Bob's '54 F100 . . .

Yep this is Bob's '54 F100 that he drove to Ballarat to pick up his '34 Coupe that he had rebuilt here at Hodgeys. Not much wrong with it but the list seemed rather extensive for a Whip with not much wrong with it. He didn't like his power windows any more quite simply beacause the wouldn't go up and down? Shit happens, I say. . .

This is the part that I don't understand? Not much wrong with it, shiiit, have a look at the new bulge in the rear chassis. . .

Better still, have a gander at the quality of the welding job. I can tell from the welding that hodgey has been giving this his best, look how much weld is in those joins and then look at the plasma cut braces that look like they belong there, cool, so ery cool. . .

So, when you cut great chunks out of the chassis that only means two things. One, this Baby is going to be so low that it's gonna look like a dog with worms dragging its arse across the concrete down South Rd in Morabbin, and Two, any major changes to the suspension always means trouble for the Fabrication Department later on!!!

Fabrication Department, yeah that's Mr Hodge as well. With the tub off the back of the Truck, shit loads of metal is removed and then new fabricated whell tubs are put in, then there needs to be a big arsed bulge added to overcome the small problem of a diff now runnig
ng so high that half of it is now inside the tub. . .

Salty . . .

Old Salty, she's looking the goods isn't she?  The boys have done considerable work on her to get her back into shape. Those black steelies really set her off, I was kinda unsure because I was happy the way she looked with the Salt Racer mags that she was wearing but now she's been sitting around with the new steelies, I reckon she looks like the duck's guts. . .

Gotta love the old Flat Top. I don't think that there is a better looking motor for one of these old Hot-rods. . .

Well this fucking set up, didn't it cause some problems for Dave, including a complete revamp of the rear suspension set-up because the shockers would now longer be able to sit up into the boot space and then they couldn't fit wider out because if the rounded panels on the skirting. I think that they decided to run it without shockers in the end, hoping that the Engineer won't notice??

I bought a Jeep . . .

Here we go folks, yep Nigel bought a Jeep. After buying this Jeep he had to go to Qld to pick it up, no worries there. While he was in Qld he decided that the ride height was a bit low so in went a f
brand new lift kit. Bewdy mate, off we go back to South Oz. Yep you guessed it, half way home the oldJeep had a hissie fit and threw pistons and other shit all over the place. Not to worry folks, Nigel goes home and the shit box, I mean my new Jeep, finds its way to Hodgey's with a hand written note to fix this fucking thing and throw an LS3 into the gaping hole in the front. Yep, Nigel bought a Jeep. . .

'54 F100 from the Burger King . . .

When Bobby the Burger King from Bob's Burgers in Morrabbin came to pick up his '34 Coupe he arrived in this very fine piece of American tin work. . . .

Only trouble is when you spend all your time turning burgers, you kinda get the shits when the flipping electric windows won't go up and down. So the big fella left her behind for a bit of a tune up seeing as she ain't pleasing The King like she used to. . .

By the time you read this, this fine arse will be on the rack getting its bones cracked and tweeked until she's back in shape and Bobby can once again take her out and let the glass down so that the wind can flow through his fine head of hair like it used to . . .

Damn fine arse which ever way you look at it. . .

Salty . . .

Last time that we left Salty, Dave had his head firmly entrenched in the braking system but that's not all that has been carried out on the old girl. This is the cluth set-up that has been installed on the LHS of the gearbox, only trouble is that gearbox is a US part and the car is converted to RHD. What to do???

In this pic you can see that Dave has run a fluid line around the back of the gear box to a fluid reservoir that is mounted behind the brake master cylinder and then made up a linkage from the clutch pedal to the clutch reservoir and although at this early stage, it's a little bit heavy, with a bit of fine tuning it will be a great, short throw set-up . . .

Salty . . .

This is the '27 Willys that we like to call Salty because she is being modded to look like an original Salt-Racer. She has been completely stripped and is being rebuilt from the ground up after haveing her chassis all cleaned and painted. Dave has hand laid the new steel brake lines and has been impatiently waiting for over a week for the new brake booster to be delivered. . .

