After building and selling a ’58 Chev, Terry Blake swore he’d never do it again. That was until he stumbled upon a 1969 Mustang sitting in the back of a panel shop. The car was an inch thick in dust, but the bodywork had been done, and it was in primer, so the theory was it wouldn’t take much to get it back on the road, or so he thought.

A car-and-bike guy by nature, and not one to ever leave things alone, that plan soon blew out, as deep down he knew he wanted to build something different. “I build my bikes so that if people don’t know what they’re looking at, they think they look nice, but if they do know, they’ll really stop and (more…)

I probably don’t speak for everyone, but I know I personally waste a lot of time daydreaming about different cars. I build them in my mind with an unlimited budget and use the best parts available, usually from the same manufacturer as the vehicle itself. One of the things that I often envisage is the fitment of a late-model engine into an old classic body. The result is the perfect mix of old school charm and character with late-model reliability and horsepower. Cambridge’s Jason Skinner has similar visions. Although, the difference is that around three and a half years ago, he decided to make his dreams become reality.

A long-time Mopar fan, and more specifically a fan of the 1969 and 1970 Dodge Chargers, he started researching the possibility of dropping in a late-model injected Hemi into one of them. In theory, while the engine conversion itself was (more…)

There’s a well-known show on TV these days called American Chopper. Chances are that if you’re reading this, you’re interested in all things mechanical, so have probably seen it. If not, it’s worth a watch.

Unlike most reality shows, there are no hot chicks; instead it’s about a father and his two sons who spend their lives building some of the most outrageous Choppers you’ll ever see. It’s not the motorbikes that make the show worth watching though, it’s the behind the scenes banter, bickering and pranks that go on between dad and kids that make it a laugh.

Now it’s likely that if there were to be a reality show about the build of this gorgeous 1969 Chev Camaro it would be much the same. Father and son team John and Shane have had (more…)

For years this car has been almost like an urban legend, with rumours calling it a Dodge Challenger, a Plymouth Cuda, a Hemi this, or a Nascar that. Greg Murphy’s 1969 Dodge Charger truly does exist, and it’s even better than what the rumours make it out to be.

Being a serial car build follower, I’ve known the truth about it for some time now, constantly finding excuses to pop into West Auckland’s Moselle Panel and Paint, where the car has been in the build, to check on progress. Seeing cars like this come along is one of the perks of the job, especially when they’re being built behind closed doors we’re allowed behind.

Those with a good memory may recall seeing the car in the Moselle marquee at the Kumeu Car Show a few years back. Hidden at the back of their stand, you either saw it and realised what it was, or walked straight on past.

When the car was unveiled in its current form at the recent triennial American Muscle Car Club show, walking past wasn’t an option. Even those who’d seen the car many times before couldn’t help (more…)

Purchased with no thoughts of modification, Pat Croul’s car is now the toughest-looking Camaro in the land.

I still have no idea what I was thinking,” says Pat Croul, reflecting on what happened to his once tidy, stock-as-a-rock Camaro.

“I purchased the car to just drive, and then I thought I would just tidy it up a little over the winter. I had three or so months of driving it and then apart she came for an engine check.” And so it begins.

“The question was,” continues Pat, warming to his story, “what little mods could be made to the 355ci small block to give it a little more life? It was decided that dropping in a blown big block should take care of it.”

That could have been the beginning of the end. It wasn’t. “The car was stripped, repainted in black and in went a 461ci big block complete with 8/71 supercharger and some other goodies. This took a few months, and then while out for the first test drive I found that there was a little traction problem at almost any stage of the throttle in any gear. The 245 BF Goodriches were just not working out.” (more…)

Built with five-second aspirations and plenty of patience, Parry Hunt’s Camaro is the latest doorslammer to hit the Kiwi scene.

There’s this cheesy ad on the idiot box, in which two old codgers go on about doing not much of anything, and the hook or catchphrase is that good things take time. They do, and no one understands the concept better than drag racers.

Time is the essence of drag racing. Which is probably the most obvious and simplistic statement ever, but also the truest.

Measuring how quickly the vehicle covers the first 60 feet, then the next 600, then everything in between and after that determines how well the chassis, clutch or converter and engine are working together, and if any changes the crew have made were a small step forward or a giant leap backward. Even that mph figure at the bottom of your time slip is a calculation on how little time your drag strip missile or fun-time rollercoaster took to travel the last 66 feet before the finish line.

But the 14 or 11 or even six seconds you spent riding down that ribbon of asphalt are infinitesimally tiny compared to the hours, days, weeks, months and years put into every other moment of your drag racing hobby/obsession.

Everything takes time, whether it be the time put into the building, working on or repairing your wicked ride, or the secondary job you have to help fund it, or even just waiting to obtain the best bits you can, when you can afford them. (more…)

Immaculate doesn’t even begin to describe Grant Eveleigh’s ’69 Camaro

“Wow” was about the only word I could muster as I crouched under Grant Eveleigh’s 1969 Chevrolet Camaro, which was sitting high in the air on a hoist at Auckland’s Magnum Automotive. Positioned under the front bumper and looking towards the rear of the car, I gazed down its length ” nearly five metres’ worth of automotive perfection. Billet aluminium could be seen everywhere, gorgeously fabricated headers crept around the sides of a huge 540 cubic inch motor and perfectly crafted sump, wrapping into an immaculate exhaust system running out to the rear of the car. Screw Stucco and plaster, this is the type of ceiling I want in my dream house.

“I’ve always liked the idea of building cars to this standard,” says owner Grant Eveleigh. “You know how these things go. Once you start you just don’t stop until things are perfect.”
The term perfect is almost an understatement, if that’s possible. Nearly every piece of equipment on this Camaro has either been reconditioned to as-new standard or, more likely, is one hundred per cent brand new, right down to the badges, which are fresh off the billet mill.

When Grant bought the car three years ago it was in a fairly sorry state. It had been used by the previous owner as a daily driver and was suffering because of it. Gravel roads were clearly not off limits, and although the car was resprayed in the States sometime before its arrival here in New Zealand in 1994, it was in desperate need of a few months spent in the body shop ” four, to be exact.

(more…)