Preview: NZV8 Issue No. 154

CRUISE MARTINBOROUGH, CROMWELL SHOW, DRAGSTALGIA, KUMEU SHOW, SUMMERJAM, CENTRAL MUSCLE CAR ROUNDS

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MAR. 2018 ISSUE 154

SMOKeY INSPIRATION ELITE MUSTANG RACER

416803 510003

$10.99

BAD ATTITUDE

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WICKED HOT ROD PICKUP

R E T U R N S

F E B R U A R Y

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MUSCLE GARAGE

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contents MARCH 2018

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108 THE cars

26 PREMIER LEAGUE — HOLDEN STREETER GUNNING FOR EIGHTS 34 SOMETHING SPECIAL — EXTREME MUSTANG RACER 74 FLAMIN’ HELL — WILD PRO-STREET CAMARO 90 OVERNIGHT SENSATION — BADASS HOT ROD PICKUP 108 RETROSPECTIVE — TRICK FALCON FAMILY HAULER

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THE events

44 THE FINER THINGS IN LIFE — CROMWELL CLASSIC CAR AND HOT ROD SHOW 50 MARTIGRAS — CRUISE MARTINBOROUGH 68 20 YEARS OF SMOKIN’ SUCCESS — THE BIG 2-0 AT MASTERTON MOTORPLEX 84 NO BOUNDARIES — GOOD TIMES AT SUMMERJAM 2017 102 WESTFEST — JACK DANIEL’S KUMEU CLASSIC CAR AND HOT ROD FESTIVAL 116 LEGENDS EXCEED EXPECTATIONS — LEGENDS OF BATHURST 118 SIBLING RIVALRY — ENZED CMC ROUND FOUR 122 BIRTHDAY JOYS — ENZED CMC ROUND FOUR

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THE other stuff

56 SPECIAL features

56 JUST ANOTHER CAR GUY — TOM MORLAND’S CUSTOM CREATIONS 82 TEST FIT — REINVENTING WHEEL TEST-FITTING

04 SHORT SHIFT 08 BENCH SEAT 10 NEWS 12 TORQUEBACK 14 JUST QUICKLY 16 ONLINE THIS MONTH 18 DAILY GRIND 20 IN THE BUILD 22 EVENTS 40 SUBSCRIBE AND WIN 42 STRAIGHT TALK 62 AEROFLOW RACE DIARY 64 DRAGGED UP 66 NZ’S QUICKEST 98 SOCIAL SCENE 100 CONCEPT CORNER 126 CMC NEWS 128 CARGO 130 A DECADE AGO 132 THIS MONTH AT V8 134 LOCAL SPECIALISTS 136 COMING NEXT MONTH

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feature car

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1979 Holden HZ Premier

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ITH BLE WNOW M U R IER IS P TO ED U HZ PREM !

P P E L IVEN NTIA AS S T RA H REET-DR ND POTE KNER A T I L O FAU WITIN HIS ST OHN -S EC TONYG BOYS — NG EIGHT CE PHOTOS: J I I GRA NNAL PACK THE B S: CO WORD

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feature car

1970 Ford Mustang

HAVING RACED COMPETITIVELY BACK TO BACK FOR THE PAST 35 YEARS, ANGUS FOGG KNOWS A THING OR TWO ABOUT BUILDING RACE CARS, BUT THIS IS HANDS-DOWN HIS BEST YET WORDS: TODD WYLIE PHOTOS: ADAM CROY / MATT SMITH

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“

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his car is — if I can say so myself — a work of art, and it is a testament to everyone involved in the build. The amount of hours spent building a car like this from scratch is quite significant, and sometimes you wonder when it will end!” declares New Zealand motor racing icon Angus Fogg.

Seeing that Angus has not only driven race cars but also built, rebuilt, and finessed them for 35 years, there’s a fair chance that he knows a thing or two about what’s involved and what constitutes a good car. His own feelings of the car being something special were echoed by everyone who laid eyes on it during its track debut late in 2017. The oohs and aahs, and

the internet chatter, all pointed to the same conclusion: this is not your ordinary race car.

