No such thing as an old boy ‘RACSER’

New Zealand is a great place to be if you are into V8s. There’s more US muscle here than there is the US, and for every cool Camaro, ’Cuda or ’Stang, there’s the Aus variation: Monaros, Falcons and all kinds of cool Valiants rumbling about the place.  Although the big-wheeled, spanky painted and blower-through-the-hood machines are the ones that get the “oohs and aahhs”, the vast majority of NZV8 readers drive somewhat more sensible muscle cars. Vehicles that are meant to be driven and driven hard, the kind of mildly modified muscle cars that can be used daily if needs be, but have the grunt to make the job a pleasure and not a chore. Steve Steger’s EL XR8 is that kind of beast.

The blue school bus

Steve, a forty-something-year-old who works at NZ Steel, is into most motorsport but has a particular passion for V8 touring cars. His past history includes a 38 Barrel Nose Pick Up “that I didn’t really know what to do with”. Sadly, the last ten years have been wasted on a Mazda he was building to take to Invercargill. Even his kids have the good taste to pretend that one doesn’t exist…  It was while building this distasteful (to NZV8 readers) brick that Steve stumbled across this Falcon on that interweb thing. Instant love. “It looked pretty good with the body kit and different from most other Falcons.” His lovely partner Frances, who obviously has far more taste than Steve, suggested they drive down to Hamilton and look at it, and once sighted, told him to buy it. Always a Ford man at heart, Steve was feeling quite pleased with his new purchase as he pulled into a gas station to fill up for the drive home. While pumping gallons of go-go juice into the blue oval, he was approached by a sales rep from John Andrew Ford who said, “Cool car. Do you want to sell it?”

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