Second Edition

WE HAVE ARRIVED!

Putting the first SA HotRods Magazine together has been a similar experience to building your first Rod. I started with a passion and a dream. Then with the help of some friends, old and new, the bits slowly started coming together. It is never a quick and easy process: time-lines were extended and budgets had to be increased. But finally, we have arrived. One of our main concerns when it came to the magazine was the front cover. I wanted to encompass what Hot Rodding is all about here, which is why a photo taken on the Rubberneck Tour (see the feature further on) was selected. I think this sums up the Rodding lifestyle perfectly: it's all about pure enjoyment, a love for the road, a passion for the old and new, and the insight to visualise and appreciate a blend of the two.

These days, people tend to be so absorbed in big brand names and how much is being spent on the cars that the essence of Hot Rodding is forgotten. I keep hearing conversations of how, overseas, you can buy almost anything you need for a Rod off the shelves. But we do not have such luxury down here in Africa. In South Africa, Rodding usually begins with a bunch of guys who fi nd an old, abandoned, rusted body, and see potential. They hunt down the perfect motor, often have to painstakingly build and modify parts until they fit, and with time-consuming trial and error, eventually turn it into a magnifi cent Rod. But that is what Rodding should be about and I am proud to be involved in the South African Rodding scene. A scene where what you see at the shows and on the roads is the product of many hours of sweat and tears - something to truly be proud of.

Heartfelt thanks go to family, friends, contributors, supporters, and Rodders, for their help and support in getting our first magazine on the shelf. It has been a long and exciting road building up to this edition and we're here to stay. What's in store for you in our launch edition? John Jeffery tells us how he built his fi rst Rod; Walter Gale shows us his 1933 Ford 3-Window Coupe (which took a whopping ten years to build); Jacques Mouton presents a stunning 1967 Mustang Fastback which he recently rebuilt; RPG Choppers shows off one of their latest creations; we teach you how to remove rust and tune a Holley Carburettor; and we report on our road trip with two comedians and some great rides. Sadly, we also say farewell of one of the most iconic Hot Rodders in the world, Boyd Coddington. The words on his website sum up our sentiments: 'Boyd, whenever we see clouds in the havens we'll know it's you showing God how to do a great burnout.'

So read on for the good stuff! I do hope that you enjoy reading this issue as much as we have enjoyed creating it.
Joe van Zyl

1929 Ford Pickup

With no previous mechanical or electrical experience, John Jeffrey tells SA HotRods how he taught himself to build a car, the car featured on the front cover of SA HotRods magazine, by hand:
'I built this car.in my home garage over a 3 year period. This Project was tackled solo using very basic tools and a 1937 lathe. Starting with the body, I took some measurements and patterns from an original 1929 Roadster, and worked out some of the dimensions from magazines.'
Read more in the launch issue of SA HotRods magazine to see how Jeffery went about putting his 1929 Ford Pickup together using parts fashioned by himself, parts from a donor vehicle, parts brought in from the UK in hand luggage, and more.

1967 Mustang Fastback

The brief that Jacques Mouton, owner of one of Cape Town's top Hot Rod building companies, West Coast Rod and Customs, was that it had to 'stop, go and handle with the best of them'. Stopping on a CLK 500's braking system, running on an original 351 Windsor V8 motor, and using true blue American Racing wheels to keep it on the road, it is safe to say that Mouton more than filled his mandate when he finished this 1967 beauty two and a half years later.
Considering the car was 'stripped down to its last bolt and nut', it is little wonder that the car took so long to build. What other radical modifications were done to it in that time? Find out in the launch edition of SA HotRods magazine.

Technical Article - How to remove rust

Among a Rodder's worst nightmares, aside from mechanical disaster, is rust. Some Rodders are so terrified of rust they will only wash their cars three times a year and otherwise only wipe the car with a damp cloth. But, contrary to popular belief, this is wrong! Regrettably, no matter what preventative measures are taken, rust tends to be an unavoidable curse which all car owners need to learn to deal with.
Always looking after the interests of the Rodder, SA HotRods has tackled this subject with the help of restoration and customisation experts, Jacques Mouton, of West Coast Rod and Customs, and Ephy Chesler, of Mini Restorations. In this article, our experts will tell you exactly what rust is, where it comes from, how to avoid it, and, when all else fails, how to eliminate it.

