Custom Car January 2026 by Assignment Media Ltd

Brian Crawford’s traditional-style fenderless coupe is the realisation of a lifetime’s longing

PLUS ‘55 GMC rescued from a ﬁery grave by Bomber County Classics and brought back to life in better shape than ever

News & reviews

Inductive

TAll pics: Julian Hunt

he 2025 British Drag Racing Hall of Fame Gala Awards Dinner took place in November at the Oatlands Park Hotel in Weybridge, Surrey. Five new members of the HoF were inducted, and the 2025 Stuart Bradbury Junior Drag Racing Awards were presented.

Special guests attending the event included Hugh Chambers, CEO of MotorsportUK, and his wife Elisabeth, and from America, Doug and Mimi Herbert and their daughter Carly.

A pre-dinner drinks reception was hosted by Santa Pod Raceway, the occasion marked

www.customcarmag.co.uk

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EDITORIAL

Group Editor: Alan Kidd

editorial@pistonpublications.co.uk

Art Editor: Ian Denby-Jones

Contributors

Dave Biggadyke, Mike Pye, Keith Lee, James Webber, Olly Sack, Dan Fenn, Tony Thacker, Mick Anderson

Photographers

Julian Hunt, Vic Peel, Harry Hamm, Richard Hair

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with a static display of historic Top Fuel Bikes: The Hobbit of John Hobbs, the Ian Messenger/Derek Chinn Pegasus and the late TC Christenson’s Hogslayer from America. The three bikes were provided courtesy of the National Motorcycle Museum. www.britishdragracinghof.co.uk

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Where a photo credit includes the note ‘CC BY 2.0’ or similar, the image is made available under that Creative Commons licence: details at www.creativecommons.org

2025 inductees

A: Jon Webster, racer and racecar constructor, and current Pro Mod campaigner

B: Kathy Taylor, race Secretary, club administrator, and Dragbike sponsor

C: Keith Lee, photographer, commentator, historian, and CC contributor

D: Kenny Coleman, racer, class promoter, engine builder, and analyst

E: Nigel Patrick, champion Dragbike racer, engineer, and innovator

Junior Dragster champion Luke Mugridge and runner-up Chevrolet Checkett

Junior Dragbike champion Leah Morrison and runner-up Declan Butt

John Force appeared on-screen to offer ‘Spuff’ his congratulations

2024 inductee and former Funny Car champion John Spuffard, who was unable to attend last year’s Gala, was honoured and presented with his Bootsie this year instead

News & reviews

Something for the weekend?

Turkey time

The 2025 Cold Turkey Run to Cromer, Norfolk, takes place on Saturday 27 December. Once again there are three different starting points all leading to the same destination, with a scheduled arrival time around 11-11.30am.

The ﬁ rst of these is Krazy Horse in Bury St Edmunds (IP32 6NU). The cruisers will head off from here at 9.30am, travelling along the A11, the Norwich NDR and then the A140 to Cromer. Should anyone wish to tag on to the end of the convoy from Norwich, gather at the lay-by on the NDR at the bottom of the airport.

Another meeting point is on the seafront at Great Yarmouth,

The dating game

from where the cruise will depart at 10.00am and head along the A149 to Cromer.

The third meeting point is Peterborough McDonald’s in Eye Green, PE6 7TN, leaving at 9.00am and travelling along the A47. The cruise will pause for 10 minutes at around 9.45am at Sainsbury’s in Kings Lynn to allow others to join in. The ﬁ nal leg will then be along the A148 to Cromer.

All three cruises will convene at the Runton Road car park, Cromer NR27 9PA. Free parking is available for qualifying vehicles, although a charity bucket for donations will be on hand. Beverages and hot food will be available at the on-site café and Cromer town centre is a 10-minute walk away.

Last year’s Cold Turkey Run attracted 120 vehicles on what was a misty day. The organisers are hoping to top that this time – so over to you. Facebook: Bod Here

Bargain hunt

The 2026 NSRA Southern Swap Meet takes place on Sunday 8 March at North Weald Airﬁ eld,

While speciﬁc details have not yet been ﬁnalised, a few event dates for 2026 have been announced, so get them in your diaries now. • Due to Bisley hosting the 2026 World Shooting Championships, the Hot Rod Hayride is on Midsummer Weekend, 19-21 June, for one year only.

• The Sywell Classic: Pistons and Props will be held at Sywell Aerodrome on 26-27 September

• 11 October is the date for the Classic Car Restoration Show and Autojumble at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire

• Finally, after a few years’ hiatus, Whitby Kustom is back on Saturday 31 October – Halloween, of course

Merlin Way, Epping CM16 6HR.

The Fast Track Trader Gate opens at 7.30am, with pitch prices starting at just £20. The public gate opens at 9.30am. Admission costs £5 for NSRA members and £10 for non-members. www.nsra.org.uk

Seaside madness

Organised by the East Coast Pirates Car Club, the EAAA/ NBB Motor Madness Festival £1-a-wheel weekend show takes place in Great Yarmouth on 16-17 May. Among the hundreds of vehicles on display will be American cars, hot rods and street rods. Live music and a DJ will feature on both days, all set along Great

Yarmouth Seafront / Joyland American Diner. The show will run from 9.00am to 9.00pm on Saturday and 9.00am to 5.00pm on Sunday. Admission costs just £1 a wheel, with all proceeds going to the East Anglian Air Ambulance and Norfolk Blood Bikes.

Facebook: East Coast Pirates Car Club

It’s a classic Rutland Showground in Oakham plays host to Classic Wheels on Sunday 17 May. The last staging saw more than 1000 vehicles on display alongside the autojumble stands, and the organisers plan to exceed that number in 2026. There will also be food and craft stalls, live music, children’s entertainment and club displays. Advance tickets are priced at £12.50 per person, with under-15s being admitted for free. All online bookings are subject to a booking fee. www.classicwheelsrutland. co.uk

Under the hammer

These are just ﬁve of the cars that featured in the Historics Auction at Brooklands at the end of November. We wonder if any CC readers were among the winning bidders? www.historics.co.uk

Celebrating 74 years

Stop by showroomthe today to check it out.

RAISED WHITE LETTER TYRES 13”-15” MOST SIZES IN STOCK NARROW BAND, WHITEWALLS 13’-15”

Nick Butler-built Wolfrace Sonic. Hammer price £41,184

George Barris-built Sidewinder Trike. Hammer price £18,876

John Dodd-built The Beast. Hammer price undisclosed

Steve Tansy’s The Pool Hustler. Hammer price £32,032

‘70s California Show Car Sand Draggin’. Hammer price £22,880

News & reviews

Cruising Porthcawl

Ifan Miller and Gary Morgan are once again organising a Car Cruise along the seafront at Porthcawl, South Wales. The date is Saturday 28 March, from 3.00pm until late evening, and American cars, hot rods and customs are all welcome. The cruise is supported by Swansea American Autos and Outcasts American and Hot Rods.

Facebook: Gary Morgan / Ifan Miller

Oval time

The Old Race #3 is billed as a rock ‘n’ roll and hot rod weekender. Staged in Clairmarais, France (around 40 miles from Calais), on 12-14 June, the dirt oval sessions are open to pre-’49 hot rods and motorcycles. For later model vehicles, a dedicated village is open to display pre-’65 rods and customs. The weekend offers live music, trade stands and food trucks. www.theoldrace.com

Sensing position

Webcon has added a Universal Throttle Position Sensor to its range of electronic fuel injection components. Boasting a rotation life of a massive 5 million full cycles, the sensor has a functional heat range of -40 to +155 degrees Centigrade and is fitted with a conventional 3-pin mini timer type connector to ensure compatibility with all major aftermarket engine management systems. The sensor is priced at £92.06 including VAT. www.webcon.co.uk

Ready set

The pre-set torque wrenchwheel brace from Laser Tools is calibrated to a precise 120Nm. Engineered specifically for tightening wheel nuts and bolts, this factory-set tool consistently delivers uniform torque. Supplied with a double-ended 17mm / 19mm single hex (6pt) flip socket, the wrench features a ½-inch drive enabling the correct size socket for the vehicle’s wheel nuts can be easily fitted. www.lasertools.co.uk

Low profile

Webcon’s low-profile Weber DCOE Throttle Linkage System offers an alternative to the renowned Mangoletsi linkage that went out of production in 2021. Manufactured from clear anodised billet aluminium, ensuring outstanding longevity, it is ideal for anyone installing single or twin Weber DCOE carburettors in a height-restricted application. Supplied complete with male and female throttle levers, the linkage is priced at £185.86 including VAT. www.webcon.co.uk

Date switch

(with image Hot Rod Rumble)

The dates for the Hot Rod Rumble at The Camp in Ramsay have changed to 5-7 June 2026. Full details to follow.

www.hotrodrumble.co.uk

Spring times

Velocity Spring Drags will be staged at Manston Raceway Park on Easter weekend, 3-6 April. The weekend offers three full days of racing and tickets for both racers and spectators can now be purchased online. www.velocityvintagedrags. racing / Facebook: Velocity Vintage Drags

Force bows out

Following a serious crash over a year ago, 16-time Funny Car Champion John Force has announced his retirement from racing. Brittany Force, Austin Prock and Jack Beckman will continue to drive as before for John Force Racing.

We wish John all the best for his retirement.

Brotherly weekend

V8 Brothers Village #14 takes place on 3-5 July at Kasteeldomein Dominiek Savio, Koolskampstraat 24, Belgium. The weekend offers live music, a flea market, kustom art and on-site camping. The venue is approximately 100 miles from Calais. www.v8brothers.be

Seeing the light

The new under-bonnet compact work lamp from Laser Tools features angle-adjustable magnetic end mounts, dual hanging hooks, and a selectable infra-red ‘wave’ sensor, and promises true hands-free convenience. With two brightness settings, the lamp provides broad, bright illumination along with a long run time and fast recharge. www.lasertools.co.uk

Added dates

After careful and fruitful negotiations, Manston Airport has generously offered more dates for the 2026 No Prep race season at Manston Raceway Park. There are far too many dates to list here, but the meetings begin with the Season Opener on 21-22 March and finish with the Halloween Special on 31 October – 1 November. Full details of the meetings can be found on the Manston Raceway Park Facebook page.

