Looking for the perfect Christmas gift for that special hot rodder in your life?

Australian Hot Rodder’s special gift packs could be just what you’re looking for.

There are three packs to choose from, the Starter Pack, the Builder Pack, and the Big Daddy Pack.

The AHR Starter pack gets you copies of AHR issues #1, #2 and #3, the AHR Builder pack gets you copies of AHR issues #4, #5 and #6, and the Big Daddy pack gets you copies of all six issues of AHR published to date.

Price of these special offers is just $60 for the Starter and Builder packs, and only $120 for the Big Daddy pack.

Best of all we send them to you post-free.

Order now to ensure you receive yours in time for Christmas.

It’s become tradition that each new issue of Australian Hot Rodder is launched with an official function, and #5 is no different.

This year’s event will be held at The Rubber Connection in South Dandenong and the indications are that it will be special.

Joe Pirotta has agreed to bring The Crimson Pirate along. It will be the first time Joe has showed his iconic hot rod in public since the launch of AHR #1 at his factory.

The Crimson Pirate was featured on the cover of AHR #1. It was also on the cover of the first issue of Eddie Ford’s Custom Rodder magazine way back in 1967.

Along with The Crimson Pirate there will be another Pirotta classic, this one the wildly customised Customline of Charlie Pirotta that he dubbed Dazzle.

John Gladwell now owns Dazzle, and he has agreed to give it a rare outing by bringing it along on the day of the launch. Dazzle is one of the cars featured in AHR #5.

Another feature car from AHR #5 to be at the launch is the beautiful Apple Green highboy Deuce Tudor of Steven Alldrick.

The launch starts at 10.00 and will wrap up at 2.00 pm at The Rubber Connection, Factory 6/355-365, South Gippsland Hwy, Dandenong South, VIC.

The Bay Rodders will be running a sausage sizzle on the day, and drinks will be available.

Copies of AHR #5 will be available to purchase at the launch, along with copies of earlier issues in case you missed out.

Australian Hot Rodder #5 has landed and is now available for sale. On the cover we feature Mark Koster’s stunning bare metal ’34 Plymouth coupe.

Mark Koster had ideas of painting his rare Hemi-powered ’34 Plymouth coupe in gold metalflake, but it looked so good in bare metal that he decided to leave it that way. The eye-popping result is there for all to see in our fabulous photos.

No one has done more in hot rodding than Eddie Ford. After discovering hot rodding in the 1950s Eddie built his first hot rod, a ’34 Ford coupe, then travelled to the other side of the world to hot rodding’s heartland in the 1960s where he met many of the legendary figures of American hot rodding.

Mike Davidson was a teenager when he was attracted to salt lake racing and the idea of being the fastest in the world. His quest is to be the fastest ever flathead racer with his twin-flathead V8-powered streamliner that is being dialled in to go better than 300 mph.

Kathleen Alldrick dreamt of driving a ’32 Ford coupe, but husband Steven reckoned a Tudor would be more practical for a young married couple with plans for a family. Steven built the sweet Tudor the way he believed Henry Ford would have done it.

Charlie Pirotta spent 30 years transforming his ’56 Customline into a dazzling piece of rolling artwork. Night after night he would work away in his shed crafting the hundreds of pieces of polished, chromed and bejewelled adornments that make his car such a unique custom.

Watching American Graffiti with his daughter Jane inspired Peter Leech to build a car in the image of John Milner’s classic movie car, but do it better.

Peter Eames has never bothered about the badge on the cars he’s chosen to turn into hot rods. We track the build and life of the ‘Green Hornet’, one of our most enduring hot rods, the ’34 Chev bucket Eames built in the 1960s.

More than 50 years ago South Australian Bill Wickes took a solid old Model A roadster and turned it into a hot rod. It’s just as appealing today as it was in the 1960s.

In the 1970s Neville Anderson endured dirt, dust, breakdowns and crashes in his ’34 Ford coupe just to get to the Narrandera Nationals from his Perth home. Despite the trials and tribulations of a long life on the road Neville’s coupe is still going strong.

There was no drag strip in South Australia in 1962 when Alf Mullins and Ian Bell built their blown Chrysler rail and lifted drag racing to a new level of performance. The arrival of the Mullins and Bell rail inspired drag racing legend Eddie Thomas to greater heights of performance.

