I was a lad, Mum had a little DAF car in Sea Green and it was a cool colour. Only difference is that I’ve gone for a matte finish.’ It took Nick and Dave 18 months to do the car from start to finish. That was in between customers’ jobs, but it’s turned out great – in particular when you consider the state of what they started with. ‘Sure,’ reflects Nick, ‘we had some headaches like having to chop up the original

The old Lexus V8 is incredibly strong, has plenty of get up and go in standard form and can be tuned for monster outputs if that’s what you want. The gearbox behind it is built to take them, too

Lexus headers to fit around the Jag steering rack, but also some great finds such as Mini wipers fitting a treat and the fuel filler from a Harley Davidson not looking at all out of place. Just in case he hadn’t already dropped enough donor’s names… ‘A huge thanks to Dave for persevering with me when I felt like throwing in the towel at times’ says Nick. ‘And thanks to the landlady of the Queens Arms in Breage, Helston for allowing us to do the photoshoot around their grounds!’

The front body wasn’t wide enough to accommodate a Lexus V8 engine, so Nick and Dave cut it down the middle and widened it to fit. They couldn’t get the wings to meet in the middle, though, so they bent up a length of scrap to fill the gap. The grilles were taken from a Volvo Amazon the guys had in their yard

48 CUSTOM CAR OCTOBER 2024

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Ray’s Classics

San Carlos CA since 1980

California Collector Car Export Sales Specialist 1973 Ford Pinto, 2 door wagon, rebuilt 4 cylinder Engine/4spd Manual, very nice original interior, rustfree California car $10,250.

1952 Ford Zephyr Mk1 LHD Rust Free Car. Rustfree sunbleached body and underside, all new brakes/clutch hydraulics, on the button driver sold new in the USA and not to be confused with the usual UK welding nightmares, not the cheapest but the most solid example you will find outside of Australia $8250.

1950 Austin A40 devon LHD USA car, small fortune spent on extensive restoration, only a handful of miles since completion $11,250.

1935 Chevy Pickup Project, all steel, Mustang two frontend, coilover rearend, very nice cab/sheet metal, extra doors and roof panel, all sheet metal is present, 350/Auto, not running , California title and factory vin plate $11,950.

1964 1/2 F Code Mustang 260CI/Auto, P/S, matching numbers california black plate car, rustfree stripped to bare metal 100% complete $11,750.

1989 Ford F150 Lariet Xlt 4x4 V8/Auto, P/W,Pdl, C/C, A/C, excellent condition throughout $12,250.

1977 Jeep cherokee levi edition , v8/auto 4wd locking hubs , lift kit , bull bar with winch mount, clearcoated california suntan , on the button ready for mud plugging $12,250

1967 Chevy G-10 Rust free, Black plate California Van, V8/Auto, Vintage Mags, Originally a factory Martin Walters type Camper conversion, on the button, runs great $9,875

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.

WE CAN LOCATE LOCA THE CAR OF YOUR DREAMS

Vehicle shipping to the UK inspection services available in the Western States

Custom Car_2024_09_Sept_Rays Classics_FP.indd 1

650-361-8083

Tel: e: raysclassics@earthlink.net www.raysclassics.com

14/08/2024 13:52

BiB and braces Words & Pictures: Dave Biggadyke

The National Hot Rod, Custom and American Car Show returned to the Lincolnshire Showground in June this year. Once again staged in conjunction with the Modified Nationals, the show offers an alternative genre of non-standard vehicles that the majority of hot rodders wouldn’t normally encounter. While the two shows are separate entities, there is no physical barrier separating them, making the transition from one to the other an almost subconscious occurrence. That is until your brain registers the dramatic change in music, both in style and volume. There is one significant difference between the shows, however: the availability of a couple of permanent exhibition buildings in the modified section of the showground. This is something that’s sorely lacking for the hot rods, as the marquee-based Meguir’s Pavilion playing home to the prestigious Best in Britain line-up doesn’t offer anything like the same ambience or status. In saying that, as usual the BiB contenders were displayed on the red carpet and were roped off, and having John Price as compere was a distinct

The entertainment both during the day and at night was top-notch improvement over the silence of last year. The weather was a bonus too, as the lack of rain this time round meant no soggy patches in the doorways. The entertainment both during the day and at night was top-notch and comprehensively varied. Weekend wristband wearers had access to all areas offering tribute acts such as Dua Lipa, Little Mix and Spice Girls right through to the Bruno Experience.