New developments for next year’s race season include free entry for all the No Prep Race Classes – just pay the RWYB / Track Fee and you’re good to go. Trophies will be presented regardless of car count, and courtesy of the class sponsors, prize money payouts will be offered to 16-car minimum fields.

Facebook: Manston Raceway Park.

Universal Polyurethane Products for your Custom Build

Patience is a virtue, and that’s exactly what you need when building a period-correct hot rod. That, and the knack of being in the right place at the right time when sourcing rare parts

Words: Dave Biggadyke Pics: Alan Kidd

With thanks to: Thornton Manor Country Estate (thorntonmanor.co.uk) for the photoshoot location

This is how the coupe looked quite a few years ago, shortly after it arrived on these shores

“Welding previously done on the body was not up to scratch”

It is often said that your teenage years are the most formative, and that is certainly true when it comes to a young Brian Crawford. In 1970, aged just 14, he spotted a Ford Mustang in a local car sales showroom. Its alloy wheels were wrapped in eye-catching white lettered tyres and Brian was instantly smitten. He

visited that showroom after school every day just to stand and stare at the car – until, much to his dismay, a couple of weeks later it disappeared.

That brief encounter had, however, been enough to germinate the automotive seed that was implanted in his psyche. And a year or so later, before he was old enough to

apply for a driving licence, he bought his ﬁrst car. It was a Ford Squire 100E that cost the princely sum of £4 and, with a nod to the life of hot rodding Brian was destined to enjoy, he removed the front springs.

Well, he was still young.

That ﬂing with the Squire never became a long-term affair, with Brian instead getting

The twin Stromberg 97 carbs are topped off with Edmunds air filters. The firewall-mounted Beehive oil filter is a repro; Brian made the oil filter tube himself, out of an adjustable leg from the bottom of a scaffold pole. Proper old school hot rodding, eh?

The rebuilt French Flathead features an ISKY Max #1 camshaft, a lightened and balanced ﬂywheel by Jim Turnbull, new old stock Edmunds heads and an Edmunds racing intake. Ancillaries include a modiﬁed Lucas C40 dynamo with chrome plated housing, an ali fan blade and Red’s headers, which feed a stainless steel exhaust system

Linked to the Lucas dynamo is a new old stock SHURHIT Products externally adjustable voltage regulator mounted on the ﬁrewall

The rear spreader bar is repro stainless steel, while the unusual choice rear lights are the real deal. Now fully restored with rechromed trim, they were originally ﬁtted on a 1930’s Chrysler DeSoto Airﬂow

into the local scooter scene. But following that dalliance with two wheels, he returned to cars during what he refers to as the jack-up kit resurgence years. The Hillman Avenger that ensued was de rigueur for the period – porthole windows, metalﬂake paint, alloy wheels and, of course, a jack-up kit.

Things got somewhat more down to earth after that when Brian decided that Ford Pops were the way to go. He rented a garage with his good friend Roy Jones and quite a few examples of this county’s home-produced hot rodders’ favourite tin occupied space in it over the years.

But as people mature, so do their tastes, and one of those Pops was maybe an indication of what lay in store for Brian in the years ahead. Still on the scene today, its spec sheet had a traditional slant rather than the drop-in-a-Rover-V8 approach, as most people opted for back then. Instead, Brian went down the route of a sidevalve engine ﬁtted with a Shorrocks supercharger and

“Hankered after building a ’50s-style fenderless hot rod”motorway speeds”

Headlights are restored 1935 Packard Junior units, while the spreader bar is a stainless steel repro. The vintage Eeelco fuel tank is an original, plumbed in for looks not functionality

Bristol fashion

Bristol-based hot rod builder Jerry Denning not only replaced the dubiously installed sub rails but also lovingly massaged the Henry Ford body to its former glory. Unsurprisingly, the original steel had suffered the ravages of time and numerous repair panels needed to be grafted in. All the structural wood inside the body was replaced with new timber, too

Aquaplane heads. True old-school power boosting at its best.

Original influence

While that may have been a step in the right direction, for a long time Brian had hankered after building a ’50s-style fenderless hot rod. That became a possibility 15 years ago, when fellow hot rodder Gary McCormack told him of a steel ’32 coupe that had come up for sale. Having been running round in it for a while, Kerry Tate had decided the time had come to move it on and Brian and Gary paid him a visit to take a look.

“Back then, Kerry was running the Originals Hot Rod Supply Company and the car was tucked away in the corner of his shop, meaning we couldn’t get a proper look around it,” Brian recalled. “It was a desirable 3-window though, the true holy grail, and you know they don’t come up for sale that often, especially in

the UK.” The coupe was running a Flathead, the wheels wore whitewall tyres and despite the limited access for viewing, Brian bought it on the spot.

With that, his liaison with Ford Pops became a thing of the past. “When I got it home, we wife Angela asked if I was going to use it as it was. Of course, I replied. Then I immediately went into the garage and took it apart. Some 13 years later, it re-emerged just how I wanted it to be.”

Brian soon discovered that welding previously done on the body was not up to scratch. In particular, the sub rails had been attached on top of those already there. Wanting things to be done correctly, he enlisted the services of the maestro known as Jerry Denning to put that right.

Inevitably, when work began, further areas in need of TLC were uncovered. Nothing Jerry couldn’t handle, though.

Meanwhile, Gary McCormack jigged the chassis before that also headed down Bristol

“The rod and cable brakes were upgraded to later model hydraulics”

way and ended up in Jerry’s workshop. Replacement body panels were welded in, all the internal wood was replaced and the coupe returned to Brian with the restored body bolted on to the chassis.

Braking news

His ﬁrst job after that was to get the body and chassis painted. This job was tackled at Gary McCormack’s works, and it was then down to Brian to reassemble the

The boot is home to the battery and a ﬁre extinguisher, but not the fuse box

With the coupe’s simple, clean lines and Brian’s dedicated attention to detail, the look is spot on whatever angle the car is viewed from

Assembly line

With the body and chassis painted, Brian set about reassembling the rolling chassis with his mindset ﬁrmly planted in the ‘50s. WhilE the chassis rails weren’t fully boxed, Gary McCormack did add strengthening plates to a section at the rear. All the original suspension and steering components were repurposed, with the exception of the brakes and rear axle, although their replacements were not exactly modern

running gear in the warmth and comfort of his own garage.

On the face of it, the coupe is pretty much stock mechanically. But this is a hot rod, remember, and appearances can be deceptive. The front axle has been dropped, for instance, and the rear switched for a later one from a ’34 Ford.

Axle location from springs to wishbones is all original, as is the steering, with every component having been refurbished and painted. Brian did make a concession with the shock absorbers in the quest for improved ride quality, ﬁtting aftermarket chrome units up front and early Mini jobs out back.

For improved stopping power, the rod and cable brakes were upgraded to later model hydraulics with Buick drums at the front and ’40 Ford at the rear. The gearbox was switched for a 3-speed from a ’39 Ford and Brian purchased a

French Flathead from a guy in Preston, for the princely sum of £450.

Brian tackled the electrics using a kit from Down to Earth Auto Electrics and soldered every joint himself. His only regret is not mounting the fuse box in the boot, as it would be far easier to access than where it is now under the dashboard.

The coupe came with an already ﬁtted unknown-origin bench seat, but Brian knew that undertaking the upholstery himself was a step too far. Instead, he called upon the services of Premier Auto Trim in Wigan.

Conversely, Brian was very hands-on when it came to sourcing the gauges. Well, ﬁngers on actually. Adamant that they were all to be original, dating back to the ‘40s and ‘50’s, he trawled eBay at six o’clock every morning before heading off to work to check if any had been listed. Five or six years later, he had a full set. That’s what you call dedication to the cause.

“It begins to scream at anything like motorway speeds”

Brian and his wingman, Roy, cruising the grounds of Thornton Manor Country Estate

The under-dash panel is home to four oldschool Stewart Warner gauges with bevelled glass, and they all work just as they should. Set into the ali dash panel, which Brian had made locally to his own spec, is a genuine Stewart Warner Police Spec speedo. The handbrake lever is ’32 Ford and the gear shifter is topped off with an Edmunds knob

Reliability came first with a couple of components, however, with Brian fitting a repro petrol tank and Beehive oil filter rather than trusting 90-plus-year-old originals. Since he first got the coupe on the road, which was a couple of years ago now, Brian

Visible through the spokes of the repro ’32 Ford steering wheel is a 1950s’ vintage Stewart Warner crankshaft-driven tacho. Mounted on the coupe’s original steering column is a period Signal-Stat indicator switch, and under the dash is a bank of repro retro-style switches

has clocked up quite a few miles in the locale. “Although it drives quite nicely, it’s not really suited to long-distance cruising,” he conﬁded. “The 3.50:1 gears in the back axle mean it begins to scream at anything like motorway speeds.

Paint is off-the-shelf Taxi Black and the red-painted ’40 Ford steel wheels, enhanced with trim rings and Ford script hubcaps, wear Firestone whitewalls. Brian ﬁtted new glass and seals all round

“I love it just as it is, though. It’s the ’50s style rod that I’ve craved for a long time and I’ve no plans to change anything.

“Besides, I’ve just bought a Fordson as my next project.” Maybe Brian isn’t entirely over the thing he had for Ford Pops after all… CC

Thanks to Roy Jones for all his help along the way, Paul the lathe, my nephew Lee for general help and being a dogsbody, and my wife Angela for all her support.

Bummer Nationals

This issue of CC hits the shelves just before the shortest day of the year. So what could be more cheerful than a look back to the Summer Nationals, when the weather was… oh.

The teams came from far and wide to do battle in 12 different categories. And do battle they did, with qualifying complete and one early elimination round knocked over by the end of play on Saturday.

But then along came Sunday. Or Rainday, it would better have been called. The wet stuff started coming down literally seconds before racing was due to begin, and once it was set in it just kept coming. There was a brief moment of hope later in the morning as the clouds seemed to be clearing away and the endlessly patient Santa Pad track team got down to work – but no sooner had that first weather system finally

passed overhead than another one piled in behind it.