Taking a step back from serious, all-consuming, tier-one motorsport a couple of years ago, Angus was handed the keys to Hemi Toia’s XF Falcon, in which he completed a round or two of Enzed Central Muscle Cars (CMC). Driver and owner both had a blast, thanks in large part to CMC’s number-one rule: have fun.

The idea was hatched up to build something a bit more up to date than the Falcon for Hemi to enter the series in. With a 1970 Mustang street car in the shed, it wasn’t long before one plus one equalled two, and the Mustang was sent to Angus’ workshop for a complete build.

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Event Report

Cromwell Classic Car and Hot Rod Show 2018

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E F I L IN TheF

THAT AND HOW , S E O S RO D ING G E SAYAND HOT H T HOW SIC CAR HAT’S AS T — C ID LL L P E DUNN U W T : ROD L E, S H E C RO M OTOS H P P M D I S AN ET IT S WORD KEEP Y WE LOV H W

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romwell, population 4500, is a stunning little town in Central Otago, situated where the mighty Kawarau and Clutha rivers collide and start their long journey to the sea. The town’s beginnings can be traced back to 1862, when two long-bearded miners first discovered gold not far from where the town lies today, starting a massive gold rush, with thousands of people descending on the area in the hope of finding riches beyond their

wildest dreams — a chapter of Cromwell’s story long since confined to the history books.

In the present era, the region is nicknamed the ‘Fruit Bowl of the South’, and it isn’t hard to see why, with vineyards and orchards covering thousands of acres of this sun-drenched land. It is that charming character that makes this the perfect place for the annual Cromwell Classic Car and Hot Rod Show.

Taking place on January 20 this year, the event saw

thousands of people descend on Cromwell — not in pursuit of their dreams of gold but to participate in the premier Otago car show.

The event is hosted by the Southland Ford Falcon Club at the recreation grounds in Alpha Street — an ideal spot right on the banks of the Kawarau River.

Thanks to the team’s efforts in setting up the night before, cars were able to cruise on in from around 8am. Once the influx began, it never

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Event Report

Cruise Martinborough

WORDS: TODD WYLIE PHOTOS: TODD WYLIE / BRADLEY MITCHELL

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L

ooking at the names of the roads around the south Wairarapa town of Martinborough, it’s almost as if it was designed with American cars in mind.

Names such as ‘New York Street’, ‘Texas Street’, and ‘Ohio Street’ are as American as it gets, despite the fact that the town was purposely laid out in the formation of a Union Jack.

While known for its wine growing and associated wine-tasting culture, Martinborough offers something different to sample on the last weekend of January each year — Cruise Martinborough. This year saw the fourth running of the event, and it’s easy to see why it attracts entrants from as far away as Dunedin in the south and Northland in the north.

Run by Wairarapa local Damien Pivac, who wants to improve the event each year while keeping it true to its roots as a laid-back, family-friendly occasion, Cruise Martinborough kicked off this year with a casual pub quiz the night before the true action began on Thursday, January 25.

The agenda for the Thursday may, at a glance, have looked too simple, but, after experiencing it, we realize that it’s the simplicity of the event that adds to its appeal, giving entrants plenty of relaxation and/or socialization time. That agenda saw cars gather at the local rugby grounds — which, for the duration of Cruise Martinborough, doubled as a camping area for entrants — to travel in convoy to the picturesque venue of Lake Ferry, around 35km away. Talking to entrants from afar, we learnt that

all thought that the event gave a great reason to visit an area of the country they’d normally have little reason to visit — a scenic area, at that.

The cruise destination, close to Palliser Bay at the bottom of the North Island, was made even better by the weather, which was absolutely scorching.

While many entrants braved the queues at the local pub, where they could eat and drink while listening to a local band, others took the opportunity to enjoy a casual picnic before heading back to home base for the evening.

Once the sun went down, the cult movie Dirty Mary Crazy Larry was played at a makeshift drive-in movie theatre within the vines at Te Kairanga winery.

