Friday, November 20, 2009

Mid West Breakfast Pics











Here are a few of the pics

Vintage Midgets & Hot Rod Breakfast






Well I havent posted anything on here cos I havent felt like it. Really, I had an infection in my elbow so only just the end of this week did it all come right.

Last weekend was the Radio Hauraki Night of Legends at Western Springs Speedway in Auckland where about thirty or so Vintage Midgets were on display as well as going for a "chug" around the track. By far my favorites were Gordon McIssac's Number 9 and also Roger Elliot's Number 76 Kurtis Kraft.

The next day was the monthly Rodders Breakfast by Mid West Street Rods at BP Autobahn, Dairyflat off the Northern Motorway. About a 100 cars headed to Dellamura's and KeyWest Fabrication - by far my favorite cars of the day was Steve Dally's 33 Tudor and Steve Foster's 33 Coupe

A great weekend to be had followed by a week of rest for my arm. This weekend is the Stragglers Charity Show in Cambridge that has around 500 cars. Should be good.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Keith Weesner to visit NZ


Its official and hot off the press – The Scroungers are hosting noted car culture artist, Keith Weesner as their guest of honour at the annual Hot Rod Blow Out next year.

Keith is also a member of the noted CHOPPERS Car Club from Burbank California and is the son of automotive journalist, Jerry Weesner. Its the first time he will have visited New Zealand and he will be at the Blowout with his art, shirts and generally hanging out enjoying the atmosphere of the Hot Rod Blowout.

Keith is a painter and illustrator whose work reflects his obsession with car culture, vampy women, cinematic settings and brooding characters. Keith studied automotive design at Art Center Pasadena, but was pretty much born drawing. He is inspired by golden age illustrators like N.C. Wyeth and Andrew Loomis, and 20th century painters like Sargent and Hopper. His brush inking style sprang from Rex Burnett, Wally Wood, Ed Newton and Robert Williams' Inking styles. His ink designs for hot rod T shirts have become iconic in the hot rod community. No doubt you will have seen his art or have a piece of your own.

Keith is both a rod & custom car guy with a forties era Model A roadster on Deuce rails with flathead driveline and a Hallock style screen and ’40 Ford dash. His custom however is something that has gone down in history for its own style with tones from the Buster Litton car from the early fifties – Keith’s started out as a single spinner shoebox Ford. His grounding in car culture, art and the camaraderie of the CHOPPERS members is what sets his art apart from the rest in today’s car culture art world.

Meet Keith Weesner at the Hot Rod Blowout, Rosebank Speedway, Sunday April 4th

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Model A Resto Rod Build











This weekend some proper progress was made on this Model A for a friend. Its an early '28 roadster and he wants to build a 60's style trad/resto rod using an original Ford body and chassis so the idea here is to lift the body and deal to the chassis and drop the body back on albeit being about a foot lower to the ground.
The original influence for this car was the "Hartmann Roadster" the black one with cool stance. The actual car is the brown and black fendered car as you see here. The A running gear has gone into my T.
This weekend I fitted the front boxing plates and the front crossmember. Its going to be boxed in the rear of the chassis and then a folded channel cross member will go between the two boxed areas.
The car is run a dropped I Beam on four bars and a 283 and four speed with twin fours. Should be a cool little roadster once completed and also a fun car to drive

Monday, November 2, 2009

Stance & proportion











Waiting for steel for one of the other projects as well as running out of drive for the other, I commenced to mount the shocks and headlights to the 32. The commercial lights are 33 Ford and I also have some smaller SO-CAL headlights for a different look.
Friday night I tidied up the frame horns and actually lowered them down about 1/4" then on Saturday I started to mount the shocks. By Monday night I had the shocks on and the headlights mounted. The biggest thing is make sure everything is symetrical so it looks right for that perfect head on shot. Note the shock mounts were designed to look like the end of the dropped axle.
I ended up remaking the front spreader bar to try and give some balance. The Moon tank itself comes of an old Fuel Altered from the USA and will be left dents and all but also removeable.