Alternatively, The Soul Sensations and The Wonderways were on stage in the hot rod entertainment marquee. I did pass on the hypnotist show, but I ventured into the silent disco for the very first time which was an enlightening experience. It was a great weekend, and overall the show was an improvement over last year’s inaugural staging at Lincoln. There is still room for further refinement, but it’s heading in the right direction.

Entered into the show by Yvette Hendra, the Salt Flat Rod ’30 Model A coupe is a Welder Up build and appeared in the ﬁrst episode of Vegas Rat Rods

Yvette also entered this radical ’50 Chevy 3100 pick-up. Twin turbos ﬂank the grille shell and the interior features a pair of sparsely padded ali bomber seats and very little else

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Pete Senneck made good use of his Model A roadster to promote the inaugural Hot Rod Rumble that was being held a few weeks later

’51 Ford shoebox runs a big block Chevy and TH350 transmission, a Ford 9-inch rear axle and a Jaguar IFS. The marbleised custom paint is topped off with House of Kolor rainbow ‘ﬂake lacquer

Resplendent in fresh paint and period signwriting, the Glenn and Glenn blown ’54 Devon is a true father-and-son collaboration. A week later, the pick-up was running mid-10 second quarters at Dragstalgia

Although it was a static show, there was a degree of cruising the site. In some cases though it was more a case of tripping over the car than getting run over by it

Distinctively painted ’32 roadster was only on show on Saturday and therefore didn’t feature in the list of outdoor show winners

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BEST IN BRITAIN

BEST IN

BRITA IN

Eight ballers

The first round of judging identified the final eight contenders in the Best in Britain line-up. Additional close inspection then selected a top three – a tough decision as the competition was fierce. Right:Fresh out of Old Bones Fabrication and with upholstery by Retro Retrims, Richard Ward’s ’56 Chevy Bel Air scooped the top honours on the day, together with trophies for Best Engine and Owners’ Choice

RUNND E UP R

RUNNT E UP R Mark Barrett was defending the title he won last year with his ’37 Chevy pick-up. The heavily reworked cab and wings are backed up with a scratch-built pick-up bed

Colin Parkinson imported this conceptual ’33 roadster in 2017. He’s since modiﬁed the body and had the car resprayed, ditched the air bags for coilovers and completely reworked the interior

Roger Burton’s ex-CC featured ’40 Ford coupe runs Heidts front suspension, a Ford rear axle and a 350 Chevy. The interior is trimmed in white leather and the coupe rolls on American Racing 5-spokes

Steve Lloyd’s ’62 Impala is known as Blue Pearl. A week after exhibiting in Best in Britain, Steve was clocking off low 11-second quarters when running in Nostalgia Superstock at Dragstalgia

Another car in the line-up for the second consecutive year was Steve Smith’s Pro Touring ’62 Chevy Nova. The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed the change of wheels since last year

Last month’s cover car, Phil Proctor’s ’35 Chevy coupe, runs a Chevy LT1 V8 backed up with a TH400 transmission. Under the front there’s a Jaguar XJ6 IFS, whilst under the back a Volvo 240 axle is located by a 4-link arrangement

The ﬁnish of the brightwork on Andy Hogg’s blown Model T belies the fact that it’s a genuine survivor, having been built many years ago. Before you ask, that reg number is for show use only

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OUTDOOR SHOW RBEETST

BRITST ISH

Exterior gloss

Away from the Meguiar’s Pavilion, an outdoor rolling car show provided an eclectic mix of vehicles on Saturday, with the main show on Sunday producing more of the same. The judges did their rounds, with the awards being announced and presented later in the day.

