HARD Road

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT A RIDE IN A ROTARY-POWERED MAZDA WOULD RESULT IN WADE EPPS BUILDING THE AWESOME ROADSTER PICKUP THAT HE’S BEHIND THE WHEEL OF TODAY?

Going through a tough time, Wade Epps’ brother thought that going for a cruise could be the way to lift his spirits. He was partly right — after all, Wade’s a fan of his RX-3, but it was the destination to the house of well-known hot rodder Gary Kendall that really brought about a change. As Wade recalls, “Gary had a traditional ’32 Roadster running a 327 with an old McCulloch blower in it. We all went for a cruise — Gary and I in his ’32, and Gary’s daughter and my brother in the RX-3. “It was my first ride in a hot rod. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face even after we got back and had a beer. On the way home that night, I decided [that] I needed a car that made me feel like that!” It was a turning point in Wade’s life in more ways than one, even if, at the time, he didn’t know much about hot rods other than what he liked the look of. “I started looking on the ’net when I got home about building hot rods on a budget,” he recalls. “I texted Gary a couple of days later and asked him how much it would cost to get something like his landed in New Zealand. The answer made me think it was over before it began.” But Gary’s next text changed it all. He asked why Wade was looking at prices, and the conversation gradually evolved to the point where Gary said that he had the perfect starting point should Wade be serious. “I didn’t have a garage at the time. I was living in a small flat, so I hit up my parents to see if I could keep and build it out on their lifestyle block. The old man was a

fitter-turner who was no mug when it came to old cars or motorbikes and said [that] he’d be happy to help me with it too, which was great, as I’d always wanted to do a father-son project with him.” When Wade, who’s a welder by trade and generally a practical type of bloke, asked Gary if he thought that he could complete the pile of parts that lay in front of him, he laughed knowingly but agreed that Wade knew his stuff and could indeed do it. Better still, he was happy to mentor him through the whole thing. It was this mentoring from a life-long hot rodder that would make all the difference. The initial purchase included a half-completed rectangular-hollow-steel (RHS) chassis, Model A sedan cowl, some Brookville door skins, and a Brookville cab section, so it wasn’t going to be what you’d call an easy project — especially for a self-confessed rookie. “I knew nothing about building cars, let alone hot rods, but I knew how to weld and how to make stuff out of steel and stainless steel,” laughs Wade, remembering the moment he got in way over his head. When setting the direction for the build, Wade asked Gary if he knew of any engines for sale, and he did, having the perfect dual-quad-topped 331ci Cadillac engine and four-speed sitting under his bench. By this stage, Wade was consumed by the build, whether it was hanging out in the shed tinkering away with his dad at his side, or researching whatever he could in the quest for parts or knowledge. In fact, he was so consumed by it that his focus was now all positive, and the previous struggles that he’d been dealing became a thing of the past, making the build the perfect therapy. Of course, the project itself wasn’t without its struggles, such as the challenge of ensuring that the car was as low as possible while keeping enough leg room inside to make it comfortable. Thankfully, Gary was called to help out with Z-ing the frame, and setting up the wheelbase. “I didn’t really want to channel it, so this was Gary’s suggestion. It got the body four inches lower and kept all the room in the cab,” Wade says. His dad came in handy to help mount the body over the frame and fit the front axle and transverse leaf spring front end, and Wade’s mate Gordy came in handy, too, polishing the shocks before they were fitted. Thankfully, the rear end didn’t require much, as a narrowed eight-inch diff and drums had already been fitted to a four-link set-up. “The next thing to do was the recessed firewall. I used a real-estate sign, a Stanley knife, and duct tape to make up a pattern of how I wanted it to look, then made it out of panel steel and welded it all in place,” Wade says, explaining a technique he used more than once during the build. The amount of work required on a scratch-built vehicle like this was a true eye-opener, but, with help from friends and family, Wade kept pushing

I FIGURED THAT HOT CHICKS IN SHORT SKIRTS WOULDN’T LIKE IT, SO I PERSEVERED UNTIL IT WAS SORTED!

