I put my wife and kids in a 65 Galaxie daily driver a few months ago. Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app
Figured there's never gonna' be enough of us Kiwi custom builders to have our own thread, and knowing the great affection the Australians have for us, I thought I'd tag on to this one. Around twenty years back, I built this horrible thing out of a '54 Vauxhall 4-door sedan. It was all I could afford at the time, and the bulk of the work was done in around a month on the back lawn of my flat. Chopped 4 and a half inches in front and 5 and a half in back. 2-doored, doors lengthened 7 inches, pillars leaned, nosed , decked, peaked, de-chromed, drip rails removed, all the corners rounded, front and rear fenders extended and headlights frenched. It was all done as a bit of a piss-take, but first time out it won a prize, and everyone seemed to like it, so we took it back home and tore it apart. Built a whole new frame with Holden Sunbird front end, 10 bolt rear, tri-carbed 350 and glide, channeled 3 inches, new rockers, re-shaped wheel openings, custom skirts, reworked Holden bumpers, custom grille - in fact the only piece left untouched was about 2 square feet in the middle of the roof. Not the best of photos unfortunately (scanned) and the paint scheme can be blamed on the ex-wife (wife at the time). It did get a De Soto grille after this photo. For those who are lucky enough to have never seen a stock '54 Vauxhall, this is pretty much what it started off as. Anyway, when the wife became the ex-wife , she took the car with her. Had a chance to buy it back for 10k a few years ago (been thru' a few owners by then) and my lovely new wife was quite keen, but it was fairly neglected, and it was a case of all it needed was everything, and I figured if I was gonna' do all that again, we may as well get something worthwhile to start with. Besides, I don't seem to have that kind of energy any more... Bear
Koolkemp. I bought it as an unfinnished project that had been past around unfinnished for about 20 or so years. It came to me on what i think was an International truck chassis. I have put it on a (GM) HQ Holden ute chassis that I cut the centre out of and fabbed to suit the taper of the 46 rather than the square holden. I pretty much just used the front end, rear step up (which has been extended and stepped down) and ten bolt rear end. I also added 10" to the wheel base when I made the 4 link (Jag coil overs). The HQ swap is common in Australia I think it is simmilar to the chev s10 swap. Not 100% traditional but the doner chassis was $50 and the right trak width. I has a 351 Cleveland and FMX drive train. You can see what the rear looked like and how high it sat in the photo.
I think it looks great Wardog , it looks great that low , with the chop and the lenght of the bed, looks awesome I really gotta think about building some kind of Ute based custom .I built thie Chevy here about 10 or so years ago from a 4 door 48 , was more of a pickup than a Ute but it was fun and I miss it! Had it on the road for about 2K ....
Wow man. It takes alot of work to end up with a pick up out of a 4 door. Any thing on the road for 2k is a pretty good effort.
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