REAL DEAL RACER

You hear blokes talking about cars with history, well Katikati’s Al Smith’s old coupe has plenty of that and Al knows most of the last 50 years of it, having owned the car on and off for a lot of them. To cut a long story short, it was Rod Coppins’ old Chevy coupe, which he raced at Pukekohe and hill climbs and the likes back in the 1960s. The car changed hands a few times before Al bought it from a mate in about 1971. Al did a full rebuild and put it in a few hot rod shows through the ’70s and into the ’80s. It always did pretty well, often winning its class and best paint. After 12 years or so, AI had to raffle it off to get a deposit for his first house, around the time his daughter was born. Six years and six owners later, AI bought the coupe back. The motor was buggered by then so he chucked another 350 in it and drove it around for another 10 years or so. AI got into trucking and found himself with nowhere to store it so he sold it to a mate in Pukekohe who sold it to a bloke in Whakatane who somehow managed to tip it end for end... A young guy up in Kaikohe bought the wreck off the insurance company but, by the time AI had tracked it down again, all that was left for him to buy was a stripped shell and a bent chassis, but it was still his old car! Over the last few years, AI has collected sets of doors, mudguards and a straight chassis and the bits he needs to put it all back together again.The old ’38 was actually a ’37 with a ’38 nose fitted, and that’s how Al is rebuilding it now. As he’s planning to use the coupe as his everyday car, Al has fitted Jag front and rear ends to get it handling and stopping properly. Up front is the trusty 348, a real nostalgia piece, which will soon have a Tri-power on top too. The iron Powerglide in the picture is to be replaced with a TH400. While there is still a mountain of work to do, Al is confident it will be on the road by the end of 2019.