The first national drag racing titles were held at Fishermens Bend in Melbourne 50 years ago and a young Melbournian driving a six-cylinder Holden-powered rail beat all comers to emerge the winner.

Order your copy now by heading to www.australianhotrodder.com.au, or give us a call at 0409 705 062

Just in – we received the advanced copies of Australian Hot Rodder #5 last week for approval, and it looks great.

The printer has done a great job and we gave him our tick of approval to go ahead and ship the bulk quantity of magazines.

The cover with Mark Koster’s bare metal ’34 Plymouth coupe dramatically shot at night in a back alley in inner Melbourne came up a treat.

Koster’s beautiful hot rod is just one of the fabulous cars featured in Issue #5 of Australian Hot Rodder.

As well as the Plymouth we feature Flat Attack, Mike Davidson’s twin-flathead powered salt lake streamliner. The South Australian is aiming to reset the existing benchmark for flathead-powered cars by going in excess of 305 mph in this beautifully built racer.

We also document the life and times of Eddie Ford, arguably the Australia’s most influential hot rodder. In the first part of our story on Eddie we look at his early hot rods, the channelled ’34 coupe he built in the early 1960s, and the ’32 three-window coupe he built later in the ’70s.

If that’s not enough there are also features on Neville Anderson’s ’34 coupe, Bill Wickes’ Model A roadster, Peter Eames shorty ’34 Chev bucket, Charlie Pirotta’s dazzling ’56 Customline, Peter Leech’s ’32 coupe, the ’32 Tudor of Steven and Kathleen Alldrick, the Mullins & Bell blown Chrysler rail, and Jack “Fizzball” Collins, the winner of the first national drag racing title.

Now that the shipping has been approved we expect to have copies available for sale within the next few weeks.

As soon as they arrive we’ll be busy sending them out to everyone who has pre-ordered the magazine.

To order your copy, go to www.australianhotrodder.com.au, or phone 0409 705 062

Australian Hot Rodder # 5 is nearing completion and will soon be sent to the printers. We’re currently reviewing the colour proofs before giving the printer the go-ahead to print, but before we do we thought we’d let you see what you’re in store for when it goes on sale in the coming weeks.

The cover features Mark Koster’s stunning bare metal ’34 Plymouth. The Melbourne hot rodder wanted something different and we can only say that he more than achieved his goal with his beautiful old-style Hemi-powered Mopar coupe.

Featured inside is the first instalment of our story on pioneering hot rodder and publisher, Eddie Ford. We chronicle Eddie’s start in hot rodding way back in the 1950s, and journey through the adventure of building two of his best known and loved hot rods, his channelled ’34 coupe and the ’32 coupe he swapped for a ’33 tourer with American hot rodder, Fred Steele.

Peter Leech built his first hot rod, a channelled ’32 roadster, in the 1960s. He followed that up with this fabulous tribute to the movie, American Graffiti, with this beautiful ’32 coupe.

Dazzle was Charlie Pirotta’s dream machine. He worked on the ’56 Customline for 30 years, all the time adding to it as he created a unique piece of automotive artwork. Since his death the unique car has been to Canada and back again, and is now owned by John Gladwell, who remembers seeing the car in the 1960s.

Veteran Perth hot rodder Neville Anderson loves ’34 Fords, he’s owned dozens of them, and still has a few in his shed, but his favourite is the Dodge-powered five-window coupe he built in the 1960s and took to the first Nationals in Narrandera.

Peter Eames was never bound by the rule that says a hot rod has to be a Ford. His first hot rod, a bucket he built from a ’34 Chev tourer, is one of the great survivors having survived a fire as well as the ravages of time.

We haven’t forgotten drag racing’s place in hot rodding and look back at two of the great early drag racers.

It’s 50 years since the first National drag racing championship was run at Riverside in Melbourne and we caught up with Jack “Fizzball” Collins who told us how he managed to win the title at the wheel of a Holden six-cylinder powered rail.

Ian Bell and his mate, Alf Mullins, set the drag racing world alight in the early 1960s with their homebuilt Chrysler-powered rail.

Once the colour proofs are approved the printing can proceed and AHR #5 should soon be available.

To order your copy, click here, or phone 0409 705 062 now.