By now, the forecast was saying the rain might finally do one in time for racing to commence at about four in the afternoon. Which was about as much use as a concrete parachute when there was a whole day of eliminations still to run, so the organisers took the tough but inevitable decision to knock it on the head and let everyone

Sunday turned out to be a complete washout, despite the best efforts of the Santa Pod track team – ably assisted by a small army of volunteers. Some of these pictures illustrate just how much water there was to clear from the track – and they were well on the way to doing so, too, only for another band of cloud to blow in and start damping its contents where they weren’t welcome

get an early start on the run home.It was a rough deal for anyone planning to go there just for the Sunday. But at least the previous two days had yielded plenty of good racing among the cars and bikes alike. There’s not a lot of point in treating this as a normal event report, so let’s instead check out a few of the stories that cropped up while the track was still able to be used.

Last car out in Sportsman ET’s third qualifying round, and as it turned out full stop, was Steven Giles’ Subaru Forester. He was languishing in 31st at the green light – but 12.401 seconds later he had leapfrogged the entire ﬁeld to take top spot

A bump spot battle in Pro ET Q4 saw Simon Innes, David Rudd and John Bean all in jeopardy at one point or another. All three did manage to get in the show but the big mover late in qualifying was Brett Featherstone, a 9.1128 run on a 9.05 dial taking him to the safety of 27th place. He was cooking nicely in E1, too, aided by a Warren Watts breakout, but that was to be the last of the Pro ET action

Bernard Saz has been back at it this year a lengthy break, and the carbon ﬁbre Citroën DS body on his 540ci Super Pro ET machine looks nothing short of sensational. Mark Bailey’s ‘Cuda had the better of him in E1 but more to come, we suspect, from the man from Andorra

Proof that the sun did shine on Santa Pod earlier on in the Summer Nationals, as Jack McClure’s 100e and Amy Watkins’ Firebird launch hard in Q1 in this great shot by ace photographer Julian Hunt

Spot the difference. All-conquering six-time Super Comp champion Leah Kellett is famous for refusing to let breast cancer prevent her from racing. So losing the rear wing on Dolly Daydream wasn’t likely to get in the way. She was only placed sixth in qualifying, though, so perhaps there’d have been a rare chance for someone else to get a look in had the weather not put the mockers on it

Darren Dewhurst’s FWD Corsa was going well in Comp Eliminator qualifying, posting a PB in its ﬁnal run on Saturday afternoon. Who knows what Sunday might have brought?

Anthony Higgs is never far from the news in Street Eliminator. He was lying third after Q3, despite having just had his Capri try to overtake itself midway through his run. No such problems in Q4, however, when a faultless 7.2795 / 200.66 had him on top going into the show that never happened.

Below: A small ﬁeld of three Wild Bunch competitors lined up to do battle for the Summer Nationals honours, with Phil James the top qualiﬁer in his Rampage funny car

Chris Cresswell had a close one in Sportsman ET, keeping his Fiesta RS ahead of Jago Stokes by a mere 0.0107 to win their race in E1

Piggsy’s moment in Q3 was perfectly timed for Victoria Smith, who stormed into the lead with a new PB of 7.5917 / 197.09

Phoenix rising

An engine ﬁre could have killed the dream, but then Pete Dewson met Emma Evans. This is the result

Words: Mike Pye Pics: Alan Kidd

rising

What started out as a regular teal colour has been transformed into something altogether more exotic thanks to the addition of a bit of flake in the base and then four or five coats of kandy-laced clear over the top, plus a bit extra on some of the body lines for highlights, followed by another five coats of clear. And with that it became Phoenix Aquamarine

It’s fair to say that Pete Dewson’s story with this truck is one of highs and lows. Let’s just say there’s a reason why the custom paint colour is referred to as Phoenix Aquamarine. But we’ll come to that in a moment.

“I purchased my pick-up in late 2018, after dreaming of owning a 1955 GMC truck for a number of years,” Pete recalls. Why a ’55 GMC in particular? “It’s the GMC front end. That’s what I wanted. And it had to be a ’55, not a ’56 or a ’57.” The difference is negligible but there is a difference, and Pete was adamant. “I’ve got the truck I always wanted now, it’s just not the truck I bought!”

What Pete was looking for was a stock truck he could just get in and drive. So when he spotted what looked like a beautifully restored, turquoise and white ’55 advertised

on the internet, he hit the buy button and arranged to have it shipped to his home in north Lincolnshire.

“It arrived in January 2019, my beautiful, near original, 1955 GMC Deluxe Cab, all the way from New York. I was so excited to get behind the wheel and drive it.”

Van man

Reality kicked in pretty soon after that.

The vagaries of a 1950s’ steering box, cart springs all round and a 288ci V8 and HydraMatic ’auto made for an interesting drive, certainly compared to the more modern American machinery he and his wife Marie currently tool around in. “It was alright, but it was like driving a 1950’s pick-up,” says Pete, following it up with, “If you’ve ever driven a Mk1 Transit, that’s what it was like.”

The truck didn’t really need anything major, but Pete busied himself over the following couple of winters fettling it and having bits of chrome re-plated to enhance the original look. “I never thought about upgrading it, as I liked it how it was and wanted to keep it in its original condition.”

Here’s where the low comes in. “It was June 2024. I had just come back from American Speedfest and, as my truck was booked in for its MoT the following day, I decided to go and check it started okay. Unfortunately, the engine backfired through the carb and set fire to the oil-bath air filter. Very very quickly, the fire spread through the engine bay and, from there, up into the garage roof.”

Fortunately, between Pete and his hosepipe and the rapidly responding local

No body mods have been done whatsoever but the combination of custom colours, reduced ride height and whitewalls on polished American Racing wheels make the truck look a far cry from the restored stocker Pete started with. “It turns heads everywhere I go. Though that might have something to do with the noise it makes,” Pete adds, with a glint in his eye

Wheels are 18 x 7 and 18 x 8-inch Torque Thrust IIs with Diamond Back FT (ﬂamed tread) whitewall radials in 235/40-18 and 255/45-18 sizes. Look closely and you can see one of the electric cut outs in the stainless exhaust Pete made himself, which hooks up to eBaysourced Chinese block hugger headers

Right: wThe dash needed some work to fit the Vintage Air air-con kit Pete bought as it’s sold for a Chevy, not a GMC, and the dashes have subtly different profiles. Everything in the dash is new, from the Dolphin white-faced gauges, with GPS speedo, to the switchgear, polished tilt column, radio and wood-rimmed billet steering wheel. Pete was going to keep it column shift, but ended up going for a Lokar floor shifter to make life easier. It didn’t, he says…

ﬁre brigade, they managed to prevent further escalation. The front end of the truck, however, was toast.

“I learned a big lesson that day,” says Pete. “I’ve now got copious quantities on ﬁre extinguishers in all my garages!”

Salvage rights

The upshot of that dramatic episode was the truck being written off by Pete’s

“I learned a big lesson that day. I’ve now got copious quantities of fire extinguishers in all my garages!”

The so-called Confederate ﬂag (more correctly, the battle ﬂag of General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia) has come under intense scrutiny of late, but for Pete it’s just a symbol of his love for American country music. And The Dukes of Hazzard, of course

It goes without saying the seat needed a bit of TLC after the ﬁre and, keeping it in-house, Emma called on her wife Nicci at the recently established Bomber County Trimmers to do the honours

The build

Here’s the truck as Pete imported it from New York in 2018, with the Humber Bridge in the background. Back then, it still had its factory Pontiac 288ci V8 and Hydra-Matic transmission

Having decided to fix it, Pete entrusted the truck to Emma Evans at Bomber County Classics. Here it is in Emma’s old workshop at her parents’ place, where much of the early work was done

An engine fire in 2024 sealed the fate of the original running gear. Had it not been properly insured with Footman James, it could have sealed the fate of the truck, but Pete was able to buy the write-off back as salvage

Look past the soot and it doesn’t seem that bad, but the insurance assessor’s appraisal of the repair costs outweighed the agreed value at the time

And here it is in Bomber County’s vastly improved new premises in nearby Blyborough. That’s Emma’s own Rodshop-bodied Model A on the right, by the way

A last minute change of plan as Emma was poised with the paint gun saw the turquoise swapped for a teal blue / green colour…

…but Emma had plans, and added a few coats of blue kandy concentrate over the top, with additional highlights on some of the body lines, before starting the final rebuild. In all, the job took just six months, including moving workshops in the middle of it all!

insurance company, though he was able to negotiate buying it back for a nominal sum as salvage. It’s worth mentioning here that he was insured through Footman James: “They were brilliant to deal with. I can’t fault them at all.”

He did, however, then have a big decision to make. To sell what was left and buy a hot rod, or set about rebuilding the truck? “It wasn’t a hard decision to make, I just needed to find someone who could do the work.”

It was during a conversation with a friend that the names Emma Evans and Bomber County Classics came up. Emma is local to Pete, working at the time out of some rather

tired premises at her parents’ place, but her passion and enthusiasm for old cars and hot rods knows no bounds.

“I went to meet Emma to see if she would take on the project,” recalls Pete. “Thankfully, she was as keen as I was to bring the old truck back and, between us, we hatched a plan to upgrade it along the way.”

Emma takes up the tale: “Once we’d had a couple of meetings and I’d assessed the car, I went over to Pete’s house to remove the engine and ’box. Having decided we were going to fit an Oddrods IFS, we set the truck up at ride height and measured everything, as per Oddrods’ instructions.”

That done, Emma set about transporting the truck back to her place, while Pete got on the blower to Wayne Clark and ordered a complete Oddrods front end, complete with Wilwood brakes and power steering rack.

The wheel deal

Unbeknown to Emma, Pete also got a bit carried away and bought of set of 18-inch Torque Thrust II wheels from North Hants Tyres while he was at the NEC Classic Car Show that year. “I looked at some other wheels but they were what I’d always wanted, and they had a deal on that weekend,” remembers Pete with a grin.

