Custom Car March 2026 by Assignment Media Ltd

Any any any…

Old Iron has taken many forms, but Steve Elliott has struck gold with its best incarnation yet

PLUS Chassis and body from two well known hot rods from the past come together as Dave Cox creates his ideal ‘32 coupe

News & reviews

Party Hat

The Velocity Vintage Drags season opener at Manston Raceway Park

will feature The Magic Hat Prizes for the winners of 4 Banger, Flathead V8 and Overhead Valve classes. It’s open to all competitors on Saturday and Sunday; those

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EDITORIAL

Group Editor: Alan Kidd

editorial@pistonpublications.co.uk

Art Editor: Ian Denby-Jones

participating each put the agreed amount of cash in the hat, with the winners of each class taking the pot.

The season opener takes place over the weekend of 3-6 April, with Saturday night

Dave Biggadyke, Mike Pye, Dan Fenn, James Webber, Olly Sack, Tony Thacker, PJ Csapo

Photographers

Julian Hunt, Vic Peel, Harry Hamm, Richard Hair

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featuring the all-new Pit Party. This chilled evening with food, drinks and music is open to everyone staying over, whether in a motorhome, camping or in hotels.

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Later opening

Pics: Julian Hunt

Santa Pod Raceway has announced that the format for the Nostalgia Nationals is changing. No longer will the facility be open for Thursday arrivals; instead, both racers and spectators will be able to access the site from 8.00am on Friday 1 May. The scheduling across the event will be confirmed, however it will primarily focus on a two-day race meeting for Saturday and Sunday, with possible provision for a Friday evening session. The Friday RWYB will still be taking place but the full schedule and times are TBC.

Fooling around

The Five Bells in Tydd St Mary, Wisbech, Cambs, will once again be the venue for the Only Fools and Motors meets in 2026. The dates for the Saturday gatherings are 4 April, 2 May, 6 June, 4 July, 1 August and 5 September. If you fancy spending a whole afternoon and / or evening with live music, great food and plenty of variety with a chilled-out atmosphere, it’s the place to be.

Facebook: Only Fools and Motors

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”

News & reviews Something for the weekend?

Sell and buy

A fi nal reminder for those wanting to burst out of hibernation and get theIR fi rst hot rodding fi x of 2026. The NSRA Southern Swap Meet will take place at North Weald Airfi eld in Essex on Sunday 8 March. The trader gate opens at 7.30am and the public gate at 9.30am. Anyone wishing to book a trade pitch should email Andy at nsra.trade@ nsra.org.uk or call him on 07810 770256. www.nsra.org.uk/ Facebook: nationalstreetrodassociationuk

51st State

Admission pass applications for Wheels Day 51, which takes place on Good Friday, 3 April, at Newbury Showground, went live at the beginning of January. Passes are available for Single Show Cars, Car Clubs and the Motorsport Shed. Surrey Street Rodders has evolved the registration process, with all changes designed to streamline the process and make things easier. Full details are available online, and remember that

spaces are limited – so the earlier you apply, the better the chance you have of being accepted.

Facebook: Surrey Street Rodders

Eggcellent

The date for the Kings Lynn Kruisers Easter Bonnet Parade Hot Rod and Classic Car Show is Easter Monday, 6 April. It takes place at Wisbech St Mary’s Community Centre, Cambridgeshire PE13 4SS, from 12.00 noon onwards. Attractions include music from the ‘50s and ‘60s with Tony ‘G’, and a raffle. Food is available, and prizes will be awarded to the Best Car and Best Bonnet.

Facebook: Kings Lynn Kruisers

Northern delight

The North East Rod & Custom w eekender takes place on 24-26 April at Croft and District Working Men’s Club, Darlington DL2 2DA. Entertainment includes rock band Harris

Tweed, bingo and a raﬄ e. The weekend costs £20 per person, including camping, with all proceeds in aid of Parkinson’s UK.

Facebook: North East Rod & Custom

Spring hop

The fourth edition of THE HOPUP, organised by Detonators CC, takes place on Spring Bank Holiday Monday, 25 May. The venue is Westerham Brewery, Kent TN16 1QO, with the show running from 11.00am through to 5.00pm. All pre-’66 hot rods and customs are welcome

but places are limited, with no entries accepted on the day. Interested parties should email detonatorsccuk@gmail.com with details and a picture of their vehicle; if accepted, you will be charged £15 to cover admission of the vehicle and all passengers.

Facebook: Detonators CC

All about wheels

Bottisham Airﬁeld Museum, Cambridge CB25 9BU is the venue for The Wheels Weekender on 6-7 June. Billed as an epic weekend all about everything on wheels, the event offers camping, a cash bar, food vendors and live music from Retro Rebels, Steve Spall So-Low and ZZ Top GB. Admission costs £15 per person plus a booking fee, which includes a Saturday night camping pitch, with all proceeds going directly to support the museum.

Whether you’re into customs, classics, bikes or just love to hang out with fellow riders and drivers, you can expect good vibes, cool rides and plenty of fun.

Eventbrite: The Wheels Weekender

8 ball

Organised by Cannibals Hot Rod Club, the renowned Hot Rod Hop will be staged over the weekend of 28-31 August at Scald End Farm, Thurleigh, Beds. This will be the 8th incarnation of the event, cited as often imitated but never bettered.

Facebook: Cannibals Car Club – UK

Clip and crimp

This interchangeable Circlip Plier and Crimper Set from Laser Tools is a 5-in-1 solution that replaces multiple separate pliers. The set includes straight and angled internal and external circlip heads plus a crimping plier head, which can be swapped in seconds, all housed in a purposemoulded case.

www.lasertools.co.uk

Spit and polish

A dirt track oval for those who like mud, and a show and shine area for those who like polish, are the main features of the “O”ld Race in France. It takes place in Clairmarais in the Hauts-de-France region, two miles north-east of SaintOmer, over the weekend of 12-14 June. Facebook: The-Old-Race

News & reviews

Parts and more

The three dates for the Newbury American Autojumble at Woodside Farm, RG18 9JU, have been announced as 29 March, 26 July and 25 October. Organised by OPI Classics, the autojumbles promise a multitude of American cars and hot rods for sale, together with new and used parts, Americana, vintage auto antiques, gas pumps, vintage clothing and tools. Entry costs £5 per person, seller pitches cost £10 and overnight camping is available. To book a pitch (vendors and food wagons welcome), call OPI on 07947 889129.

Facebook: Newbury American Auto Jumble

Up and down

For those who enjoy their thrills in the air as well as on the ground, you may want to make a note that the dates for this year’s Sywell Classic: Pistons and Props are 26-27 September. Unsurprisingly, it takes place at the Art Decothemed Sywell Aerodrome in Northamptonshire.

www.sywellclassic.co.uk

Universal wheel

Webcon’s Universal Throttle Wheel Kit suits the everpopular Weber 32/36 DGV/DGAV and 38 DGAS/ DGMS carburettors. The kit will allow the installer to connect a car’s throttle cable to the Weber carburettor regardless of the installation. A throttle wheel, cable clamp, return spring and outer cable support are all included at a price of £58.28 including VAT.

www.webcon.co.uk

Gothtastic

The exciting news is that after a few years’ hiatus, Whitby Kustom is back on the calendar. Dead End CC has announced the Goths and Gasoline Show is back from the grave and will be held at West Cliff School in Whitby on Saturday 31 October. We will bring you updated info as soon as it’s available.

Shorter master

Burton Power now offers a short-body version of its 0.75inch brake / clutch master cylinder. Ideal for compact installations, it is 25mm shorter than the standard master cylinder, with a body casting length of just 80mm as measured from the mounting ﬂ ange. The cylinder has a 7/16inch UNF inlet, a 3/8-inch UNF outlet, 57mm mounting bolt

Pop in for coffee

While full details are still to be announced, we can conﬁ rm the date for Top of the Pops 2 at Industry and Supply Coffee Depot in Northamptonshire is 13 September.

Facebook: Industry and Supply centres and an M8 threaded rod. The price is £51.00 including VAT. www.burtonpower.com

Double time

Hosted by the Yorkshire American Car Club (YANCS), two American, Rod and Custom Shows will be staged at Fort Paull, near Hull, in 2026. The first in on Easter Sunday, 5 April, and the second on Sunday 27 September. The shows are open to anything of interest, not just American cars, classics, vintage and bikes, and weekend camping is available to exhibitors from noon on Friday. For those making a weekend of the shows, there will be a licensed bar and a Saturday night party. Along with the display vehicles, the shows offer catering and trade stands, and dogs are welcome on leads.

yancs1@yahoo.co.uk / 01709 542555 / 07787 915081 / Facebook: YANCS American Car Show

Old Iron has been a feature of UK rodding for almost as long as there has been a UK rodding scene. We reckon its latest incarnation is its best yet

Words: Mike Pye Pics: Alan Kidd

hat’s the longest you’ve ever owned a car? Ten years? Twenty years? FORTY years?

Surely not. And what’s the most times a car has been featured in Custom Car?

If you’re Steve Elliot, the answer to the ﬁrst question is an astonishing 47 years. The answer to the second is now three. Three plus a bizarre, unplanned appearance in Str**t M*ch*n*

So, when Steve says he’s been into cars for longer than he can remember, it might be more correct to say he’s been into one car in particular for as long as he can remember.

It all started innocently enough. “I recall my childhood neighbour’s son was a hippy, and had a black Ford Pop with whitewall tyres and white handprints and footprints all over it. I thought it was great,” Steve laughs.

But then, in 1974, the dark side reared its head. “I was shown a copy of Street Rodder magazine…” That was it, Steve was hooked. And the hook sunk deeper still when, in 1975, John Baldacchino launched Hot ’n Bothered into the world.

“Up to that point, I just wanted a hot rod,” Steve recalls. “I didn’t care what, I just wanted one. But Hot ’n Bothered totally blew my mind and, from that moment on, I wanted a Fordson. I just never thought I’d ever be lucky enough to actually own one.”

