We signed off on the colour proofs of AHR #2 last week and it’s now full speed ahead at the printer’s, so we reckon it’s time to give you a preview of what’s coming in the next issue.

With the ’32 celebrating its 80th birthday this year we figured we just had to make a feature of the hot rod icon. The ’32 was launched in Detroit in late March 1932, but it wasn’t until August that year that Australians were able to sample the Deuce and its hot new V8 engine.

Less than 2000 Deuce passenger cars were produced by Ford Australia, almost two-thirds of them were V8s.

When our budding young hot rodders picked up their copies of HOT ROD magazine in the mid-1950s the car they saw featured more than any other was the ’32 and that was the one they wanted. Overnight the ’32 Ford was the most sought after old Ford of all, and it still is today.

In the late-1950s Manny Azzopardi and Charlie Buhagiar were recent arrivals from Malta living in Sydney when they bought their first issue of HOT ROD and like so many others they instantly wanted a Deuce roadster.

The car they went on to build was one of the top show cars of the 1960s, winning a swag of trophies at shows between 1966 and 1972 when they sold it, never to see it again.

We managed to track Old Faithful down in its new home in South Australia, and shot it for our story on the great old car.

The famous Buhagiar/Azzopardi roadster is one of four Deuce roadsters featured in AHR #2, we also have stories on Kevin Daley’s beautiful channelled roadster, Ray Sprague’s hot racer, and the editor’s own highboy, but AHR #2 is not just about the ’32, there are also plenty of other great stories on hot rods and hot rodders.

Colin Bates has been building hot rods for a living since the early 1970s and is regarded as one of the best in the business.

One look at his stunning ’36 Coupe that graces the cover of AHR #2 is enough to convince you of his ability to produce great hot rods.

Colin believes that hot rods should be driven and there’s no better example of his commitment to building great driving cars than his ’36, which has won trophies at shows, performed on the drag strip, and done 150,000 km on the street.

Drag racing has always been a part of hot rodding, but never more so than in the 1960s when it was possible to race your everyday driver on the strip.

Back then Eddie Thomas was the ‘Big Daddy’ of drag racing with his home-built Chrysler-powered AA/D rail. No one did more than Eddie to promote drag racing and hot rodding in general until he retired from racing in 1968.

We tracked Eddie down for our story on this genuine Australian hot rodding legend.

With 152 glossy, full colour pages, AHR #2 also features stories on Neil ‘Ned’ Kelly’s timeless ’35 coupe, Leno Pirotta’s old style ’34 coupe, Leo Spessot’s flamed ’40 convertible, and the re-created blown big-block AA/D rail driven by Bob Keith, the captain of the visiting American team in the 1966 Dragfest.

Click here to order AHR #2

Hot rodding is largely regarded as being American, but it also has a long and proud history in Australia, one that is every bit as rich and colourful as the history of hot rodding Stateside. Now, with the launch of Australian Hot Rodder it is getting long overdue recognition.

Australian Hot Rodder is a new, premium hot rodding periodical dedicated to Australia’s hot rodding heritage with the aim of telling the tale of this exciting hobby.

Boasting 152 full colour pages, Australian Hot Rodder is jam-packed with great stories and stunning photography on the great hot rods, hot rodders and drag racers that have helped make it the popular hobby it is today.

People like hot rodding legends Joe Pirotta and Charlie Caruana who teamed up in the 1960s to build the Crimson Pirate, a highly polished and plated Model A Ford pickup that swept all before it at shows all over the country.

After sitting under covers for more than 30 years Australian Hot Rodder was able to convince its owner/builders that it should be the cover car for Issue #1.

Lynn Arrowsmith’s channelled ’34 Ford coupe is one of the most beautiful hot rods ever built in this country and we got Lynn to tell us the story of his coupe.

Hot rodders know Ray Charlton as ‘Mr Deuce’, and for good reason. Ray has owned more than 30 Deuces since he first discovered them in the 1950s, and we went for a ride in two of them.

Barry Fletcher thought he was buying a ’32 Ford roadster when he answered a newspaper classified advertisement in the early ’60s, but it turned out to be a 1930 Model A. Undeterred he built Henrietta, one of the most stunning of our early hot rods. Not only did we shoot Henrietta for #1, but we couldn’t resist Barry’s beautiful full-fendered Deuce roadster and shot that as well.

Drag racing has always been an integral part of hot rodding and Ash Marshall was one of the legends of the sport in the early years, becoming the first Australian to break through the 200 mph barrier. Ash now lives in Southern California and that’s where we went to catch up with him.

In a fitting tribute to Ash we also took Scorcher, his famous racer into the studio for a photo shoot. Scorcher was the car he used to go 200 mph, and current owner, Dennis Young, and George Bukureshliev have faithfully restored it to its former glory.

Other great cars to feature in #1 include Norm Longfield’s T-bucket and John Bowker’s timeless channelled ’34 Ford roadster.

We also look at the early days of drag racing, and a couple of the early hot rod magazines published in this country.

Read the full story in Issue 01 >>

Issue #2 of Australian Hot Rodder picks up the story of Australian Hot Rodding where #1 left off, with 152 glossy, full-colour pages jam-packed with great in-depth stories and stunning photography of some of the best hot rods built in this country.

It starts with Colin Bate’s beautiful ’36 Ford coupe, which features on the cover. The coupe caught Colin’s eye when he first saw it in the late 1960s and when it came up for sale in the mid-’70s he jumped at the chance to own it.

In the years he’s been able to call it his, Colin has twice rebuilt it, he’s also shown it, drag raced it, and driven it daily. We chronicle the absorbing story of this true classic of Australian hot rodding.

With the ’32 Ford turning 80 this year, we reckoned it was timely to look at the icon of hot rodding in Australia; it’s history, its appeal to hot rodders, along with a selection of some of great Deuce roadsters.

Included are the Buhagiar/Azzopardi ’32 roadster that wowed show-goers in the 1960s, as well as the stunning channelled ’32 roadster built by Kevin Daley, the sizzling hot road racing roadster of Ray Sprague, and the new highboy of AHR’s publisher, Graham Smith.

Drag racing is now a high tech, big dollar sport, but back in the 1960s when it was just getting started here it was possible to race your everyday driver.

Back then Eddie Thomas was the king of the drag strip in his big, blown Chrysler rail. He dominated local drag racing, set record after record and beat all comers, and took the fight up to the visiting American team of drag racers when they came here for the Dragfest in 1966. Old ‘ET’ is still powering on as we discovered.

Bob Keith was the captain of the American team who visited our shores for that Dragfest series and raced a stunning big-block Chevy rail. A chance meeting between Keith and Brisbane-based drag racing writer, Lex Swayn, led to the idea of re-creating Keith’s old car. We went to Willowbank in Queensland to photograph the result.

In a feature-packed issue we also look at the new ’34 Ford coupe Leno Pirotta built the old way, we also chart the history of Neil ‘Ned’ Kelly’s well known ’35 Ford coupe, and look at the flamed ’40 Ford convertible Leo Spessot has driven to every Street Rod Nationals staged to date.

Read the full Issue here.