First paint to go on was the pearl grey on the roof and cab interior

block is cast iron & so is much stronger that the OE Aluminium block. It can be rebored & has 6 bolt mains. We keep many parts for them, including Edelbrock or Holley kits to run the std injection & ignition, or a carburetor manifold, & ignition control.

“If you’ve ever driven a Mk1 Transit, that’s what it was like”

Above: There’s a reason Chevy trucks are more popular over here than their GMC cousins, and this face is it. If you like it, though, you really like it, and Pete loves his GMC. Truck buffers will know the visual giveaway to a ’55 is the additional bits of trim between the bumper and horizontal trims where the indicators live. On base models, these, and the bumpers, were painted, not chrome

Pete describes driving the truck as like driving a 1970’s or ’80s car – which we think is an honest appraisal, rather than the oft-heard claim of ‘it drives like a new car’. His verdict: “It brakes superb, it goes in a straight line, it even corners quite well. It’s got power steering, air con, electric windows, it really is just a lovely truck, and I can’t thank Emma and Nicci enough for everything they’ve done”

Right: Some of the few remaining parts from what Pete originally imported are the oak bed strips, now with freshly polished stainless dividers. The ﬂamed wooden trunk gives a bit of useful additional storage capacity on trips out

While waiting for the front end to be made, another decision was taken. If you’re going to go to IFS to improve the ride, it makes sense to upgrade the leaf sprung rear, too. As luck would have it, Emma had a complete Salisbury IRS out of a late ’80s Jag’ XJ40 that would make the perfect partner.

“I made patterns for the mounts in CAD (Cardboard Aided Design),” laughs Emma, “then cut them out with my plasma and welded them to the chassis.” With a refresh and a fresh set of brakes, that was the vastly improved rear end done.

The rest of the chassis was boxed and tidied up, all rivets and surplus bolt holes

welded up for neatness. “When the front end kit arrived from Oddrods, it slid into place millimetre perfect,” recalls Emma. “After a double check on ride height and centring, out came the MIG and on she went. It was only once the A-arms, adjustable shocks and rack were installed that we could bolt up the wheels Pete had bought and see how she sat, and if they ﬁt. Thankfully, they did. Well done Pete, good guesswork on sizing mate!”

Cost cap

Next up, engine and ’box. Initial thoughts were to rebuild what was there, but a quick Google (other search engines are available)

brought up Billy’s Speed Shop in Hednesford . “If I’m honest, it was just a case of what I could afford,” Pete happily admits. And that was a brand new GM Vortec 350 and TCI 700R4 transmission. “It’s nothing fancy, but it’s double the horsepower of the original engine and it’s still a four-speed auto’, as it was before.”

When the uprated powertrain arrived, Emma dropped them into place on a weld-in engine mount kit and tubular crossmember. Adding a little to the complexity in the engine bay, Pete also bought a Vintage Air air conditioning kit. So Emma had to ﬁt that as well, choosing a serpentine pulley and

“It’s double the horsepower of the original engine and it’s still a fourspeed auto’, as it was before”

belt kit to run the compressor from the front of the engine and a new aluminium rad’, aided by an electric cooling fan.

Knowing the only way to ensure everything ﬁts and works properly is to build the whole truck up before tearing it down for paint, brake lines went in, a new propshaft, the tilt column, pedals, all the rest of the air con system, even the vintage look head unit, with all new wiring to check everything worked before it all came out again for paint. The inside was simple. Pearl grey base coat with clear over the top. Job done.

Here’s where the story takes an unexpected turn. Part of what had attracted Pete to the truck in the ﬁrst place was

the colour scheme, and he’d always said he wanted to keep that, so it came as something of a surprise to Emma when she had the truck rubbed down, prepped and into primer that Pete called up and said, “Erm, I’ve been thinking about the paint…”

Moving story

Oh, we should also mention that around about this time, Emma and her wife Nicci received a call to say there was a vastly better unit available for rent nearby. “It was something we always wanted, but the timing was terrible. I’d got Pete’s truck right in the middle of paint, as well as a few other jobs on the go, but we couldn’t miss the

opportunity so we moved Bomber County Classics, lock, stock and barrel, into its new home in Blyborough.

“We’d be working on the truck in the day and then building stud walls for the oﬃce and new upholstery room by night. We grafted like crazy over those months.”

Back to the paint, though. “I met Pete at my local paint shop, Humberside Paints and Products,” Emma tells us. “We started going through the blues and teals in the colour chips. Then Pete’s eyes were drawn to a green. ‘Are you sure?’ I asked him.

‘Coz I ain’t!’”

Pete was sure. Shed green (Emma’s description of the colour) it was.

“Look Pete, it needs a bit more… You need to trust me on this.”

Even with some extra flake in the mix, Emma wasn’t happy when she emerged, sweating, from the booth on the hottest day of last year. “Hold my beer Nicci, I’m going back in…”

This time, she mixed some blue kandy concentrate in with the clear. “With every coat of kandy, the colour started to come to life. There are no rules with this sort of stuff, you just have to feel it and it’ll tell you where to go.”

This time, everyone was in agreement. And the colour has since become known as Phoenix Aquamarine.

Engine is a brand new GM crate Vortec 350. That’s a regular GM 350 with cast iron Vortec swirl port heads, 9.0:1 compression and a mild hydraulic roller cam. The numbers are 340bhp and 380ft.lbs of torque. Similarly dependable is the brand new TCI 700r4 auto’ transmission behind it

Brand appeal

1955 was a whole new year for General Motors’ trucks, the manufacturer’s design departments having been tasked with reworking their popular truck ranges for the first time since the war. Though ostensibly the same underneath, despite being referred to as Task Force chassis in the Chevy line-up and Blue Chip in GMC’s, there was a raft of subtle individual details to each which drew people differently to the two competing GM brands.

GMC marketed itself as tougher, all business, yet at the same time more upmarket. GMC owners enjoyed double rows of stitching on the seats, for example, while Chevy owners had to make do with just one. Dashboards and trim were brand specific too, but the biggest differentiator was under the bonnet. Chevy took engines from its own production line, and so did GMC for its workhorse inline sixes, though the latter were always slightly bigger capacity, in keeping with the tougher image. Check the V8 option on the order sheet, though, and you’d be rewarded with either a Pontiac or Oldsmobile power unit in your GMC, largely depending on the carrying capacity of the truck.

Pete’s truck here, being an original V8 ’55, came with a 288ci Pontiac-sourced mill, though a 316ci version was also available.

Names were different too, Chevy owners had a stepside, while GMC drivers had a fenderside. The full model designation of Pete’s truck then is a GMC 100 series Deluxe Cab shortbox fenderside. Quite the mouthful, eh?

Shipping magnate

After all that came the time-consuming but rewarding task of building the truck back up again. To put how much was replaced into context, here’s Pete’s description: “The only original elements of the truck are the body, rear cab glass, the bumpers and the wood panels in the load area. Everything else is new. UK suppliers include Farm Fresh and R and R Hot Rod Imports, but the majority of parts came direct from the various truck restoration companies in the US. “I just went with whichever one had the best deal on shipping each time.

“It was super fun working with Emma. I never expected one person to the able to

do all of the work herself, from taking the engine out through to spraying the truck and rebuilding it. The only elements of the job Emma outsourced were the new seat cover and carpets – and those were done in-house by Nicci, also at Bomber County Trimmers, who’s Emma’s wife and business partner.”

It goes without saying that nobody ever wants to experience a car fire, but it’s all worked out well in the end for Pete. Not only has he still got the ’55 GMC pick-up he set his heart on, he’s got one that drives better than stock and is personalised to him. And best of all, he and Marie have come out of it with new friends – all thanks to Bomber County Classics. CC

■ Words: Olly Sack

A game of two halves

By the midway point in this year’s Pendine Sands Hot Rod Races, not a wheel had turned in anger and everyone was wet. Yet the event ended up with seven new records having been set after a busy and brilliant day of beach racing

The 2025 Pendine Sands Hot Rod Races proved that the sun does shine on the righteous… and that even for the righteous, good things come to those who wait. The weekend of 20-21 September was a wet one across most of the country – but over there on the Carmarthenshire coast, they copped the very worst of it.

The result was that Saturday was a complete wash-out. Not a wheel was turned in anger… though plenty were in frustration. Not to worry, though, everyone who had gathered in Pendine village still headed down to the Sands themselves to

hang out, admire the cars and get wet. Well, a beach full of hot rods won’t make the rain go away but it’ll make it a lot more fun.

And you know what they say, if you don’t like the weather in Wales… just give it a minute. Saturday may have looked like the sun was never going to shine again, but then Sunday morning dawned gloriously bright and clear under a vibrant blue sky. It was time to go racing!

The Vintage Hot Rod Association faces multiple challenges in putting on such a large event when not only the space but also the time available is very much at a limit. Providing pit space, scrutineering and

logistics, let alone a usable track on what is an ever-changing natural surface, takes some doing – and then on top of that it all has to take place while the tide is out. So maybe a day-long torrential downpour was just another hurdle to be crossed – water off a duck’s back, you might say.

And Sunday was a triumph, with just under 130 drivers getting a couple of runs each in a set of 30 different classes. These cover the age and type of the cars’ engines, their cylinder count and induction and the body type of the vehicle itself. Thus for example, V8BF/K would mean Vintage (V, meaning pre-’54), 8-pot, supercharged

halves

We featured Nic Rossano’s ’31 Model A roadster in our July 2024 issue, when it was freshly built and getting ready for its first visit to Pendine. He won V8/R on that occasion and he did it again this time, a speed of 94.48mph also being enough to give him the class record. He’s still aiming to hit 100mph in the car, though – next year, maybe?

Dan Patman and Ricky Dunn are both into the 100mph Club in their L8/C Model As, with speeds on the board of 100.11mph and 106.42mph respectively

Debut flag starter Erin Clements holds Mick Mears on the line in his ’48 Pontiac Coupe ahead of a 74.78mph pass

or turbocharged (B, for blown), Flathead (F) and full-bodied (K, for post-’34 factory cars). You get the idea.