Buffing point

In truth, he never has, as British Ford buffers will immediately tell you that a 1939 version (like Steve’s) is a pre-war Ford 7Y, not a postwar E04C, when the Fordson nomenclature was ﬁrst applied. We’re not sidevalve buffers here, though, we’re hot rodders and if we call it a Fordson it’s a Fordson, alright?

Evolution of W

of van

was

Kris Brown who rescued the old bricklayer’s 7Y van from a scrapyard and rebuilt it in the early ’70s as a mild hot rod, channelled over a chassis that was the prototype for the Jago Pop chassis

Those of you old enough to have read the previous features on Steve’s motor will already know it was originally built by the lovely, and sadly now departed, Kris Brown, when he worked at Geoff Jago’s emporium down on the south coast. Kris had pulled it out of a breaker’s yard in ’73 and spent two years channelling the body over a custom box section chassis and dropping in an 1100cc crossﬂow, 2000E gearbox, 105E rear

axle and Triumph Herald front suspension and steering. That was to be the ﬁrst in a long line of engine transplants, culminating in the 302ci small block Ford it has now.

“And this is the last engine it’s going to get!” says Steve adamantly. “It’s been off the road for so long over the years, it’s got to stay on the road now.”

The timeline pics in this feature tell the story, from the Kris-applied Ford Red Velvet

’79

Imagine being a teenager at school playing Top Trumps and turning one over to ﬁnd a picture of the car you own. Yep, Steve bought Old Iron as a schoolboy in 1979

’80

Steve’s ﬁrst show with the car was the Hot Rod and Custom Internationals at Thruxton in 1980. Now repainted Sunset Red, wearing a two-hole grille and ﬁtted with a combination of chrome smoothies and Wolfrace slots. Steve was still too young to drive it at this point

paint and 13-inch steels in 1975, through its transformation into candy paint and Old Iron, its sale to Steve’s sister’s boyfriend in 1977, its transfer to Steve in 1979 and its various incarnations in his ownership ever since.

Top Trumps

“The Top Trumps picture in particular is pertinent,” Steve continues, “as I remember playing Top Trumps with a mate at school

Magazine queen

Old Iron is no stranger to these pages, but we think it’s fair to say this is its ﬁrst decent feature. The initial appearance, in November 1976, was as part of a local Kent area round-up by Tony Thacker called Snappin’ Cracklin’ Pops. Featured were Phil Rutherford’s rebuilt Street Odyssey, Phil Robinson’s Pop and what was then Kris Brown’s 7Y.

Fast forward to July of 1981 and ex-CC Ed Steve Brennan borrowed the by now Steve Elliot’s red ’n’ ﬂamed 7Y and drove it to a nearby location for a photoshoot. Sadly, his accompanying write-up, shall we say, left something to be desired.

Meanwhile, Steve lent his car to a mate for a few weeks and said mate was approached in Blackheath by an unknown photographer asking if he could take some pictures. Of the van that is. The results were published – unbeknown to Steve – in the same month’s Str**t M*ch*n*, curiously

in maths, turning a card over and seeing a picture of my own car!” He’s got Mike Key (another sadly RIP) to thank for that, for it was he who snapped a pic of it at the Southern Rodders show at Beaulieu in 1976 and then supplied the pics to Dubreq (later Waddingtons) who made the perennially popular boys’ card game.

Suﬃce to say, the intermediate owner altered Kris’ work a bit, adding homemade

glass ﬁbre rear doors and Wolfrace slots on the front and repainting it beige. That’s the condition the little van was in when Steve bought it in February 1979 for £300, while still at school.

“I used to bunk off school and go to the local breaker’s yard, climbing all over the cars in there in my school uniform looking for bits,” remembers Steve fondly. With the help of his brother-in-law Chris Howell,

he resprayed it Sunset Red, ﬁtted a pair of chrome smoothies and made a deep buttoned interior for it, no doubt following articles in the various rodding magazines at the time.

In that guise, it headed to Thruxton in 1980 for the Hot Rod and Custom Internationals, but not with Steve behind the wheel. “Chris had to drive it there for me as I didn’t yet have a licence.”

“I remember playing Top Trumps with a mate at school in maths, turning a card over and seeing a picture of my own car!”

’81

Despite how it looks, body modiﬁcations are very limited. There’re the louvres, of course, and different indicator and tail lights, but otherwise it’s just down to a pair of sectioned Bedford CF rear ’arches, a Mk4 Cortina estate roof insert and exhaust cut outs in the rear valance

combined into a double feature with a slick shod, candy red American Fordson under the title Two Old Frauds. Bit like Str**t M*ch*n* really, eh?

’80’s

Back to straight red again now, and with a 1600GT crossﬂow under the now louvred bonnet. Shortly after, in search of more power, it gained a Ford V6

The ﬁrst ﬂame job went on in 1981, with the help of Steve’s brother-in-law Chris Howell. This is how it appeared in both CC and Str**t M*ch*n* in July 1981, having to be driven to the CC photoshoot by then dep ed Steve Brennan as Steve still didn’t have his driving licence

Steve loves louvres on a hot rod almost as much as he loves flames. The bonnet, with its full five rows, came off a car that was on the cover of Str**t M*ch*n* many moons ago. “Everyone said you could only do four rows in a Pop bonnet, so when I saw that I knew I wanted five,” says Steve Having once had ’glass rear doors, the van now has steel ones back in place, punched with a cool 160 louvres

When Al Barnett said “’Ere, I’ve got the windows out of Hot ’n Bothered, d’you want ’em?” Steve didn’t need asking twice. So the car that started it all for him is now a part of his own car. Adding to that provenance, the rear windows are the originals out of Plum Crazy

“Some of Steve’s collection of delicious vintage rubber wrapped around a set of American Racing slots”

He’d got a taste for customising now, though, and it wasn’t long before it was being rubbed down again, in preparation for the first of its flame jobs. “I just love flames,” grins Steve.

Road legal

Finally, in 1981, with a driving licence tucked in his back pocket, or at least folded up in a drawer somewhere, Steve was legally able to drive his creation. At which point he did what all good hot rodders do and promptly disabled it, yanking the 1100 out in order to replace it with a 1600GT crossﬂow. Oh, and repainting it again.

Next stop was an upgrade to a Ford V6. Next stop after that was kids, followed by

being made redundant from his ﬁrst job out of school in the parts department at Ford, leading him to push the old girl on to the back burner for a few years.

Did you ever consider selling it? I asked. “Never, I’ll never sell it. Actually, I did once try and swap it. It was in 1991, at Thruxton. A mate had an Austin with a V8. I loved it, so I offered to swap, but it didn’t happen.”

Pause. Steve follows up with: “There is one car I’d let it go for. If Charles Baldacchino offered me a deal on Small Fry…”

A change in marital circumstances in 1988 saw Old Iron pulled out of hibernation and, with the help of Chris and another friend, Barry Stamp, the next stage of its evolution occurred. More steel parts went

The enamel Fordson 8 cylinder badge is one of Steve’s most cherished pieces, being an original piece off a British, ﬂathead-powered V8-51 commercial

back on, from the rear doors, through the roof opening (Mk4 Cortina estate) to the rear ’arches (cut down Bedford CF van). It also went black, but then later bright yellow, in line with trends in the hot rod and custom scenes in the late ’80s and ’90s.

Lucky day

It could have all stayed like that had Steve not picked up the ’phone to answer a competition question on the radio one morning, which netted him a cool £1000 in cash. Some might have stuck that on the mortgage, others on the gee-gees. Steve had a better idea: “I bought a tube axle for Old Iron and had my good friend Mel Garrard ﬁt it.”

With that, a Rover V8 with fenderwell headers and a set of ARE ﬁve-spokes, Old Iron’s attitude changed dramatically. Unfortunately, the two-inch oversize front wings required to cover the new wheels meant Steve’s attitude to the car changed dramatically, too: “I hated the look of them so much that I put the Fordson in the back of a Sherpa Luton van and didn’t look at it again for a few years.”

Cragar S/S wheels replaced the Americans somewhere along the way, and the Old

Next stage was a bit more subtle, a bit Resto Rod even. In 1988, Old Iron went black, with a Mk4 Cortina estate roof let in, steel doors back on the rear and hot rod red steels. “I don’t know what I was doing, I thought they looked good at the time,” laughs Steve

’90’s

That vibe continued into the ’90s, though the trend for more cheery colours saw the black replaced with a bright yellow, setting the tone (ha ha) for years to come. Whitewall ﬂaps, too

A desire for yet more power saw a Rover V8 enter the mix, along with a Ford 8-inch rear axle, drop tube front axle and ARE ﬁves, covered by two-inch oversize front wings. Suddenly, Old Iron was a very different beast

The 4.5 x 15 Ansen slots on the front with 145/55-15 tyres are dwarfed by the vintage LR50-15 BFG steamrollers on 8.5 x 15 ARE slots on the rear. Some people have suggested Steve should narrow the back axle to tuck ’em in – but I’m 100% with him when he says “I’ve always loved wheels hangin’ out the ’arches, that’s how it’s meant to be” He’s also got a set of Cragar S/S for it. Tough choice

Steve was double chuffed to be able to buy his old single hole grille back from Mick Payne so ﬁnally, after all these years, Old Iron is now all steel again

The junkyard-sourced seats are of unknown origin but have been retrimmed by M&M Classic Car Trim (see popbrowns.co.uk) in vivid yellow vinyl, along with the rest of the van’s interior, to match the new exterior colour. That work was a 50th birthday present from Debs, his wife. She’s a keeper

Buy yourself a pint if you spotted the dash is out of a 1948 Austin Devon, complete with its original gauge cluster. It’s been narrowed four inches to ﬁt but looks right at home in the little 7Y cab. A pair of additional gauges, Grant Classic steering wheel and B&M shifter complete the driver aids

Engine is a well-dressed 302ci SBF, its stock bottom end aided and abetted by an Edelbrock top end kit and a few other goodies supplied by Steve’s friend and Outlaw Anglia racer

Mercer. Mick Hewitt rebuilt it and Steve says it’s by far and away the quickest motor Old Iron has ever had. Hopefully, he’ll take it down the drag strip this year and ﬁnd out how quick

“Hot ’n Bothered totally blew my mind and, from that moment on, I wanted a Fordson”

As you can see from the timeline pics, Old Iron has gone through a number of altitude adjustments over the years, but this is the lowest and most raked it’s ever sat. That’s down to a custom IFS built by Steve’s son, Keith, and those big ol’ baloneys on the back

“Thanks to Chris Howell, Barry Stamp, Mel Garrard and Mick Hewitt. A special thanks to my son Keith and mostly to my wife Debby for all the encouragement, and for putting up with it all.”

