The good… I found this rad new old stock, ’70’s style, Goodyear GT sun strip. Haven’t seen one of these on a car for years…
The bad… the right hand front tension rod bracket is parting company with the chassis because of rust. Bugger. More welding to do then.
I guess you might have also noticed the bed sides are now white. That’s because they are new! As are the rear wings and most of the rear panel. More on this shortly.
Painting the roof of my van looks like it’s gonna be a bitch. Stripping the paint off and sanding it back was. Having looked at various options for making the task a bit easier, I came to the conclusion I needed to bust out the carpentry tools and build some work platforms. Before they get any serious use, they’ll be tied together with a couple of lengths of wood which will pass through the van to make them more stable. I clambered up there this evening and it sure makes working on the roof easier! I’ve got a few bits of prep to do up top then I’ll be hitting it with some 2k primer, hopefully by the end of next week.
Honda TN-7 + Blown Ford V6 in the bed + back-to-front Jag rear end with a giant belt drive = the sort of wild ‘n’ wacky, in your face custom you just don’t see too often these days. And it’s got slot mags. Pure awesomeness.
Shaker Run is, in my opinion, a classic of 1980’s Kiwi cinema. The movies stars Cliff Robertson as Judd Pierson, an ex race driver turned stuntman who runs a travelling one-man stunt show. Broke and down on their luck, Judd along with sidekick Casey Lee (Leif Garrett) get the chance to make a fast buck by driving Dr Christine Rubin (Lisa Harrow) to a secret rendezvous in Judd’s Trans Am stunt car called Shaker. Unbeknown to Judd and Casey, Dr Rubin is secretly attempting to smuggle a deadly virus out of the country and into the hands of the CIA and her superiors will go to any lengths to stop her and recover the virus.
No only does Shaker Run provide plenty of crash and stunt mayhem, it also gives a great snapshot of mid 80’s New Zealand scenery and traffic. The film isn’t really to be taken seriously but for any car movie fan it great fun, it is well worth a look. Luckily for us, it’s available in it’s entirety on YouTube! There’s a short add at the start but after that it’s and hour and a half of classic, car chase movie heaven. Check it out HERE!
Looks like Italian model maker Bburago got bit by the custom van bug too in the late 70’s and early 80’s, if this 1/24 scale toy van I found is anything to go by. I was intrigued by this van as it’s design is totally wild, especially it’s forward hinging cab. A bit of web research revealed it was designed for Bburago by none other than legendary model kit designer Tom Daniel. That explains a lot, as Tom created literally dozens of wild custom car model kits during his years with Monogram from ‘67 through to ‘75, such as ‘Paddy Wagon‘, ‘Vandal‘ and the iconic ‘Red Baron‘. Apparently, he designed this for Bburago around ‘76/’77 and it was loosely based on the Chevy van of the time.Sadly Toms involvment with Bburago seems to have been short lived although it did yield a handful of other models based on existing Bburago moulds. I’d love to see someone re-create the forward tilting cab for real! Pic after the jump…
Three weeks ago, at the Retro Rides Gathering, I got the chance to get behind the wheel in an NA model Mazda MX-5. Despite these things being around for over twenty years, I’d never previously considered even having a go in one, let alone buying one. Boy, have I been missing out! Thinking about it, there’s really little to have caused me to dismiss these cars for so long. A small, light weight, front engined rear wheel drive chassis with fully independent suspension, a lively little twin cam and nimble, responsive handling, all allied to Mazda reliability as well as a parts supply and aftermarket that’s second to none. And to fully ice the cake… it’s a rag top too, so perfect for summer. I guess it was just it’s girly looks and ‘hairdresser’ image that put me off. That, and for a long time they would have been simply out of my budget. Well that brief drive I took was a real eye opener as to what fun these things are, and the realisation that they are now pretty cheap too made me say to hell with the cars image! …I’m having one!