ahead, moving to the point that the cab could be steeled out. “I copied some seat belt mounts from another RPU being built for a customer at Rocket [Speed Equipment], then it was on to the floor, for which we used 12mm thick plywood covered with a stripped rubber,” he says. Friends were instrumental in the building of the transmission tunnel as well, with mate Villi helping Wade to bend the metal, and another mate donating a 50-calibre ammo box for a console. Sorting out the doors wasn’t quite so easy. Having been purchased simply as skins, Wade wasn’t looking forward to adding the bracing to them. However, it transpired that a friend of a friend was a panel beater and was looking to learn how to TIG weld, and Wade was a welder looking to learn how to panel beat. “He showed me how to the do the first one, then I did the other on my own. I was stoked to get them opening and closing. I’d considered welding them shut, Dukes of Hazzard style, but I figured [that] hot chicks in short skirts wouldn’t like it, so I persevered until it was sorted!” he laughs, only semi-joking. As luck would have it, at this point, Gary moved to a

house around the corner from Wade that had plenty of shed space, making progress even easier. The timing couldn’t have been better, with an old Model A tray being purchased at the same time. Sure, it had a few dings, but it looked old and cool. Before long, it was sandblasted and had the bracing cut out so that it could be positioned at the right height. “Gary suggested [that] I make up my own little quarter panels that sit behind the cab and follow the lines of the cab unlike the stock ones,” says Wade, so it was out with the real-estate signs once more. “The car’s starting to look kind of like a car now, but it’s also been a couple of years,” he says. “There’s been plenty of times when I’ve looked at it and thought, there’s no f**kin’ way this thing’s ever going to be road legal! It really did seem endless and I really did think I’d bitten off more than I could chew.” The way forward was in small chunks, writing a list of 10 things that needed to be done, knocking them off, then going for 10 more. Attacking it this way made the overall job seem much easier and far less overwhelming. “Dan at Rocket sourced a chrome front windscreen and posts. Because the cowl was originally a sedan, its posts were hacked off. Gary told me how marry it all together and how to make it look right. Hot rodding, as I’ve learnt, is all about the look, stance, and lines of the vehicle. So now it’s got a windscreen and a tray, and an interior or sorts,” explains Wade. “My older brother, who was living and working in the States at the time, found and bought me a genuine Model A pickup tailgate. It was old and cool, with dings and bumps and scrapes from 88 years of use — it went perfectly with the tray and there was no way I was getting either panel beaten,” Wade continues. Up to this point, he’d always intended to leave the pickup in bare metal, but that look was

becoming all too common, and a new vision was created instead: “I decided to go satin black, and I’m so stoked [that] I did — even though the paint job wasn’t flash or expensive, being done in the driveway with a few beers in hand.” A few hurdles were still to come, though — the first being Gary packing up and moving to Australia, but, thankfully, he left the mentoring role to Dan Tyler and Paul Manders, and the build itself moved back to Wade’s parents’ shed. It was here that the hardest part of the process would happen, which inspired Wade to get it finished more than ever before. “The old boy didn’t quite seem himself, and just wasn’t real happy. I knew something was wrong, and he was soon diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s/ dementia. It was absolutely gutting. My old man isn’t just my dad; he’s one of my mates, and to watch such a clever, onto-it guy slowly turning into a confused and vulnerable old man is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to deal with,” Wade recalls. Although his dad was no longer able to help out, the build pressed on. The next step was getting a bit more performance out of the old Cadillac motor. Paul’s father, Jerry Manders, was called on for this, with the specific instructions that a slow hot rod wouldn’t cut it. Jerry’s own flathead would also provide the inspiration for the look of the engine, with a marble effect being worked into the painting of the block and sump. With all the little bits and pieces sorted, it was finally time to get the car legal, a process that would involve a few small changes, thankfully most of which Wade could do himself, with friends Ray and Jethro stepping in to help when his dad couldn’t. “After 10-odd months of fluffing around at the end, and six-and-a-half years in total, the pickup was road legal. I was so stoked, and it really was a dream come true!” a proud Wade exclaims. Sure, there’ve been a couple of teething issues, as you’d expect with a car such as this, but, with the help of the team at Rocket Speed Equipment and Chris from Bad Penny Classic and Custom Services sorting some wiring, they’re now a thing of the past. All that lies ahead are good times, and plenty of them. Every time that Wade’s behind the wheel, he has that same smile he remembers from that initial ride in Gary’s car, almost as if he hasn’t a care in the world.