Iron name reappeared on the sides, but it took an invite from the NSRA to be part of the club’s 40th anniversary display in 2012 to kick-start Steve’s enthusiasm again. With the help of his son Keith, aka Roasty, it was resprayed yellow, treated to a set of pearl green ﬂames and re-lettered.

“I was happy with it like that,” says Steve. “But then I decided I wanted it higher at the front than Phil Oldﬁeld’s Fordson (CC Nov 2012), so Keith made a straight tube axle for it – but that made it ridiculously high.”

Down down

And so, after much deliberation – and thanks in no small part to Keith’s mock-up with the car sitting low at the front and on a wild rake – the decision was made to redo Old Iron all over again.

It’s a family business. That’s son Keith, aka Roasty, on the left, whose face will be very familiar to NSRA members, son Ross in the middle and dad Steve on the right. The rodding apple didn’t fall far from the tree in the Elliot household

Ronnie

’12

A mild 302ci small block Ford was acquired from Steve’s friend Barry Stamp, and Keith set to work on the old Kris Brown chassis, strengthening it, making mounts for the new engine and a C4 gearbox, adding ladder bars and coilovers to the rear suspension and fabricating a new IFS. Keeping it all Ford, brakes are Capri 2.8 vented discs and calipers, the rack and pinion is from an Escort and the rest Keith made from scratch, including a full stainless exhaust to Steve’s design.

The latest in the long line of yellow paint jobs was done by Eagle Autos in Swanley, Kent. This time Steve picked Suzuki Champion Yellow from the colour charts. It’s not ﬂamed yet but, speaking with Steve for this feature, I got the distinct impression it’ll be licked again at some point.

With that, Steve and his wife Debs packed up their belongings and said goodbye to Kent and hello to Lincolnshire, the Covid debacle of six years ago bringing that decision to a head. The move brought with it a bigger and better garage and the help of another good friend, Mick Hewitt, saw the 302 rebuilt, a new wiring loom installed and some of Steve’s collection of delicious vintage rubber wrapped around a set of American Racing slots.

Third coming

First time back on the road for years, Steve took it to his now local National Hot Rod, Custom and American Car Show in 2022, where it formed part of the NSRA display –and snagged the Organiser’s Choice award. We hope this, its third feature in CC, is the

cherry on the cake for Old Iron, a van that has been part of Steve’s life for longer than anything else, including his kids. That’s an extraordinary achievement, and we applaud his dedication to the cause.

“I’m planning a couple more modiﬁcations, but I get fed up with it very quickly – that’s probably why it’s spent so much of its time off the road – so I’m a bit scared to do anything more to it as I don’t want to get fed up with it again.

“There’s a great bunch of hot rodders up here [in Lincolnshire] now, so I’m just enjoying it. Besides, there’s a 100E in the garage that’s Debs’ car, so I need to get on with that. And one of my other sons, Ross, owns the red oxide Pop in the pictures. So yeah, I guess you could say it has sort of rubbed off on them.” CC

Now with a straight axle in place of the dropped tube. But it was all starting to get a bit too much for Steve, so the whole lot came off and the end result of makeover number nine is the car in the main feature. We love it

In 2012, an invitation to show Old Iron as part of the NSRA 40th anniversary display was enough for Steve to pull the old girl out of the Sherpa van she’d been sitting in since he fell out of love with the oversize front wings

Park life

The rst weekend in October saw the nal coming together of two similar but very diverse events at Manston Raceway Park in Kent

■ Words: Dave Biggadyke ■ Pics: Tog for Eurodragster.com

Manston Raceway Park, on the outskirts of Ramsgate in Kent, has appeared from nowhere and established itself in a very short period of time to become a very welcome new grass roots drag racing venue. But it wasn’t just down to luck.

“We ran seven weekends at MRP in the track’s first year of existence,” comments Paul ‘No Prep’ Marston. Paul puts the success and growth down to the hard work and dedication of the nigh-on 30 staff who make it happen – and that’s not counting

those who voluntarily helped with time and materials to get the track up and running.

“We attended Oh So Retro and BHP, which were staged in the locale, to help spread the word,” Paul continued. “We are also proud to have worked alongside the Manston Historic Air Museum, which is a charity existing solely from donations. If you are in the area, the NAAFI Café and the museum are well worth a visit. And Keith Bartlett and the Santa Pod staff have helped us immeasurably with advice and guidance, for which we are truly grateful.”

Paul and his team have established Manston as a true grass-roots track in a very short time. Many of this season’s competitors hadn’t previously raced, indicating that the track is injecting new blood into the sport. The atmosphere is always relaxed, and it’s a great place to be with like-minded individuals.

The team learnt quickly over their first year, and at their 4th meeting progressed from eighth to a quarter mile. On occasions throughout the season, however, the no-prep racing has been supported by

Chris Mills, in his blown 540ci Chevy-powered ‘51 Chevy Fleetline, took the trophy and £60 cash pot for the runner-up spot in No Prep Big Tyre on Saturday

Luke Hoskins was top dog in No Prep Big tyre in his big block Chevy-powered Ford Pop, bagging the winner’s trophy and £140 cash on both Saturday and Sunday

Velocity Vintage Drags (VVD) – which is still run over the eighth. That was the case at the season’s finale event, King of the South, which proved to be the busiest of the year.

After going out on a high, Paul commented: “There is still more to come, as upgrades for the 2026 season are already being planned.”

The man behind VVD, Mark Phillips, is also planning some future tweaks. “Next season will see the introduction of ‘The Magic Hat’, where all racers put in cash for the prize money.” We at CC can’t wait, and we’ll be back at Manston recording the action.

Anthony Mitchell was running his Ford Capri in the No Prep Shoot Out. His quickest run was a 13.4 at 101mph

Laurence Parsons enjoying VVD in his ’30 Model A coupe

Outlaw Anglia racer Andy Cunningham took to the No Prep track in his 383ci Agent Orange Ford Anglia

TAZ Racing came along with a few of their race cars. Pictured here is Chris Skinner burning out in his Chevy V8-powered Fiat 126

Ady Potter was concentrating hard when running his Model A roadster pick-up

The roll hoop behind the driver’s head hints that this roadster was built with track action in mind

Dave Vincec picked up £60 and a trophy for finishing runner-up in No

Custom Car cover feature, Best in Britain winner, and now smoking the tyres at MRP. Kevin Barnaby was putting his Pro Street Mk1 Zephyr Zodiac through its paces

Phil Norman was having fun in the 2332cc Brickfield VW Beetle, a car that runs 11-second quarters in VW Pro

Small Tyre runner-up on Sunday was Dave Wiggins in his nitrousequipped, small block-powered ’63 Chevy II

Left: Regular Willys Wars campaigner Phil Moules was running Triggers Broom, his 496ci ’41 coupe

When we featured Steve Bradshaw’s small block-powered Pro Street Mk1 Cortina in the December ’92 issue, it sported a very dominant bonnet scoop. The blower poking through the bonnet is a far more subtle look

It’s great to see the ex-Jerry Denning ’32 roadster being used in a way its creator would approve of. The man now behind the wheel is Jeff Willett

After running in King of the South, Darren Straker switched the drag radials for crossplies and joined VVD. The Pop was running two seconds slower, but that made for some close match-ups

A brace of Mk2 Cortinas, both looking like they mean serious business on the track, yet built in different styles

these days, even more so when it’s

on a drag

Nigel Gibbs making another run in his ’28 Ford Model A boat-tail

Prep Big Tyre on Sunday in his Nash Metropolitan

A 1950 Sunbeam Talbot is a rare sight

running

strip

Darren Hardy in the Prison Island Racing roadster. Why be normal, indeed?

Nick Blanche was top dog in VVD in his 383ci ’55 Chevy Gasser

“Paul and his team have established MRP as a true grassroots track in a very short time”

UK Nostalgia Superstock was well represented by the likes of Stewart

No Prep Small Tyre attracted 10 entries and Ben Kennedy came out top on both days in his 4-litre Lexus Twin Turbo V8-powered Ford Pop

The largest No Prep field was the Streetcar Shootout with 15 entries on Saturday and 18 on Sunday. The winner on Saturday was Simon Paul in his GTR, with Lee Elliott (pictured) being runner-up. Lee then won on Sunday, with Chris Champion being runner-up in his Audi RS

No Prep Small Tyre runner-up on Saturday, receiving a trophy and £100 cash, was Stuart Gilbert in his Wildcat Engineering Rover V8-powered ‘68 MGB

Regular Santa Pod racer Matthew Southcott was trying his hand at No Prep in Scampy, his 565ci Plymouth Scamp

… Mick Sharpe in his ’71 Dodge Dart…

Andrew Wood in his left-hand drive and fenderless Ford Pop

Arthur in his Plymouth Roadrunner…

Mr VVD, Mark Phillips, in his Flathead-powered ’29 Model A coupe

…and Bob Gallagher in his 289ci Ford Fairlane

It’s always good to achieve any of life’s goals, especially one that plays such a big part in your life

Words: Dave Biggadyke Pics: Alan Kidd

Thanks: Custom Car would like to thank Shuttleworth House, Old Warden Park, Bedfordshire, for the photoshoot location: www.shuttleworth.org

LAST OF THE

THE LINE

Dave Cox is a well-known figure in the UK hot rodding community – especially in his native NorthEast, where he is very active in the scene. He’s not exclusively known in that area of the country, though, as he has served on the NSRA committee, dipped his toe in the water and crossed the channel to attend European events, and frequently visits the States.

