Table of contents for Spring 2021 in Custom Car

Whether it’s in the pub, on the internet or in the grandstand, the whole street car / race car debate has raged on for eternity, and everyone has their own definition for what constitutes a street car. Even the popular Street Eliminator class comes under scrutiny at times. The Spring Bank Holiday weekend of 1-3 May could well provide the answer though. A collaboration between Santa Pod Raceway and Melbourne Raceway will bring an all new street car event to the UK in the form of Street Weekend. So that’s around 400 miles on public roads across three days, recording a track time at two different tracks on each of those days. Track conditions will be different on each day too, with a RWYB at Santa Pod on day one,…

Race dates for the Outlaw Anglia series in 2021 have been announced, and to watch the spectacle kick off for this year you need to be at Santa Pod on 2-4 April for the Festival of Power. Then it’s the Nostalgia Nationals on 7-9 May, followed by Dragstalgia on 9-11 July. Round four is on 17-18 July during the Summer Nationals, round five on 21-22 August at the Green Light Nationals, with the final round appropriately being staged at the Hot Rod Drags on 16-18 September. We hope to see you there.…

Check out the extensive events list for this year on pp58-60 and you’ll find details of all the race meetings at Melbourne Raceway and Santa Pod. As the time of going to press, we’re told all the dates at Melbourne are provisional. Additionally, we understand spaces may be limited at some events so, if you want to go racing, get your entries in now. Santa Pod has expressed its thanks to everyone who supported the track in 2020, and has announced that tickets for this year’s events will go on sale Monday 1 March. The reason for this delay being a new ticket insurance policy provided by Ticket Plan, a leading provider of event ticket insurance.…

Write to: CustomCar Mail, KelseyPublishing, PO Box978, Peterborough PE1 9FL E-mail: cc.ed@kelsey.co.uk Fax: 01733 557235 Pop record Dear CC, in answer to the question you asked in Remember when… in the February issue, the script on the boot lid of Nigel Coppola’s Ford Pop actually read Old Fords Never Die. I know because I’ve owned the car now for 39 years, and it is currently undergoing another makeover. Since being blue, it has been white, the rainbow Pop and black, with the next colour still to be decided upon. Phil Bishop, via email Thanks for clearing that up Phil. Amazing that you’ve owned the Pop for almost 40 years. It’s great to hear it’s still alive and well, albeit maybe it pieces right now. Please let us know what colour…

El Mo’s fire As the worst season on record winds down for the California winter, such as it is, one of the last events on the calendar was the SCTA race at El Mirage. Unlike the first event of the season in October, yes October, when the wind obliterated proceedings and you got sand in places you’d only ever seen with a mirror, the November meet was near perfect. The track was hard and flat, the sun was shining and the wind was minimal. sand in places you’d only ever seen with a mirror Almost 100 racers turned out for the event, including a lot of hot rods, and 18 car records were broken. Fastest of the meet was Rick Yacoucci in Nebulous Theorem III, who went 284mph using a…

In a tip of the hat to the HOT ROD Drag Week in the USA, drivers will need to set and submit a time at Santa Pod, before driving around 200 miles to set a time on day two at Melbourne. Then, they will return to Santa Pod and record a third time on the final day. Times from the three days will be totalled together and the racer with the lowest total ET will be deemed the overall winner. Support vehicles are permitted (no car trailers) and you can bolt on whatever tyres you like at the track. Street Eliminator cars are probably the quickest street legal cars on track right now, but can they handle that level of road miles? We’ll find out. And by the end of…

“The present situation with the pandemic continues to prohibit Surrey Street Rodders and the land owner’s agent from making plans regarding Wheels Day 2021. We cannot put the health and safety of anyone associated with our annual fundraising event at risk. Wheels Day will hopefully be celebrated in some form on Good Friday, but not as we had all hoped. Whether it is virtual, or presented in some other form, we are unable to disclose for the time being. It is extremely frustrating for all of us, especially as this is the second Wheels Day to be affected. Your continued support is appreciated and, thanks to your generosity, we were able to donate £500 to the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice from the sale of Wheels Day 2020 t-shirts and hoodies. Unfortunately,…

Webcon has added three new Edelbrock electric fuel pumps to its range: a low pressure petrol carburettor unit (ideal for Weber installations), a higher pressure petrol carburettor version and one suitable for diesel engines. Each of the pumps is quiet, reliable and designed to be mounted near the fuel tank. They come with a branded mounting bracket, intake filter, fittings, 5/16in / 8mm unions and instructions. Prices for the pump kits are £75.54, £77.94 and 94.50 respectively. www.webcon.co.uk…

