AHR Issue #2 is nearing completion with much of the production now completed.

We recently photographed Colin Bates’ beautiful ’36 Ford coupe, the car that will feature on the cover of AHR #2 and it looks spectacular. Shot against a threatening sky with dark storm clouds gathering in the distance the stunning white coupe shines.

Colin has been building hot rods in Melbourne for 40 years and his reputation for engineering excellence and build quality is renowned within the hot rodding community. A hot rodder at heart, Colin not only builds great hot rods, he is also regularly seen driving them at rod runs.

He first eyed the ’36 coupe back in the 1960s when a fellow member of the Sultans Hot Rod Club owned it. He bought it in 1975 when the owner’s life took a different direction and he’s owned it ever since.

In that time it has been rebuilt twice, winning top coupe at the Victorian Hot Rod Show in 1977 at the completion of the first rebuild. It has also been driven for much of that time, clocking up 150,000 miles in daily use, as well as being drag raced and displayed at rod shows.

Colin is a big fan of the ’36 and has honoured Ford’s original design by sticking to the stock appearance and retaining much of the original chrome and stainless trim, but underneath the Art Deco skin he’s used a 350 cubic inch small block Chev V8, Saginaw four-speed gearbox and nine-inch “Tank” Fairlane diff.

The full story on Colin’s Classic Beauty is featured in AHR Issue #2.

The worlds first epoxy carbon fibre/Kevlar ’32 roadster made its world debut at the recent Grand National Roadster Show in Los Angeles.

The car, conceived and designed by Australian Steve Walmsley will feature in Australian Hot Rodder Number Two.

Eight years in the design and construction the unique roadster body is mounted to a custom-designed tubular chassis that when mounted appears as traditional as any ’32 could be, but with far superior features to that found on a traditional chassis.

To be marketed under the Voodoo Hot Rods brand in the US and eventually Australia interest in the cars on display was intense for the entire duration of the three-day show.

Any remaining doubters who thought the ‘Crimson Pirate’ wasn’t really a runner were finally convinced when, to a stunned audience of more than 100 hot rodders, the classic hot rod’s co-owner, Charlie Caruana not only fired up the car’s nailhead Buick V8 but also drove it out of the Pirotta Motors factory and down the street.

It was the first time in 33 years that he’d driven the car, and the highlight of the function to celebrate the launch of the first issue of Australian Hot Rodder, but it was far from the only one on the day.

Joe Pirotta also fired up ‘Satisfaction’ his awesome blown 427 cubic inch SOHC V8-powered Cortina drag car to the delight of the assembled crowd. If that wasn’t enough he also ran up a 600-plus horsepower 351 cubic inch Windsor V8 on his dynamometer.

Also on hand to celebrate the launch of issue Number One of AHR were a number of cars featured in the first issue, along with their owners.

Barry Fletcher was there in his beautiful full-fendered ’32 Ford roadster, so was Ray Charlton who drove his well-travelled ’32 Ford highboy roadster down from Castlemaine, and John Bowker brought along his ageless channelled ’34 Ford roadster.

While the featured cars were the centre of attention there were dozens of cars parked around the factory that were also deserving of a look, cars like Leo Spessott’s flamed ’40 Ford convertible, Neil Kelly’s beautiful ’35 Ford coupe, Colin Bates stunning white ’36 Ford coupe and Peter McColl’s cool single-spinner Ford coupe.

Among the crowd on the day were many hot rodding and drag racing luminaries, like veteran Eddie Thomas and Jim Walton, as well as hot rodding legends, Miles Johnson, Peter Clara, John Lynch and Australian Street Rodding publisher, Larry O’Toole.

It was a great day that will long be remembered by those who were there

PHOTOS

1. It runs! Charlie Caruana takes the Pirate for a spin for the first time in 33 years.
2. Barry Fletcher with his ’32 roadster.
3. Joe Pirotta, Charlie Caruana and Sam Midgley. Midgley was responsible for the unique gold panel painting on the Pirate.
4. Just some of the cars parked around the Pirotta workshop on the day.
5. Drag racing legend Eddie Thomas tries on the editor’s ’32 roadster for size.

Barry Fletcher was still a teenager when he began building his improved Model A roadster ‘Henrietta’ back in the late 1950s. A trip to America in the 1960s opened his eyes to hot rodding there and on his return he started up Flyscher Enterprises to supply local hot rodders with parts and accessories for their cars and finally built the ’32 roadster he’d always dreamt of owning.

The hot rodding was shocked when in the 1980s Lynn Arrowsmith chopped his’34 coupe, considered to be one of the most beautiful cars built in the 1960s, but as he says he had always wanted to do it, he just didn’t know how when he first built it.

Magazines have always played a pivotal part in spreading the word on hot rodding, and Australian hot rodding magazines have been a major influence on the local scene. We track the early history of some of the local magazines through the early era of the hobby.

Few cars have had the impact that the “Crimson Pirate’ had on Australian hot rodding. Built in the early 1960s by Joe Pirotta and Charlie Caruana the Model A bucket swept the show scene on its debut, taking a haul of trophies everywhere it went. After it finished on the show circuit it virtually vanished, until Australian Hot Rodder found it buried in Charlie Caruana’s garage and convinced him and Joe Pirotta that it should be returned to the spotlight as the cover car on our first issue.

Ray Charlton is known far and wide for his passion for the ’32 Ford. He has owned more than 30 ‘Deuces’ and still professes his undying passion for them. Over 50 years or more the veteran hot rodder has built, shown and raced more ’32 Fords than anyone else in this country, and shows no sign of moving into the slow lane.

In early 1969 at the Sydney International Dragway Ash Marshall blasted into drag racing history when he became the first Australian to break through the 200 mph barrier. Driving ‘Scorcher’, the ex-Leland Kolb AA/FD he imported from the US in 1968, Marshall ran a 7.66s pass with a top speed of 203.16 mph. Current owner Dennis Young and chassis builder George Bukureshliev have combined to restore the classic racer to its former glory.

Ash Marshall was an early convert to drag racing, racing a variety of sports and production cars in events organised by CAMS, but it was his exploits in the AA/Fuel dragsters he imported from the US in the 1960s that made him a legend in local drag racing circles. In 1969 he became the first Australian to break through the 200 mph barrier to cement his place in the sport’s history in Australia. Now living in retirement in the US Ash talks to Australian Hot Rodder about his racing career.