Dave’s ﬁrst foray into the scene came in 1979 with a Ford Capri; not, as you may expect, jacked up and rolling on slot mags, but lowered with wide ﬂared arches.

Following that came a long line of cool rides, each one that bit different to its predecessor. Not necessarily in strict chronological order, that list of cars includes a ’28/’29 roadster that was featured in Street Machine in 1987, ’33 Plymouth, Ford 100E, ’57 Chevy wagon, Model A delivery, Model A pick-up that Dave imported from the States, ’32 sedan, Camaro, ’46 Ford sedan, ’33 Ford pick-up and ’32 Ford phantom cabriolet. A varied mix indeed, but one with a common denominator: they all got driven a lot.

There has always been one particular car missing from Dave’s bucket list, though: a ’32

coupe. That is until now, of course. Though ‘now’ is a bit tenuous, as Dave has owned a part of it for at least eight years.

What Dave had was a boxed set of rails, with crossmembers ﬁtted, and proven provenance. Believed to have been put together as a fully rolling chassis by Jerry Denning, it had previously seen duty under a ’32 roadster body. As time moved on, the running gear had been repurposed and the chassis itself was surplus to requirements. Dave made his move and the chassis was his, with him knowing full well it would come in useful one day.

“It appeared on the cover of our November ’99 issue”

The 9-inch Ford rear axle hangs from a transverse leaf spring and is located by 45½ inch long ladder bars. A pair of shocks and a Panhard rod complete the installation, with all components being powder coated. The axle is fitted with 3.50:1 gears and drum brakes concealed behind dummy finned ali Buick covers. The rear lights are ’37 Ford and, to set the record straight, the paint is Porsche Olive Green applied in a mix of satin and gloss finishes by Dave McCallum

Rolling on

Ultimately, that day dawned and Dave began assembling a rolling chassis. It wasn‘t just a matter of bolting replacement running gear on to the bracketry that was already there, however. Dave had a very speciﬁc vision of the traditional style underpinnings for the coupe, and there was no place for the coilovers that had previously featured in the rear suspension. The box-section crossmember was removed and replaced with a tubular alternative, and mounted to that was a transverse leaf spring from which the rear axle would hang. A Super Bell

dropped I beam axle went under the front end and stainless steel spreader bars were bolted on front and rear.

For motive power, Dave sourced a small block Chevy from somewhere in Lincolnshire. It ﬁred up readily and sounded ﬁne once wired and plumbed in, so it was left just as it was.

Naturally, Dave needed a body to bolt on to the rolling chassis he’d put together, and one came his way via Fred Murphy. Just like the chassis, this particular ‘glass body had provenance as it appeared on the cover of our November ’99 issue. The car in question

The snug-ﬁtting Mustang seats were professionally trimmed in black vinyl with Bentley-style diamond double stitching, while Tracy did an equally good job stitching the matching door and side panel cards, topping them off with olive green piping. Just visible between the seats is a Lokar handbrake lever, while the roll bar hoop provides adequate anchorage for the seat belt mounts

The SO-CAL polished steering column provides a mounting point for the same source rev counter and is topped off with a swap meet bargain buy leather-trimmed Sprint Car style steering wheel with tri-bar adorned centre cap. Note the recurring tri-bar theme throughout the car – headlights, wheel spinners, steering wheel and, more recently, the air ﬁlter nut

Housed in the polished Mother of Pearl dash insert is a complement of Classic Instruments Moon gauges. Under that is a second cutdown dash which houses the switchgear in another Mother of Pearl panel. Instead of the normal painted finish, the dash and garnish mouldings are covered in four-way stretch black vinyl. Mounted further down on the firewall is a restored vintage heater case fitted with a Mini heater matrix. The floor is covered with black carpet, with plenty of soundproofing and heat insulation underneath, and a Lokar shifter stirs the transmission into life

Rattling on

With the chassis built up as a basic roller, the ex-Geordie Paul chopped 3-window body was mounted on to it

The SO-CAL Hot Rod front brakes feature discs and calipers concealed within Buickstyle dummy drums

The roll cage hoop that Dave McCallum fabricated waiting to be bolted into place

With the body removed, Dave installed the engine, transmission and a host of other components

Dave prepped and painted the bodyshell with rattle cans

Dave painted the inside of the chassis rails gloss black, while Dave McCallum painted the outer edges body colour

The steel bonnet with louvred sides is by Rootlieb, while the original grille, donated to the cause by Brian Daly, was fitted with a Vintique stainless steel insert 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

The inside of the coupe was given a liberal coating of sound-deadening and heat insulation material

It was at this point Dave discovered that not all paint colours are just as it says on the tin

The seats, pirated from a Fox-body Ford Mustang, were retrimmed in vinyl by a local upholstery company

The louvred boot lid was fabricated by Buckland Automotive Engineering. Dave initially left it unpainted. Back then, the coupe rolled on 16-inch diameter polished Rocket Igniter kidney bean rims 12. 13. 14. Even the stainless grille insert was painted, black in this instance …as did the grille shell and petrol tank

Fast forward a year and the body received its final coats of paint…

Left: With the new paint came the new wheels, which Dave had painted gold 15.

The same, but vastly different. It’s all in the detail, you know 16.

Left: The engine, as it looked at the time of our photoshoot. The 305ci small block Chevy is ﬁtted with an Edelbrock AVS11 carb mounted on a Performer inlet manifold and a Pertronix distributor. A Walker radiator with an electric fan and shroud takes care of the cooling. The TH350 automatic transmission has been rebuilt by John Sleath Race Cars and the custom propshaft was fabricated by Major and Aspinall in Durham

Above: Following the rebuild by Mick Harle and dressing by Dave, the engine has taken on a new look. The block has been bored 30 thou and the engine is ﬁtted with new pistons, bearings, camshaft and Vortec heads. It has also been fully balanced. The block and ancillary items have been painted gold to match the wheels and polished ali dress-up items include pulleys, water pump, sump, valve covers and air ﬁlter housing

“It is my last build, after all”

was ‘Geordie’ Paul O’Donnell’s Rodlinebodied 3-window, coated in two-pack baby blue paint. Yep, Geordie from Duksville Speed Shop, no less.

Quite how the body became detached from the rest of the car is somewhat of an irrelevance, as all that mattered to Dave was getting his hands on a coupe body at the right price. To beef things up a bit, he added an internal steel framework. In addition a rollbar hoop, fabricated by Dave McCallum, bolts to the chassis rails behind the seats.

Derek Hoggarth lent Dave a hand to sort the electrics using an EZ Wiring kit and Dave rattle can painted the body and associated panels himself. That wasn’t the ultimate plan, as he fully intended to have Dave McCallum professionally paint the car. His booked-up schedule, along with Dave chomping at the bit to get the car on the road, meant that spaying would have to wait for a while. It did provide the opportunity to iron out any bugs in the interim period, and also taught Dave an invaluable lesson –don’t believe what it says on the tin, not all rattle cans are the same colour.

We questioned Dave as to why he went to the trouble of having a louvred steel boot lid purposely fabricated for the coupe. “Because it looks so good,” came his immediate response. At the same time as he added the lettering, Dave also painted the boot lid – rattle can ﬁnish, of course

“Dave has clocked up a staggering 6422 miles in around 18 months”

Meaningful words

The coupe ﬁrst made in on to the road in May 2024, since which time Dave’s been doing what he likes best – driving it. The ﬁrst run did throw up a problem, though, with the transmission letting go in a big way. A complete rebuild by John Sleath Race Cars in Doncaster sorted that out, with no further issues causing any grief.

The look of the car did change a bit, though, as although it would be repainted before too long, Dave did add some gold lettering to give it a pseudo race car persona.

Dave initially told us the wording was totally random but then admitted it all had a relevance in some way or other. Dahlinger Racing was a nod to Evangeline Cote Dahlinger, Henry Ford’s secretary, with whom he allegedly had a decades-long relationship. Willow Run Special is a reference to the Ford plant in Michigan that mass-produced B-24 Liberator bombers during World War

II. Even the 490 race number on the doors is signiﬁcant, as that was the price of a V8powered coupe back in the day. It may have been short-lived but it’s all in the detail, as they say.

That lettering, along with its inferences, was soon to be no more, however, as in May 2025 Dave McCallum had a window in his diary that Dave took advantage of. Having run the car with rattle can paint, he had developed an aﬃnity with the work-inprogress look, so that was his brief for the fresh paint. Dave McCallum got the look spot on, using a mix of satin and gloss ﬁnishes.

Miles ahead

Dave’s very happy with how the car drives. “It’s pretty much what I expected really,” he tells us. “The turning circle isn’t that great but it doesn’t bounce around, and it will cruise at motorway speeds all day long.” And those are not just hollow words from

Dave, either, as they are quantiﬁed by the miles he’s clocked up inaround 18 months –a staggering 6422 at the time of writing.

A good chunk of that was clocked up in June 2025. One Sunday morning, Dave and his wife Tracy drove 19 miles to meet up with friends Nick and Liz Williams in Gateshead, who were in their 5-window coupe. The pair of Deuces then travelled a further 12 miles to the ferry terminal in North Shields. Four days and around 750 miles later, the coupes rolled into the 50th Street Rod Nationals on the island of Öland in Sweden. Nick and Liz headed for home three days later, after the Nats weekend, while Dave and Tracy stayed on to make more of a holiday of the trip. Sightseeing and car shows ensued, with the couple returning home 20 days after setting sail. The round trip added just over 2100 miles to the odometer, albeit at a cost.

The engine was not in the best of health after all this, so Dave took it steady on the

and Tracy posing with the coupe in Sweden. Driving your hot rod more than 2000 miles

trip down to the Supernats a few weeks later. After that weekend, when we took our pics, the car relocated to Mick Harle’s garage for an engine strip-down and rebuild.

