January 2023

NZ Hot Rod

New Zealand's Longest Established Automotive Magazine

NZ Hot Rod1 min read
NZ Hot Rod
PUBLISHERS: Hot Rod Publishing Ltd P O Box 8, Waipu, 0545, New Zealand PROPRIETORS: Paul & Liz Grace Ph: +64 9 432 1270 Email: paul@nzhotrodmag.co.nz Email: liz@nzhotrodmag.co.nz Website: www.nz-hotrod.com MANAGING EDITOR: Paul Grace ACCOUNTS: Liz Gr
NZ Hot Rod4 min read
Publisher's PODIUM
THE way I see it, 2023 is going to be a volatile year. Economists predict higher inflation and lower consumer spending with associated doom and gloom. We have a huge fish to fry this year, and that is our choice for the next NZ government. Freedom of
NZ Hot Rod3 min read
Box 8 Waipu LETTERS
HI PAUL, Just a thank you to the team for the feature on my ‘32 Vicky and all the good work in hot rodding you provide. Tony Vittle HI PAUL, Shane “Clown” Brown in Franklin Street Rodders has a chopped ‘32 Fordor sedan, which he has owned for a long
NZ Hot Rod1 min read
The Nevada Nationals
THE NHRA Nevada Nationals were held on the weekend before the SEMA Show, and it was pretty obvious from just walking through the gates (and metal detectors) that COVID, a so-called recession, high gas prices or any other excuse that people could thin
NZ Hot Rod3 min read
Just in PASSING
THESE “dressed to thrill” and “set on kill” flatheads have most certainly stretched their power envelope since their introduction 90 years ago. The Ardun is in a street rod, the one with the Hampton blower and Offy heads is in a Willys Race Car, and
NZ Hot Rod2 min readIndustries
New Arrivals
Brought to you by For all GM restoration supplies. RECENTLY arrived via West Coast Classics is this 1956 Chevrolet 210 4-door sedan with some great upgrades. It's a long-time, one-family-owned car. Under the hood is a near-new GM Performance ZZ4 crat
NZ Hot Rod5 min read
Tiny Terror
KEVIN Grainger has been playing around with old cars since the ‘70s. In 1974 he started work on ‘48 Ford Pop, running an HA Viva front end, 105E Anglia rear, and a hotted 1725cc Hunter engine. It was painted in blue with the name ‘Blue Moves’ (after
NZ Hot Rod1 min read
Rod Benders 65th Anniversary
THIS event was designed to be an in-house, low-key celebration for Rod Benders. Club current and past members but without any advertising or public show. It was planned to be just a great time without the fuss. Things kicked off on Thursday night at
NZ Hot Rod3 min read
The 25th Pre 49 Nationals
BACK in 1997, the idea of holding a Pre 49 Street Rod Nationals was initiated by Oceanside Street Rods and two members, in particular, Ron Gubb and Starry Malcolm. The inaugural event was held in Mount Maunganui. The enthusiasm shown by Oceanside Clu
NZ Hot Rod2 min read
Beach Hop
THERE is no doubt in my mind that the Beach Hop is still the number one event in the country, especially for attendance, cars and people. However, most event hosts will know that there is one ingredient more important than anything, the only thing yo
NZ Hot Rod4 min read
Vicious
BILL Flowers is a devout performance car nut with roots reaching right back to small beginnings at age 15. Back then, he shared ownership of an Austin A35 that featured a chrome dash. Ostensibly it was his mum's car, but while she used it during the
NZ Hot Rod2 min read
The Fun Factor
TERRY O'Keefe is a true-blue hot rod enthusiast, but his journey into the high-performance realm began back in the early ‘80s with his RX3 Mazda. That ownership came to an abrupt end when he raced a mate's T-bucket and got soundly beaten. Terry saw t
NZ Hot Rod1 min read
California Hot Rod Reunion
The 30th Anniversary of the California Hot Rod Reunion held at Famoso Dragstrip in Bakersfield was also the final round of the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series. THE inaugural event back in 1992 was organised to reunite old friends, talk about the
NZ Hot Rod3 min read
Reddy For Cruising
WAYNE has been a car enthusiast for many decades and has owned plenty of excellent examples. Some of the more recent ones I remember were a red 1930 Model A coupe, a custom 1954 Ford Victoria in bright green, then a hot pink 1934 Ford Tudor followed
NZ Hot Rod1 min read
Grazee's Colourful Past A photo flashback
FLASHBACK A RECENT working bee at The Garage revealed a plastic container with Grazee's old photo albums. So naturally, I hijacked them and picked a selection for your perusal, mostly taken in the seventies and eighties. Enjoy.
NZ Hot Rod2 min read
Shifters Film Premiere
IT'S not often you receive a VIP invite to a film premiere in Las Vegas, so when the opportunity arose to attend a documentary premiere about The Shifters Club, a small bunch of us Kiwis tagged along for the ride. There was no red carpet, and the “st
NZ Hot Rod1 min read
A Life Well Lived
PAT Ganahl's passing back in August truly rocked the world, but he went out doing what he loved behind the wheel of his lovingly restored Ike Iacono six-cylinder dragster. The invite to Pat's Celebration of Life at Galpin Speed Shop said, “Come celeb
NZ Hot Rod1 min read
The Wilsons
OCEANSIDE Street Rods have a very special wall of honour for their members who have their cars featured on the front cover of New Zealand Hot Rod magazine. Lloyd “Magoo” Wilson's fabulous Full Tilt ‘32 Ford highboy roadster was featured in the Decemb
NZ Hot Rod2 min read
Industry NEWS
DEAR Kiwi Shipping Customers, Mainfreight regret to inform you that after careful consideration, the Kiwi Shipping Division will be closing its doors on 31 March 2023. Our final cut-off date for receiving any new orders will be 31 December 2022. Plea
NZ Hot Rod10 min read
Upcoming EVENTS
> 1 Rodders Breakfast Kustoms’ Club Rooms McLean Island > 1 Western Spring Speedway International Midgets & Special Event > 1 World's First Hot Rod Show in Whangamata. > 2-3 Dragstalgia plus the Wild Bunch Wars and the FED Challenge brought to you by
NZ Hot Rod3 min read
Toolbox TALES
KIT Parker and Paul Crew, both members of Garden City Rodders, and yours truly, recently went for a Tuesday cruise in Paul's ‘62 Chevy 2-door. Amongst the various topics of conversation were big-inch wheels on traditional hot rods (“money can't buy g

NZ Hot Rod

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