Other body classes are Roadster (which must be raced with the top down), Closed (fixed-head from the factory), Modified (open-top specials) and Streamliner (fixed-head specials, including belly tanks).

Inevitably, quite a number of the classes end up with just a few entries – almost half, indeed, only contained one competitor, and several others had just two. But this matters less than it might – because while a class win does count for something, the real focus is on setting records. There’s also the goal of joining the 100mph Club, which

Brett Pillinger won V8F/S last year in his belly tank, setting a new record in the process with 110.28mph. A speed of 75.86 this time out was nowhere near as good – but it still gave him the class win ahed of John Dingley’s Streamliner

Right: Andrew Roberts posted a best speed of 96.79mph in his 5.7-litre ’31 Model A. The ton beckons… but in L8/R you’ll be doing well to beat Steve Read, who once again took the title of King of the Beach after hitting 135.4 in his ’34

sounds like nothing if you’re used to drag racing but is a worthy achievement on sand. Unlike drag racing, elapsed time doesn’t matter. Nor does reaction time, even though each run kicks off with the theatre of a traditional starting flag – now brandished by new startline girl Erin Clements. Your first half-mile is a run-up,

A steady 81.31 for Mike Forster’s Model A in V8F/R

allowing you to reach maximum speed, then you’re timed over a flying sixteenth before breaking the beam and heading into the deceleration zone. The moment one car clears the track, the next is flagged off – it’s like a production line, if you like, or poetry in motion if that sounds better, but either way it’s very necessary when you’ve

got all those cars to fit in during the few hours before the tide comes galloping back towards the land.

So the numbers, and there are lots, say that there were eight new members of the 100mph Club this year. And a total of seven records were broken. The King of the Beach award went, for the second time

running, to Steve Read, who maintained an average speed of 135.40mph in his Model T roadster, and there was also a new record set for the fastest ever flathead, Jamie Williams returning 122.51mph in his supercharged P38 drop tank.

The latter must surely also be one of the biggest ever improvements we’ve seen in

Robin Weathersbee is flagged away in his ’47 Plymouth P15 en route to a winning speed of 77.78mph in V6F/K 87

No-one came closer than Roy Holmes to matching Nick Ball’s winning speed in V8F/K, but in the end his 89.62mph proved not quite enough for his ’36 coupe to take the win

You certainly wouldn’t want to take your eyes from the racing while it’s going on. But in the event of, say, a whole day being lost to non-stop rain, a visit to the Pendine Museum of Speed wouldn’t go amiss. The museum is all about the Sands’ place in the history of land speed record attempts; undisputed star of the show is Babs, the 27-litre aero-engined Higham Special in which former land speed record holder John Parry-Jones was killed in 1927

a competitor’s times from one year to the next. Jamie won V8BF/S last year with a speed of 81.58mph – so he’s put just over 50% more on top of that. And that’s in a class that’s seen him run uncontested each time. They say competition drives progress, but he seems to be doing just fine without it – in the process providing a perfect example of a sport in which beating your own personal best is just a big part of what it’s all about.

With Sunday having been lost to the weather in 2024 and Saturday going the same way this year, Pendine is due some good luck when the cream of the traditional hot-rodding crop descend on south-west Wales next year. The dates have been set for 12-13 September 2026 and the VHRA will be looking forward to it with their hearts full of hope. The sun does, after all, shine on the righteous.

Jim Duncan got 68.84mph out of his Model A, giving him a place in the top three in V4F/C

When the rain’s so bad that you can’t tell where the beach ends and the sea begins, you know you’re in trouble

If there was a prize for the furthest distance travelled to be at Pendine, CC’s own Tony Thacker would have been in with a strong shout. Not only had he fetched his Deuce-chassised ’27 roadster back from Rømø to be there, he’d shipped it over from the USA in the first place

Seldom can so many great cars have been gathered in the same place at the same time and all looked so miserable. Saturday was a total loss, with the rain refusing to relent all day long – it didn’t stop people from gathering on the beach to admire the collected old-school rods there to do battle, but what everyone really wanted was for that battle to commence

MODULAR STORAGE SYSTEMS

SUPER TROOPER

At ﬁrst glance, Mike Hale’s Buick Super is full-on 50s’ Americana. But underneath the preserved patina, it’s a lot more modern than it seems

What kind of cars has Mike Hale owned? It would be easier to say what he hasn’t. Classic Fords, air-cooled VWs, Yanks, bikes – literally anything with a motor in it, if it’s interesting he’s probably had one.

He’s more than just a punter with impressively wide-ranging automotive tastes, too. Mike actually ran an air-cooled restoration shop for a number of years – and those skills were to come in handy on his latest project.

“This 1950 Buick Super came up for sale on a lesser-known Facebook page in February ’24,” he tells me. “It was in Hornchurch but was something silly like a couple hundred quid, so I went to look at it. It wasn’t in great shape but appeared to be

Words and pics: James Webber

TROOPER

all there and the owner had a ton of spares. I made an offer and came back with a mate and a borrowed trailer.”

That was the easy bit. They still had to get it home. “We had to remove the car from the garden, get it on to the trailer and put all the

spares in the boot,” explains Mike. “As we were driving, we had a blow out on the trailer so of course we pulled over to investigate. When we did, we noticed that all the spares were now sitting on the trailer; how they hadn’t ﬂown off on to the road is anyone’s

guess. But when we opened the boot, the reason revealed itself: there was virtually no spare wheel well.

“When we got the car back to my unit, we had a good look round it – and it turned out to be far worse than we had ﬁrst thought. It

The engine is from an E46 BMW 330d. To decode that, it’s from a car built between 1997 and 2006 and it’s a 3.0-litre straight six. The earlier engines in the 330d produced 181bhp and 288lbf. ft, while later units upped the ante to 201bhp and 302lbf.ft; either way, it’s had a gentle tune to make sure the Buick drives like a new ‘un

seemed like the owner had put a tarp over the top of it, but it wasn’t big enough to cover the bottom half of the car – so any rain and moisture had gotten in and just eaten away. Even the interior, or should I say what was left of the interior because it was only the seat frames left. Rats and squirrels appeared to have been living in there.”

Plan B

Undeterred, Mike set about hatching a plan. To start with, he was intending to do a straight restoration – but some research showed that parts are scarce and expensive, and on further investigation it transpired that that haul of spares he got with it were in about as good a shape as the car itself. So it was time to come up with a Plan B.

“A lot of mates said to use Jag axles front and back. So I got a rusty but complete XJS rear axle from a V12 model, with the 2.88:1 Powr Lok diff, and local fabricator Paul Leworthy had an XJ6 front. I rebuilt both, including calipers, and attached them to the original chassis. I also ordered up a custom propshaft from Bailey Morris in St Neots and had some wheel adapters made locally, as I wanted to keep the original wheels and hubcaps.”

For the engine, Mike went down a route that’s becoming more popular all the time in a whole range of enthusiast scenes. The enormous boom in BMW sales about 20-25 years ago, coupled to the happy fact that these vehicles tended to have superb engines, all points in one direction – they’re

being broken in huge numbers now and every one of those engines is just waiting to find a new home.

We wrote about two of them in last month’s issue – a pair of 2793cc petrol units from the E36-era 328i which were used by Dave Rothwell in the Hanomag and Hillman Husky he built alongside each other. Mike too went for a Bavarian bruiser – though he plumped for a diesel. “I could get a whole car and use the parts that I need,” he reasons.

“Plus if anything goes wrong, I can go into town or Euro spares and have anything I need straight away, rather than hunting the internet and having to wait for shipping and all that nonsense.

“I came into possession of a BMW E46 330d from which I pirated what I needed,

The BMW radiator and air scoop line up perfectly with the grille – while also leaving enough room up top for a little portion of the original brass rad, which Mike cut and left in place for decoration

Steering is by a rebuilt LHD Jag rack. The knuckle and coupling came from a Land Rover, which shares the same spline pattern as the Jaguar PAS system

COMING FROM A CALIFORNIA PRIVATE COLLECTION SOME OF THE LOWEST PRODUCTION MUSCLE CARS FROM THE GOLDEN DAYS OF HORSEPOWER WARS

1961 CHEVY CORVETTE FACTORY 327 FUEL INJECTED 4 SPEED $160,000

Matching numbers fuel injected, 4 speed manual, two top car, complete nut & bolt restoration. Zero miles since completion ready for that bucket list route 66 trip

california collection and another documented rotisserie nut and bolt restoration of a genuine rustfree car fully documented with Marti report, previous history/ownership, zero miles since restoration.

1956 CHEVY CORVETTE - $150,000

Flawless body o restoration of this two top dual quad manual gearbox 56 vette, arrow straight black coachwork with silver coves, step inside the cabin to ﬁnd the stunning red interior , show quality car ready for route 66 .

Usa spec lhd car, if you like patina look no further the New Mexico sun has created a natural patina that cannot be fabricated, all new braking system from master cylinder to drum , new clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder, rebuilt fuel pump and carb, gas tank out cleaned and reinstalled, its on the button running driving, excellent original chrome very solid car as you would expect from a dry american state, radial tyres on stock wheels have plenty of tread but are old and should be replaced.

Here a restored harley servicar that in a former life cruised the streets of San Francisco rescuing sfpd cruisers and issuing citations, on the button electric start , original metal shin guards included original Motorola two radio and mic .recently restored in poly gas station colours to resemble the american version of the once seen everywhere in the uk RAC and AA motorbike/ sidecars.

Fully loaded ragtop 265ci/auto, p/s,p/b, p/w p/seat p/top ﬂawless condition inside & out, original convertible owners handbook, restored to perfection and ready to cruise ﬁrst year if the iconic small block chevy that went on to power many a street racer and still doing it today.

then I scrapped the rest and got my money back. The only thing was that it was an auto and I really wanted a manual, so I bought another for its box, clutch, flywheel and pedal box.”

Downstairs in the dumps

All coming along nicely with the oily bits, then. But before he went much further, Mike was going to need something to bolt them to. And as we’ve established, downstairs the Buick was not in the best of ways.