Technical article - Holley Carburettor

'Though most Rodders in South Africa have carburettors on their engines, very few seem to really understand them and know how to properly tune them. Most people buy a new carburettor, take it out of the box, bolt it on, tweak a little with the air bleed screws, and think that it is performing to its best capacity.'
SA HotRods magazine has recruited performance expert, Wilco van Niekerk of Chaos Performance Parts, who will be getting in-depth on this subject by showing you how easy it is to actually tune and modify these brilliant pieces of a bygone era. Most of you can gain horsepower just by following his instructions. So get ready to laminate this article and put it in your toolbox where you can refer to it every now and again when you tinker with you Holley Carburettor.

Rubberneck Tour

When SA HotRods was invited to join the first Rubberneck Tour from Cape Town to Mossel Bay, they saw it as an excellent opportunity to spend time with a group of great guys and their cars, never mind the three days of pure 'Rodding' pleasure.
Find out about the antics and adventures that arise when you mix two stand-up comedians (Kurt Schoonraad and Dave Levinson), some enthusiastic Rodders, a variety of Rods (such as the magazine's feature car, the 1929 Ford Pickup, a 1933 Ford 3-window Hemi, a 1958 Cadillac Convertible, to name but a few), and a road trip packed with Rod-friendly pit stops.

1933 Ford 3-window Coupe

There was such an overwhelming response when the 1933 Ford 3-window Coupe was featured on SAHotRods.com, we have decided to include it in the first issue of SA HotRods magazine.
Being one of the most recognised Street Rods in the world due to its roles in various music videos and classic movies, Gale did not let the looks of this legendary Rod down when he took on this project with the help of some mechanically talented friends.
We are very fortunate to be able to feature this legendary Rod in our launch edition of SA HotRods magazine when one considers that it took his team a whopping total of 10 years and 2900 man-hours to build this Rod. Never mind that the 1933 Coupe was built in his lounge due to absence of a garage.

Black Rose Chopper

What is a bike doing in a car magazine? Well, just as the Hot Rod is a modified custom car, the Chopper is a radically customised motorcycle. Therefore, Chopper-building is as much an art form as Hot Rod-building and has its place in a magazine that appreciates such an art. One of the masters of the art of Chopper-building is Pierre Burger of RPG Choppers in Cape Town, and his latest masterpiece is the Black Rose Chopper. This bike is as custom as you can find, from the haunting pipes, the skull fuel cap which was formerly a belt buckle, to the hand-stitched leather seat. Even the parts, imported from the States, have been custom made to Burger's specifications resulting in a beautiful, totally unique, monster of a bike.

Boyd Coddington

The owner of 'Boyds Hot Rods and Collectibles', star of the show 'American Hot Rod, and overall car-building legend, Boyd Coddington, recently passed away in California. Coddington made a huge impact on the international the Hot Rodding community, not only with the visionary cars that he built, but also by bringing Hot Rodding to the public with his show on Discovery Channel. He was an inspiration to Hot Rodders all over the world, making it SA HotRods duty to pay homage to the 'King' of Hot Rodding in their first magazine. In this tribute, we will take a look back on his life and discuss some of the best-known cars that he has built.

1967 Chevy Nova

This 1967 Chevrolet Nova may not be a Rod, but it is one of the few pillarless cars in South Africa. SA HotRods have only found two pillarless cars so far and they were not about to ignore something that exceptional. This is also an iconic American Muscle Car and SA HotRods is South Africa's only Hot Rod and Muscle Car magazine.
Owned by Russel Dickson, this car is a classic in mint condition which still 'runs like a dream', according to Dickson. In fact, he is currently taking it on an unscheduled road trip around SA. Having gone to the George Motor Show from Johannesburg, he decided that he liked driving it too much to stop there. SA HotRods eventually caught up with him and his ride in Cape Town where they got details on the car and pictures.

1949 Chevy Project

Naturally SA HotRods needs to have a mascot and Rod of their own. While in JHB visiting Monty Booth, a fellow Street Rod enthusiast, SA Hotrods noticed a lone 1949 Chevrolet Deluxe Fastback standing under years of dust and fell in love on the spot. So they bought it from the reluctant seller, Booth.
This Chevy has an amazing history having had some major customization done to it over the years - now SA Hotrods have been doing some customizing of their own.
Read more in SA Hotrods magazine to see the progress of the 1949 Chevy Project, the bumps in the road along the way, and the eventual finished product (hopefully to be revealed in the second edition).