REPEAT OFFENDER

Brendon Armstrong regretted selling his old ’34; the only way to get over it was to build one even better!

We were on holiday in the US, at Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield, when I saw it,” remembers Brendon Armstrong. The car he’s talking about is not the beautiful ’34 coupe you see before you — although you’d be forgiven for thinking that it had been imported straight out of the States — but it is a ’34 Ford coupe he’s talking about, and it’s the reason he built the masterpiece on these pages. Although the car Brendon’s remembering was painted a strangely effective shade of blue and rolled on modern large-diameter wheels, there was no way Brendon could ignore the fact that the machine possessed stance in spades. A serial hot rod builder, Brendon immediately thought of an old ’34 he’d built — a car he wished he hadn’t sold. “I was all over it with the tape measure, getting the chassis length, wheelbase, diff width — everything,” he says. “On the way back, we stopped by to see Duane Jones at California Roadster Company, and I gave him all of the measurements and told him what I was after.” A mean stance was on the agenda, but there was no way form would be encroaching on function. Having built himself a number of hot rods, all of which were used for their intended purpose of racking up the road miles, Brendon’s aim with his latest build was in a similar vein. Using the

knowledge and experience he’d picked up over the years, he knew how to achieve this goal, and there was never any question about it being his finest build yet. However, adding a drop of pressure to the mix, Brendon also decided that he’d like to have the car ready to show at Repco Beach Hop 16 — barely a year away. In what seemed like no time, Paul Stichbury at CFR Line was on the phone, informing Brendon that his chassis and parts had landed in Auckland. Brendon wasted no time in hauling the lot into his garage. There was no stopping him now, and Pete Osborne was called on for one of his famous fibreglass bodies in the shape of a ’34 Ford threewindow coupe, with a 100mm recessed firewall to accommodate Brendon’s desire for big block power, and a mini-tubbed rear to clear the equally large rears required. Although Brendon’s goal was a perfect-looking hot rod, he had no intention of building a show pony or trailer queen, and that meant quality gear and quality engineering were paramount. Fortunately, the Kiwi Konnection chassis came equipped to suit all of Brendon’s requirements. A Super Bell fourinch dropped I-beam provides a suitable front ride height, and driving dynamics come thanks to So-Cal short shocks and a front sway bar. The rear end is built around a Currie nine-inch diff, suspended on a triangulated four-link and So-Cal coilovers. With underpinnings like these, and enough car-building experience to know what he does and doesn’t like, Brendon opted for the only

engine and transmission package he considered appropriate for this car — a 454ci big block Chev backed by a Tremec T56 six-speed manual box. He’d learned from his old ’34 coupe, which had had a supercharged power plant that was nigh on undrivable on the road, and this time around he elected to purchase a staunch but refined Chevrolet Performance 454 HO crate engine backed by a Corvette-sourced T56 box, saving a whole lotta time in the process. In fact, not having to worry about building the engine meant Brendon could simply bolt the ancillaries on, modifying the Hedman headers to suit the right-hand-drive chassis, and fabricate himself a full 2½-inch exhaust system with Flowmaster mufflers to make all 454 cubes known. Now, having the bones of a solid hot rod in place was all well and good, but Brendon was after something with a bit more wow. Thankfully, having Resene Automotive and Light Industrial (RALI) come to the party meant the next, and arguably most important, stage of the build could go right ahead. The team at Boss Panelbeaters were commissioned to coat the bare chassis in deep Resene Scarlet Night paint, giving the undercarriage a finish befitting the perfection intended for the exterior.

BRENDON DECIDED TO LET THE SWOOPY FULL-FENDERED CURVES SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES

Although the bare chassis is resplendent in a deep wine red accented with generous servings of chrome, the exterior was to make do with the bare minimum of brightwork, and Brendon decided to let the swoopy full-fendered curves speak for themselves — a task once again delegated to Boss Panelbeaters — hence the body-coloured peep mirrors, windscreen wipers, headlight buckets, and grille shell. You may also note Brendon’s decision to run an inconspicuous pair of tail lights beneath the rear deck-lid, permitting a relatively easy swap between running the coupe fenderless or fully fendered. With Repco Beach Hop 16 rapidly approaching and a mountain of work needing to be done to get the ’glass body’s finish to Brendon’s exacting standards, the deadline came and went, suddenly

leaving Brendon with a whole lot of breathing room to get the project finished. He spent this time finishing the car to an incredible standard, inside and out, with just as much care given to parts and details that no one will ever see. Truth be told, that’s a bit of a shame. Brendon’s not the type of man to let his newly completed build gather dust in the garage while waiting for a show at which to debut it, and, with a fresh warrant, rego, and LVV certification, he’s wasted little time in doing with the car what he built it to. It looks every bit the hot rod he intended it to, sounds the part, and sure as hell goes like it — the stone chips and undercarriage road grime, well, they’re just part and parcel of Brendon’s take on hot rod ownership. Nothing’s too nice to drive; it just comes down to how much of a hot rodder you are — and, where Brendon Armstrong is concerned, there should be no question about that.

IT LOOKS EVERY BIT THE HOT ROD HE INTENDED IT TO, SOUNDS THE PART, AND SURE AS HELL GOES LIKE IT