Hot rods, street rods, kustoms and a few other things
Discussion
Escort3500 said:
Where? 
my mistake, I was looking at an old advert 
Here's a pic of the Pierson coupe after Bruce Meyer had asked Pete Chapouris to restore it to 1950 configuration. Bruce gathered up everyone who had been involved with the car over the years.
You might recognise some faces there, sadly nearly half of the group have since passed away.
Some more pictures of the coupe "back in the day" on kustomrama : http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?title=Pierson_...
Sorry, Mark, I just received this after trying to contact you:
The following message to <Turn7@emailaddress.com> was undeliverable.
The reason for the problem:
5.1.0 - Unknown address error 550-"5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please try\n5.1.1 double-checking the recipient's email address for typos or\n5.1.1 unnecessary spaces. Learn more at\n5.1.1 http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?answe... tc2si6139394wic.0 - gsmtp"
The following message to <Turn7@emailaddress.com> was undeliverable.
The reason for the problem:
5.1.0 - Unknown address error 550-"5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please try\n5.1.1 double-checking the recipient's email address for typos or\n5.1.1 unnecessary spaces. Learn more at\n5.1.1 http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?answe... tc2si6139394wic.0 - gsmtp"
ClassicMotorNut said:
Sorry, Mark, I just received this after trying to contact you:
The following message to <Turn7@emailaddress.com> was undeliverable.
The reason for the problem:
5.1.0 - Unknown address error 550-"5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please try\n5.1.1 double-checking the recipient's email address for typos or\n5.1.1 unnecessary spaces. Learn more at\n5.1.1 http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?answe... tc2si6139394wic.0 - gsmtp"
Odd, Ive sent you a test via phThe following message to <Turn7@emailaddress.com> was undeliverable.
The reason for the problem:
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Hot rodding has probably been part of British car culture for as long as it has in the USA, albeit under different names..
As the car came about, people wanted to race them. We had no dry lakes of course, but we did have roads that could be closed off for small sections, cars could compete once at a time against the clock, they became known as speed trials and ran all over the country, few survive, the most famous being the Brighton Speed Trials, which was first held in 1905.
Competitors were soon creating specials, stripped of any unnecessary bodywork, improved engine performance.. it all sounds pretty familiar. A special then, was a hot rod in all but name.
An early Riley based special
This soon expanded to hill climb speed trials, held on unpaved roads or even simply on fields the idea was the same - beat the clock.
A Singer competing in a hillclimb, circa 1915
Sydney Allard was a very keen hill climber, starting in the 1930s the son of a builder he owned the confusingly named Adlards Motors. This was primarily a normal garage (later a Ford main dealer) but by the late 30s was building hillclimb specials. During the war they overhauled army vehicles but were soon producing specials again by the 50s.
As the years rolled on into the 60s Sydney began reading hot rod magazine and decided to build a dragster. He obtained a chrysler hemi engine from the USA aong with a supercharger from Mooneyes and built this
The allard dragster
He was in good company, in the late 50s people like Ken Cooper and Peter Bartlett were discovering the world of hot rods from magazines and US servicemen. They formed clubs like 'The Sprinters' and 'The Highwaymen'. Another early pioneer was Allan 'bootsie' Herridge. These guys were the start of drag racing and hot rodding in the UK. In the early 60s the British Hot Rod Association (BHRA) was formed, this was really a collection of the clubs that were slowly appearing across the country.
By the mid 60s there were regular drag racing meets at Blackbushe airport. At Easter in 1966 an old US Bomber base a few miles away from Wellingborough opened as a drag strip, called Santa Pod (a mixture of the infamous american track Santa Ana and the nearby village of Poddington) drag racing in the UK now had a home. The sport continues to grow and Santa Pod is acknowledged as one of, if not the best strip in Europe. There is some video of that first meet here: http://youtu.be/cFxyhactqr8?list=UUG1eoynkJaspWHOJ...
We could go on forever, following drag racing but I'd suggest that belongs in the appropriate forum here on PH, pop in and say hello, they're a friendly bunch in there
Meantime, on the road more and more hot rods were appearing, here's a pair of ord Model Y's from around 1964 or so. Owners were Clive Lingard and Mike Butler, both members of the Drag Hot Rod Club in Manchester
Another picture, the yellow '37 is Ken Cooper's car, the '32 owned by Alan Doyle. Not sure about Alan but Ken has quite a history in drag racing slingshots.
Advert for the first meeting of the BHRA in '63. This is on the side of a '54 Oldsmobile that was converted to a pickup and was the shop truck for Spa Engineering in South London. That picture comes from here: http://www.ukdrn.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&am... quite a few more on that link.