As would happen each day of the event, the next morning’s meet-up at the rugby grounds saw far more cars present than the day before. This time around, the convoy — by now numbering around 250 cars — headed through the equally interesting towns of Greytown and Carterton before pulling into Masterton. The first destination was The Farriers Bar and Eatery, where the cavalcade pulled into the car park, providing an impressive car show for the locals, many of who remarked on how impressed they were at the variety of vehicles on display. That sentiment was echoed by a number of participants throughout the event, with not only American and Australian vehicles making up the numbers but also a range of rare and exotic European machinery. In fact, as long as it’s cool,

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Special Feature

The Cars of Tom Morland

TOM MORLAND IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE UNSUNG HEROES OF THE NEW ZEALAND CAR SCENE; HIS ACHIEVEMENTS ARE IMPRESSIVE TO THIS DAY WORDS AND PHOTOS: PATRICK HARLOW

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first met Tom Morland in 1987, during the Nissan Mobil 500 race in Wellington. One of the sheds on the waterfront had been set up for a car show, and Tom was there with a white Pontiac Firebird. Being a great fan of the movie Smokey and the Bandit, I was sufficiently intrigued to ask him how much effort it had been to convert the Firebird to right-hand drive. At that point, I discovered that it had not been so much converted as re-created! We then had a long chat about how easy it is to make a Pontiac Firebird out of an HQ Holden.

A couple of years later, when I was in Christchurch, I took the opportunity to visit Tom’s St Asaph Street shop/factory and was amazed to discover that, along with the Firebird, he was also making Corvette and De Tomaso Pantera replicas.

Right from the start, I told Tom that I was a tyre-kicker, not a buyer. The energy of the man was amazing; he could not sit still. I was there only five minutes before he gave me a grand tour of the factory.

In the early ’90s, Tom suffered a setback when his factory caught fire and he suffered severe burns to his back and smoke inhalation.

These injuries added to other severe health issues with which he was already afflicted, such as a dose of cyanide poisoning and a back damaged by a fall some years earlier. The cyanide poisoning occurred when, as a young man, Tom had thought himself invincible and failed to take the proper precautions when spray painting cars with the new two-pack paints that were arriving on the scene, thus permanently damaging his lungs.

After the fire, Tom went to Australia and was away from New Zealand for a number of years.

For some reason, most people who have lived in Christchurch eventually return to the place —

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maybe because it has one of the best climates of any New Zealand city or because of its charm?

Whatever the reason, I managed to track Tom down in 2009; he had returned to Christchurch a few years earlier. I found him tinkering in his huge shed, recovering from a heart operation during which he had been the first person to receive a newly developed heart valve.

As I entered Tom’s shed, I thought I must have died and gone to a car builder’s heaven. Hanging

from the ceiling was the fibreglass body of a Lamborghini, waiting for the day when Tom would get around to finishing it. In another corner was a De Tomaso replica that had, at one stage, been roadworthy but had suffered the indignity of becoming a parts bin for whatever project Tom was working on at the time. Also scattered around were several Jaguar XJSs in various states of assembly — it was a very big shed. At that time,

Tom’s main source of income was from building replica Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) Jaguars.

Outside the shed, under tarpaulins, sat the moulds for a Lamborghini and a De Tomaso.

After spending only 10 minutes with Tom, two things became very apparent: first, he made friends very easily, and, second, he made the most brilliant coffee sweetened with honey. I had nothing else to do that day, so listened while Tom told me his story.

Christchurch born and raised, Tom had been a petrolhead for as long as he could remember. One of his favourite muscle cars was the Pontiac Firebird. That car, he believed, was one of the best-looking cars that GM ever produced, and was streets ahead of the ‘bland’ Holden Monaro that finished production in the late 1970s.

However, after owning four Firebirds, Tom was frustrated with the cost of buying and owning an American car, especially in comparison with the cost of an Australian Monaro. He loved driving the Firebird but was not so fond of its left-hand-drive shortcomings.

On a whim, Tom took a set of moulds off one of the 1970s (second-generation) Firebirds that he owned and built his first fibreglass car, using a shortened Holden ute chassis. The result drew a lot of attention on the road — so much so that Tom decided to put it into production. However, he didn’t want to use a ute chassis again because of the amount of space it took up in the cabin. Research revealed that the same GM team that had been involved in the Firebird had also been involved in designing the chassis of the new Holden HQ — Tom was back in business!