Preview: NZV8 Issue No. 145

A L L

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N O S TA L G I A

D R AG S

A C T I O N

’3 4 F O R D B E A U T Y

JUN. 2017 ISSUE 145

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416803 510003

$9.99

F L A W L E S S I M P A L A C R U I S E R

10-SECOND MOPAR STREETER, CUSTOM HEADER FABRICATION, HECTIC BURNOUTS, INSANE ARAB DRAG ACTION, + MORE

contents JUNE 2017 THE cars

24 A MADDER MAX

THE INTERCEPTOR OF ALL INTERCEPTORS 32 AS GOOD AS IT GETS SILKY-SMOOTH IMPALA RAGTOP

70 SCAT PACK SOJOURN BIG-CUBE MOPAR STREET CAR

84 REPEAT OFFENDER THE PERFECT ’34 FORD HOT ROD

106 NOSTALGIC INSPIRATION NEW MEETS OLD IN A HOTTED-UP HSV

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THE events

50 TIME WARP

TRANS AMERICA SHIPPING NOSTALGIA DRAGS 2017

56 DOOR TO DOOR

ARABIAN DRAG RACING LEAGUE FINALS

76 RADIAL PUNISHMENT

LACK-A-TRACTION’S BURNOUTS TAUPO

112 GRAND FINAL CMC ROUND SEVEN

SPECIAL features

44 THREADING THE NEEDLE THE WORLD OF 4X4 TRIALS

92 PRECISION PIPEWORK

THE ART OF CUSTOM HEADER FABRICATION

100 DREAM SHED HOLDEN HEAVEN

THE other stuff 04 SHORT SHIFT 08 BENCH SEAT 10 NEWS 12 ONLINE THIS MONTH 14 TORQUEBACK 16 JUST QUICKLY 18 DAILY GRIND 20 IN THE BUILD 22 EVENTS 40 STRAIGHT TALK 42 SUBSCRIBE AND WIN 62 PIRTEK RACE DIARY 64 DRAGGED UP 68 NZ’S QUICKEST 98 CONCEPT CORNER 118 CMC NEWS 120 CARGO 122 A DECADE AGO 124 THIS MONTH AT V8 126 LOCAL SPECIALISTS 128 COMING NEXT MONTH

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1974 Ford Fairmont XB

feature car

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feature car

1964 Chev Impala SS Convertible

West y e l d ra our, B ck into one f x i s re his ch in g a rusty w uisers a e b to the dds, turnin ummer cr ’ n i s i s Y o Cru d the ntry’s bestPHOTOS: ADAM CRO e fi e d E cou GRAC has of the RDS: CONNAL WO

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appily ever after seems like a myth. Some people will spend untold hours and sums of money in search of it, only to fall disappointingly short. A handful of others are lucky enough to find it, whether by determination, hard work, or some other phenomenon more akin to luck. Whatever it is, Bradley West sleeps easy at night knowing that, against all odds, his ’64 Impala ragtop has somehow given him a happily ever after story.

It all started when Bradley purchased the ’64 from a mate.

“Brodie Smith was selling her before he moved to Australia,” Brad recalls. “I thought it would be a cool first old car to buy and get on the road, and, after having a look at it, I bought it two days before going on holiday to Thailand.”

You’ve got to take the good with the bad, though, and after what was undoubtedly a fantastic time overseas, Bradley returned to the real world — one where his $10K rebuild expectation was brutally shot to the ground with one sideways glance by Phil of Fraser St Panelbeaters.

“He took one look at it and basically told me she was a mess! He recommended I get the shell sandblasted, and we’d go from there,” says Bradley.

That was all before the plan snowballed out of control, though — at that stage, Bradley still intended to get the body sorted and put everything back together, retaining the original red vinyl interior, 283ci V8, and Powerglide transmission. Progress thus entailed Bradley spending innumerable hours in the shed, stripping everything from the shell, and finding too much fibreglass,

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event report

Trans America Shipping Nostalgia Drags 2017

ne of o s a d cepte ts on the e c a y l Wide atest even lendar, th a e the gr ag racing c n’t fail to id dr local ia Drags d this year lg Nosta to the hyTpOSe: LANCE FARROW O CE PH L GRA live up ONNA :C

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Above: Michael Crook’s ’70 Chevelle runs a 402ci big block and remains essentially as he bought it from John Faulkner about 25 years ago. As you may guess by his presence here, Michael isn’t averse to running the big Chevelle down the strip, mentioning that he took out a DYO-format nats meeting some years ago.

Below: Of course, it wasn’t all gassers and drag-spec contraptions. Joel Painter had his immaculate bomb-style ’38 Chev roadster in attendance. Although the split six– powered style machine was hardly a weapon down the strip, it earned maximum points for its cool factor.

Originally built in Australia, Joel’s ’38 is a rare factory righthand-drive model. Only 126 were built, and, according to Joel’s research, fewer than 50 were convertibles. As the perfect basis for a perfect bomb build, Joel has the ’38 sitting low on static suspension with an abundance of period-correct accessories.

Above: Russell Lowe, proprietor of The Toy Shed in Rotorua, was having fun in his Model A coupe. The car was slapped together out of Russell’s spare parts collection around nine years ago, in a mad rush to meet a nostalgia drag meeting that was to be held at Tokoroa in a few weeks. That meeting ended up being rained out, Russ recalls, but he did get a very cool toy out of it. With a 260ci Mercury flattie, ’39 Ford three-speed, and Quick Change rear end hiding beneath the patina-coated shell, this ratty heap of shit is one cool machine!

