Many Kiwi's are blessed/cursed with the dislike of somebody saying 'you can't do that'. Some of these projects started out that way, and turned eventually into exciting and original, not to mention fun toys.
Click on the thumbnails for larger pic's.
These images are Copyright 2002 by Andrew Thorp.
A Nissan SR20 turbo engine (out of a 1995 200SX) was mated to a modified Berkeley jet unit and fitted into the remains of a class-winning sprint boat that was nicked and stripped of it's original mechanicals and sold on by a disheartened owner. The result were far, far more spectacular than even I had imagined. It had so much go that we spent a whole summer waterskiing in the river, and never had any problems. Sadly, moving to Auckland last year and buying a house has forced the sale of the boat, but for the $13 000 spent on building it, all was recouped in the sale.
A friend had a Valiant Charger (an Aussie Chrysler) with a faulty gearbox, and went to look at a second-hand one advertised in the trade paper. It wasn't the right one, but since it was nearby where I was living, he called over. He began describing an unusual Zephyr under a cover in the persons back yard, and as neither of us were doing much, we went back for a look. My first impression was 'man, that is one ugly car!' but the more I looked at it, the more I had to have it. The next day $500 was handed over, and a forlorn 1957 Ford Zephyr station wagon was loaded onto a transporter trailer. I had nowhere to put it, no money to repair it and another half finished project car on the go. It is true that love is blind...
Six years, and over $20 000 later, the project is (almost) complete.
This cutie arrived as a well used hard-top convertible (actually, all Heralds are, only a spanner is required to unbolt the lid) with a tired engine and mechanicals and the usual rot.
After a make-over and a rag-top, it ran for nearly a year before the gearbox expired and the motor ran on three cylinders due to broken rings. A repower was in order, and a Toyota 4K was duly slotted into the engine bay complete with a 5speed gearbox and, to my amasement, a Toyota differential head fitted into the Triumph housing and mated perfectly to the original axle splines. The conversion was so subtle that the testing garage didn't realize that it was not the original mechanicals for the whole time that I owned it. To top it off, I installed an LPG system and did away with the petrol altogether. The 60 litre tank often lasted for several months of regular use, and on more than one occasion was forgotten about.(the fuel gauge was on the tank in the boot) It would go for a surprising distance on an empty tank if driven very gently.
I drove past this old girl every day and one day stopped to enquire about it's history. An elderly lady had given up driving and nobody else in the family needed a car so it sat there for nine years. $50 changed hands and my then girlfriend and I towed it away. The engine had rusted solid, the brakes were minimal and the paint was very faded. A quick blow over with some Landrover-Green enamel, another motor, and some brake repairs and she was back on the road. Some surfers on holiday from UK bought it and drove nearly the length of New Zealand without any trouble. Sometimes ya get lucky...
This 'boat' (and I use the term loosely) was a rowing dinghy, complete with brass rowlocks for the oars. Somebody had previously fitted an 1100 Ford Escort engine to it, but it was so rotten and so underpowered that it never worked. The bet was we make it plane, or we burn it. so a friend and I set to work by shortening the hull by three feet and nailing in (this was a budget project!) a new transom. Fiberglass was added to the bottom for rock protection and the motor mounts remade. For more go, a 1600 engine replaced the 1100, but sadly blew a piston shortly after and required surgery.
It is surprising how much fun can be had for a few dollars and some enthusiasm, as many an adventure was had in this unsightly creation. After a few years, the 'repairs' we made that were not really intended to last any time were deemed unsafe, and the hull was disassembled and given to a young boy to play in. The trailer and mechanicals sold for more than I spent on the whole project.
Just another gotta-have... A 302 Windsor V8 was slotted into the engine bay of this 1964 Mk3 Zephyr, along with some new paint and interior bits. Then came the hot-up bits like big-port aftermarket cylinder heads and a Liberty cut (no synchromesh) 4 speed gearbox. Best quarter mile time of 13.9 seconds was recorded at Rhuapuna Dragstrip near Christchurch, not bad for an unmodified production car with a big heavy engine.
Wasps are a darn pest here in NZ, and certain cultures value their larvae as a traditional food: 'Hachi-no-ko'
For me this is an annual trek into the bush clad country of Westland to catch as many of these critters as possible, normally several thousand nests in a three to four week period. The Zephyr wagon provides a home and transport, not to mention some unusual comments from the locals.