That has breathed new life into the coupe, and Dave has no further plans to change anything. “I just want to use it,” he enthused. “It is my last build, after all.” CC

Thanks to John Reid, Pete Whiteside, Duksville Speed Shop, Russ Pepper at R&R Hot Rod Imports and Jon Golding at Home Grown Hot Rods, for the parts they all supplied. Fred Murphy for the deal on the bodyshell, Brian Daly for the grille, Derek Hogarth for help with the brakes and wiring, Dave McCallum (McCallum Automotive) for the paint and roll bar, Daz Chandler (DC’s HotRod and Race Shop) for machine work and advice, Mick, Colin, Frank, and Håkan for their help and advice, together with anyone else who has helped along the way. And special thanks, of course, to wifey Tracy for all her support.”

The coupe now rolls on American circle track-style SO-CAL Hot Rod Wheels that Dave bought from Chris Smith, together with the knock-off kit. Daz Chandler machined the hubs to suit. The rims have been painted gold and are ﬁtted with TRIGO forged aluminium tri-wing knock-off nuts. The front rims measure 5½ x 16 and the rears 6 x 16 inches. Tyres are 5.50R16 and 7.50R16 Auburn Deluxe Radials front and back respectively

Dave

in one trip is no mean feat

READERS’ RODS

Email photos and details of your car to editorial@pistonpublications.co.uk, or post to Custom Car, Piston Publications Ltd, PO Box 8830, Burton on Trent DE14 9QW. Please don’t forget to include your contact details – and when sending digital pictures, use the largest file size you have available

8 into 105 equals 65

Romany Palmer could possibly stake a claim to being the man who’s had the most models of the same car. To date, he has owned 65 105e Anglias: seven vans, seven estates and the rest saloons, all fitted with various engines including crossflows, Pintos Vauxhall redtops, twin-cams and so on. Some have been bog standard, some bubble arched, but one had always eluded him: a V8.

He had owned other V8 powered cars previously, including a 100e and two sit-upand-beg Pops. But the 105e was the one that got away, so to speak.

“I think it stemmed from my first, which was a ’64 van bought from a friend of my

dad’s for £150,” he says. “It had no engine or gearbox and the sills and jacking points needed welding.

“I had a 1200 Cortina engine and box which I put in, then I welded it up and had her running by the time I was 18. The poor thing literally got thrashed around everywhere, including dailying to college for my panel beating and spraying apprenticeship.

“I’d made plans to do a V8 powered one and 25 years ago, I acquired a ’64 white and yellow saloon and began making a start. But it became apparent that the shell wasn’t going to cut the mustard. I didn’t feel confident enough to weld the shell up to a standard that would take the V8, so it got shelved. Then the wife and kids came along

Words and Pics: James Webber

and although a few cars came and went as the kids were growing up, I never got back into it properly.

“Still, I’ve always said I would have a V8 powered Anglia one day. A sort of bucket list wish, if you will.”

In early 2025, Romany saw this one come up for sale and it was right up his street – a project that had been started but not finished. A lot of work had been done and it was almost the same as how he would have done his all these years ago, so he brought it home.

A quick bit of research showed that the car had originally been put together by Northampton Motorsport back in 2014. We got in touch and the company’s owner

Troy Robinson was kind enough to fill us in on some of the basics.

“The car was a 1964 South African shell and was very rotten,” he explained. “The majority of the bulkhead had been cut away to accommodate a Rover V8 and then had

a tin cover fitted with self-tapping screws, so all of the car’s structural integrity was compromised. We replaced all the floors, front bulkhead and transmission tunnel. Then we fitted the Rover V8, along with new suspension, wiring loom and final tuning.”

Troy couldn’t remember all the details – this was more than ten years ago, after all. But the guy Romany bought the car from was able to fill in some of the blanks.

The Rover lump is a 3950cc with standard bore and stroke, balanced and fitted with 218 high lift cam, ported cylinder heads with bigger valves and a Holley 390cfm double pumper carb plus SD1 front timing cover, water pump and sump. It was originally built by John Eales at JE Developments, which is very good provenance indeed for a Rover V8, and was destined for Morgan Plus 8. Behind it is a Rover LT77 5-speed manual box.

You wait a lifetime for a V8 Anglia, then you get one with a 3.9. Not just that but a 3.9 built by the Rover V8 legend that is John Eales. John’s company JE Developments balanced the big lump, which is most likely to have started out in a Range Rover, and fitted it with a 218 high-lift cam, ported cylinder heads with bigger valves and a Holley 390cfm double pumper carb, along with an SD1 front timing cover, water pump and sump

The front suspension is made of MK2 Escort/Capri based Gaz gold coil-over struts and Milton Race Prep eccentric aluminium top mounts, all of it rose-jointed, with solid discs and Capri/Escort M16 calipers doing the stopping. For the steering, a Mk2 Escort rack and compression strut kit was fitted. At the back is an Anglia rear axle case containing a 3.7:1 limited slip diff. This time there’s a five-link suspension set-up, again

You’ll possibly be struggling not to imagine the Anglia’s interior with a carpet here, some chrome there and, depending on your feelings, less carbon fibre. The door trims and bucket seats get the job done, though, and you’ve got to remember that Romany picked up the build wanting a car to drive, not show. He does show it, as it happens, but he drives it a whole lot more

from Milton Race Prep and again using Gaz gold coil-overs and rose-jointed all round. Braking is by Volkswagen calipers and discs of unknown origin, while Nankang Toursport tyres are wrapped around a set of 13” Allycat Rallye Specials.

So it goes, it stops and it handles. And of course it makes the right noise. It’s perhaps a bit more CCC than CC inside, however, if you’re old enough to get that reference. Not that a 105e with a V8 engine will ever not be CC, even if you might be imagining it in candy paint, a dress-up kit, different wheels, a trimmed cabin… you know how it goes.

As it is, when Romany climbs aboard he sits himself into a pair of matching bucket

seats and straps himself in with a three-point harnesses. A quick release steering wheel is attached to a custom column and situated

on the transmission tunnel are all the basic necessity switches for driving. It’s track-car chic, yeah, but back in the day plenty of customisers would have done the engine then contented themselves with hanging a pair of fluffy dice from the mirror.

The practical touches continue in the back, where the boot contains a high-capacity fuel tank to satisfy the V8’s legendary thirst. The battery and washer bottle are there too, for ease of access. The car was completely rewired throughout and a set of Race-Tech gauges tell Romany what he should (and shouldn’t) be doing.

“I love it and it’s pretty much as I envisioned all those years ago as a youngster,” Romany tells us. “Since owning her, I’ve cured oil leaks, sorted the crank case breather system and fine-tuned the carb. But most importantly, and I can’t stress this

Left: Running a V8 means using a lot of petrol. Much of the boot is taken up by the tank that holds it all, though there’s space left over for the battery and washer bottle. Maybe one day he’ll take a fancy to prettying it up but for now, the main thing is that it’s all solid metal down there – a big change from when work started on the ’64 shell

Right: Romany is thinking about replacing the wheels with a set of steelies to make it look like more of a sleeper. We’d be inclined to go the other way and complement them with seventies-style paint, but they do give it a gently customised appearance to go with its definitely customised engine, and the Nankang Toursports give it plenty of grip

enough, I’ve driven the nuts off it going to meets and shows throughout the year.”

What’s still to be done? As we speak, if all goes to plan he’ll have been spending the winter tidying the paintwork under the bonnet and, how about this, putting “a little dress up” on the engine. He had already fitted a new inlet manifold shortly after we took these pictures, too.

“I’d like to upgrade the cast exhaust manifolds for some tubular headers and replace the exhaust system so that I can put the rear panhard rod back straight like it should be, as it’s currently bent to clear the single exit pipes,” he continues. “I would also like to change the wheels and tyres,

potentially to steels to make that sleeper look, and a few other possibilities down that road. And maybe a bit of sound deadening, as she is noisy!

“But other than that, I’m going to drive the shit out of her, just as I had planned all those years ago.”…

“I’d like to thank my wife Eve and kids Alfie, Russell and Lilly for their patience and understanding in my Anglia obsession. All my very good close friends within the Ford Anglia 105e owners club, and the previous owners of this car. And my Mum and Dad for bringing me up the right way, with an eclectic mix of old cars.”

Fire-breathing draggin’

Early September in England can be scorching, freezing or anything in between. So putting on a weekend’s hot rod event is always going to involve a lot of finger-crossing and weather watching.

The NSRA must have been doing a lot of the former after a little of the latter ahead of the Hot Rod Drags, because it was all pointing to eliminations day being a total wash-out. Things still weren’t perfect, with a sharp shower taking a chunk out of Saturday, but Sunday lived up to its name with a bright start, allowing the event to

run its course before the wet stuff did finally arrive in the middle of the afternoon. By then, the assembled hot rodders and racing fans had enjoyed a three-day confection of RWYB action and competitive racing, as well as an outstanding set of exhibition passes.

These included a new European record for Lee Bates in Raptor, who was getting faster all weekend before finally scoring the big one on Sunday by taking an Altered into the 5.8s for the first time on this side of the Pond. Bryan Whitfield’s Fuel Altered High Spirits was putting on a show too,

lining up alongside Nick Davies’ No Quarter Topolino to entertain the crowds with a set of monster side by side burnouts. Over in Supercharged Outlaws, Ian Merryweather and Aaron Windridge were getting in on the action too, burning their tyres all the way to the eighth of a mile marker.

The walls managed to survive intact throughout the weekend, though Friday afternoon saw Andrew Flavell getting very close in his Mustang funny car. He didn’t seem to be put off by the experience, though, coming back to post three 6-second runs including a best ET of 6.81.

■ Words: Olly Sack

■ Pics: Julian Hunt

The NSRA surpassed itself with last autumn’s Hot Rod Drags, and even managed to beat the weather forecast

Also coming close was Ben Kennedy in Outlaw Anglia, who crossed the centre line and appeared to be heading straight for Al O’Connor until some top-quality evasive action by both drivers kept them apart.