This Ford truck was kustomised by Jeff Jago in the mid 60s. I guess its a British version of Ala Kart.
Jeff Jago was instrumental in hot rodding in the late 60s. He put together a kit so you could build your own Model T hot rod, a fibreglass body and a fabricated chassis, mostly using components from British cars to make it affordable. Later on Jago produced '32 5 window bodies.
Early Jago T, I think one of our members may recognise it?
From the mid 60s there were hot rod ( or "custom car" ) shows, including a BHRA two day show in the car park in Hyde Park.
It was around this time that Jeff Beck got interested in hot rods, as his career blossomed so did his love of hot rods. He's good friends with Andy & Roy Brizio. Beck actually builds his own stuff and owns a couple of Brizio built cars too, if you avoid the naffness of the intro etc there are a couple of videos with Beck here : http://www.carcrazycentral.com/VideoResults.aspx?q... he talks about getting in to the hobby and some of his cars.
He wasn't the only musician into hot rods either, John Bonham owned a T Bucket, the car was imported by Beck and then sold to Bonham. I believe it still exists..
John Bonham in the Boston Strangler T
Drag racing and hot rodding here were slowly growing up together. In the early 70s an offshoot of the NDRC (National Drag Racing Club) was created, called the Roadster Register it was meant to be for road going cars. By 1972 it had 12 members, despite few (if any) actually owning a roadster. A meeting was held and the register disbanded, instead a completely separate club was created. The new club was named the NSRA (National Street Rod Association), despite it having no ties with the club in the USA. On the committee was Mickey Bray, who was to build "Pinball Wizard", a Ford Pop later owned by Paul McCartney.
Pinball Wizard
The aim of the NSRA was to promote hot rodding and soon set about organising shows. By chance they discovered Billing Aquadrome in 1973 and held a show there, the Billing Fun Run has run every year since and is a big part of the history of hot rods in the UK.
Model Ts were the car to build. Nick Butler build Nykilodean, Gary Belcher but his jag V12 powered T that now lives in the Haynes Museum.
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Nykilodean, with builder Nick Butler
Gary Belcher's V12 T
These cars, along with the famed Butler built Andromeda T really saw rodding take off in the UK. Jago was supplying the '32 bodies, Nick Butler had gone into business as Auto Imagination (and is still going today). More and more people started building cars.
Along with Model Ts the Ford Pop was a mainstay, Popcorn as above, Barry Treacy's "Mister T" appeared in about '72 with an.. well, shall we say interesting paint job!
Barry Treacy's Mister T Pop
As the 80s arrived so did the american influences, so more and more american cars started to appear, along with the new pro street and high tech styles.
Looking back it seems there were many shows to attend during this time period - Belle Vue and Olympia were indoor shows, Garys Picnic wa a favourite of many. the NASC (Nation Association Of Street Clubs) ran the Nationals at Bruntingthorpe. The NSRA Billing and various other shows. The South coast Victory Wheelers club put on a show on Hayling Island's The Oven campsite that appears to have always been over subscribed. In 1982 organisers of the British Grand Prix even asked for a small group of hot rods to take part in a parade before the race.
Here's Streetrod's Beetle at the Brungthorpe Nats, probably the mid 80s by the looks of it
Streetrod's Beetle
Brizey's '32 hiboy, sometime in the late 70s
Today the scene seems as strong as ever, with lots of fresh cars appearing and the shows always busy. There has been an awful lot of history in the meantime that I simply can't cover in one post. So you lot must have some pictures you can put up ??
Oh and can anyone explain how the climbing of tent poles began ? For those not aware of this practice, you don't want to know! trust me!
For drag racing in the UK buy this book : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crazy-Horses-History-Briti... Its pretty much the authoritative book on drag racing in the UK and was used as a source for this post
Also there are many pictures at : http://www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk/
I don't think its available to buy, but if you have a friend who is an NSRA member ask if you can borrow their copy of "Keeping the dream alive". This was a book written in 2012 by Nick Brooke-Langham to celebrate 40 years of the NSRA, distributed to all NSRA members, it charts the history of the club and was a useful reference point for this post!
Also check out Nick Pettit's site here: http://www.timetraveldvds.co.uk/index.html Lots of photos and a few clips from the DVDs that Nick sells.
If you want to see what its all about in person the NSRA Supernationals are held at Old Warden, near Biggleswade in Bedfordshire 1st - 3rd August. The Sunday (3rd August) is open to day visitors and will cost £8 for entry. It should give you a little glimpse of the hobby and should have a great turnout if the warm weather continues!
