Me Mates Are Fair Dinkum
By noderel:
So, I live most of the time down under. Australia, where it is either burning up or washing away in the rain. Where many of the roads are pre-historical, and the public perception of my favorite hobby is decidedly hostile. Well, not entirely, because the public will flock to any kind of automotive display. Kind of like people gather around to watch a deadly snake on the loose. Morbid fascination.
I think I should introduce you to some of me mates from around Castlemaine, the claimed center of Aussie street rodding.
My first contact with the Aussies were Eddie Ford and Peter Swift, of Castlemaine, and that was when they came by Hot Rod Magazine offices back in the early 1960s. They talked in a very strange language, sort of like English but not. The still do, so obviously the education they got from America did not take.
After that, it was mostly by post, then at one of the Oklahoma City Street Rod Nationals I met Larry O’Toole. Out in a large parking lot, where I was taking photos for a magazine article. I was not then, and never became much of a photographer, but Larry had a background in the subject. So it was that when Pegge was still alive, we made a trip to Australia, and stayed with the O’Tooles a couple of weeks. Later, when Pegge died, I escaped in my misery to Larry’s digs for solace. Where I met Patricia, who became my number two wife. And why I spend my waning years in OZ.
Larry is my kind of car nut. He does his own work at home in his “shed”, or what we call a home garage. He recycles perfectly good car parts, does his own mechanical and fabrication, and manages to produce his own line of rod books and a great magazine. He also likes classical music and going to museums and hanging out with his ilk in the Castlemaine Rods car club. But, I can actually mostly kinda sorta understand his language.
Not so most of the other Castlemaine Rods members. There is Rod Hadfield, who I met first at an R&C sponsored rod run in Lincoln, Nebraska. I was doing the dog and pony thing with Hot Rod Mechanix and our Hot Rod Library books. I had the Junkyard Dawg parked at the curb directly in front of my booth, and this guy came by mumbling some sort of language, but I gathered he wondered if he might sign the Dawg hood? I replied that I really reserved that for folks who ran at the Bonneville Salt Flats. He responded that he was one of the fastest guys at Lake Gairdner in Australia. “You're Rod Hadfield,” I exclaimed. I knew him from reading the Aussie magazines. Of course he could sign the hood. I would be delighted. He runs a stock body car right under 300mph. So, Rodney has his place right here in Castlemaine and I get to visit with him often as the worn out bod will allow.
Then, there is Big John, whose last moniker is Lynch, and who is one of the really fast guys at the down under salt flats. John built his own belly tank, using a honking Chrysler hemi. This thing looks like a kinda oversize P38 tank, sitting higher off the salt than our Yankee versions. But somehow that must work, because John reports it goes arrow straight. Good enough to make him the perennial top speed king at the annual down under salt trials. He has run over 300mph. Like Rod, John does most of his own work, at his own pace.
And, there is Graeme Robinson, or Robbo as he is called here. It seems everybody has a nickname. But often they don’t make sense. I mean, how do you get Bluey for a guy with red hair? Of course, when people call a distributor a Dizzy, you learn to make allowances. Whatever, Robbo is a great fabricator, with his own parts business and chassis jigs and paint stuff, and all the things every rodder would love.
I went around to his place one day and we got to talking about model airplanes and it turned out Graeme had been a big fan of control line years ago. We talked about the models, and before I knew it he showed me an ARF (almost ready to fly) that he had just purchased. So, my enthusiasm was rekindled, as was his, and now Robbo has a dedicated model building room out front of his Rod Shed. When my ears have healed from the last session, I like to call around at Robbo’s to keep up with the Aussie model airplane scene.
Then, of course, there is Chappy (Chapman) who has a neat A roadster with flatmotor. And, who knows my Hico, Texas buddy WenDell. And, there is Justin, whose chopped Deuce coupe is everywhere in Australia at once, and on and on. Not in the club, but a big time player in hot rodding is Kelvin Waddington, who has a business making all-steel rod bodies (sold in the States) as well as creating some tantalizing custom work out of his factory.
So, you see, I may be way out here in exile, but I am still right in the midst of it all!!