As always, the Hot Rod Drags is about more than just what happens on the track. With great entertainment and a fine display of NSRA members’ vehicles on show, it was as much of a party as a race meet. And talking of parties, congratulations to Roy Wilding and his wife Elaine, who tied the knot the day before the Drags. Now, that’s what you call a honeymoon…

Ray Turner got off to a sensational start in Green Onions, running a perfect dial of 10.8501 on 10.85 to lead Gasser Circus qualifying from the start. He was eventually deposed by John Gibson’s 10.8900 / 118.97mph in Q4. John lost out to Nick Brooke-Langham in E1, however, while Ray took out Kate Booth and Jason Pickett en route to the ﬁnal – though not before Jason had pulled one of the wheelies of the weekend. This put him up against Santa Pod’s own Keith Bartlett, whose luck had held in E1 when he and Niamh Cawthorne both put cherries on the tree. It was Ray who saw red this time round, however, making Keith’s 10.4533 / 108.31 pass a winning one by default

Interesting start from Steph Milsom in Gasser Circus on Friday morning (above). It’s not every day you see a Model A coupe levitating. That headlamp doesn’t think much of it though

Ben Kennedy was first to fire in Outlaw Anglia, taking the lead in qualifying with a new PB of 8.3179 / 161.33. But Colin Millar was lying in wait to take over at the top with a 7.5127 / 177.13 pass. Colin was faster still in Q2 but dropped a place when Jedd Guy pulled out a stonking 7.0013 / 195.33 alongside Wayne Power. There was still time for Ben to set another PB before eliminations – where his event ended after his Pop got wildly out of shape, crossed the centre line and narrowly missed collecting Al O’Connor. Great driving by Ben to avoid an ugly outcome. Al progressed through to the semis after that, only to lose out to that man Millar. Jedd put away Rob Brindle at this point, then played it safe in the final with a 8.0668 / 113.62 – while alongside him, Millar was left to rue the red light that rendered his own 7.4043 / 180.67 meaningless.

Ben Kennedy had already set a couple of PBs in Outlaw Anglia by the time E1 saw him up against Al O’Connor. You won’t see many nearer misses than this – both drivers did brilliantly to keep their cars away both from each other and, in Ben’s case, the wall. Back at the tree, the relief was evident.

Lee Bates was running exhibition passes throughout the weekend in Raptor. The Altered dragster started in the 7s on Friday then just kept getting faster. Saturday evening saw him make a 6.1271 / 193.72 run alongside Adam Clayton in Firecracker, the Sunday morning was the big one – a stunning 5.8904 / 218.03mph making Raptor Europe’s fastest ever Altered.

A cracking ﬁeld of 24 made this the Wild Bunch’s biggest event of the season. Among them was 19 year old Harley Coulsell, making his debut in the Ballbreaker’ slingshot, who came away with an 8.462 / 159.64 PB on the board. He wasn’t the only young ‘un making an impression, though, with 20 year old Ford Skipp putting a PB of 8.461 / 169.82 on the board. Ford got the Best Burnout award from his fellow competitors – and by the end of the weekend this was still the fastest run from across the whole of the Wild Bunch. There were also PBs for Ian Armitage, Philippa Turton, Kev Osborne, Ruaridh Hart and Emma and Vinny Butcher during the course of the two full rounds the class managed to get in before calling it on Sunday as the rain approached. Bradley Cooper got closest to his dial with a time just 0.003 off, but the overall winners were Pete and Rob Brown in Wrathchild with an average variance of just 0.0184.

“Lining up to entertain the crowds with a set of monster side by side burnouts”

If the most popular moment of an event can be gauged by the amount of people digging it on social media afterwards, Supercharged Outlaws’ Ian Merryweather and Aaron Windridge must have been in the running with a side by side burnout in which both of them kept on smoking all the way to the eighth. Unfortunately Aaron was then pushed back, which was a bit of an anticlimax, but there were burnouts and PBs aplenty from throughout the ranks of the Outlaws – including a side by side run yielding 7.7407 / 169.81 for Duncan Beard and 7.4018 / 175.75 for Mark Luton on Saturday afternoon. Personal bests for both of them there – which must have been particularly pleasing for Duncan, whose quintet of 7-second runs over the weekend came amid a cluster of electrical problems. Andy Park, meanwhile, got a hat-trick, with PB runs on Friday evening, Saturday lunchtime and Saturday afternoon culminating in a quickest time of 9.5716 / 139.40, while Keith Freeman made it to the end of his ﬁnal run despite getting an eyeful of the wall when one of El Loco’s halfshafts let go.

Ricky Gowen was putting on show passes in The Cannonball nostalgia ﬂopper, and he celebrated his birthday with a best time of 10.1199 / 133.34

Andrew Flavell had a close one with the wall on Friday afternoon, but he’ll remember the weekend for a hat-trick of 6-second runs in the Steel City ﬂopper

a new PB of 6.81

Nick Davies in the No Quarter Topolino and Bryan Whitﬁeld in the previously CC-featured High Spirits Fuel Altered put on a series of exhibition runs –each of them starting with a lurid side by side burnout. Love it

Modified 100e was the last full field to get a session in before rain finally stopped play on Sunday afternoon, with Paul Lorne fastest on 9.8031 / 137.27

Rob Shipley recently put LOA 24 back on the road after an extensive project to rebuild what is a storied hot rod. He’s not scared to use it properly, though – look out for a full feature in next month’s issue of Custom Car

Words: Dave Biggadyke

Pics: Steve Cook

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 5

Having formed the detachable wings and running boards, the next stage was to add steel to their inner edges. Unusually, the steel of choice was 12mm galvanised threaded bar, chosen simply because Steve’s local stockist was selling it off cheaply as the thread was damaged. He bought a bulk load because he thought it would be rude not to.

Sheet steel was put to good use in the body side panels and tailgate, essentially because it was easier than creating the curvature in fibreglass. The steel was bonded into the ‘glass rebates using Sickaflex and a plastic trammel was formed to facilitate the creation of a chamfered edge return from fibre-reinforced filler. This was later dressed with ordinary body filler.

The doors and tailgate were cut out next, providing access to the inside of the one-ofa-kind Atlantis body. That enabled removal of the inner support framework, along with the polystyrene sheet used to form the basic body shape.

Before the door shuts and returns could be formed, a 40mm steel box section frame was fabricated to run around the door apertures and along the inside of the roof, tying together the bulkhead and rear load area ﬂoor frameworks that were pictured back in Part 2 of this series of features. Bonded in inner frames were cleverly added to the doors and more of the threaded bar was bonded to the lower inside edges for added strength.

With the opening doors, the Atlantis is looking more and more like a proper car.

Lengths of the threaded bar were cut, bent to shape and bonded to the inside edges of the wings and running boards to add strength and rigidity

The previously mentioned voids in the side panels and tailgate were ﬁlled with 18-gauge galvanised steel sheet, curved to keep it under tension and prevent drumming

With the doors removed, the resulting gap between the body and chassis rails needed to be ﬁlled – but only after installation of the inner support frame

With the ﬁbreglass matting built up to just below the lip of the door aperture…

…it was skimmed with fibre-reinforced filler, sanded smooth and final-finished with standard body filler

Fibreglass matting was added to bond the body to the chassis and seal in the box section frame

With their shapes pre-drawn, the doors were carefully cut out with a jigsaw, as was the opening tailgate

Further matting over the top of plastic window trim strips was added to build up the depth, with the plastic then being removed once the resin had cured

Yet more strips of plastic window trim were cut, then heated with a hot air gun…

…before being bent to follow the contours of the freshly formed door shuts

With the outer face of the plastic coated with adhesive, the doors were ﬁrmly clamped back into the openings

The inside edges of the plastic were then coated with ﬁbreglass matting and, when cured, the plastic was removed…

Two slots were cut into the B pillar on each side, into which…

Once the adhesive had cured, the doors were removed and now had plastic strip edging all the way round, on to which further strips were stuck on at a 90-degree angle

…revealing a solid inner frame bonded to the outer door skin

…the parliament hinges were slid and bolted to the box section support frame. The hinges were chosen for increased open door access, although they had to be bent slightly to achieve this

The other ends of the hinges were bolted through the ‘glass inner frames…

“His local stockist was selling it off cheaply as the thread was damaged”

NEXT TIME: Tailgating

…to complete the hanging of the doors once their edges had been trimmed, ﬁlled and smoothed, giving a neat ﬁt with good panel gaps

Ringing the Changes

A classic Aston Martin doesn’t sound like an obvious candidate for customising. But Jim and Mike Ring broke all sorts of moulds when they took a 1971 DBS and turned it into a very modern but very retro muscle car

Words: PJ Csapo Pics: Larry Chen

Back in our June 2024 issue, we featured the Viperceptor – a ’74 Jensen Interceptor reimagined by the customising geniuses at Valley Gas with a new concept-car look and the engine from a Dodge Viper. Not one that every hot-rodding purist might dig, possibly, but for sure a stunning example of how a car be reworked into something very special indeed.

Well, now it’s time to meet Octavia. You might see some similarities, if not in the car itself then in the overall concept. Hot rodding might be deﬁned as the art of taking an ordinary old motor and making it special; a 1971 Aston Martin DBS is by no means ordinary but the team at Ringbrothers, a custom shop and parts manufacturer in Spring Green, Wisconsin, has made it very special indeed.

Aside from being named after something you dreaded being made to eat when you were a kid, Spring Green is famous for having been the home of Lana Peters, daughter of one Josef Stalin, who settled there after defecting to the US in 1967. Prior to that, back in 1911, the celebrated architect Frank Lloyd Wright had chosen the town for the site of his ﬁrst studio.

So Spring Green will forever be associated with the very best in industrial design. And, while even a custom ’71 Aston is unlikely to reach the heights of global renown Wright went on to achieve, Ringbrothers

deﬁnitely adds another string to the town’s bow. And one hell of a string it is.