Old Warden is here : https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Shuttleworth+C... look for NSRA signs that will direct you to the relevant gate. NSRA info here: http://www.nsra.org.uk/nsra-hot-rod-supernationals...
Photos by Nick Grant from last year here : https://www.flickr.com/photos/grantgb/sets/7215763...
As the car came about, people wanted to race them. We had no dry lakes of course, but we did have roads that could be closed off for small sections, cars could compete once at a time against the clock, they became known as speed trials and ran all over the country, few survive, the most famous being the Brighton Speed Trials, which was first held in 1905.
Competitors were soon creating specials, stripped of any unnecessary bodywork, improved engine performance.. it all sounds pretty familiar. A special then, was a hot rod in all but name.
An early Riley based special
This soon expanded to hill climb speed trials, held on unpaved roads or even simply on fields the idea was the same - beat the clock.
A Singer competing in a hillclimb, circa 1915
Sydney Allard was a very keen hill climber, starting in the 1930s the son of a builder he owned the confusingly named Adlards Motors. This was primarily a normal garage (later a Ford main dealer) but by the late 30s was building hillclimb specials. During the war they overhauled army vehicles but were soon producing specials again by the 50s.
As the years rolled on into the 60s Sydney began reading hot rod magazine and decided to build a dragster. He obtained a chrysler hemi engine from the USA aong with a supercharger from Mooneyes and built this
The allard dragster
He was in good company, in the late 50s people like Ken Cooper and Peter Bartlett were discovering the world of hot rods from magazines and US servicemen. They formed clubs like 'The Sprinters' and 'The Highwaymen'. Another early pioneer was Allan 'bootsie' Herridge. These guys were the start of drag racing and hot rodding in the UK. In the early 60s the British Hot Rod Association (BHRA) was formed, this was really a collection of the clubs that were slowly appearing across the country.
By the mid 60s there were regular drag racing meets at Blackbushe airport. At Easter in 1966 an old US Bomber base a few miles away from Wellingborough opened as a drag strip, called Santa Pod (a mixture of the infamous american track Santa Ana and the nearby village of Poddington) drag racing in the UK now had a home. The sport continues to grow and Santa Pod is acknowledged as one of, if not the best strip in Europe. There is some video of that first meet here: http://youtu.be/cFxyhactqr8?list=UUG1eoynkJaspWHOJ...
We could go on forever, following drag racing but I'd suggest that belongs in the appropriate forum here on PH, pop in and say hello, they're a friendly bunch in there
Meantime, on the road more and more hot rods were appearing, here's a pair of ord Model Y's from around 1964 or so. Owners were Clive Lingard and Mike Butler, both members of the Drag Hot Rod Club in Manchester
Another picture, the yellow '37 is Ken Cooper's car, the '32 owned by Alan Doyle. Not sure about Alan but Ken has quite a history in drag racing slingshots.
Advert for the first meeting of the BHRA in '63. This is on the side of a '54 Oldsmobile that was converted to a pickup and was the shop truck for Spa Engineering in South London. That picture comes from here: http://www.ukdrn.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&am... quite a few more on that link.
This Ford truck was kustomised by Jeff Jago in the mid 60s. I guess its a British version of Ala Kart.
Jeff Jago was instrumental in hot rodding in the late 60s. He put together a kit so you could build your own Model T hot rod, a fibreglass body and a fabricated chassis, mostly using components from British cars to make it affordable. Later on Jago produced '32 5 window bodies.
Early Jago T, I think one of our members may recognise it?
From the mid 60s there were hot rod ( or "custom car" ) shows, including a BHRA two day show in the car park in Hyde Park.
It was around this time that Jeff Beck got interested in hot rods, as his career blossomed so did his love of hot rods. He's good friends with Andy & Roy Brizio. Beck actually builds his own stuff and owns a couple of Brizio built cars too, if you avoid the naffness of the intro etc there are a couple of videos with Beck here : http://www.carcrazycentral.com/VideoResults.aspx?q... he talks about getting in to the hobby and some of his cars.
He wasn't the only musician into hot rods either, John Bonham owned a T Bucket, the car was imported by Beck and then sold to Bonham. I believe it still exists..
John Bonham in the Boston Strangler T
Drag racing and hot rodding here were slowly growing up together. In the early 70s an offshoot of the NDRC (National Drag Racing Club) was created, called the Roadster Register it was meant to be for road going cars. By 1972 it had 12 members, despite few (if any) actually owning a roadster. A meeting was held and the register disbanded, instead a completely separate club was created. The new club was named the NSRA (National Street Rod Association), despite it having no ties with the club in the USA. On the committee was Mickey Bray, who was to build "Pinball Wizard", a Ford Pop later owned by Paul McCartney.