“The metalwork I had to look at included complete new inner and outer sills, outriggers and front floors. I completely fabricated a new gearbox tunnel and made a simple panel that I can remove easily if I need to access the gearbox. The boot, half door skins, areas around the headlight bowls and multiple patches around the body all needed to be replaced. The original lenses were damaged, so I put in a set from a Land Rover into the original bezels.”

With a body now made from metal, as opposed to something that used to be metal, Mike could get the engine and box fitted up.

He wanted to utilise as much of the BMW as possible, which included bits like the servo, master cylinder and so on, and here a bit of customising ingenuity reared its useful head.

Mike went to a local trimmer with the seat frames, which was all that was left of them, and invited him to recreate what he thought the originals would have looked like. Without even a picture to go on, that sounds like quite a tall order – but you wouldn’t look at them and see anything out of the ordinary, which is pretty high praise for the guy’s craftsmanship

Left: ike the rest of the car, you can picture the dash as part of a rechromed, retrimmed masterpiece. Even in a patina custom like this, though, it’s still an indisputable highlight

Right: As with the dash, the steering wheel is original. Look carefully and you can see the marks where it’s been nibbled by the rats and squirrels that called the Buick home for many years

“I wanted to use the BMW rad and air scoop,” he explains, “but I also liked the idea of lifting the bonnet and seeing the original brass radiator. So I cut the original rad and left the

Mike made up the front door cards himself, using the remnants of the originals as a template. The rears were able to go again

top. The air scoop fits underneath and the BMW rad fits nicely behind that – and it’s level with the grill, so it gets good airflow.”

One part of the Beemer he couldn’t use was its steering, on account of it was on the wrong side. The solution came in the shape of a LHD Jaguar power steering rack, which Mike had rebuilt by Kelly Bray Steering in Callington. “Next,” he says, “I got a Land Rover knuckle and coupling to mate to the steering column, as they and Jaguar share the same spline pattern.”

Another problem was the fuel tank. “I had planned to use the original tank,” continues Mike. “But after running it a couple of times and finding that it constantly leaked, I looked

around for a replacement. As luck would have it, a guy on Facebook Marketplace was selling a 52-litre fuel tank that would fit nicely in the boot.”

Mike made up his own custom wiring loom but got a sparky mate to check it over and put in relays. Then it was up north to House of Torque, which specialises in BMW engine conversions, to give it a mild tune and get the ECU and immobiliser to be friends.

Inside job

Mike then turned his attention to the interior – or, as we were saying earlier, what was left after the local wildlife had finished with it. “I took the frames to a local trimmer

Mike bought the Buick with a heavily cracked quarter window in the driver’s door and decided that it’s all part of the car’s history. You’d never leave this on a show car but it’s perfectly in keeping with the patina look

and basically said to him can you try and recreate what you think they would have been like, as we had no pictures to go on.

“And he has done an incredible job. They’re really comfortable and look the part.”

Mike made up the front door cards himself, using the remnants of the originals as templates. The rears had survived in good enough condition to go again. “I’ve kept the dash and steering wheel original,” he says. “On the steering wheel, you can see little bite marks where the rodents had nibbled!”

Up top, he lined the roof with generic van material just to dampen the noise. And then the glorious time had come for Mike’s newly built custom Buick to go for paint.

Mike wanted to keep the original Buick wheels and hubcaps, so he had a set of adapters made to let them bolt up to the Jaguar axles

Open the trunk and you’ll find the battery and fuel tank along with a big old travel chest from 1936. How do we know it’s from 1936? Because those Cunard Line stickers place it on the maiden voyage of the RMS Queen Mary. Now that’s what you call a toolbox

Or had it? “I like the look of the patina,” he explains. “So I just went over it with linseed oil. Where I had done repairs, I tried to blend them in as well as possible.

“But I’m not looking for a show pony. It’s going to be driven anywhere and everywhere.”

It might not be for show, but there’s plenty about it to marvel at. When Mike opens the trunk, for example, we’re confronted by mighty great leather travel chest.

“I wanted somewhere to carry tools, chairs and so on, and one day I was browsing in a

local antique shop when I found this chest. I bought it and brought it home, then I found these Cunard Line stickers on it.

“Turns out it was a passenger’s trunk from the maiden voyage of the Queen Mary on 27 May 1936, from England to New York. What a bit of history!”

Talking of history, you might notice that the quarter window in the driver’s door is badly cracked. An easy ﬁx, surely? Well, yes, but since when did the easy way have to be the right way?

“Silly things like that are what make it,” says Mike. “I’m leaving it because it’s part of the car’s history.”

Mike admits that the project was testing at times. “But I’m really pleased with it. I love how it drives like a new car and starts straight up so I can go anywhere.” You might be looking at the pictures and imagining it chopped, bagged and painted, and he could have done it that way. But like he says, it ain’t there to be pretty. It’s there to be his car –and it’s one that does him credit. CC

“Thanks to Kelly Bray Steering, Bailey Morris, the local trimmer, mates and family that have helped along the way”

There must be something in Yorkshire water, other than what’s good for brewing a cuppa. It’s an element that makes hot rodders look outside the box and create something unique

PROGRESS REPORT: PART 3

Following on from the front splash apron being formed, this time around we take a look at the front wings, running boards, roof and faux spare wheel carrier on the Jaguar Atlantis currently taking shape in the hands of Steve Cook and Graham Slater. As usual, forming them involved polystyrene sheet, spray-on polyurethane foam and unbelievable amounts of dust.

Steve did reveal some of his tips of the trade, all designed to simplify the process as much as possible. If a process as involved as this can be simpliﬁed, that is.

When creating ﬁnishing edges on the window apertures, Steve and Graham made good use of UPVC window trims as utilised in the majority of UK houses. Once cut to length, they were heated with a hot air gun, bent to shape and ﬁrmly held in place using whatever suitable props lay to hand.

Lengths of wood, metal or plastic, anything will do as long as it’s rigid.

Once the plastic had cooled, the props were removed and the inner side of the trim strips coated with resin-infused strips of ﬁbreglass mat. Without delay, the trim strips were reinstalled and secured with the same props as before, which were then again removed once the resin had fully cured.

Common or garden masking tape was used to seal the polystyrene and foam buck. This effectively covers any small air pockets that may be present and acts as a half-decent release agent following the ﬁbreglassing process. The strips of tape can slightly overlap, as any minor imperfections that may create will be on the inside of the body panels, and they can easily be tidied up.

And talking of ﬁbreglassing, that is the next stage of the process.

With the splash apron in situ, the complex curvature of the front wings was formed using multiple pieces of sculpted polystyrene sheet

Words: Dave Biggadyke

Pics: Steve Cook

In the early stages, the wings lacked the ﬂowing curves evident in elegant 1930s styling

With the basic shapes of the front and rear wings formed, it was time to link them together…

…and many hours were then spent smoothing and sanding to form the ﬁnal shapes

With the addition of more polystyrene sheets, held in place by polyurethane foam, the wings literally began to take shape

…with the running boards being formed from yet more sculpted polystyrene sheet

In keeping with the car’s ﬂowing lines, the running boards were shaped to ﬂow into the body, then out to the wings at each end

The polystyrene sheet was thoroughly coated with polyurethane foam…

Styling cues such as that will make all the difference to the end product. Note the MDF model that Steve made sat on the roof for reference

The process of applying foam and sanding was repeated many times before Steve was satisﬁed

In readiness for covering the entire body with ﬁbreglass mat, it ﬁrst needs to be covered with masking tape

Two-inch masking tape was applied to the ﬂat panels, and one-inch wide to the curved areas

A recessed sheet of 9mm plywood was bonded in with ﬁbreglass to ﬁll the car’s roof void

Many opulent cars of the build-style era featured a front wing-mounted spare wheel carrier, and Steve wanted one for his Atlantis

Although a dummy, when ﬁnished it will really look the part. No surprise it was formed from cardboard templates, polystyrene sheet and polyurethane foam

Domestic UPVC window trim was cut to size, then bonded in to create ﬁnishing edges to the car’s window apertures

He didn’t keep an accurate tally, but Steve reckons he used over three dozen rolls of masking tape in total

“Coated with resininfused strips of fibreglass mat”

The buck for the body is nearing completion. That means the next stage is to create the actual body for Steve’s individual take on an Atlantis

NEXT TIME: ‘Glass act

Custom CORNER Custom

SoCal

Diaries Twixt Pod and Pendine

Former Custom Car editor

Tony Thacker lives in California these days, and this month he’s been enjoying the good old British weather

Ihave to say, the Rømø Motor Festival was an incredible event – but then my heart sank as I joined the M25 and my GPS said “90 min delay” as I contemplated a few weeks navigating pot-holed British roads, endless speed checks, a couple of mega hills and, of course, rain.

First stop was Santa Pod Raceway for the 37th annual Hot Rod Drags, presented by the National Street Rod Association UK. I was there to provide the tow car for Nick Davies’ ‘No Quarter’ AA/Fuel Altered, with the Stromberg demonstrator ’55 Pontiac wagon we featured in last month’s issue of CC. Thankfully, Big Poncho performed awlessly as it did for my whole 5000-mile trip.

No so much Lil’ Shitter. My rst race was against Maz Woolfall in her 350 Chevypowered ’32 Tudor, and she obliterated me. I was so slow I knew there was no point racing again. Game over.

The following week, it was a long haul down to Pendine Sands in Wales for the VHRA Hot Rod Races, which you’ll nd featured elsewhere in this issue. I’d been looking forward to this event for a year but rain stopped play for me as I encountered a bad batch of water-contaminated gas that sidelined me. Oh well, a disappointing end to what had otherwise been an amazing trip.

