NZV8 155 02032018 preview

MUSCLE CAR MADNESS, REBEL ROUND UP, HIBISCUS RODDERS OREWA BEACH FESTIVAL IHRA AUCKLAND INVASION, HANMER SPRINGS MOTORFEST, ENZED CMC ROUNDS COVERAGE

ISER

RNED

TU HACK Y L I FAM

RU WN C O L B FULL

MUSCLE CAR MADNESS

APR. 2018 ISSUE 155

416803 510003

$10.99

9

GOLD CLASS

IS THIS NZ’S FINEST STREET ROD?

S U

N

D A Y S

GONE POSTAL

MUSCLE GARAGE

MEGA-CUBE DODGE DART

O

N

contents APRIL 2018

24

WARHORSE

THE TOUGHEST UTE IN TOWN THE cars

32 APHRODISIAC — ELITE-LEVEL STREET ROD

52 CONSPIRACY THEORY — MEGA-CUBE DODGE DART 82 TYRE-FRYER — WRITE-OFF TO BOOSTED BEAST 110 PURE HELL — THE NAME SAYS IT ALL

52 6

themotorhood.com

44 THE events

44 HOT AND BOTHERED — MUSCLE CAR MADNESS 74 NORTHERN INCURSION — IHRA AUCKLAND INVASION

78 COASTAL TREASURE — HIBISCUS RODDERS OREWA BEACH FESTIVAL 90 REBEL YELL — REBEL ROUND UP 94 CAN'T TOUCH THIS — HANMER SPRINGS MOTORFEST 118 THE PERFECT SET-UP — ENZED CENTRAL MUSCLE CARS ROUND SIX 122 TITLE FIGHT — ENZED CENTRAL MUSCLE CARS ROUND SEVEN

74

10

THE other stuff

SPECIAL features

66 DOWN-UNDER THUNDER —

THE MAN BEHIND AEROFLOW OUTLAW NITRO FUNNY CARS

102 DREAM SHED — IMPORT GOLD

66

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 60 AEROFLOW RACE DIARY 62 DRAGGED UP 64 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

themotorhood.com

7

feature car

24

1970 Ford XW Falcon

themotorhood.com

WARHORSE IMAGINE DAD’S OLD UTE, BUT TURNED UP TO 11 — YOU’D PROBABLY END UP WITH SOMETHING LIKE JAMES TAYLOR’S BLOWN-AND-INJECTED WORKHORSE-TURNED-WARHORSE! WORDS: CONNAL GRACE PHOTOS: ADAM CROY

themotorhood.com

25

feature car

1933 Ford roadster

A P H

Rod

I S I A C

DESPITE ITS LOOKS, THIS ’33 ISN’T SOME FRESH IMPORT STRAIGHT OFF THE AMERICAN SHOW CIRCUIT — IT’S AN ALL-KIWI HAND-BUILT WORK OF ART! WORDS: CONNAL GRACE PHOTOS: ADAM CROY

32

themotorhood.com

themotorhood.com

33

Event Report

Trillo Metals Muscle Car Madness

HOT BOTHERED AND

WORDS AND PHOTOS: ROD DUNN

IF GRUMPY V8S AND LOADS OF SUNSHINE ARE WHAT TICKLES YOUR FANCY, THE INFAMOUS MUSCLE CAR MADNESS IS JUST THE PARTY FOR YOU!

I

f there were any doubts about the popularity of Muscle Car Madness, held in January each year, or whether it had the right recipe for a great event, then you can rest assured that the doubts were put aside after this year’s event, which marked 28 years of automotive excess.

With camping numbers reaching 1400, and show entries topping 1500, this year’s Trillo Metals Muscle Car Madness (MCM) promised a huge four days. It delivered. There really aren’t a lot of car events around the country that can compare to this, thanks mostly to its camping and cruising aspect.

44

themotorhood.com

With camping set-up starting at 8am on Thursday, the cruise out to Ashley Gorge on Friday, and the usual show and shine over the weekend, the calendar of events was similar to that of previous years, so, rather than just write the same type of story, we decided to go to the people: the campers, the entrants, and the people who make Madness what it is, to try to get some answers as to just what makes this event so popular, and what makes people keep coming back — not just those here in the South Island, but entrants who travel from the North Island and from overseas to attend.

Graham and Sonya Coates are Rangiora locals but spent the weekend camping here, as they have done in previous years. This year saw them with a trio of cars parked up on display. First in the line-up was their cool-looking 1928 Model A roadster, running a small block Chev. Next to it was Graham’s beautiful ’48 Chev pickup, which was seen for the first time at last year’s event and features many ’50s-inspired custom touches, with a very George Barris flavour to it. Last in the line-up was the ’39 Ford Deluxe, modified — just like the others — far beyond what originally rolled off the production line

While walking the campsites on Friday, we ran into Ian Paki, a local Cantab, who is no stranger to NZV8, having had both his shed and his orange Camaro featured. We asked Ian how many years he had been coming — “I’ve been to all 28 events. It started for me way back in ’91, when my HQ was at the auto sparky. Someone put a note on it telling me to come out to Muscle Car Madness at Rangiora,” he recalls.

Gerry Power was up from Ashburton for the weekend, and staying as a camper. We caught up with him early on Sunday morning while he was getting his immaculate Valiant Charger R/T replica ready for viewing

themotorhood.com

45

feature car

52

1968 Dodge Dart

themotorhood.com

C o n s p i r a c y

THE CAR MAY HAVE FOUGHT AGAINST HIM FOR THE DURATION OF THE BUILD, BUT JOHN MARSTON KNEW THE ROAD TO PERFECTION WOULD NEVER BE AN EASY ONE, EVEN WITH A CAR THAT HE’D NEVER PLANNED TO BUILD! WORDS: TODD WYLIE PHOTOS: ADAM CROY

A

nyone who’s committed to a car build knows just how often things can go wrong. Whether or not we admit it to ourselves, it’s all part of what we sign up for when embarking on a project. As the old saying goes, ‘If it were easy, everyone would do it.’

What sets John Marston’s 1968 Dodge Dart twodoor post build apart isn’t just that everything went

wrong — multiple times, in fact — but the fact that the whole build kicked off completely unexpectedly.

Having previously had Matamata Panelworks rebuild a 1966 Mustang to concours condition — a rebuild that would see it win Best Hardtop in its class at the 2007 National Mustang convention — John’s no stranger to monumental builds. That said, the Mustang was a car that he’d specifically set his

sights on and hunted for. The Dodge, on the other hand, was all the doing of his ever-tolerant, and clearly very loving, wife, Carol.

John explains the situation by stating, “It all started in November 2010, when I was working and saw a recovery truck with what looked like a blue Dodge on the deck pull up at our house. It turned out that my lovely wife had purchased and imported it

themotorhood.com

53

from the States without my knowledge. Needless to say, I was blown away. She knew [that] I wanted another car, but for something this cool just to show up on my doorstep was truly amazing.”

Carol thought the car would keep John occupied and out of trouble for a while — and she was right — but little did even she imagine it’d be a full seven years and plenty of heartbreak before the real fun could begin.

“The original plan was to spend a modest budget and build a bit of a skid car — and then the runaway train left the station,” John now laughs, looking back. With a car as tidy as he’s created, it’s clear that things seriously changed along the way.

It all started with the stock six-cylinder motor being pulled out and the car being dropped to a local panel shop. The plan was to spruce up the engine bay and give the body a quick going over.

However, it wasn’t long before any thoughts of frying tyres were extinguished, as the work that

54

themotorhood.com