Up front, things are about the same and she is ready to move forward, and sidewards, after Andrew hand picked a new steering system for the rod and then set about making sure that it all worked and would please the Engineer. . .

'48 Chev Pick-up Cab . . .

This is a '48 Chev cab that was dropped in for some quick repairs by the boys. Owner supplied some new lower front cowl sections and they were quickly cut and welded into place. . .Super nice fit from the American aftermarket boys. . .

This is the passenger side that has already been completed, you will notice that the cab is in RHD configuration and also that Andrew had to carry out some considerable hand moulding the rear panels from scratch. The cab went away super tidy and ready for the next work instalment. . .

Weekly Update . . .

Yeah I know, you've all got the shits with me because there aren't enough updates. Well things are about to change and I'm gonna sneak in early for the pics and try to get back to a more normal routine.
BTW, all you crazy, rusty junk lovers that headed over towards Newstead on the weekend, how do your wallets feel now?  Woohoo, Faaark me!!!
Anyway Bitches, sit back and enjoy some of the action from last week . . .

Bobby's Coupe with the lot. . .

For those of you who didn't know, Bobby wanted a little darker shade of green so rather than pull the old girl apart again, which would mean another visit from a Fat Controller (Engineer), the Boys hatched a careful plan with Trev the Magician painter who seems to get all those 'special' jobs that need a "Round box/Square box" approach. This is an area where he excells and NO, you can't have his last name or phone number!!!

Little Coupe was run up onto stands and wrapped up like one of Bobby's Burgers ready for some serious 'condiments' to be added. Not sauce this time but carefully hand-blended tinters to add just that touch of 'drama' to the already painted rod. . .

Poor old Trev, look at him go. He's like a madman when he's got a gun in his hand and instead of flowing hot lead down range this old Gunslinger flows paint like Houdini or one of them other famous Bullshitters. Hahaha, talking about bullshit, it's certainly flowing here tonight. But believe me, our man Trev is quite honestly one of the true gentlemen of the trade and a bloody Master to boot. . .

Here she is, she's been hanging around for a while and is almost part of us now but what a finish. Bobby's happy, you bet, but so are we !!!

Michael's 'Vicki' . . .

Constant roundabout going on here folks. Bobby's Coupe is out the door, engineered and Bob was one very happy Muppett driving it home to Melbourne. You can see that the indicators have been brought outside the guards to please the Engineer. Then, fair dinkum, we had to back Bobby's Bird outside when Mchael Taranto pulled into the yard with his mental '56 Vicki in tow. . .

This beast is back to have its, rather large garden hose type, fuel lines fitted and then everyone stand back as she's fired up for the first time! Fuck, what a racket that will be, might have to close the front gates for that one, just for public safety of course. . .

Most Important Date . . .

Hi Guys/Gals,
This is Ron and Ron's story, unfortunately, starts out like many stories that Hodgey has heard over the years. Ron contacted Hodgey and said that he needed help to finish a project that had been previously been worked on but need a few changes and had a time frame to be finished. Hodgey said no worries and the Ford Customline was delivered all the way from Western Australia. Hodgey new about the urgency of this particular 'time frame' and set to work organising the work that had to be outsourced such as a full respray. Anyway the old girl eventually turned up back at Hodgey's shed and the boys got stuck right in and started dressing this Lady's new paintwork with chrome and bling. Sooner rather than later, the little lady was ready for the Engineer and when he duly arrived the boys took him out for a spin and when they returned the new motor that the car arrived with had a massive heart failure and basically shit it's pants completely. Unfortunately the Engineer was still present and the certificate was staying in his pocket. Hodgey had to turn the car around quickly and after a quick little 'shits and giggles' session the motorr was removed and something with a bit more reliability was placed between the frame rails. Finally the Engineer was good enough to add his signature to the paperwork and the painted lady was on a truck heading back to Perth. If you are wondering about the time frame, well this weekend is Ron's daughter's wedding and he kind of promised it could be her wedding car. As for Ron, he's all smiles and why not, he gets to give his beautiful daughter away on her special day after driving her to the wedding in his own 'Special Lady' . . .

PK Sandblasting . . .