Without doubt one of the nicest cars was Kent Vicmo’s A-V8. It was overall fastest, too, with a speed of 101.92kph. A well deserved win

made for drag racing

erent but I

It ain’t easy been green and this little bit of a back re there from Ben Montgomery’s Outlaw Anglia 669 proves it. Ben has run a best of 12.32 at 108 mph

to see Ken

Bradley Cooper stages in the NavarroPotvin-equipped ‘Back from the Past’ slingshot. Father Ken started racing athead-powered dragsters in 1965 – one of the rst to do so in the UK

I took this faded old photo of Ken ‘Mr Flathead’ Cooper at the very rst race at Santa Pod on Easter 1966. It was foggy and damp but I couldn’t help but be impressed by Ken – and I still am

Bryan Whit eld, in the Whit eld and Tubb ‘High Spirits’ blown big-block Chevy Bantambodied AA/Fuel Altered, took the Oscar and put on a great show against Nick Davies in ‘No Quarter’

One of my favourite cars at the Hot Rod Drags was this tribute to Pete Tucker by Chris Mills at Millsy’s Muscle Shop. A 1000hp blown big-block Chevy Rat powers this black-ass ’51 Fleetline

I made only one pass in Lil’ Shitter and got my ass kicked by Maz Woolfall. The 23-second pass made me realise that not all hot rods are hot and not all are

Great

Cooper (right), who raced his athead-powered dragster at the very rst event at Santa Pod, Easter 1966. Ken is here with son Bradley in the seat and crewman Ian Armstrong

loved Phillipa’s Turton’s nonstandard Standard 8 Pro ET ‘Bitchcraft’ that typically runs low 10s at 128mph. It reminds me of those cool comp coupes from the sixties

My nemesis Maz Woolfall stands by her 350-Chevy-powered British ’32 Tudor in the staging lanes just before she kicked my butt but good. No doubt, one of the nicer suicidedoor sedans I have seen

Pic: Keith Harman

Sinking in the sands

This is my unfortunate memory of the VHRA Pendine Sands Hot Rod Races – tarped up and sinking in the sand. Due to what I think was a bad batch of fuel, I never did make a run down that hallowed beach

To paraphrase the wide mouthed frog, you don’t see many of those about. It’s a rare Firth ohv conversion for the athead Ford V-8-60. Owned by Rob Firth, it ran a best of 94.98mph

Clive Prew of Stromberg (left) and Wayne Large of A&R Motors, Canvey, helped sort Lil’ Shitter’s problems – which appeared to be water-contaminated petrol from a can in the boot. You’d think I’d know better

A big bulbous beast but ya gotta love Hans Rikk’s Chrysler Royale that ran a best of 83.99mph

Andreas Ullstein owner of Coast Classics, journeyed all the way from Malaga, Spain, and set up this little oasis just at the entrance to Pendine Sands and made it a haven for those that needed help.

Saturday was miserable all day but come Sunday the rain stopped and Pendine was everything it should be – although you can see some good puddles towards the end of the track as Chris Thom takes o

I’m a sucker for these T modi ed speedsters and Toby Pillinger’s pulled all my strings. Behind what I think is a Model Y grille sits a single-carbed banger that ran a best of 72.17mph

I’ve loved this aluminium-bodied roadster since it was built in the eighties by Al Stevens with a Riley twin-cam. I lost track of it but it now appears to be owned by Chris Thom, who ran 75.62mph

There were several tanks washed up on the beach, including this banger-powered example owned by Mark Aldridge who ran 97.79mph. Others included John Dingley and Jamie Williams, who hit 122.51mph

Fastest speed of the Hot Rod Races was once again Steve Read in his home-built, street driven roadster with a speed of 135.4 – down a tad from 2024 but amazingly fast given the top-end conditions

You’ve gorra love the message on Rick’s Dunn’s door: ‘Through wear & tear this old black mare has never lost her gait. If you prefer a newer car then buy a Ford V-8.’ Ricky ran a best of 106.42mph

Pic: Larry Erickson.

Flaming chilly Out & About

Event: Flame and Thunder Show

Date: 25 October 2025

Venue: Santa Pod

Santa Pod will celebrate its 60th anniversary next year. The hallowed quarter mile has seen every kind of weather in that time, and the last couple of years have been particularly rainy ones – but there can’t have been many events when it’s been as downright cold as it was for the Flame and Thunder Show on the last weekend of October.

It was cold and it was wet, too, with rain showers coming down on and off throughout the day to interrupt the fun. But so what, because what fun it was, with a stellar array of cars on the track and no end of cool stuff to check out around the pits and show areas.

Oh, and what was that we said about a stellar array of cars on the track? Cars, monster trucks, custom vans, yellow cabs, American cop cars, race karts and buggies, a shed, a shopping trolley and a mobility scooter… you get the idea. Oh yes, and a fine selection of jet-propelled show vehicles including Spiderman, Fireforce and

Oklahoma Willy. It may have been more of a chilly willy on the day but that’s what Flame and Thunder is all about – a loud, lairy celebration of all things fast and fun. Overall, the hot rods, nostalgia stockers and old-school drag cars were perhaps outnumbered by the sort of modern motors that descend on the Pod for events like Ultimate Street Car. But it’s a family show and it’s for everyone, so the greater the variety the better.

There was no shortage of fancy dress to be seen around the place, too. Being so close to Halloween, there was definitely a whole lot of general spookiness going on, though we spotted a good variety of

other themes too. Hillbillies, Teletubbies, dinosaurs… all good fun. There were some cracking seasonal displays around the pits, too – Santa Pod regulars sure know how to put on a show!

With the smoke having settled, winter now upon us and the usual close season rumours flying about new cars being built and who’s going to be driving what, it’s time to say thank you to the Santa Pod crew for another year of great racing (sometimes under pretty trying circumstances) and start looking forward to what 2026 has in store. The calendar is out and the anticipation is already building… but just please let it be a bit warmer next time!

Words: Gary Martin Pics: Julian Hunt

Jess Bishop’s Nightmare II is a regular in Pro ET, though she’s not normally crewed by the Teletubbies. There was plenty of fancy dress to be seen at the season-ending show, which has well as being a celebration of the sport is also a welcome opportunity for people to let their hair down

There can’t be many vehicles that have been down the strip at Santa Pod more than the track team’s John Deere tractor. It was called into action to dry the track when the weather threw a curveball, as it has been so often over the last couple of years – and as you can see, the guys were getting fully into the spirit of things with it!

It wouldn’t be Flame and Thunder without a shopping trolley or mobility scooter. And most of us have at one time or another been accused of driving a shed, however Brian Cade would be unlikely to take offence at the suggestion. Having built Ed the Shed on the remains of a 4.5-litre TVR, earlier this autumn is was timed at 123mph at Elvington and now holds the record as the world’s fastest. Looks like a pig to drive, though…

There were some serious drag karts hitting the strip during the show, as well as a variety of other race buggies. Look no further for the wheelie of day…

We don’t normally go too big on the jet cars but Flame and Thunder seems like the right time to give them some attention. And whatever your view on them, the level of presentation on Oklahoma Willy wouldn’t be out of place in any hot rod show. It was Fireforce, though, that raised the roof with its much loved firework run to bring the event to a rousing climax

Flame and Thunder fell on the weekend before Halloween, and there was plenty of ingenuity to be seen in some of the displays around the pits. The coffin cooler in particular struck us as a work of genius…

We’re used to burnouts happening in more or less a straight line, but things always do seem to happen a bit differently at Flame and Thunder…

A passenger ride down the quarter-mile is on a good many bucket lists. In a lifted Hummer H1? Well, maybe not the fastest but still a good laugh. There was a good selection of monster trucks at the show, with the Ridiculux Toyota Hilux getting our vote for the most monstrous of the lot – it lays claim to being the tallest street legal monster truck in the UK

BRENTACRE

NB: We advise you to double check with organisers that the event or show as listed is still going ahead, to avoid any wasted journeys. To submit an event, email editorial@pistonpublications.co.uk

DECEMBER 2025

21 Krispy Kreme Cruise Krispy Kreme, Shannon Corner, New Malden. Facebook: Krispy Kreme Cruise Surrey

27 All American Cruise In Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

27 Cold Turkey Run Cromer, Norfolk, Facebook: Bod Here

JANUARY 2026

4 New Year Autojumble. Whitewebbs Museum of Transport, Enfield. www.whitewebbsmuseum.co.uk

7 Hot Rod Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

18 Huddersfield Auto / Retro Jumble Brook Street, Huddersfield. www.phoenixfairs.jimdo.com

18 Krispy Kreme Cruise Krispy Kreme, Shannon Corner, New Malden. Facebook: Krispy Kreme Cruise Surrey

25 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk

20 VW Air-Cooled Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

31 All American Cruise In Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

FEBRUARY 2026

4 Hot Rod Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

15 Krispy Kreme Cruise Krispy Kreme, Shannon Corner, New Malden. Facebook: Krispy Kreme Cruise Surrey

15 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk

17 VW Air-Cooled Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

20-22 Race Retro Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire. www.raceretro.com

22 Huddersfield Auto / Retro Jumble Brook Street, Huddersfield. www.phoenixfairs.jimdo.com

28 All American Cruise In Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

28-1 March Straightliners Speed Show Elvington,West Yorkshire. www.straightliners.events

MARCH 2026

4 Hot Rod Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

8 NSRA Southern Swapmeet North Weald Airfield, Essex www.nsra.org.uk

15 Krispy Kreme Cruise Krispy Kreme, Shannon Corner, New Malden. Facebook: Krispy Kreme Cruise Surrey

17 VW Air-Cooled Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

20-22 Classic Car and Restoration Show NEC, Birmingham. www.necrestorationshow.com

21 Drag’n’Drift Dakota Raceway, Smeatharpe Airfield, Devon. www.straightliners.events

22 Huddersfield Auto / Retro Jumble Brook Street, Huddersfield. www.phoenixfairs.jimdo.com

22 Straightliners Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

28 All American Cruise In Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

28 American Car Cruise Porthcawl seafront, South Wales. Facebook: Gary Morgan / Ifan Miller

29 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk

29 Spring Shakedown Melbourne Raceway. www.straightliners.events

30 Full Throttle Monday Elvington Airfield, West Yorkshire www.straightliners.events

APRIL 2026

1 Hot Rod Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

3 Wheels Day Newbury Showground, Berkshire www.surreystreetrodders.com

3-5 Festival of Power Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

3-6 Velocity Spring Drags Manston Raceway Park, Kent. www.velocityvintagedrags.racing

