Kustom Kulture Australia

The team from Lone Star Body Shop are once again throwing open the shed doors. They’re holding another of their open days on Sunday 19 May, and it’s shaping up to be an absolute corker. The day will feature metal shaping and metal working demos, talks about different projects in the shop, and a great impromptu show in the carpark. If you’re ever wanted to ask an expert for some advice or feedback on metal shaping, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better opportunity. I posted up some pics and a bit of a run down on last year’s event here, and this year’s day is shaping up to be even bigger. Click on the flyer below to see it bigger.

As an example of Stuart’s work, check out these ’34 Ford hood sides he recently made. The customer posted the pre-made hood sides, for them to be reinforced, louvred, and receive a swaged edge. If you’re wondering what the relief cut is for, these will be going on a car with a blown hemi, so they need to clear the rocker covers!

The blank hood sides ready for work.

Careful measurement of an original hood side to replicate the factory offering.

The louvres were run in the Pullmax, with fences used to determine the start and stop points.

A reinforcing plate was spot welded to the inside, this will help to avoid stress risers at the end of the louvres.

Some detail shots of the finished hood sides.

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Garage crawls are a great way to spend a day – driving old cars, checking out cars still being built, having a few cold ones and spending time with mates. A few of us Sydney based guys in the oz-e-rodders decided it was high time to have another, so we did!

I put up my hand up to be the kick off point. Everyone turned up virtually at the same time which was kinda cool. Check out this guy with his son checking out the cars on the street. They even came down to the carport and said g’day after looking at the cars, I thought it was new guy I hadn’t met till they said ‘by’ and kept walking down the street.

We’ve got a single car garage which usually holds our EK, so it was pretty light on in terms of stuff to look at. So we compensated with some nibblies including a home-made flourless chocolate cake for morning tea (props to my fiance, though I helped with some mixing so I could clean out the bowl).

After a while shooting the breeze and catching up, we piled into the cars and got on our way.

Wish I had  a driveway this freaking cool.

The cars parked together look like they could have been at an Aussie rod run in the 70s.

Second stop for the day was Jeff’s. His mate (who’s name completely escapes me) owned this very neat and very low EK which looked fantastic.

Jeff is a young guy who is building a late 30s Chev pickup. This is his first hot rod build and has only taken him a couple of years so far, and has been built on a shoestring budget. With a little help he’s tackled suspension set up, paint, trim etc and it’s shaping up to be a great little cruiser. Can’t wait to see this on the road mate, and thanks for having us.

What is it about garage crawls where you inevitably end up standing in a big circle having a chin wag?

With a quick stop en-route for some essentials (namely more beer), it was back on the road to what seemed the middle of nowhere to Scott’s place.

After chucking the beers in the fridge (and grabbing one to cool our hands), we wandered down to check out Scott’s sheds. ‘Buddy’ the neighbour’s dog came along for the run.

Scott had a nice selection of sheds which had us all drooling, the massive amount of projects and bits we’d all have collected if we had the room! His next project is this International pickup which despite its looks was reasonably solid. Check out the mint condition gauge cluster in it!

International coupe ute was stashed for a future project.

Torana and the Commer van are customer projects getting some work done on them.

Afterwards Scott and his better half Lib put on a great feed for lunch which was well appreciated. After a nice arvo kicking back we all made our reluctant good byes. We decided to swing past Windsor on the way home and grabbed an ice cream and had it in the park – mint and cookie – super good! Overall we did about 150km or so, and we didn’t have to travel to the first stop. We reckon Gav and Anne in the ’46 Chev did about 300km or so by the time they drove from their place. What’s the fun in having them if you can’t drive em?!

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Reds Big Day Out is a local show and shine held out my way in the outer burbs of Sydney. Back when I was a school kid I used to love heading to Red’s Diner in Penrith on Thursday night, grabbing a milkshake and checking out some of the cool rods and customs on display. Hell those nights were one of the things that really hooked me onto this whole thing. These days the Diner is long gone, but Red still organises an annual show. Anyway here’s some pics from when it was held a few weeks ago.

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A couple of weeks ago saw the All British Day held at Kings Private School in Parramatta. As you’d expect of such a prestgious location, the day was full of marques like Bentley, Rolls Royce, Jaguar and so on. Fair to say the value of the cars on display added up to a metric fuckload! Here are some of the cars that took my fancy for different reasons.

Daimler powered sprintcar was neat.

Aston Martin DBR 2 was pure sex. Check out those lines and that all business interior!

From memory this timber boat tailed roadster was a Rolls. The body is actually leather, presumably over a timber frame.

Another boat tailed roadster, this one an Austin.

Zephyrs.

Lotus in bare alloy, still being restored. This thing would look awesome on the salt!

Black and yellow roadster was simply stunning.

A pair of classic Jags.

And last but not least this killer Vauxhall, complete with solo dicky seat complete with its own duvall style screen.

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A couple of weeks ago was the annual All Holden Day held at Richmond in Sydney’s west. With a swap meet on Saturday and the show and shine on Sunday, and everything from humpies to current models. there’s something to keep every Holden fan satisfied. I didn’t take the camera, so I only fired off a few shots of some of the early girls that got my attention. And a sneaky Ford pickup that snuck into the swap too.

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Motorex this year was billed as the ‘Kavalcade of Kustoms’ and it surely didn’t disappoint. It was the best gathering of customs I’ve ever seen, and it was awesome to see so many beautiful cars under lights.

Visiting for this year was legendary builder John D’Agostino. While I didn’t get time to have a chat with him, it’s safe to say that every time I saw him he was definitely having a good time. I’ve also got to say hats off to the contingent of guys from the Eldorados who drove up from Victoria for the show as well.

I’ve shared some of the pics from Motorex below, for more click here to open the gallery on the KKA facebook page.

This Dodge custom is the latest project from Justin Hills, following on from his flawless ‘art deco’ Buick. The Dodge looks like something straight out of a Keith Weesner painting!

This wild piece of gear is from Paul Bennett. It’s a Goliath wagon. No, I had no idea WTF that was either, so click here to see a stocker for comparison.

With so much focus on the current trend of Aussie customs, it was great to see Dale Fisher recognised along with his Stude.

Michael Morris’ Chev and Craig Fountain’s Buick both still stand out in a crowd, even with a few years under their tyres.

Mercury Lane featured a line up of custom Mercs which was neat.

The ‘Inverted Commer’ from Lonestar Bodyworks had some great metalwork on display. The style of the Commer is decisive to say the least, but I’m a huge fan myself – viva la difference!

I didn’t get the details on this beautiful humpy, but the chop and two door conversion were to die for.

Greeting you as you came in the door was Catriona and Mario Colalillo’s chopped FB van. This thing was seriously low and the paint was dazzling under lights. For a humble little grey motored Aussie ride, she definitely punched well above her weight amongst some amazing customs. And to be honest I think a lot of people related to the plucky little Aussie better than the American tin on display. Can you tell I love this thing?

Even more bare metal customs on display. You’ve got to love the balls of people who are prepared to put their metal work on display for all and sundry to check out in its naked form. It certainly puts paid to the comments that all the cars in a show like Motorex are full of bog!

This custom Desoto is the work of Terry from TJ’s Hot Rods. I’ve been watching this one come along together on facebook so it was great to see it in the metal, and it didn’t disappoint.

The grand finale to a weekend of great customs, and probably a highlight for those in attendance, was a cruise through the city. Sure it’s cool seeing cars in a big hall, but it’s nowhere near as big a buzz as seeing them prowling the streets at night.

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