A few Hot Rods: England catches the US tradition
John
Wright, a Lincolnshire farmer and flier owned this (bright yellow)
creation, and brought it to a Peterborough (Perkins Diesel) Show
1964. Wide-open-exhausted Jag motor behind a Rolls-Royce rad.: Jaguar/Rolls/Austin pickup hot-rod. Next is the
same car in stripped drag-racing guise at Santa Pod: drag pick-up. His brother Richard Wrightdrag-raced
and street-drove a Caddy-engined "T" rod, Cad-Rod . I am certain I saw this in a road-going "coupe" form,
at the British Hot Rod Association AGM in South Norwood, London,
with six chrome motorbike silencers bolted directly
to the ports. Here's the same car in (barely) road-going guise:
Someone tells me that this beast could be seen rumbling along the
public roads, as you see it, to Santa Pod Richard's Coupe
Geoff Jago of Brighton built this metal-flake convertible Ford
Thames van-cum-pickup; shame about my camera work!
Stunning hot-rod at Woburn Abbey in 1964/5. Yes, it was once
a
"vertical/perpendicular" Pop style van. A stock-car link:
Geoff Jago raced and won at Southampton's track back in 1959.
Jago's Rod again. This shot taken at a unique BHRA
scar how in Hyde Park's then-new underground parking lot! NEWS
as of May '99: apparently this car has been kept in storage for
over 20 years and is still as gorgeous today!
If
you were around in the early 1960's, there was the BRITISH HOT
ROD ASSOCIATION, before the BDHRA. BHRA chairman John Bennett drag-raced
his Pontiac by pulling out the back seat and spare wheel, and unhooking
the power steering! (His wife Anne raced it too.) One pioneer
was Ken Cooper, who was a devoted 'flathead' engineer, and
raced a side-valve (Ford Pilot) slingshot to prove it. Here is
his earlier — perhaps England's first — hot-rod,
a '32 Model B Ford roadster with V-8 Ford power. A super-nice guy
and a brave pioneer, Ken drove this on Midlands streets 45 years
ago. V-8 Deuce **** NO
IT'S NOT A '32!
Eagle-eyed Brian Lucas just pointed out that Ken's rod was a '33
Ford 40, with a '32 grille — Brian
is a long-time hot-rodder and he runs a '32 roadster with a modified
flathead motor. Thanks
Brian.
Ford
Thames vans crop up everywhere. This one is a street-driven van,
snapped in the parking lot at Seattle International Raceway, (US).
Check the rear tyres and imagine clipping a pot-hole at speed: "Fatty-Tyred Van"
A swoopy custom based on a Ford Thunderbird, built by a Swedish
rodder and shown here at Santa Pod. Mal Hawkins photo.
|
