scumdog's heading to The Beach Hop!

[YellowRose]

Here is an email I got from Tom ~ scumdog as they travel to The Beach Hop! Here is what he had to say.

"Hi Gang, As you can see Fat Cat is on the deck of the ferry as we leave the South Island behind us. Big drive up yesterday, left home at 5am and due to earthquake damage to State Highway 1 around Kaikoura the 470 mile trip took us almost 10 hours travelling with only two stops for gas and two stops for coffee.
Up again at 5:30am today to drive the final few miles to the ferry terminal and get in line to board. More photos to come when we get to Lake Taupo this evening - IF there are any interesting cars about as I’ve not yet seen another hot rod or classic car on the ferry. Catch y’all later, Tom".

[YellowRose]

scumdog's heading to The Beach Hop!

Here is an additional email and pic of Fat Cat that Tom sent me.

"Hi all, Just discovered this photo of Fat Cat I’d meant to include with the photo on the ferry. As you can see in the background theres an awful lot of camper vans (even the small white one is a camper) NZ roads are plagued with them, most are hired/bought by overseas tourists, the older, smaller vans by younger tourists, in any event they are driven slowly and erratically with random sudden stops in the middle of the road at scenic spots to take photos. And the small camper vans don’t have toilets and invariably the occupants like to camp at remote scenic locations that do not have toilet facilities....I’ll leave it to your imagination to figure out the problem this caused... Tom"

[YellowRose]

scumdog's heading to The Beach Hop!

Tom sent me some more info and pix from his trip. Here is what he had to say.

"A few pics taken this evening as our neighbors arrived.
The ‘55 runs a blown 348 with twin fours, not sure what is in the ‘59. My stable mate runs a blown 350 and comes from Christchurch. Chris and I have done 779 miles in the F100 from the time we left home and used about $380 or so worth of gas.
More tomorrow!"

Here are the 3 pix he sent. Nice stuff!

[YellowRose]

scumdog's heading to The Beach Hop!

Tom sent me more pix of the cars lining up for the display before the cruise. Here is what he had to say.

"Hi gang, A few pics from the pre-cruise line up. Leonard knows all about that. The black ‘64 is awesome- roof-chop, blown big block with ally heads and all the good stuff- and running a 6 speed. Christine counted the Thunderbirds she has seen and the count is up to eight, most are Flairbirds. About six other classic F100s here, only one right-hand drive one, a stock ‘55 that looks a mile high compared to Fat Cat. That ‘55 Chev was too tidy to ignore! More later! Tom."

In an email, Leonard ~ Yellowbird sez...

"Sure do. It was another time to get to check out all of the vehicles. That first line up on Wednesday before heading to Waihi was definitely sensory overload. Pictures have trouble doing it justice. FYI ally = aluminum

The master cylinder setup has 3 reservoirs. I understand 2, 1- front brakes, 1-rear brakes. Excuse me for my limited knowledge here, but what is the 3rd one for? Thanks, Leonard."

[YellowRose]

Shock, horror!

Here is another post from Tom ~ scumdog. This is gonna be interesting! Pix to follow Dave's comments.

Hi guys, Nice lookin ‘57 retractible huh? Only some brain-box guys in Dunedin (near where I live) converted it into an electric car, a Tesla it ain’t but it looks cool and until you open the bonnet (hood to you US guys) you would not realise anything was different. More later, driving to be done and beer to be drunk! ( in that order) Tom."

Then Dave ~ simplyconnected, said the following!

"It sure would quiet that car down.
I wonder what the gear shift lever is for...

And

I'm laughing because the last '59 Chevy I was in had a six cylinder engine. That was the base engine and it ran very well especially around town. Back in the day, these were family cars (grocery getters). Many of my neighbors had one in their driveway. Now, seeing restored classic Chevrolet cars, you'd swear GM only produced huge engines and mostly convertibles. - Dave."

Now the pix.

[scumdog]

Not sure about the three cylinders in this case but rally cars often have two brake master cylinders, on for front brakes and the other for the rear and are fitted with a ‘balance bar’ so the front/rear bias can be adjusted.

[YellowRose]

scumdog's heading to The Beach Hop!

Tom sent me this additional information and pix! Enjoy!