BES

AMER T ICAN

Les Wray, Ford Pop

Dave Humphries, 79 Lincoln Continental Paul Knights, Ford Cortina

BE EN ST

GINE

Bill Smith, ’54 Kaiser Darrin

Pic: Katie Jeffery

Anon, ’35 Ford coupe

BEST

TRAD ITION AL

Top Five Nick Gunby, ’91 Ford Mustang Martin Nortcliffe, ’56 Chevy Karen Sharples, ’76 Corvette Adrian Pick, ’71 Mustang Ted Richardson, ’51 Mercury

A couple of race cars were on display to promote the NSRA Hot Rod Drags in September. The wittily named ShawCrank Redemption runs a 350 Chevy and has clocked a best time to date of 10-seconds at 133mph

The BuFord T Justice is powered by an 8-litre race spec Jaguar V12 which has propelled the Comp Altered to a best quarter-mile time of 7.79 seconds at 169mph

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Auto focus

Typical hard-charging launches, as the Challenger of Dave Billadeau takes on Russo’s Rat

Nostalgia Superstock ■ Words and Pics: Keith Lee

Adrian Portelli driving a 1966 Dodge Charger, which now boasts 540 cubes under the hood

One of the oldest machines competing is the bright red Chevy Impala of Beavis Allen. He ran it for years with a blown motor, but has lately been enjoying mixing it normally aspirated – and it still runs high 11s

Jim Smith in his Barracuda, and he would go on to take the class win at this year’s Dragstalgia

ighlight of the drag racing year for nostalgia fans is undoubtedly Santa Pod’s yearly Dragstalgia event – and this year’s edition reinforced that, once the rain went away! I was looking through the entry list prior to the event and considering which classes I enjoyed watching – and it struck me that there was not a single class that did not appeal to me, given the variety of machinery assembled. From the earliest time that I went to a drag race, which is 60 years ago this year, I have always enjoyed both cars and bikes, and so drag racing is a perfect fit for me. On that note, it is interesting to see that this year we had someone who is known for his achievements on two wheels, in the form of Ian King, who was making a switch to four wheels. He was driving his newly acquired green Chevelle, which ran in the class I am looking at here. One of the success stories at this event, and others, has been the rise of Nostalgia

Superstock (NSS). This particular class was spawned with the beginning of Dragstalgia, when James Forster at Santa Pod was approached with a request to include a class for old style Superstocks at the meeting. There was already a strong bunch of US muscle cars running at the old York Raceway and this new class has proved to be a great success, as the entry list at Dragstalgia has grown from an original eight-car field to more than 70 stockers! They nowadays run at six events at the Pod during the racing season. It is pleasing to see a real variety of machinery taking part. Plymouth, Chevrolet and Dodge are the most popular brands out there running, but the model ranges represented is pretty diverse. That is demonstrated when one considers some of the entries; like Don Scott, who is one of the organisers of the group, in the Richard Petty-liveried Superbird, through Challengers, Camaros and Barracudas to the Dodge Coronet and Chevy Impala. The rules are designed to make racing fun, with the emphasis on keeping that vintage integrity and no add-ons allowed. Basically, an entry must be an American V8 of up to 1980 vintage. Carbs only, with no nitrous or blowers – and no electronic racing aids allowed. Also, modern style engine replacements are not permitted. This is proper nostalgia racing, which

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Dave Billadeau is a big supporter of NSS – and a tough competitor in his impressive Dodge Challenger

Mick Sharpe warming up the slicks of his rapid Dodge Dart in the water box

runs on a handicap dial-in basis, for cars running times between 8.9s and 15.0s. That upper time limit is planned to be gradually reduced on a yearly basis. Signwritten paintwork is encouraged – and it certainly adds to the traditional look of these machines. Even with my rose tinted specs on, the best muscle cars of years ago did not launch anything like many of today’s runners – which can carry the front end in impressive fashion as they launch themselves down the track. In 1973, a Pro Stock class was introduced in response to the NHRA kicking it off in 1970. All bar a couple of the Pro Stock cars running over here during the mid seventies were in reality Superstocks and would slot right in to the mix with today’s runners. They were fun to watch at the time, with their big burnouts, and today’s top NSS machines keep that traditional feel – but with added get up and go! High performance Yank metal was not a common sight in the first few years of Santa Pod, and any that did appear made one sit up and take notice. Seeing Adrian Portelli competing in the Dodge Charger takes me right back to watching Al Eckstrand in 1966, when the ‘Lawman’ came over with one of the very first 426 Chargers and clocked low 13s. A couple of years before that at Blackbushe, I was lucky to see some of

Chris Goodale twists the front end up in Russo’s Rat, which is a solid nine second contender in this competitive class