You make up your own rules when it comes to customising but, in my experience, less is frequently more, with subtlety winning over busy. Personally, I think creative customising is about creating subtle contrast to emphasise shape and form with colour. I like chunky fittings, such as oversized, collector-type exhaust systems and big repro Model T stop / tail lights, but to then contrast these with subtle paint, particularly when it comes to bright colours. as you move around the car… the flames jump out at you Following this line of thinking, I had originally thought of painting the T straight black, but was talked out of that by Dave Thickins of Dakota Cars, in favour of my second choice of candy gold over a silver base with gold metalflake…

The latest offering from Chippenham-based Loaded Gunn Racing is far removed from the chopped, couped and very orange Ford Pop that graced the cover of our August ’13 issue. The speeds that car was built to attain pale into insignificance alongside those this latest car is being built to attain. Ironically, however, the engine is only a fifth of the capacity of the one that propels the Pop. sights firmly fixed on the Blown Fuel Lakester I speed record, which currently stands at 223mph The plan is to run the Lakester at Bonneville in 2022. It was originally going to be 2021, but Covid put the kybosh on that. The upside of that is more construction and development time for the guys at Loaded Gunn, who have their sights firmly…

www.customcarmag.co.uk Coronavirus (Covid-19): With events still being cancelled or rearranged due to the ongoing pandemic, these listings should only be regarded as provisional. Please adhere to current government guidelines, and always check the status of events before travelling. MARCH 3 Hot RodNight. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 7 NSRA Southern SwapMeet (provisional Date) NorthWeald Airfield, 6HQ www.nsra.org.uk 7 RWYB. Santa Pod Raceway. www.rwyb.com 13 RWYB. Santa Pod Raceway. www.rwyb.com 14 Straightliners. Santa Pod Raceway. www.straightliners-events.co.uk 20 RWYB. Santa Pod Raceway. www.rwyb.com 26-28 Classic Car&Restoration Show. NEC, Birmingham. www.necrestorationshow.com 27 All American CruiseMopar MuscleMeet. Ace Café, London. www.acecafe.com 27 RWYB. Santa Pod Raceway. www.rwyb.com 28 Best of British. Santa Pod Raceway. www.santapod.co.uk 28 Knuckle Busters April Fools Run. Orwell Truck Stop to Aldeburgh. Facebook: Knuckle Busters Car Club APRIL 1 FoP Test…

Another hugely popular event early on this year’s calendar has been scrubbed, but by no means forgotten. The NSRA Southern Swap Meet will now not take place on the first Sunday in March as scheduled, but will hopefully still happen later this year. Whilst nothing is confirmed, the NSRA may be leaning towards Sunday 7 November as a possibility. Assuming the 2022 Swap Meet goes ahead in March, that could mean two of them within four months of each other. Hey, the more the merrier as far as we are concerned. At the time of writing, that is only conjecture but, as the NSRA told us, “With the best will in the world, the Southern Swap Meet will go ahead this year.”…

Recalling cars of old and asking after their current whereabouts is a common pastime these days, especially since the advent of internet forms. A project I’m currently involved in is doing the same thing, with a view to helping celebrate a very special anniversary next year. That, however, got me thinking about what has happened to more recent builds that are no longer regularly seen. People build cars for a variety of reasons and what they do with them once the project is finished is, of course, entirely their decision. I find it interesting, though, that some cars appear on the scene and remain around forever, whilst others seemingly disappear almost overnight. Leaving aside cars that have been rebuilt, a few that have stood the test of time in recent…

Holley (and Holley derived) 4150 and 4500 model carburettors have been the mainstay of fuel delivery in drag racing and street rods for decades. But we wonder how many of those used on street cars are ever maintained or serviced? Enter the new joint venture of ex-pat Florida resident, Tony Morris, and UK-based Dave Gibbons of Rough Diamond Racing. Between the two of them they have almost 90 years’ experience in racing, which led Tony to establish Tony Morris Carburetors LLC last year, with Dave as his sole UK and European agent. That means the TMC service is now available to UK racers and rodders, so you can have your existing Holley carbs rebuilt, refurbished and / or upgraded, or new bespoke carburettors built to your specs. Plus dependable support…

The compact, lightweight Nova was popular with racers from the start, and turned up in just about every class of competition from Stock Eliminator through to Funny Car and Super Gas. We could fill a whole issue with images of Nova drag cars, but here is just a selection to show the broad appeal of the model on track.…

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