Above: Garth White has owned the famous ‘EZPEEL’ Galaxie for a while now, and he had it out in force at the Nostalgia, sounding as tough as 514 nitrous-assisted cubes do.

Although it looks every bit as intimidating as a 10-second all-steel tank should, this thing was built and finished to a show-quality level almost 10 years ago by Mike Kitson of Greenpark Panel and Paint, and is just as at home in a show hall as it is on the street or the strip. Not long after this event, Garth pushed EZPEEL into the nines, with an incredible 9.93 at 140.78mph pass.

Above: The Beach Hop ’49 Ford shoebox was piloted by Ron Selia, the husband of the car’s American owner, Vicky.

The pair flew over to New Zealand to attend Beach Hop and were given the opportunity to race at the Nostalgia Drags.

Unfortunately, Vicky (behind the bonnet scoop) broke her foot and was unable to do so. Ron managed to run a 9.86 at 132.4mph, beating the car’s US PB! This was despite the engine hitting the limiter well before the finish, so there’s more potential in it yet.

Left: Paul ‘Jonesy’ Jones is the owner of this ’33 Ford coupe, better known as the original ‘Scotty and the Chief’ coupe from the ’80s.

While the coupe now runs a supercharged 357ci Windsor and C6 auto, rather than the original 331ci small block Chev and four-speed manual, it’s still instantly recognizable as the piece of Kiwi hot rodding history that it is. Jonesy recently managed to catch up with Ian Scott — one half of the Scotty and the Chief duo — who was happy for Jonesy to recreate the original Scotty and the Chief decals, and these now adorn the coupe’s doors.

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The journey from high 11-second passes to low 11s may have been a long one, but now Scott Coffin’s Polara is knocking on the door of 10s

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f you are a Mopar fan, then Scott Coffin is probably your kind of guy — and I’m not talking in the ‘diversity-is-welcomed-here’ sense. Scott’s love for all things Mopar started about 10 years ago — pretty much the first time he saw this ’64 Polara, then owned by his good mate Kerry-Jo, aka ‘Crazy-Jo’. Scott had owned a few cool Fords, but the sight and sound of the then44-year-old Mopar changed his outlook on cars forever, while also generating some conflicting emotions.

We all know they are not the prettiest car of the era, but, for a lot of people, there is something about the ’64 Dodges that just works.

WORDS: KEVIN SHAW PHOTOS: DUNCAN ROURKE

In Scott’s own words, “It was kind of ugly, but I kind of liked it, and they are pretty rare over here, too.

Plus, it sounded badass and performed as a ’60s muscle car could, and should, so really what was there not to like?”

Not a lot, as it turned out, and when the chance to own it came up a year later Scott grabbed it.

As most Mopar-philes know, the Polara was one of the weapons of choice in 1964 and could basically be ordered as a factory-built race car with a range of engine options, including the 426 Hemi. Polaras could be ordered with an aluminium bonnet, front guards, doors, and boot, along with lightweight front bumper and real magnesium wheels. Interior-

trim options — or lack thereof — included the factory not installing a radio, heater, back seat, carpets, or sound deadening. Plastic side windows could be ordered, and the front bench seat could be replaced with non-adjustable bucket seats from a Dodge van. Such was Dodge’s commitment to the cause that it even fitted the battery in the boot for would-be racers, Sadly, Scott’s new pride and joy was not one of these factory-lightweight racers. It was originally a well-specced 383-powered car — until Long Beach’s Andy Zaccardo transformed it into a street/strip weapon back in the early 1990s.

Built with a healthy 440, six-pack, four-speed,

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event report

Lack-A-Traction’s Burnouts Taupo

p, t com u o n r u Kiwi b ell-oiled d r a d w n e a sta aupo was a lvement b o t T o ed ppear ’s Burnouts al-level inR v a e v a E tion sion ht h ULKN It mig ack-A-Trac ring profeEsPHOTOS: JOHN FA but L ne harbouS: CONNAL GRAC i WORD mach

Ian ‘Sambo’ Smith’s supercharged LS-powered RX-7 is one of the toughest cars out there, and his right foot is the definition of mechanical abuse. He smashed the limiter all day for some crowd-pleasing shenanigans, and, although it sounded as if his power-steering packed a sad halfway through his final skid, he still did well enough to finish in third place.

Right: Fraser Macaree isn’t known for taking it easy on his Holden HZ One Tonner, and he wasn’t displaying much in the way of taking it easy at Taupo.

Fraser’s performance in his tidy street car ensured a top-five placing in the V8 class, and he narrowly missed out on third place to Sambo.

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Left: One of the clear favourites, Braden Smith found his day cut short in the second round as the blown and injected 468ci big block unexpectedly purged itself of several rods and caps. Until the disaster occurred, Braden was looking like a certain finalist.

However, although it’s a big and expensive misfortune, Braden has been skidding for long enough to understand that shit happens.

feature car

1934 Ford coupe (three-window)

e 34; th ’ d l o ! is ling h ven better l e s d e e egrett build oneROY r g n o C r to Armst ver it was ACE PHOTOS: ADAM n o d Bren y to get o RDS: CONNAL GR a WO only w

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Tech Feature

Custom header fabrication

a eal of p p a e w rmanc ck out ho o f r e e p al and ders. We ch ork of art u s i v w a he ying t custom he tube into a n e d CLAIR ’s no e of et of There y crafted s turns a pCiElPHOTOS: MIKE SIN o rl RA prope am at SinWcORDS: CONNAL G the te

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