The Boyling Point Chevy Nova of Gary Carr leaves the line in ﬁne style

the top NHRA stars of the day. Ronnie Sox in the Mercury Comet match raced Dave Strickler, who was driving the Dodge Boys entry – which he partnered with a certain Bill Jenkins! These were classed as A/FX (factory experimental) cars which, at that time, were the ultimate Superstocks – but would quickly lead on to developing into the first tube-chassised funny cars. Back in 1968, there was actually a Super Stock class introduced in the UK, but that only existed for a couple of seasons before being abandoned. That particular class catered for all car capacities. US serviceman stationed in this country did turn up with a few interesting cars in those times, which livened things up.

Mentioning the introduction of Pro Stock in ’73 earlier, I also remember in that same year watching Colin Mullan shaking down a rather striking new Modified entry for owner Richard Smith, which had been imported from the US. How special is it to see that self same Chevelle, by the name of Russo’s Rat, so beautifully brought back to its old guise by Chris Goodale, where it enjoys a new lease of life back on track. And those launches of Chris’ are something else! It’s always nice to see familiar old machines being rejuvenated – especially when they can turn out to be even better than the old memories. Now that is the best nostalgia!

One of the very ﬁrst (and pretty poor) pictures I ever took at a drag race, which captures Al Eckstrand on his visit to Santa Pod in 1966. Good to see a Charger still running in NSS

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Field o’Fords

Out & About John Lobb’s Rover V8 Anglia estate is no stranger to the winner’s circle. This time he took him the award for Best Modified

Ford F-47 is a Canadian import and has lots of subtle changes

Above: Brothers Chris and Treve Farley are regulars with their F-100 and Mustang

Words & Pics: James Webber Event: Duchy Ford Show Date: 1-2 June 2024 Venue: Mother Ivy’s Duchy Ford Club staged their annual show on the weekend of 1-2 June – putting the event over two days for the first time. Held at Mother Ivy’s Holiday Park just outside Padstow, the event ran from 10am on the Saturday, with prizegiving at 3pm on Sunday. This year the show was opened by comedian and radio presenter Johnny Cowling, with Saturday evening entertainment provided by Straw Dogs Party Band and DJ Monty Discos. Come Sunday, the gates were open for exhibitors from 8am, with the public once again coming in a couple of hours after that., Over the weekend there was a great selection of Fords on display, from a 1920s’

Model T to American pick-ups and modern Focus STs. Traders included That Tint Guy, Bearded Brewery, Beers On The Bus and Cornish Chillis. ‘It was a great weekend for us all,’ club secretary Adam Hicks told me after the event. ‘Being the first time we have done two days, we weren’t sure how it would go. But we had 200-plus cars, 20 traders, 10 crafters and 1500 public entries, so it was a success. ‘We have already made plans for the show next year, and can confirm that the 2025 Duchy Ford Show will be on June 21-22 at Watergate Bay Touring Park. For more information we ask anyone interested to keep an eye on our social media and website.’

Judith and Phil making the most of the Cornish sun with their ’63 Ford Falcon Sprint

Below: Duchy club member Keith Toy’s recently purchased Mercury Cougar

Left: Barry Aimable’s gorgeous ’65 Thunderbird

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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

AUGUST 2024 29-4 Sep Race of the Last Rebels Dunavarsány, Hungary. www.lastrebels.hu 30-1 Sep Blue Ridge Runners Motor Show / South West Van Nationals West Huntspill, Somerset. www.blueridgerunners.co.uk 30-1 Sep VW Action Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 31 All American Cruise In. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 31-1 Sep Straightliners Race Meet Melbourne Raceway, York. www.straightliners.events

SEPTEMBER 2024 1 American Car Show. Museum of Power, Langford, Essex www.museumofpower.org 3 Hayling Hot Rods at the Beach. Hayling Island Seafront, Hampshire. Facebook: Hayling Hotrods at the Beach 4 Hot Rod Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