The company has built an impressive array of one-offs over the last 20 years and more. Plenty of Mustangs and Camaros among them, as you’d expect, but the team there have also turned their hands

to vehicles as diverse as the De Tomaso Pantera, Chevy Loadmaster and Winnebago Brave (really). And how could you not love a ’61 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud street sleeper with a 640bhp LT4?

But what you’re looking at here is their ﬁrst Aston Martin. Unveiled in August, it’s

The DBS was available with a choice of the old 280bhp Tadek Marek 4.0-litre V6 or, from 1971 on, a 320bhp 5.3-litre V8. It was no mug in either form, but Jim and Mike weren’t about to settle for that. No sirree. Instead, they went to Wegner Motorsports and came back with a 5.0-litre Coyote V8 from Ford Performance. That’s 480bhp out of the crate, but just feast your eyes on the size of that Harrop blower, all 2.65 litres of it, which boosts output to 805bhp in street tune. James Bond would no doubt approve, even if his Aston Martini left him stirred rather than shaken. He’d certainly like the cocktail glass ﬁnisher on the dipstick…

the answer to a question Jim Ring says he and follow owner, his brother Mike, asked themselves: “What would an MI6 agent drive on holiday?”

Don’t worry Jim, we know you can’t actually say his name or you’ll end up with a pack of rabid lawyers tearing at your ﬂesh.

To those of us who like steel, the carbon fibre look can come over kind of tacky. Gaudy, obvious, modern for the sake of… choose your own word for it. Except this isn’t the carbon fibre look: carbon fibre is what it’s made of. The amount of custom work on the car is mind-boggling and it’s a perfect example of how right carbon can look if it’s done properly. You realise that the cringey stick-on dashboard panels and contrast bonnets we tend to associate with the stuff are actually the carbon equivalent of badly beaten panels or snotfest welding – a thing done right is always a joy to behold, and this has been done very right

But we know who you mean. Your shecret’s shafe with ush.

Bespoke bits

Jim also describes Octavia as “a combination of state-of-the-art fabrication and imagination.” Well, that sounds close enough the traditional hot-rodding ethic, doesn’t it? Maybe there’s not so much of the reusing old stuff going on here –but fabricating your own bits, yes, and imagination, deﬁnitely.

Much of the imagination came from one Gary Ragle, who Jim and Mike engaged to work as the vehicle’s designer. He was responsible for much of what you see here – the engine bay, the entire interior and many of the bespoke details around the car, in addition to the ‘Coke bottle’ shape of its carbon ﬁbre bodywork.

This was more than a ﬂight of styling fancy. The DBS’ looks were purposefully created in homage to later Astons, and its body covers a track that’s 8” wider at the

front and 10” at the back. The wheelbase has been extended, too, with the front axle line brought forward by 3” to give it the foursquare stance of a modern performance car.

It all sits on a Fast Track Stage III chassis from Custom Roadster Shop, with independent suspension all-round and a 58.75-inch track. Body control comes from a set of ﬁxed-valve RS SV Fox Racing coilovers and a 1.25-inch splined front anti-roll bar with Corvette C7 end links, while braking is taken care of by Custom Type-3 rotors

If you look at the Octavia then check back to a standard DBS from the early ’70s, one of the first things you’re likely to notice is how tall the tyres were on the original. It was a GT car, maybe, but how can it possibly have handled on all that sidewall? You might say the same thing about its ride now, but a set of RS SV fixed-rate Fox Racing coilovers says its suspension is going to be about as well managed as it’s possible to get. Those tyres, anyway, are 285/35R19 front and 345/30R20 rear Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s, mounted on one-off three-piece HRE centre-lock wheels with Porsche drive hubs

and GT calipers from Brembo. Safe to say, it handles.

And of course it goes, too. When the DBS was introduced, it was still powered by the same Tadek Marek designed 4.0-litre straight six as the DB6 it was meant to replace (in fact, the two ran concurrently for more than half of the later car’s lifespan), though by 1971 it was also available with a 5.3-litre V8. With power outputs of 280bhp and 320bhp respectively, both models had solid GT-car credentials – indeed, the latter was the fastest four-seater in production for a time.

Flex ‘em

But this here ain’t no grand tourer. This here is a muscle car.

And it’s not just any old muscle car, either. We mentioned the Dodge Viper earlier on, specifically its engine – an aluminium

V10 which ranged in size from 8.0 to 8.4 litres and put out from 400-645bhp. Not what you’d call slow, but small beer indeed compared to what Octavia’s dishing out – a 5.0-litre V8 sourced from Ford Performance, with a specially engineered 2.65-litre Harrop Performance supercharger strapped to it, which sticks 805bhp to the asphalt through a six-speed manual gearbox. That’s in what Ringbrothers describe as ‘street tune,’ so it ought to be quite the weapon if the car’s owner ever feels like a bit of fun over an eighth of a mile. Even as it stands, it would be a pretty tidy RWYB ride.

That six-speeder is a Bowler Tremec TR-6060 Magnum unit, which turns a pair of 31-spline independent driveshafts via a Strange Engineering Ford 9” diff. The power goes down through a set of 285/35R19 front and 345/30R20 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s,

which are mounted on one-off three-piece HRE wheels with Porsche drive hubs.

Get in the Q

Covering it all, the Ragle-designed bodywork was brought to life in carbon fibre by Gemini Technology. No, sorry, it’s not steel. The paint laid on top is called Double-0 Silver, with Nuclear Olive details, and you won’t have seen them anywhere else as they’re both bespoke colours created for the project by the Automotive Refinishing division at BASF. And talking of bespoke stuff, the trim and brightwork that finishes it all off was either milled from billet aluminium or 3D printed in stainless steel. Which is a thing, apparently (a thing done by lasers, needless to say).

There’s more printed steel inside, providing the accents around a dashboard made from carbon fibre, while the pleated

Custom CORNER Custom

SPECIALIST CHROME PLATING

REPAIRS

BLAST

The interior has a boutique feel that’s apt to be too modern for some tastes. As an example of working with what you’ve got, though, it’s world class. The dashboard is entirely new, with Ringbrothers’ own carbon fibre structure clad in tan leather by Upholstery Unlimited. We particularly like the pleated finish to the doors and seat, which brings back a welcome touch of retro to the styling – and is echoed by illuminated strips in the roof lining, creating an effect that just knocks you out

leather was done by Upholstery Unlimited. And that’s a lot of leather. Jim and Mike went to Vintage Air for its Gen IV Magnum evaporator and Dakota Digital for the custom instruments, fitted a carbon steering wheel of their own making and scored custom auto-dimming mirrors from Gentex. The first time the latter have ever appeared in a roadgoing vehicle, along with ‘a suite of cameras to rival even the finest developments from Q-Branch.’ Now pay attention, 007.

So, would an M16 agent drive this car on his holidays? Well, we seem to remember Bond chugging around a Caribbean island in an 88” Land Rover in his retirement,

which sounds like one big holiday to us. However when he set off on his short-lived honeymoon at the end of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service with Diana Rigg alongside him, he was behind the wheel of… an Aston Martin DBS. Looks like Jim and Mike may just have a point.

No, it’s not a traditional hot rod. Yes, the car they started with was anything but ordinary. And for sure, this is not a make-doand-mend sort of car in any shape or form. But it’s modified to the point where really, it’s a whole new vehicle, it’s got a big, blown V8 and it looks amazing, with custom bodywork, a custom interior and a load of bespoke

parts. Any way you stack it up, it’s ticking an awful lot of boxes – and however you want to pigeonhole it, what matters most is that it’s one hell of a car.

SoCal

Diaries All roadsters lead to Pomona

Former Custom Car editor

Tony Thacker lives in California these days, and this month he’s been admiring the very best of the very best

Now in its 76th year, the Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) in Pomona, California, has developed into a week-long party of open houses at shops such as the Kennedy Boys, Veazie Bros, Marcel’s, Stoker’s and the legendary So-Cal Speed Shop. Couple that to all the other attractions in the So-Cal region with the weather and you have a reason to be cheerful.

Sponsored by O’Reilly Auto Parts, the GNRS features some 600 cars in the indoor displays and as many as 900 outside. The level of build is just astounding, particularly in the two top tiers: the Al Slonaker Memorial Award for non-roadsters and the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster Award, both sponsored by ARP Racing Products. The AMBR went to Nicole Baird and her sixties Deuce Roadster, while the Slonaker went to Dennis Troggio’s ’55 Ghia – both well deserved, in my opinion.

Tragically, this year’s event was marred by the passing of renowned British rod builder Jay Dean, who su ered a heart attack at the show. Jay, a proli c builder and hot rod racer who since 2004 had run his Nostalgia Ranch in Bonsall, north of San Diego, will be sadly missed in the So-Cal scene.

