Brothers in arms

Back in the 1970s, Peter Gething spent a lot of his time building and modifying custom cars. Not all of it, though, because in addition to things like a C-Cab called Temptation, he also emerged from that era as the father of two sons, Jody and Niki.

It was when Jody, his eldest, came along that Peter decided it was time for

Words and pics: Steve Edwards

a more sensible form of transport. So he bought a 1947 Bentley Mk6. Which maybe wasn’t quite as sensible as it first appeared, because from there the cars kept on coming and going – until finally he settled on a yellow Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II, which turned out to be a keeper.

Hardly surprisingly, car shows were a regular part of Jody and Niki’s childhood. As they grew up, Peter took them to arious e ents – he was a regular at the Bowling Green meets in Lichfield, where at the age of around fourteen Jody got the chance to ride in a Ford Pop belonging to one of his dad’s friends.

Safe to say it was one of THOSE moments. The kind that define your future path in life. Jody was smitten – and he declared then and there that one day, he would have one of his own.

For Niki, the appeal of owning a hot rod came a long time later. Having grown up, he went through a string of fast, high-end luxury cars – indeed, when he eventually went out and purchased a Pop it came as something of a surprise to his family. But he also bought a 2005

V8 Mustang for his wife Beverley, so he still has a foot in both camps.

It might come as a surprise, then, that it’s Jody whose Anglia has a V8 on board. That’s hardly the point, though. The brothers invariably cruise to shows and events together; they feel that owning

Jody’s experience of modified motors started early in life. His second ever car was a Ford Prefect 107e with a 2.0-litre Pinto engine, which served as his daily driver.

Although it was very cool, however, the Prefect didn’t sxratch that itch he had for the sit-up-and-beg style of a hot rod. He’d seen a 1953 Ford Anglia locally and asked the owner if he could have first refusal if he ever decided to sell, and the call eventually came a few years later.

As it happened, the call coincided with Jody and his wife Glynis saving up for the deposit on a house. Obviously, the house purchase was put off for a while. Priorities, right? Glynis is a very understanding person, to be sure.

The Anglia already had a desirable Jag back end and Viva HB front suspension set-up, and there was a 2293cc Cortina

Painting the Anglia took forever and a day, and however much time went into it was nothing compared to the amount of masking tape Jody and Peter got through in the process of achieving the 90s-style image Jody was after. Frenched rear lights have a very 90s look, too, as do the blue dots in the taillamp lenses. Wheels are 13” Cobra Super Sports up front (seen here) and 15” Wolfrace American Racing slot mags at the back, all wrapped in pro le ru er

these cars has brought them closer and they’re grateful to have created so many memories with their dad.

They both acknowledge they would never have been able to complete either of the projects without his expertise, nor of course the patience and support of their families.

Even now, Peter and the boys’ mum always follow along in the Rolls-Royce on the way to shows. Told you it was a keeper. He loves watching people’s reaction as they pass, which always makes him extremely proud, and of course travelling in convoy is always a Thanks to KD Car Modz for the use of their building as a location for our photos. They’re based in Stoke on Trent; you can find them at www.kdcarmodz.co.uk

When Jody bought the Anglia, it was powered by the V6 from a 2.3-litre Cortina. All very well, but he wanted a V8 and as time went on, he started to lose interest. Fortunately, one of his mates cropped up in the nick of time with the 289 he was fetching out of his Mustang to make way for a i loc n eepin with the s theme he le t the en ine alone inside ut threw as much chrome at is as he could nd ottom he interior eatures ol swa en ront seats and an e tremely cool ame e ect dash oard n the ac the ells a oppin moti was added in honour of Jody’s grandad, who made it home from WWII despite having to escort a lorry load of ammo in the Egyptian desert

V6 lurking under the hood. But Jody had always wanted a V8 motor and when a mate said he was taking the 289 out of his Mustang to install a big block, it was exactly what he needed to take his project to the next level.

The engine couldn’t have come at a better time, as Jody was beginning to lose interest. But the prospect of the rumble that only a V8 can give revived the appeal. He installed it with help from his friend Baz, keeping the internals stock but dressing up the outside with as many chrome parts as he could get his hands on. The overall theme was to recreate the look of a rod that had been built during the 90s, so the bling was certainly appropriate.

On the interior, the rod features a cool 3D flamed dashboard that has a bunch of Equus gauges and switches sunk into it. The front seats are Volkswagen items, while the rears are from a Ford Ka (Niki had found that these fitted in his Pop with the minimum of modification, and if a thing ain’t broke…) The fronts don’t fold but that wasn’t an inconvenience for kids Ed and Dylan who were always happy to climb in anyway.