PK Sandblasting, I'm just trying to think of the best way to describe the quality of work, the volume of work and the fact that it doesn't matter how much work there is to do, or how badly the shit has hit the fan, you are always met with a friendly smile and handshake. . .

 Quality of work, well I know for a fact that every bit of work that goes out of Hodgeys shed has had a visit to Jay to be cleaned up. My personal project has had every part that is removable sandblasted and the parts literally come out like new. When you visit Jay's shed and see the size of some of the metal fabrication that big engineering firms regularly drop in to be cleaned and painted, it makes you wonder how in hell he can get on top of the stuff without being a bloody monkey, fair dinkum, the shit is huge!

Give'em a call and discuss your job. Jay will give you a 'no bullshit' opinion and he sticks by what he has to say, and this is pretty rare in industry these days.
Ring: 5335 8339 and talk to Michelle, or
Ring: 0413 391825 to get Jay direct. . .
Champion team doing champion work. . .

Mechanica. . . Nice Toyrana

This was one very nice ride and in my humble opinion was probably the car of the show? Big statement, but a bloody nicely understated rig with all the good gear where it needed to be. . .

Love the Weld wheels and if Mr Weld is watching this, please give me a call with a good offer (for free) and I will buy a set. . .

Huge motor that's very neatly dressed with hidden wiring and an extremely tidy engine bay.
Car Of The Show for sure !!!

Mecanica. . . Hodgeys collection

For those of you who don't know, this is 'Salty' and she's a '29 Willy's tha't being dressed up to look like on of the salt racers of her time and there is literally hundreds of hours in hand made panels all over her because she arrived looking like she's been shot three times with an Abrahams Tank . . .

New boot lid has been installed to allow air flow to the custom radiator that's now mounted in the boot behind the fuel cell and is also wearing twin thermo fans. Boot space for your Lady's 'fineries'? forget it. . .

This chopped Tudor is on Bad arsed MF and is only getting worse the more things that get added. For startes, shes running a huge big Mopar up front that would scare the living shit out of St Peter. . .

 Now if you think that that other thing was bad arsed, this thing is mental. Running a Donovan V8 with over 700 cubic inches, this thing shreds tyres in about 15-20 seconds. . .

Some little birdy was telling me that this mental monster could be yours if you had the cash.  . .
Yep, For Sale, ring Hodgey and he will put you on to Brad.

Mechanica. . .The other side of the coin

Decisions, decisions, which one would you chose? In one corner you have a boss 302 and in the other corner you have a full-on, rigdy-didge, fucking Shelby !!!

Very famous face for you to ogle at. . .

Now that's a good looking arse in anyone's language. . .

Mechanica. . .Difficult choices . . .

When you own two very fine examples of the breed, what to do? Simple, you just show both of them. . .
Boss 302. . .

Probably the most recognised set of tail-lights in the world. . .Mustang!

Not a bad looking engine bay? If you'd like one looking like this, you'd either be very good at saving or extremely good a robbing banks. . .

Mechanica. . .The Gary Show

'34 Roadster and looking very 'Gentlemanly' indeed. Nicely understated pale orange hue so that it doesn't stand out in a crowd while you quietly glide past on your Sunday sojourn. . .

Nicely laid out inside with a comfortable leatherwork of the finest needle and thread. Just for those who like to wave to their adoring fans as they pass, the roof is completely removably for that little added Vitamin D. . .

Mechanica. . .Time to go inside

This year it seems to be the Gary Show? Dunno what happened to Mechanica but this bloke stole the show with more cars on display than i've had, er you get the idea. . .

This car is so low i had to get Marvellous Marvin the fucking midget to lay on the floor to get a decent shot. . .

How many scoops do you need? Geez, I'd hate t be a bloody pigeon with this thing flying down the West-Gate !!

Mechanica. . .Car Park

These broom-brooms were out in the car-park and as usual it's a foolish person who walks past all the cars outside because you are never going to know what's out there if you don't take time for a look . . .

Baby blue and fucking huge. . .

This truck can deliver parts to my shed anytime he likes. . .

Leigh from Darby's paints tells me that this one was handed down to him by his Grandma and it's still in original condition. . .