Pinball Wizard
The aim of the NSRA was to promote hot rodding and soon set about organising shows. By chance they discovered Billing Aquadrome in 1973 and held a show there, the Billing Fun Run has run every year since and is a big part of the history of hot rods in the UK.
Model Ts were the car to build. Nick Butler build Nykilodean, Gary Belcher but his jag V12 powered T that now lives in the Haynes Museum.
Nykilodean, with builder Nick Butler
Gary Belcher's V12 T
These cars, along with the famed Butler built Andromeda T really saw rodding take off in the UK. Jago was supplying the '32 bodies, Nick Butler had gone into business as Auto Imagination (and is still going today). More and more people started building cars.
Along with Model Ts the Ford Pop was a mainstay, Popcorn as above, Barry Treacy's "Mister T" appeared in about '72 with an.. well, shall we say interesting paint job!
Barry Treacy's Mister T Pop
As the 80s arrived so did the american influences, so more and more american cars started to appear, along with the new pro street and high tech styles.
Looking back it seems there were many shows to attend during this time period - Belle Vue and Olympia were indoor shows, Garys Picnic wa a favourite of many. the NASC (Nation Association Of Street Clubs) ran the Nationals at Bruntingthorpe. The NSRA Billing and various other shows. The South coast Victory Wheelers club put on a show on Hayling Island's The Oven campsite that appears to have always been over subscribed. In 1982 organisers of the British Grand Prix even asked for a small group of hot rods to take part in a parade before the race.
Here's Streetrod's Beetle at the Brungthorpe Nats, probably the mid 80s by the looks of it
Streetrod's Beetle
Brizey's '32 hiboy, sometime in the late 70s
Today the scene seems as strong as ever, with lots of fresh cars appearing and the shows always busy. There has been an awful lot of history in the meantime that I simply can't cover in one post. So you lot must have some pictures you can put up ??
Oh and can anyone explain how the climbing of tent poles began ? For those not aware of this practice, you don't want to know! trust me!
For drag racing in the UK buy this book : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crazy-Horses-History-Briti... Its pretty much the authoritative book on drag racing in the UK and was used as a source for this post
Also there are many pictures at : http://www.theaccelerationarchive.co.uk/
I don't think its available to buy, but if you have a friend who is an NSRA member ask if you can borrow their copy of "Keeping the dream alive". This was a book written in 2012 by Nick Brooke-Langham to celebrate 40 years of the NSRA, distributed to all NSRA members, it charts the history of the club and was a useful reference point for this post!
Also check out Nick Pettit's site here: http://www.timetraveldvds.co.uk/index.html Lots of photos and a few clips from the DVDs that Nick sells.
If you want to see what its all about in person the NSRA Supernationals are held at Old Warden, near Biggleswade in Bedfordshire 1st - 3rd August. The Sunday (3rd August) is open to day visitors and will cost £8 for entry. It should give you a little glimpse of the hobby and should have a great turnout if the warm weather continues!
Old Warden is here : https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Shuttleworth+C... look for NSRA signs that will direct you to the relevant gate. NSRA info here: http://www.nsra.org.uk/nsra-hot-rod-supernationals...
Photos by Nick Grant from last year here : https://www.flickr.com/photos/grantgb/sets/7215763...
Crafty_ said:
It was around this time that Jeff Beck got interested in hot rods, as his career blossomed so did his love of hot rods. He's good friends with Andy & Roy Brizio. Beck actually builds his own stuff and owns a couple of Brizio built cars too, if you avoid the naffness of the intro etc there are a couple of videos with Beck here : http://www.carcrazycentral.com/VideoResults.aspx?q... he talks about getting in to the hobby and some of his cars.
He wasn't the only musician into hot rods either, John Bonham owned a T Bucket, the car was imported by Beck and then sold to Bonham. I believe it still exists..
John Bonham in the Boston Strangler T
I remember seeing Jeff Beck down at the Ace Cafe back in the days when the Executioners used to run the monthly hot rod nights there.He wasn't the only musician into hot rods either, John Bonham owned a T Bucket, the car was imported by Beck and then sold to Bonham. I believe it still exists..
John Bonham in the Boston Strangler T
Eric Clapton is also a big hot rod fan and big Brizio customer. Brizio's have built numerous cars for Clapton over the years.
This is one of Claptons '32 FOrds that I photographed in Brizio's workshop back in 2004, just as the finishing touches were being made to it.
Crafty_ said:
I think Brizio has built about 6 cars for Eric now. Most, if not all are RHD.