Jody has had his Anglia for a bit more than a couple of decades now. The ‘Hells a Poppin’ legend was added to the boot in honour of his grandad, as they had found a picture of him when he served in the Army with a lorryload of ammunition near the pyramids in Egypt and that’s what was written on side. Grandad had explained that that’s what would have happened if the truck went up!

The rod sits on the wheels it came with, which are 13” Cobra Super Sports up front and 15” Wolfrace American Racing Slot Mags at the back. They’re wrapped in 60-series rubber to fill the wheel wells as much as possible.

There’s a host of custom touches around the vehicle from the subtle, nearly flush front indicators to the frenched rear lights, complete with blue dots in the red lenses, and of course there’s that superb paint job that Jody and Peter completed together. It took ages, Jody says, and countless rolls of masking tape, to get the look he wanted, as they completed one side first and, once he was completely happy, mirrored the design before Peter laid down multiple layers of pearl paint in the period-correct style.

Worth all the effort? Well, just LOOK at it…

Imagine Peter’s surprise when his younger son Niki, who had until then always preferred fast, modern cars, announced that he fancied buying himself a Pop. Admittedly, he had always modified those other cars, lowering their suspension and generally making them look cooler and go faster than ever, but an old hot rod? This was a turn up for the book. And a good one at that!

He had seen an iconic looking rod on Facebook which already had a Jag rear axle, an HA Viva front and a 2.8-litre Ford Cologne V6 installed. Good specs, those, but it was definitely what you’d call a project, with a load of rust needing to be dealt with before it would be in any condition to hit the streets once more.

It’s when you look at the Pop’s paintwork that you see just how talented Niki’s dad Peter really is. A local paint shop gave the car its base coat of purple ut a ter that eter stepped in with a li eral supply o iolet and elly reen metal a e to i e it its nal appearance n the oot lid meanwhile, there’s some very nifty airbrush work by… Peter again. The red light under the back axle was none of his doing, but it screams 70s at the top of its voice and that was his era so decide for yourself…

The Pop came into Niki’s life with a 2.8-litre Cologne V6 under its bonnet, an HA Viva front clip and a Jag rear axle. It also came complete with a shed load of rust, but that’s another story ottom ord a leather seats is a phrase you don t hear e ery day ut that s what i i trac ed down to t in the op oth ront and rear are rom the u i uitous city car and they went in with minimal modi cation lsewhere the ca in continues to ollow the whole s theme i i was oin or with the build – as does the rear door card, which he formed from four-way stretch carpet over foam cut out to create a 3D Joker logo

In fact, when Niki went to collect the Pop he decided that rather than taking it home straight away, he’d be better off playing it safe and dropping it off at his Dad’s so his wife wouldn’t see the state it was in. He and Peter also took the dramatic step of grabbing a couple of matt black rattle cans to disguise the worst of it until proper repairs could be made!

Unfortunately for Peter, the only garage available to do any work in was the one that housed his precious Roller. This now had to be parked outside while they worked on the Pop – in all weathers, up to and including when it snowed.

The car is known as The Joker, a nickname it pretty much gave itself as, while Peter and Niki were chasing wires around the place, they discovered that they kept changing colours. It was madness and just a little messed up, as if the car was having fun with them.

Niki decided to have the car painted in Beverley’s favourite colour of purple but wanted to drop a load of metalflake into

the mix too. He got a local paint shop on the case, but it was Peter who laid down the violet and Kelly green flake to finish it off. He was also responsible for the airbrushing on the side-opening boot lid; a man of many talents for sure.

Niki always liked the look of 70s-style hot rods and so that’s exactly what he set out to create with the Pop, from the fur headlining all the way through to the red lights above the rear axle. When it came to putting some seats in it, he went looking for some that were small enough to fit without too much modification, a search which led him to a set from a Ford Ka. These could fold forward so his kids, Ellie Mae and Jayden, were easily

able to get in the back, and in defiance of everything most people think they know about the Ka they were trimmed in leather.

In the boot, Niki used some fourway stretch carpet to create a unique 3D door card featuring the Joker logo created out of foam. Definitely going for it with the theme there. As the build progressed, he also found himself with a full set of electric windows looking for a home – so he gave them to Jody as a birthday gift, complete with motors and a template from his car. What were we saying about this being a family affair…?