7 Hayling Hot Rods at the Beach. Hayling Island Seafront, Hampshire. Facebook: Hayling Hotrods at the Beach

11-12 Spring Nationals Melbourne Raceway. www.straightliners.events

12 Bernie’s V8s and Historic Outlaws Silverstone Grand Prix www.berniesv8s.com

12 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk

13 Full Throttle Monday Elvington Airfield, West Yorkshire www.straightliners.events

18-19 Springspeed Nationals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

19 Huddersfield Auto / Retro Jumble Brook Street, Huddersfield. www.phoenixfairs.jimdo.com

19 Krispy Kreme Cruise Krispy Kreme, Shannon Corner, New Malden. Facebook: Krispy Kreme Cruise Surrey

21 Drag’n’Drift Dakota Raceway, Smeatharpe Airfield, Devon. www.straightliners.events

21 VW Air-Cooled Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

23-26 Isle of Man Ford Fest www.iomfm.com

25 All American Cruise In Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

26 The Fast Show Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

26 Gathering of Geezers. Whitewebbs Museum of Transport, Enfield. www.whitewebbsmuseum.co.uk

MAY 2026

1-3 Nostalgia Nationals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

2-3 Pendine Speed Weekend Pendine Sands, Carmarthenshire www.straightliners.events

3 BHP Show Kent Showground, Detling, Maidstone. bhpshows.com

5 Hayling Hot Rods at the Beach. Hayling Island Seafront, Hampshire.Facebook: Hayling Hotrods at the Beach

6 Hot Rod Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

9-10 Melbourne Mayhem Melbourne Raceway www.straightliners.events

11 Full Throttle Monday Elvington Airfield, West Yorkshire www.straightliners.events

15-17 Doorslammers Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

16-17 Bernie’s V8s and Historic Outlaws Thruxton (British Truck Racing Championship) www.berniesv8s.com

16-17 Duchy Ford Show Watergate Bay, Newquay, Cornwall www.duchyfordclub.co.uk

16-17 Motor Madness Festival Great Yarmouth Seafront / Joyland American Diner Facebook: East Coast Pirates Car Club

17 Classic Wheels Rutland Showground, Oakham www.classicwheelsrutland.co.uk

17 Krispy Kreme Cruise Krispy Kreme, Shannon Corner, New Malden. Facebook: Krispy Kreme Cruise Surrey

19 VW Air-Cooled Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

22-25 The Main Event Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

24 Throttle Bicester Motion, Oxon. www.vhra.co.uk

25-31 NSRA Fun Run Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park Isle of Wight. www.nsra.org.uk

29-1 June VanJam Fir Tree Farm, Warmington. www.vanditos.co.uk

30 All American Cruise In Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

JUNE 2026

2 Hayling Hot Rods at the Beach. Hayling Island Seafront, Hampshire. Facebook: Hayling Hotrods at the Beach

3 Hot Rod Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

4-7 Hot Rods and Hills Park Foot Holiday Park, Penrith www.parkfootullswater.co.uk

4-7 Street Weekend Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

5-7 Hot Rod Rumble The Camp, Ramsey, Huntingdon www.hotrodrumble.co.uk

6-7 Bernie’s V8s and Historic Outlaws Brands Hatch (Speedfest) www.berniesv8s.com

6-7 Street Weekend Melbourne Raceway www.straightliners.events

7 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk

BRENTACRE

8 Full Throttle Monday Elvington Airfield, West Yorkshire www.straightliners.events

12-14 The Old Race Clairmarais, Pasde-Calais, France. www.theoldrace.com

13-14 Sportsman Nationals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

16 VW Air-Cooled Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

20-21 Argyle Mile Campbletown Airfield, Scotland www.straightliners.events

21 BHP Fuel Fest Westpoint Arena, Exeter, Devon. bhpshows.com

21 Krispy Kreme Cruise Krispy Kreme, Shannon Corner, New Malden. Facebook: Krispy Kreme Cruise Surrey

27 All American Cruise In Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

26-28 Dragstalgia Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

27-28 Bernie’s V8s and Historic Outlaws Donington Park GP www.berniesv8s.com

JULY 2026

1 Hot Rod Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

3-4 Hangar Rockin St Stephan Airfield, St Stephan, Switzerland. www.hangarrockin.com

3-5 MPH Vintage Sprint Denethorpe Airfield, Corby. www.mphdrags.co.uk

3-5 National Hot Rod, Custom, & American Car Show Lincolnshire Showground, Lincoln. www.hotrodandcustomshow.co.uk

3-5 V8 Brothers Village Gits, Belgium. www.v8brothers.be

4 Drag’n’Drift Dakota Raceway, Smeatharpe Airfield, Devon. www.straightliners.events

7 Hayling Hot Rods at the Beach. Hayling Island Seafront, Hampshire. Facebook: Hayling Hotrods at the Beach

9-12 European Street Rod Nationals Sillé-le-Guillaume, Sarthe, France. www.esra-rod.eu

9-12 Goodwood Festival of Speed Goodwood Estate, West Sussex. www. goodwood.com

10-12 Summer Nationals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

11-12 Jet Fest Melbourne Raceway. www.straightliners.events

13 Full Throttle Monday Elvington Airfield, West Yorkshire www.straightliners.events

17-19 Rock ‘n’ Ribs Festival Bath and West Showground, Somerset. www.rocknribsfestival.co.uk

18 In the Mood, Presenting Wings & Wheels South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum Doncaster Facebook: Mick Tebbs / Les Andrews

18 Mustang Nationals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

18-19 American Auto Club UK Summer Nationals. Upton Upon Severn Worcestershire www.american-auto-club.co.uk

19 Deuce Day British Motor Museum, Gaydon www.deucesofbritain.co.uk/deuceday

19 Ford Show Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

19 Krispy Kreme Cruise Krispy Kreme, Shannon Corner, New Malden. Facebook: Krispy Kreme Cruise Surrey

19 VHRA Swap Meet The Camp, Ramsey, Cambs. www.vhra.co.uk

21 VW Air-Cooled Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

24-26 Bug Jam Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

25 All American Cruise In Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

25-26 Bernie’s V8s and Historic Outlaws Snetterton USA 300 www.berniesv8s.com

26 No Guts, No Glory Manston Raceway Park, Kent. Web: 4bk00h-0u.myshopify.com

26 Summer Drags Manston Raceway Park, Kent. www.velocityvintagedrags.racing

AUGUST 2026

4 Hayling Hot Rods at the Beach. Hayling Island Seafront, Hampshire. Facebook: Hayling Hotrods at the Beach

5 Hot Rod Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

6-9 NSRA Hot Rod Supernationals Old Warden, Bedfordshire www.nsra.org.uk

7-9 Mopar Euro Nationals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

7-9 Retrofestival Newbury Showground. www.retrofestival.co.uk

8-9 Midsummer Nationals Melbourne Raceway www.straightliners.events

9 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk

10 Full Throttle Monday Elvington Airfield, West Yorkshire www.straightliners.events

15 Drag’n’Drift Dakota Raceway, Smeatharpe Airfield, Devon. www.straightliners.events

16 Krispy Kreme Cruise Krispy Kreme, Shannon Corner, New Malden. Facebook: Krispy Kreme Cruise Surrey

18 VW Air-Cooled Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

22 Bernie’s V8s and Historic Outlaws Oulton Park US Autoshow www.berniesv8s.com

22-23 Greenlight Nationals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

23-24 European No-Prep Nationals Manston Raceway Park, Kent. Web: 4bk00h-0u.myshopify.com

23 Ford Fair Silverstone Circuit www.fordfair.co.uk

29 All American Cruise In Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

SEPTEMBER 2026

1 Hayling Hot Rods at the Beach. Hayling Island Seafront, Hampshire. Facebook: Hayling Hotrods at the Beach

2 Hot Rod Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

4-6 The Trip Out Euston Park, Suffolk. www.thetripout.co.uk

5-6 Bracket Bonanza Melbourne Raceway. www.straightliners.events

6 A602’s Autorama Fairlands Valley Showground, Stevenage. Facebook: A602’s CC Autorama Show

10-13 Euro Finals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

10-13 Race the Waves Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire. www.backfireinfo.weebly.com

11-13 Goodwood Revival Goodwood Estate, West Sussex. www.goodwood.com

12-13 Pendine Sands Hot Rod Races Pendine, Carmarthenshire. www.vhra.co.uk

13 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk

13-14 Locked and Loaded Manston Raceway Park, Kent. Web: 4bk00h-0u.myshopify.com

15 VW Air-Cooled Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

17-20 Isle of Man Festival of Motoring www.iomfm.com

17-20 Speed and Wheelies Week Elvington Airfield, West Yorkshire www.straightliners.events

18-20 Hot Rod Drags Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

19-20 Bernie’s V8s and Historic Outlaws Brands Hatch GP www.berniesv8s.com

20 Krispy Kreme Cruise Krispy Kreme, Shannon Corner, New Malden. Facebook: Krispy Kreme Cruise Surrey

25-27 National Finals Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

26 All American Cruise In Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

26 Drag’n’Drift Dakota Raceway, Smeatharpe Airfield, Devon. www.straightliners.events

26-27 Sywell Classic: Pistons and Props Sywell Aerodrome, Northants www.sywellclassic.co.uk

OCTOBER 2026

3-4 Firework Finale Melbourne Raceway. www.straightliners.events

5 Full Throttle Monday Elvington Airfield, West Yorkshire www.straightliners.events

6 Hayling Hot Rods at the Beach. Hayling Island Seafront, Hampshire. Facebook: Hayling Hotrods at the Beach

7 Hot Rod Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

11 King of the South 1/4-mile RWYB. Manston Raceway Park, Kent. Web: 4bk00h-0u.myshopify.com

11 Restoration Show and Spares Market Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire. restoration-show.co.uk

18 Krispy Kreme Cruise Krispy Kreme, Shannon Corner, New Malden. Facebook: Krispy Kreme Cruise Surrey

18 ‘Normous Newark Autojumble Newark Showground, Newark, Notts. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk

20 VW Air-Cooled Night Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

25 Straightliners Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

31 All American Cruise In Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com

31 Flame and Thunder Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk

31 Whitby Kustom Whitby Facebook: Paul Kustom

Official Broker of the NSRA