WINNING SHINE – DREAM SHED –

BUSINESS AND PLEASURE

Chances are you’ve heard of Lloyd ‘Magoo’ Wilson — or, if not, at least you will have heard of his business, Magoo’s Street Rods. The business, specializing in turnkey hot rod builds as well as parts supply, is an offshoot of Magoo’s long-held passion for all things hot rod. In fact, the business initially came about through Magoo importing parts for his own cars and his mates asking if he could also bring back a few parts for them. Magoo’s car involvement goes back to when he was a kid living in Levin. The now-long-defunct Levin race circuit was one of his favourite haunts, and he spent many a weekend down there admiring the machinery. He also met drivers such as Red Dawson, one of his heroes at the time. In fact, it was Magoo’s love of Dawson’s car that began it all. Magoo had a slot car version of Dawson’s Mustang. One Wednesday night, he stopped in at a dairy on his way to slot car club. There, he stumbled on a hot rod magazine that had a pic of Dawson’s car on the cover. He took the plunge, bought the mag instead of lollies, and soon found an article on Royce Fisher’s T inside. Two days later, Fisher and the T turned up in Levin, so Magoo got the chance to see it in person. He was hooked. Helping with Magoo’s switch from circuit racing to hot rodding was the fact that motor racing was expensive, while, in hot rodding, you could start with nothing and work your way up. On that basis, he bought his first coupe when he was just 15 years old. During the 45 or so years that have passed since then, he’s always had a hot rod in the garage. As a teenager with limited mechanical knowledge, Magoo recognized the benefits of being in a hot rod club, but there wasn’t one in Levin — so he founded Tararua Rodders, a club that’s still going strong today.

Marriage to Anne and a job opportunity led Lloyd to shift to Wellington. While there, he chose the brave path of starting up New Zealand Street Rodder magazine — which, while it may not have been financially successful, helped to put him on the map, and the relationships formed from it saw his parts business flourish, as did the concept of being self-employed. The Magoo’s Street Rods business officially started, in February 1997, with a humble stall at the Pukekohe swap meet and grew from there. With an expanding family, Magoo and wife Anne shifted to Masterton and eventually bought some decent land out of town with the dream of building a big shed in which to house the business. Making the most of the rural environment, Magoo constructed a 270m2 shed, divided into three bays — for bodywork, engineering/fabrication, and an assembly and retail area. Customers were asking Magoo to fit the parts that he sold them, and that evolved into building full turnkey cars. With a growing team and customer demand, the business soon outgrew the home shed, requiring a shift into a larger building in a more suitable commercial area. The downside was the cost involved, but the plus side was that, at long last, Magoo had the home shed that he’d long dreamed of, just the place to relax and chip away on his own cars without the interruptions of business life. The kids of Magoo’s tight-knit family were equally keen, as they now had somewhere to work on their own projects. The former retail area was transformed into the perfect spot to store Magoo’s years of memorabilia. Wife Anne won from the deal, too — in theory, at least — with a ’50s-style diner area being constructed, complete with her name on it. Over the years, the building has slowly but surely

filled up with the family’s treasures, different corners becoming home to various specific collections. The Greer/Black/Prudhomme dragster has always been a favourite, so a lot of memorabilia relates to that, then there’s all the American Graffiti stuff, and different oil and tyre merchandising collections. One of Magoo’s favourites is the cabinet full of Moon-branded bits, but he collects all sorts of automotive memorabilia, the latest focus being the old sparkplug boxes that he’s amassing. The walls themselves are impressive. Once the business was moved out of the shed, Magoo had painter Bruce Greig add some atmosphere to the walls. Everything attached to those walls has a story to tell involving memories from the places that Magoo’s been and people he’s met along the way. The engines lying around are all for current or future projects — the flathead for son Daniel’s Model A coupe, the 302 for a shop-hack Ranchero project, and the Stovebolt six for son Nathan’s T-bucket. Sadly, the Ardun’s just a dummy motor, but it still looks the part sitting there. Of course, the cars are what it’s all about, and there’s been no shortage of them come and go over the years. When we visit, there’s an eclectic collection — and that’s even after son Nathan’s slammed VW Beetle has already rolled out at 2am to an event. Being passionate about preserving New Zealand hot rod history, Magoo has a plan to create a hot rodding museum of sorts, should the funding for it ever eventuate. With this in mind, he’s been lent some valuable items, the biggest being the frontengine dragster (FED) belonging to Bob Wilton. The car has plenty of Kiwi history, being built by Grahame Berry and campaigned by Colin Lane. It’s a cool car, but, when sitting next to a genuine Mickey Thompson FED from the 1960s, it

struggles to compete. Due to its vintage and pedigree, the Mickey Thompson car, a Dragmaster Dart, is unlikely ever to hit the track, unless it’s for demonstration purposes or cacklefest fire-ups. However, to look the part, it’s been fitted up with a Pontiac motor, as that was how it was raced. The car itself was found by accident while Magoo was over in the States trying to do a deal on a ’32 coupe. One of the guys he was with found it parked around the back of a shed in an enclosed trailer. He knew that Magoo was after a FED, so, while the ’32 was not bought, the dragster was. Magoo laughs as he tells us, “The old story: you’re in LA with a rental car and no trailer or tow bar, so what do you do? We stripped the dragster down and strapped it onto the roof of the van. It didn’t have a motor, but we put the rest in the back and drove around LA for a couple of days like that.” Adding to the car’s pedigree is that it’s one of two that Mickey had built and then had extended by Dode Martin during the time in the mid 1960s when drivers were experimenting with longer wheelbases. Magoo’s ’32 coupe has somewhat less of a pedigree but looks equally impressive. The traditional primer effect somewhat distracts people from the coupe’s flawless build quality and the polished stroker flathead sitting up front. As space dictates, every now and then, a car from the business or from friends gets stored in the shed — as is the case with the ’46 Ford coupe there when we visit. The car belongs to a customer and is in line for a total rebuild. The 1934 Plymouth is a genuine one-owner car that’s sitting waiting for Magoo to get some spare time, the plan being to turn it into something suitable for the art deco weekend in Napier — not that there’s an excess of spare time in which to make it happen though, with all the other projects, the business, and family commitments taking priority. With the company having completed more than 40 turnkey builds over the years, at least 17 rollers, and numerous bodies, as well as being involved with various aspects of countless others, it’s fair to say that Magoo and team know how to build a decent car. We are not alone in that opinion, either. After being used as a Bonneville push car, Magoo’s Kiwi-built ’30 Roadster pickup managed to win the coveted Goodguys ‘Stroker McGurk’ award at the US West Coast Nationals in 2008. In 2019, the business celebrates its 22nd birthday, an impressive milestone in anyone’s language. Despite this, and despite having the dream shed set-up at home, Magoo’s not showing any signs of slowing down any time soon.