America’s Most Beautiful Roadster

by Roy Brizio, Beth Meyers’ ’34

‘Three Times A Charm’ is a survivor from the late 40s built by RK Wasella. It was rebuilt for 2026 by Clayton’s Hot Rods for Shawna and David Pillado, with an 8BA attie by Tony Lloyd, and won the H&H Flatheads’ Best Dressed Flathead Award

I love ’35 grilles but I’m unsure about the treatment here on Dave and Rebecca Gonzales’ ‘Davester’, a stretched ’35 hiboy built by Roger Burman of Lakeside Rods and Rides of Rockwell City, Iowa

Stanley and Daisy Chavik set up their own rod shop and have made a huge impact on this scene. This is their latest blown Ardun Roadster entered in the AMBR class

There were plenty of Ardun-powered cars, including the ‘Samsonized’ Deuce Roadster built by Gray’s Garage of Sanford, Michigan for Todd and Marie Samson. Power from a S.Co.T.-blown Ardun with a Tremec

Above: Super sixties-style Deuce Roadster ‘Blue Ribbon’ was built by Squeeg’s Kustoms for owner Nicole Baird of Phoenix, Arizona. Car features a stack injection Buick and it went on to win the prestigious AMBR Award

I really liked John and Jennifer Fairleigh’s ’33 AMBR Roadster, though the reverse louvers looked a little strange to me. The ‘Kensa Special’ was built by Big Creek Restoration of Ellis, Kansas

The ‘Payton Phaeton’ is owned by Brandie Laird from Bear, Delaware, using the Chip Foose-designed phantom phaeton body built by Brookville Roadster with small-block Chevy power

Built

Roadster is called ‘Inspired’ – and its inspiration came from Jack Morgan’s April 1951 Hot Rod magazine cover car. It’s powered by a 1996 Ford 302 with Borla stack injection and a Tremec 5-speed

After emigrating from Czechoslovakia,

Above: Squeeg’s Kustoms had a killer display that included this sixties Gasser-style chopped ’33 Tudor sedan with wild Metl ake paint

One of my

favourites, the

contender in

I last saw Jason Roth’s ’35 tub at Bonneville, where it looked cool – but this shot of it outside the Stardust Motel is sublime. I think it says it all about the essence of today’s rod scene

The American Hot Rod Foundation featured the Baldwin-Payne Special, a famous roadracing athead-powered special which resided in the UK for decades before returning to the US in the hands of Rob Manson

It was a sad day for everybody when Brit Jay Dean passed away at the show from a heart attack. This attie-powered ’34 Roadster was his penultimate build for his great friend Stacie Depner

Sleeper in the

Above:

One of 11 entries for

riding on a Morrison chassis with a Gen II, 5.0-litre Ford Coyote engine and a Tremec 6-speed trans

One-time contributor to CC, Frenchman Phillipe ‘Fu Fu’ Dahn, has owned this Simca Vedette for probably 50 years – rst in France, then in California, and it’s now moving back to France with him

The 2027 AMBR is going to feature two radical builds including this roadster, designed and owned by Dave Martin (2017 winner) and featuring a blown O enhauser engine in a tube frame by Maxwell Industries

As always, Hop Up Magazine had a great display this year featuring Christian Miller’s barn nd ‘Nance’s Dairy’ Deuce Coupe –which, back in the day, had 54 documented wins while racing in Texas

I sadly never found Alex Esquivel, the owner of this radically di erent ’59 Chevy Apache pickup. Extremely unusual, it somehow worked even with those massively oversize rims

night was Dustyn Dell’s fourdoor 1961 Renault Del n body mounted on

slammed Volkswagen pan. It had to be one of the raddest rides in the parking lot of 900 cars

Above:

the Al Slonaker

Memorial Award was this awless ’55 F-100 of Pat Kelly’s,

Right:

all-time

Stone, Woods & Cook ’41 Willys Gasser – now owned by Penny Cook of Norco, CA, since the passing of her husband Mike Cook

the AMBR class was this beautiful ’37 convertible ‘Kapone,’ owned by Cory Kozlowski of Port Albernie, BC, Canada and built by JF Kustoms. LS3 with FI powers this slick piece

Al Slonaker Memorial Award

Stunning ‘Simply Red’ is owned by Lester Troup Jr., from Madisonville, Tennessee. Car features a So-Cal chassis, Henry Ford body chopped four inches and power from a 383ci Chevy

This bold creation was built by owner Danny Dingillo of Dingo Kustoms and was tagged the ‘Corvette Coupe.’ The body was originally a 1941 Chevy Deluxe Coupe

This beautiful two-tone, 502-powered ’34 Chevy two-door Master sedan ‘Poison Ivy’ is owned by Bob and Bitzi Seitsinger of Bloom eld, New Mexico, and was built by Arlie and Jeremy Stanley

came

Brian Clemen’s crew also came in after the show to give his Borla-injected 502 bigblock powered 1956 Chevy 210 a bu . The stunning car was created by Zrodz and Customs of Knox, Indiana

Right: Who doesn’t recognise and admire Clarence ‘Chili’ Catallo’s ‘Little Deuce Coupe,’ featured on the cover of the 1963 Beach Boys’ album of the same name? The car was restored by Cory Talbert for Curt Catallo

The ’33 Bonneville’ coupe was designed and built by Hank Funk Design Studio BC and features a ’41 Lincoln-Zephyr V-12 built by H&H Flatheads, a 4-inch chop and a Zipper chassis

Revision Rods & Rides displayed their Eric Brockmeyer-designed ‘Roidrunner’ built upon an Art Morrison chassis and powered by a Mopar Performance Hellephant crate engine

Peter Andressen hauled his ’58 Corvette all the way from Adelaide, Australia to compete for the Slonaker Award with his ‘Hard Cor’ built by Fast Eddies Race Cars of Hayden, Idaho

Brit friend Mick Jenkins of Mick’s Paint in Pomona had more than a dozen cars in the show, including this stunning ’64 Maserati 3500 GTI owned by Bruce Wanta – who drives the heck out of it

Right: I’ve always loved those early Larry Watson-style panel jobs and this tribute ’60 T-Bird owned by Lonnie and Geraldine Gilbertson of Milwaukie, Oregon, is a stunner with its 390ci tripowered motor

Left: Thirty years ago, the 1996 winner of the AMBRA Award was the Chip Foosedesigned, Boyd Coddington built ‘Boydster’ which, despite fashion changes, still looks amazing. It’s now owned by Chip and JC Wolfe

The other O y-powered preview for the 2027 Grand

was

Left:

National

this billet frame built by Troy Ladd’s Hollywood Hot Rods for Bruce Wanta from an Eric Black design. It remains to be seen…

Can you imagine getting this 1970 Ford pickup massaged to this level? Owned by Dennis May eld of Georgetown, Texas, it’s powered by a stack-injected 427 SOHC motor

Left & Above: Dennis Troggio’s ’55 Ghia was beyond beyond in terms of attention to detail and even had a tongue-in-cheek, hidden sign that said ‘F*ck You Troy Ladd.’ My pick for the Slonaker Award – which it did indeed win

Interesting bullet-nose ’51 Studebaker Champion owned by Marv Struiksma of Riverside, California. The

Absolutely amazing 1960 Ford Ranchero was one of the drive-in displays owned and built by Adam Porrino, with its wild tubular rear suspension

Above: Displayed in The Rodder’s Journal booth was this tribute to the ‘Top Banana II’ Top Fuel Dragster of 1958 built by Marty Strode of North Plains, Oregon’s Strode Bros Racing. Car ran 175 mph back in the day

Above right: Danny Falschlehner is the father of Jimmy Shine and this is his ’34 3-window, powered by a blown Olds 394. This is one tireburnin’ street mutha

Right: You don’t see many of these about – a 1948 Morris Z van owned by Jesse Bible and powered by a snugly tting Buick V-6

car was extensively modi ed from front to rear

Superb ’57 convertible ‘Debonair Bel Air’ was built by Troy Ladd’s Hollywood Hot Rods with body and paint by Mick’s Paint for George and Carol Keyes. It went on to win Outstanding Engine

At night, the crew of Matt Jewel’s 1970 Chevelle Slonaker entry came in to give it a spruce up in the hope of a trophy. Matt brought the car all the way from Davenport, Iowa

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

FEBRUARY 2026

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 Breakfast with the Reapers Boar Inn, Moddershall, Staffs 07928 214543 / 07976 655636

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 Newbury American Auto Jumble Woodside Farm, Newbury. Facebook: Newbury American Auto Jumble

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

4 Only Fools and Motors

Tydd St Mary, Wisbech, Cambs Facebook: Only Fools and Motors

5 American, Rod and Custom Show Fort Paull, Hull. yancs1@yahoo.co.uk

6 Easter Bonnet Parade Wisbech St Mary, Cambridgeshire Facebook: Kings Lynn Kruisers

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 Breakfast with the Reapers Boar Inn, Moddershall, Staffs 07928 214543 / 07976 655636

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

24-26 North East Rod & Custom Weekender Darlington Facebook: North East Rod & Custom

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

26 FBHVC Drive-It Day www.driveitday.co.uk

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 Only Fools and Motors Tydd St Mary, Wisbech, Cambs Facebook: Only Fools and Motors

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

10 Victory Wheelers Hayling Reuinion Hayling Island www.facebook.com/groups/ VictoryWheelers

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 Breakfast with the Reapers Boar Inn, Moddershall, Staffs 07928 214543 / 07976 655636

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 The Hop-Up Westerham Brewery, Westerham, Kent Facebook: Detonators CC

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 Only Fools and Motors

Tydd St Mary, Wisbech, Cambs Facebook: Only Fools and Motors

BRENTACRE

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

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

6-7 Wheels Weekender Bottisham Airfield, Cambridgeshire Eventbrite: The Wheels Weekender

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

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 Breakfast with the Reapers Boar Inn, Moddershall, Staffs 07928 214543 / 07976 655636

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

4 Only Fools and Motors Tydd St Mary, Wisbech, Cambs Facebook: Only Fools and Motors

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 Breakfast with the Reapers Boar Inn, Moddershall, Staffs 07928 214543 / 07976 655636

19 Deuce Day British Motor Museum, Gaydon www.deucesofbritain.co.uk/deuce-day

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

24-26 Weekend of Wheels Moor Green, Nottingham www.coffeencarsuk.club

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 Newbury American Auto Jumble Woodside Farm, Newbury. Facebook: Newbury American Auto Jumble

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

1 Only Fools and Motors

Tydd St Mary, Wisbech, Cambs Facebook: Only Fools and Motors

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

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

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

15 Innit to Winnit Bull’s Head, Herstmonceux, East Sussex. www.bullsheadborehamstreet.com

16 Breakfast with the Reapers Boar Inn, Moddershall, Staffs 07928 214543 / 07976 655636

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

28-31 Hot Rod Hop

Scald End Farm, Thurleigh, Beds Facebook: Cannibals Car Club – 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 Only Fools and Motors

Tydd St Mary, Wisbech, Cambs Facebook: Only Fools and Motors

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

13 Top of the Pops 2 Industry and Supply, Northamptonshire Facebook: Industry and Supply

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 Breakfast with the Reapers Boar Inn, Moddershall, Staffs 07928 214543 / 07976 655636

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

27 American, Rod and Custom Show Fort Paull, Hull. yancs1@yahoo.co.uk

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