Yup, I count 6 as well.It's a 50:50 split though between LHD and RHD.
You can see the steering wheel on the left of the blue 32 in the photo I posted above
And his 32 Vicky, and his 47 Chevy pickup are LHD as well.
The 32 Vicky converted to a 4dr Vicky, the 49 Chevy Woody wagon and the 49 Shoebox Ford are the 3 x RHD cars.
Love the thread, some of my favourite cars already posted...
My uncle got me into custom yank tin at a very young age, although he was always more into dayvans and jacked pickups - during the 80s he had a lovely Dodge two door military pickup that was high enough my mum had to lift me over her head to get me in!
He passed away recently, but maybe a few of you guys knew him? Kevin 'bigfoot' Wilkinson, 6'7" and gentle as a mouse...
My uncle got me into custom yank tin at a very young age, although he was always more into dayvans and jacked pickups - during the 80s he had a lovely Dodge two door military pickup that was high enough my mum had to lift me over her head to get me in!
He passed away recently, but maybe a few of you guys knew him? Kevin 'bigfoot' Wilkinson, 6'7" and gentle as a mouse...
Seeing the pic above of Nykilodeon with Nick Butler.
I saw Revenge for the first time in decades at Surrey Wheelsday this year.
Whilst admiring it and taking a pic or 4 an old bloke standing behind me sounds quite
knowledgable about it.
I turn round and make a comment and chat for a few minutes with Nick Butler.
I had no idea what he looked like beforehand but it was deffo him and the old pic confirms this.
I posted this story in the Wheelsday thread back in April.
I saw Revenge for the first time in decades at Surrey Wheelsday this year.
Whilst admiring it and taking a pic or 4 an old bloke standing behind me sounds quite
knowledgable about it.
I turn round and make a comment and chat for a few minutes with Nick Butler.
I had no idea what he looked like beforehand but it was deffo him and the old pic confirms this.
I posted this story in the Wheelsday thread back in April.
Edited by iva cosworth on Saturday 19th July 18:29
There were loads of custom legends at Wheels Day this year. As well as Revenge and Popcorn, there was Winston Sewell's Rover, the 'Street Odyssey' Ford Pop and 'De Devil' Transit.
Streetrod's BeetleIs that blue Devon in the background this one?
1954 Austin A40 Devon hot rod by Zack S. Classic Cars, on Flickr
Crafty_ said:
Streetrod's Beetle
1954 Austin A40 Devon hot rod by Zack S. Classic Cars, on Flickr
Edited by MrHorsepower on Sunday 11th October 22:17
I've been away and how this thread has moved on.
Crafty where did you get that photo of me at Bruntinthorpe, that brings back memories. A quick note on my old Beetle. Some of you with long memories might remember a documentary type program called "Mad on Motors" that was produced back in the mid 80's. It featured a mocked up build process on my Beetle. A couple of my mates also featured, most notable Phil for Brighton with his V6 T Bucket and Andrew with his Classic Capri. Part of the program also featured the Mustang Owners club with some truly terrible haircuts. I have it on VHS and at some point I will get it digitised and uploaded onto YouTube. There was also some good Chelsea cruise footage.
Going back to the conversation about Ratrods (I always hated that term) one of the main guys who helped lead the trend was my old mate Clive, see pic below.
I first meet Clive at the Olympia Custom Car show back in the late 70's early 80's when we were both spotty kids. We were both looking around Al Cablown http://www.rodsnsods.co.uk/forum/chat/al-cablown-3... which was one of my fave cars at the time. I truly believe that whole scene happened here in the UK way before it took off in the US. For once we were leading the way
Crafty where did you get that photo of me at Bruntinthorpe, that brings back memories. A quick note on my old Beetle. Some of you with long memories might remember a documentary type program called "Mad on Motors" that was produced back in the mid 80's. It featured a mocked up build process on my Beetle. A couple of my mates also featured, most notable Phil for Brighton with his V6 T Bucket and Andrew with his Classic Capri. Part of the program also featured the Mustang Owners club with some truly terrible haircuts. I have it on VHS and at some point I will get it digitised and uploaded onto YouTube. There was also some good Chelsea cruise footage.
Going back to the conversation about Ratrods (I always hated that term) one of the main guys who helped lead the trend was my old mate Clive, see pic below.
I first meet Clive at the Olympia Custom Car show back in the late 70's early 80's when we were both spotty kids. We were both looking around Al Cablown http://www.rodsnsods.co.uk/forum/chat/al-cablown-3... which was one of my fave cars at the time. I truly believe that whole scene happened here in the UK way before it took off in the US. For once we were leading the way
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