NZ Trip 2011....HR Blowout/shed visits/Nostalgia Drags...PICS GALORE!

What a fantastic trip! The Blow Out looks like a great time and that pic with your pops takes the cake. The scenic shots are beautiful, a lot different then crowded Ventura. Looking forward to seeing the pics of the drags!

 

WOW!!!! Thanks for taking the time to post all of this. I don't think I could leave such a beautiful place. I'm going to have my wife look at all of the pictures. We've been looking for a place to take an ultimate vacation. May of found it! Thanks again.

Frank

 

What a great trip, and pics to match...Thanks

 

Funny you should say that about reminding you of central Cal.

I felt much at home on our visit to NZ because parts of it reminded me so much of springtime in central CA and the CA central coast when I was growing up in the 50's. My wife and I were privileged to spend a week as house guests of dear friends in Matamata, then a week exploring the North Island and camping on their undeveloped land at Kennedy Bay, and the last week exploring the South Island. Best trip we've ever taken.

I drove our friend's backup car on our road trip to the campsite and back, and will never forget learning to drive on the left side of the road, negotiating roundabouts, shifting with my left hand, and dealing with a slipping clutch on inclines, all at the same time.

 

What a cool trip. Thanks for sharing...

 

Awesome!!

 

Good Lord!

I'm only 2 pages into the thread, but the countryside, cars, and workmanship in NZ are simply astounding!

What a great thread!

 

Thanks for the pix and the VR tour.......I have to ask:

What is the "No Humping" sign? Is it a 'translation' thing? I know what I think it is.......haha.

Chris

 

It was a no Jumping sign that somehow got modified. Humping is perfectly legal in New Zealand!

 

Thanks! I saw a similar sign on a Brian Bass post and thought "Hmm?".

 

Thanx for the post pics and all. Great job Kev looks like the people down under also realize that the world is Flat also..............

 

Thanks for the awesome look into what our hot rodding brothers and sisters are doing across the world, great stuff.

 

Great Trip!!!!!

Thanks for shareing all the pics and writing a cool story

See you at LARS

Michael

 

Best thread in years.....thanks for sharing Kevin, especially the family pics, must have been great to be home.

 

Very interesting.
Much appreciated.

 

Kev - It doesn't suck to be you!

 

Life is what you make it! Kinda sucked that we couldn't afford a ticket for my wife but it was a chance for me to see the folks so I went alone. My friend Aaron (AKA Savage) was in country too and we met up at the Blowout and also later. Forgot to mention I got to talk to Brian Bass at the Blowout and he and his lovely new bride seemed to be having a good time. Wish I could have showed them around.



Wednesday morning I took a 10 minute drive out to Ocean Beach, only one guy sitting on the beach with his dog. A beautiful morning! I took some pics . Later in the day we took a drive over to the other side of the Harbor mouth to check out some new development and the Visitors center for the Marsden Point oil refinery where the majority of New Zealands oil based products are made. We had lunch at the cafeterria there and guess what was the lunch special....Roast lamb! Score! In the visitors center they have a huge model of the refinery and a movie that explains exactly what is done there. Very interesting. My parents live directly across from the refinery but it is out of veiw.








Their house is just out of sight on the left, Ocean Beach is across the farmland to the right.
That mountain peak is Mt Mania. There is an awesome bush walk/hiking trail that takes you to the top. We did it several years ago and it took us less than 2 hours. The views were spectacular!





Thursday I headed back south and met up with Aaron and Peanut. Peanut is Grease Martin's daughter. That is her 32 Roadster in the garage, I guess the engine is getting tired, she has been using dad's 3 window 32 to get around in. A couple of pic's from Peanut's garage and we all headed off to stay the night at Grease and Christine's house before visiting a few shops in Hamilton the next day. Guess what Christine was cooking for dinner? yep, roast lamb. Lambs sure are cute but make great eating!







This Berry & Chung ashtray was donated and auctioned off at one of the first Blowouts. Grease bought it super cheap and I among others want to own it!

 

Awesome pics keV, thanks for the stories it looks like a awesome place to go.

 

After a delicious dinner and desert we headed out to the shed to have a better look at the new dragster. First class all the way!











Note the tapered radius rods and steering links....









That's Andrew the driver showing Aaron the controls....



Andrew and Grease Know a little bit about running a flathead on nitro....



Christine, Grease's wife, cooks a great roast!

 

Wow Kev - Great thread, Great pics! Great to see the old family shots too!
I'll second the guy that says the thread makes him hungry, makes me a little homesick too! Mike & GB are both Legendary fabricators!
Thanks
CraigR

 

Thank you so much for sharing Kev!! What a beautiful country!!!

 

You Suck. Missed it last year when I was back. Missed it this year due to work and no funds. Maybe next year. Grease and I made the trip here together in `86 to go to the Salt, and that was when he managed to buy the 3W. Ask him about the 12 hour overnight Greyhound ride ...SF to Wendover.....Can`t believe that is 25 years ago...

 

I will ask him next time I see him. He is good a telling funny stories.

 

Also in the shed is this soon to be chopped and channeled 32 5w. Engine will be Chrysler Hemi. Almost all the parts for the project have been collected.



V860 in the corner...



After a while we went back into the house and sat at the dining table and admired the Graham Berry Vandal Model that Grease had won at the Blowout auction in 1010. I set my camera on macro and shot a few pics.

The fork give you a sense of the size...



Check out the working dipstick...

 

Kev, sorry to have missed you when you were here.

The pics of that model don't really do it justice. An amazing model.

 

Wow Those are great photos . . What a fun fun fun trip. .

 

DAY 8...Friday...Hamilton visit, Raglan, Pool.

Morning pics of Grease' cool Indian and midget. Also an A coupe he had just sold....

 

Now Peanut was giving Aaron and I the grand tour. First we stopped at her friend Kylo's (sp?) bodyshop to check out his roadster project and Merc...



I really liked his roadster, nice workmanship and should be a lot of fun with the 6 carb small block!







He has put many miles on his Merc. It was originally built in Michigan a long time ago.





Next we visited Dan and the boys at Rocket. They have gained a reputation for building some of the finest traditional cars in New Zealand.

















Late model something built for Targa racing. All work done by Rocket, Badass!

 

The Drag roadster is something Dan found on on of his USA trips. That is to say he found the remains of an old drag roadster and used the basics to put this fun machine together.





Check out the wishbone parts used as side bars. Left over from the original build.



How is this for a light weight front axle? They were running it in the car and it was holding up fine until one day someone rested their foot on it and it collapsed.



Dan took us across the street to show us a 32 5w a friend was putting the final touches on. It was nice! It was purchased from Hawaii as a runner but the owner was not happy with it so took it apart and completely rebuilt it.













A few other goodies to look at....

 

It was time for lunch so we headed to the beach town of Raglan for some fish and chips and to get some pictures of the beautiful coastline. Raglan is a famous surf spot. One of the best Left hand point breaks in the world.









Then we headed back to the city and went our separate ways. that night Chris, John, Evan and I went out and shot a little pool and then checked out a couple of bands.