"Here’s a random selection from this afternoon.
First is ‘drag’ racing Kiwi style!
Second is a roof chopped 62 EK Holden panel-can (not very often seen in the US!)
Third pic is of me standing beside the Beach Hop lucky entrants prize to be drawn on Sunday - when I win it!
Last of all is a general pic of Waihi town and a few of the cars - spot the Fat Cat! More tomorrow."

[Dan Leavens]

Tom thank for the pixs. I especially like the black & red 58/59 Buick, as I remember that car as a kid in our family. What a BOAT

[YellowRose]

scumdog's heading to The Beach Hop!

Tom sent more fascinating pix and commentary. Here is the commentary, followed by the pix.

"Hi guys, Here’s a collection of cars you probably won’t see to often in the States.
The orange one is an Australian ‘69 Holden Monaro, the green one is an Australian ‘ 72 Chrysler Valiant Charger and the third one is an Australian ‘72 Ford Falcon coupe.
The blue car is a British Ford Zephyr circa 1962, normally with a 155ci six cylinder but now with a blown V8.
It’s 1130pm here so I’ll leave y’all and get more photos tomorrow. Tom"

Then Tom sent some more pix.

"Good morning guys, A couple more pics from yesterday.
The red truck is quite a custom as you can see ( that Mrs SD beside it) and the motor is one few of you have seen - a late model Holden V8.
The middle pic is of the pub we stopped at on the way home - parking was a premium anywhere near it but we got lucky thanks to Christine spotting a Mustang leaving the park just as we got there.
Who knows what the white car is?
Anyway, there’s more cruising and car spotting to be done so I’m off! Tom"

Here are the pix.

[DKheld]

Wowzers - that Galaxie is my favorite so far - looks like a lot of work but sure turned out nice.

3rd reservoir might be for hydraulic clutch??

[scumdog]

Just thought I’d add that the lucky entrants prize at the BH is a ‘56 F100 in a nice metallic orange - I posted a pic earlier.
It was bought in Reno, driven to L.A. then shipped to NZ to be prepared for the BH.
Other prizes include a new Harley Sportster and a retro style caravan.

[Dan Leavens]

Tom great pixs and thanks for sharing. Looks like a hoot

[YellowRose]

scumdog's heading to The Beach Hop!

Tom has sent more pix for me to post for him. Here they are.

"Hi all, An overcast morning but great afternoon.
First pic is of Fat Cat and Chris while waiting for the cruise to start, that’s only a tiny percentage of the cars that actually took part.
The next pic is of an Austin Mini ute with mid-mounted 285ci alloy V8, all Street legal.
The next two pics are of circa 1959 Hillman Husky van now fitted with a V80-60 from a ‘37 Ford, different huh? More later! Tom

Pronounced ‘on-ee-ma-na’.
The reason Texas is down on its muscle-car population is because like this 426 powered Charger they are in New Zealand!
And how about this ‘59 Ford? - note the 429 Boss motor in its engine bay! Yep, more to come... Tom."

Here are the pix!

[YellowRose]

scumdog's heading to The Beach

Here are more comments and pix from Tom.

"How about this ‘creation’?
Turbo’d Cummins engine from a heavy truck powers it, not the cooling radiator and fans.
The rust and rivet heads are actually air-brushed onto the bodywork which was originally a ‘47 Ford truck.
Well off to bed for me now... Tom"

More pix.

[YellowRose]

scumdog heading back home from Beach Hop

It looks like these will be the last of the pix from the Beach Hop as Chris & Tom head out for the long trip back home!

"Hi guys,
Well BH is almost over so as we are interested in Thunderbirds I thought I’d better post a pic of some of them!
These pics are from the big parade yesterday, as you can see there was a big crowd of spectators lining the route.
Bulletbirds and Flairbirds were the dominant type. (Only saw one ‘66)
More later....

"Yes, it has a Rolls Royce grille!
And it has Rolls Royce running gear!
Somebody spent an awful lot of time creating the all metal body...
The ‘64 is a right hand drive NZ new car which the no doubt proud owner has gee-gawed up extensively and for some reason has a chrome badge saying ‘Love Texas’ on the trunk lid. (You can just see it).
The blue car is a ‘64 Holden and the Edsel is my brothers.
Thanks for letting me share the photos and particularly thanks to Ray for posting the pics, much appreciated. Tom".

Here are those pix.