4-8 FIA Euro Finals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 6-8 Trip Out Euston Gardens, Thetford. www.thetripout.co.uk 6-8 Goodwood Revival Goodwood Estate, West Sussex. www.goodwood.com 6-8 Kustom Kulture Blast Off Slates Farm, Lincolnshire. fienta.com/kustom-kulture-blastoff 7-8 Run What Ya Brung Machrihanish Airport, Campbeltown, Argyll. www.straightliners.events 8 A602’s Autorama Stevenage, Herts. www.autoramashow.com 8 Flames’n’Dice Car Show Wearmouth Colliery. donna.wilkinson14@virginmedia.com 13-15 Hot Rod Drags Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 15 American Car Show. Stonham Barns, Suffolk. www.stonhambarns. co.uk 15 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk 17 VW Air-Cooled Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 19-22 Isle of Man Festival of Motoring www.iomfm.com 20-21 Flat Caps and Ferrets Elland Cricket Club, Halifax, West Yorkshire Facebook: Huddersfield Hot Rod & Custom Car Show 20-22 STP National Finals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 21-22 Full Throttle Weekend Elvington Airfield, Elvington, West Yorkshire. www.straightliners.events

22 Seymours Woking Car Show Woking town centre Facebook: @wokingcarshow 27-30 Fort Paull American, Rod & Custom Show End of Season Bash. Hull. yancs1@yahoo.co.uk 28 All American Cruise In. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 28 Drag & Drift Dakota Raceway, Honiton, Devon. www.straightliners. events 28 Kustom Kulture Hillsborough Arena, Sheffield. Trade space, text Chris on 07908 809001 28 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 29 VHRA Swap Meet Ramsey, Cambridgeshire. www.vhra.co.uk

OCTOBER 2024

21-22 Pistons and Props Sywell Aerodrome, Northamptonshire www.sywellclassic.co.uk

1 Hayling Hot Rods at the Beach. Hayling Island Seafront, Hampshire. Facebook: Hayling Hotrods at the Beach

22 Ford Fest. Mallory Park, Leics. www.fordfestshow.co.uk

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

62 CUSTOM CAR OCTOBER 2024

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3-7 Rhythm Riot Vauxhall Holiday Park, Great Yarmouth www.rhythmriot.com 5 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 5-6 Straightliners Race Meet Melbourne Raceway, York. www.straightliners.events 6 Victory Wheelers Hayling Sunset Funlands Amusement Park, Hayling Island. Facebook: Victory Wheelers 7 Top Speed Monday Elvington Airfield, Elvington, West Yorkshire. www.straightliners.events 12 Run What Ya Brung Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 13 Straightliners Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 15 VW Air-Cooled Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 20 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk

17 VW Air-Cooled Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 28 All American Cruise In. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

MARCH 2025 2 NSRA Southern Swap Meet North Weald Airfield, Essex www.nsra.org.uk

APRIL 2025 1 Hayling Hot Rods at the Beach. Hayling Island Seafront, Hampshire. Facebook: Hayling Hotrods at the Beach

MAY 2025

25-27 California Hot Rod Reunion Famoso Raceway, Bakersfield, CA www.famosodragstrip.com

6 Hayling Hot Rods at the Beach. Hayling Island Seafront, Hampshire. Facebook: Hayling Hotrods at the Beach

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

26 – 1 June. NSRA Fun Run. St Ives, Cornwall. www.nsra.org.uk

NOVEMBER 2024

JUNE 2025

6 Hot Rod Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 19 VW Air-Cooled Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

5-8 Hot Rods and Hills. Park Foot, Pooley Bridge, Penrith Facebook: Hot Rods and Hills 14-15 Race the Waves. Bridlington, East Yorks. backfireinfo.weebly.com 21-22 Duchy Ford Show. Watergate Bay Touring Park, Newquay www.duchyfordclub.co.uk

JULY 2025 1 Hayling Hot Rods at the Beach. Hayling Island Seafront, Hampshire. Facebook: Hayling Hotrods at the Beach 20 DeuceDay Details TBA. Facebook: Deuces of Britain

AUGUST 2025 5 Hayling Hot Rods at the Beach. Hayling Island Seafront, Hampshire. Facebook: Hayling Hotrods at the Beach 7-10 NSRA Hot Rod Supernationals Old Warden, Bedfordshire. www.nsra.org.uk

3 Hayling Hot Rods at the Beach. Hayling Island Seafront, Hampshire. Facebook: Hayling Hotrods at the Beach

24 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk 30 All American Cruise In. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

DECEMBER 2024 4 Hot Rod Night. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 8 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk

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