“I’ve always loved the 1950s life style and culture as well as that era’s hot rod theme. I’m also a world war two buff combined with a love of all things Art Deco!. The hot rod scene fired back up again when the war was over and that’s the style of rod I like. As for the build, I had to base my design around Australia’s engineering requirements. It had to be built with an original 1932 chassis so I could get full rego.” Read More →
Browsing Category feature car
All wrapped up in vinyl art!
Advancements in Modern technology have given us the ability to evolve into a more sophisticated way of life while easing the physical strain on our bodies as we strive to “build a better mouse trap.” This also rings true when it comes to retaining the traditional statue of our favourite vocation while combining the latest innovations into our hot rods and custom cars. We’ve seen advancements in chassis technology thanks to computer aided design (C.A.D) along with ECU run fuel injected motors allowing us to run strip and street at the touch of a button. Read More →
A sixties Willys Gasser barn find with all the old s’cool trimmings!
Chasing barn finds these days is becoming a challenging exercise especially when you don’t hail from the land of cool custom barn stored relics! But when you’re chasing down something as rare as a genuine 1941 Willys, it’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack as Rob Monea can attest! “Just about every Willys in the states has been turned into a gasser. To find an original Willys in America that hasn’t been touched is almost impossible. In the forties when everyone came back from the war, all the kids wanted to go racing and this was about the only car that was for sale. Because all the other manufacturers closed down during the war and Willys stayed open to make the jeep, they also made this low buck piece of crap three window thing.
A fifty year dream accomplished!
Do you remember the first cool ride that left an indelible impression on you as a young automotive enthusiast? Maybe they belonged to the older kid up the street or featured on the pages of an old hot rod magazine! Joe Borg does as it branded his mind like a Texan cattle ranch owner brands his cattle! “Starting my working career in the sixties as a young apprentice of sixteen, I had to catch the bus from Doveton to Rowville and across from the bus stop, there was browny black 32 or a 34 highboy hot rod running pressed metal cycle guards in someone’s front yard. I would just stare at it the whole time while waiting for the bus and the image just burned into the memory. To me, that car was hot rodding personified!”
The Customline cruiser built for bruising!
Whilst many of the stories you’ll read throughout the vast library of issues of Cruzin magazine talk of the distances travelled of various American imports or of the far reaching extent owners have gone to purchase parts to finish their rods and customs, this story relates to a 61 year old classic that has spent it’s entire life close to its original birth place!
H.A.M.B racing in CAD designed style
What’s a car enthusiast to do when he lives in a seaside town with a great golf course in seasonal Victoria and he knows his golf game consists of a lot of walking, broken up by disappointment and bad arithmetic? Rekindle that love affair of tinkering with old school cars and parts out back in the shed! Neil Harbison is one such guy who knew his golf game stunk and his spare time was better spent chasing spare parts for flathead motors than chasing little white balls out of sand bunkers!
Chasing those Mercury blues!
“My tortured brain flowed with adrenaline, anticipating the adventure ahead while battling the effects of jetlag after the 13 hour flight across the Pacific as I made my way through the hustle and bustle of LA life. I finally reached my destination, the home of my recently purchased black 1950 Mercury coupe! As I swung open the driver’s side door, I thanked my American friend for all his help with the purchase of my new dream machine and sunk into the freshly upholstered white vinyl bench seat and fired her up. She sounded good! Read More →
The Green Phaeton!
Growing up in the home of Australian hot rodding, Castlemaine in central Victoria, Kelvin Waddington’s direction in life was inevitably skewed towards the modified car scene, in particular, the hot rodding scene. “I joined the local hot rod club when I was 12 here in Castlemaine and I’ve been messing around with cars since I was 10 years old. I did my spray painting apprenticeship at a local smash repair shop and then I started my own paint and panel business that I’ve now been involve in for 36 years! My two boys, Marc and Heath run the company now and have expanded into the full workshop and aftermarket parts business you see here” he explains.
A/FX Fairlane: Birth child of the Thunderbolt!
A/FX Fairlane tribute
Drag racing in the early sixties became so popular in America it caught the attention of the major automotive manufacturers as a way of “racing on Sunday and selling on Monday.” For this reason, NHRA was forced to restructure the rules by introducing a new class in order to differentiate between the mass produced race cars known as Super Stocks and “special equipped” cars where by basically bigger cubic inch engines were shoehorn into the smaller lighter weight bodies of their respective makes in order to go faster and win.
The introduction of the A, B and C/FX classes allowed the automotive manufacturers to experiment with various engine/ body combinations on the drag strip before committing to mass production of the successful combinations for youth orientated factory built muscle cars. FX refers to “factory experimental” while the initial letter classes the cars according to the vehicle’s weight per cubic inch of the engine inserted into its engine bay.
Red hot rodding in a 32 coupe!
Red hot EveElle Scarlet with Lee’s wild 32!
There’s no such thing as a production line hotrod. Every one of these unique machines has been built by someone, be it a solo effort in a garage over many weekends or by a team of professionals in a purpose built premises. But don’t always assume the person behind the wheel is the builder, some rod owners prefer to appreciate the machine that has been built by others. This by no means takes anything away from the rod owner as they themselves still love the hot rodding scene, know their way around these unique cars of craft and simply prefer to spend their time enjoying the hot rodding scene in a machine that just ticked all the right boxes for them. If the glove fits, wear it!
Caprice Photography Automotive Art 