NZ Hot Rod May 2022

Zig Zags THERE are several topics I want to cover this month so forgive me for zigzagging around the map. First up is the proposed 80kph speed limit for SH1 up here in parts of Northland. On the surface, there’s every reason to be upset with the 20km/hr speed reduction. Let’s face it; we live in a now society where practically everything is on tap, and we can get it anytime we want, excluding lockdowns, of course. So the freedom to head out on the road at a fair clip of 100km/hr is something we’ve all become used to, and it makes good sense on safely designed and constructed motorways. But once out of town on the country road version of SH1, the truth is the surface is so bumpy from…

Feedback HI PAUL, Liz, John Eva and Team, Thank you very much for an excellent feature in the magazine (April ‘22), followed by complimentary copies received. Really appreciated. Kind Regards, Murray and Sharon Stuart. Should I or Shouldn’t I HI PAUL, I just read July 2020 mag from the library. Quite a shock for you and Bob Drey over certifying and me. Over the years, I have built a T-bucket, then lengthened the bucket to make a Tourer, then into a C Cab. Then I built the Yellow Model A coupe from marine ply that is now up north. Before certs came in, I made front tube axles/chassis/narrowed diffs, everything. I have no problems with welding/machining/car painting, basic upholstery, etc. I love fabricating. I’m an engineer but have never been certified for welding and…

• Ministry of Defence THE production of this magazine is an amalgam of many ideas converted into pictures and stories. The assembly of the articles is often the result of hours of planning and organising; then, when it’s all down on paper, it’s proofread, then double-checked using Grammarly software. Every week we receive a status report from Grammarly on our performance which makes interesting reading on its own, so we thought you might like to see how we perform. NUMBER OF WORDS CHECKED Grammarly has checked 2,304,507 total words since April 27, 2018 Your Weekly Writing Update PRODUCTIVITY: You were more productive than 79% of Grammarly users. MASTERY: You were more accurate than 54% of Grammarly users. VOCABULARY: You used more unique words than 86% of Grammarly users. TOP 3 MISTAKES 1. Unnecessary ellipsis 2. Missing comma in…

• California Barn Find THIS 1931 Ford Model A closed cab pickup was located in California by noted hot rodder/drag racer Pete Eastwood. Last registered in 1984, the pickup made its way to New Zealand via Mark & Greg Stokes. Together with the help of Errol at Veteran & Vintage, the pickup was running for the recent Model A Day. After compliance, Jim Corbett snapped up the car of the North Island Model A Club to join his similar patina’d Model A coupe. From Greg Stokes. • Tasty Tudor DAVE Lusk is returning to the hot rod fraternity after a long hiatus, and he’s doing it in fine style with this ’36 Ford Humpback Tudor. It was located in Oregon and arrived via Mainfreight into Christchurch. Since having a complete body-off and chassis…

BACK in August of 2014, NZHRM published a beautifully written and photographed feature by Golly on Kevin Smith’s 1936 Ford 3-window coupe. At the time, the coupe had been treated to suspension mods to improve the car’s driveability and to look good and sit right. The remainder of the coupes cool package was stock and straight out of Henry Ford’s factory. Kevin and his wife Judy have enjoyed seven years of fun with the coupe but eight months ago decided to give it a birthday going the whole nine yards. That upgrade was entrusted to the team at Mac’s Speed, spearheaded by Graeme Mc Neil. The top-to-bottom rebuild included a body-off, strip to bare metal, repair and repaint, plus a fresh 59A flatty fitted with all the mod cons for…

YEAR & MAKE: 1936 Ford MODEL: 3-window coupe BODY: Stock. Media blasted back to bare metal and massaged back to stock by Steve and Shea at Mac’s Speed. ENGINE: 1948 Ford 59A flathead V8 MODIFICATIONS: Engine was built by John Reston, Hastings and tweaked, polished and detailed by Macs Speed Shop. Bored and stroked to 286ci using a Mercury crank, 8BA con rods and Jahns pistons. An Isky Max1 cam activates the stock 8BA valvetrain. 8.5:1 compression Edelbrock cylinder heads and a slingshot intake mounting twin Stromberg 97 carbs complete the top end. A Stromberg E-Fire distributor fires the fuel/air mix while spent gasses exit via a set of Mac’s Speed headers then through a pair of Smitty mufflers. Horsepower is estimated at 150-ish. TRANSMISSION: Ford T170 3+1 overdrive REAR END: Flathead banjo fitted with Dutchman…