A little bit of my History

Page 3

Rob Whitwell's Jago 32 from 1979 At Belle Vue I think?
I Remember it being the closest to the real thing, you could get over here in the UK. It was quite exciting at the time I remember dreaming about owning one like this, all my waking moments. The only fault I had with it was the screen looked a bit dodgy, though with work it was made acceptable by Rob. It is still about and now silver and owned by a guy called Dez.

(update) Rob has let me into some of the background of its build, he was only 19yrs old when he built the coupe. He couldn't afford a proper screen surround so made a facsimile out of fablon. I am even more impressed now I know a bit more about it. What an achievement this Rod was, at a time when most of us could only dream about it, and to be constructed in the 70's by a Teenager is just Amazing and a true Milestone in Uk Rodding *respect*

John Spats Wilkies Y, a nice story that springs to mind was I was filling up with fuel on the way to a Rod run and in came Johns mr's in the Y loaded up with camping gear, I asked if she could tell me the way to the Rod Run, as I was lost and she said follow us, so I cruised the rest of the journey with my gob open following her in the Y and Hubby in the 32 Sedan, me in a Jacked Mk3 Cortina cool eh ;>)..

The Devil a 33 Plymouth 5 window Drag Car, this was my favourite drag car then, well apart from All's Gasser that is ;>).

Richard Waylings amazingly detailed Triumph Herald engine bay, I was amazed at the work and detail, it was later made a tilt body, I could never understand why a Herald ;o)

One of my old mates Crazy Odge, this photo was sent in by Dave Pritchard. It shows Odgies 302 powered Pop at the second Bardsea Rod Run. I knew it was a cool Rod in those days now looking at a photo of it, I can see it was even better than I remember, Jag ifs, no front fenders and std roof height all add to the proper look Hey and this was the 70's when everything was jacked up. Such is the taste and vision Odgie has, the whitewalls on chrome steels are just Wow don't ya think, now if you want inspiration for a new style Pop for the Millennium what more do ya need, go do it! Is it still around in someone's lock up?

I remember now why it had no front fenders, Odgie was sitting on a wing revving the bollix of it while setting it up one day and it jumped out of neutral, into1st, it then shot across his truck yard and smashed through a fence and into a field, with Odgie still hanging on for grim death and trying to get the strength to shut the throttle of as he hurtled into oblivion ;>)

Funny? Hell yes, even at the time, but how different it would of been if the field had been a brick wall or one of his wagons had been parked in the way eh, it doesn't bare thinking about!

Odgie is a proper character and I feel blessed to know him!

Rainy City Stand with Pete Gething's C cab in the foreground, we were great mates at one time, we even spent our Honey moon down at Stoke with him and his wife Diane such was our friendship, we lost touch many moons ago, though we have since been in contact.! This was a nicely made C cab named Temptation that was once the Beer wagon seen in the earlier photos. Hey happy days.... (photo courtesy of Dave Pritchard) I have since been told Pete has bought the old C cab back after seeing it on e-bay, but it is in a very sad state and he isn't sure he has the enthusiasm to redo it all over again. As a side note his sons are into the scene now, one having a real cool flamed Pop, so ya never know they may rekindle his spirit.

I went into the custom bike scene for a while and loved it, I think bikes and Rods are things that you have in your blood. I needed to get a chopper out of my system ;o) but I don't think you ever do fully they are in your soul for sure.

I had this Lowrider built for me by my Mate Crazy Odge in 1984 a story on it's own. It was featured in Backstreet Heroes & I won a few trophies at the Big Hells Angel Kent shows and Doncaster with it, it was great Fun. But all the time Rods where burning in my soul.

This is my Old Pop in 1986? I bought as an abandoned rebuild for a grand, complete with fresh Rover V8 and 5 speed. After lowering it 6"at rear!! and rebuilding the rear axle, fitting new front suspension, + Spax adjustable's all round, new steering, rewire, interior, wiper, re-boxing some chassis, re welding some loos bits and sound deadening it ;>) It was ready for some serious road use and some serious road use it got. I did the Nats Bruntingthorpe in 86 but I just didn't feel part of the scene for some reason so I sold it to a guy from Poole. It later appeared in Custom Car redone as a Drag racing Machine called Pumping Iron! I have recently seen it painted black with a Big block in it at the Hot Rod Drags 2003 for sale. I then had a brief flirtation with a Vette then Microlights for a few years and loved them, later Bangers and after some time in the wilderness, the over whelming yearn to own a rod got to much and I could see life passing me by, I am now back into the Rodding scene again. I made a definite effort this time to own a Rod. I saved and saved until I eventually came back to the fold with a 34 sports Coupe, I found for sale in Custom Car small ads, which I loved to bits but I sold it to finance my 1955 F100 project, I am back and back to stay, hence this web site.

Here is my Truck finished in June 2007

Well there probably is more, but that is as much as I can remember and all the photos I can find. I hope you enjoyed them, for more of the UK Rodding History with hundreds of old photos check out the Old Photos section