To Summernats, with love
Everything on this car, I had to put as much stuff as I could that Dad had physically touched or had planned for it so it’s paying a true tribute to what he had planned, but still put my influence on areas which he hadn’t figured out yet...
HUD Johnston loves the fact his dad Rod ran his own race without worrying about what anyone thought, right down to his son’s first name.
“I think dad wanted something unique name-wise, and that worked,” Hud told Dubbo Photo News.
And that simple act of name-giving sets the scene for this story – Hud’s dad Rod didn’t do anything by the numbers.
“He did what he wanted to do. He didn’t care about what people thought, he was an individual and loved making stuff one-off. He used to say “don’t be the same as everybody else”.”
That individuality brought Rod plenty of acclaim in the Aussie car scene, his one-off builds being recognised across the nation as some of the southern hemisphere’s best hot rods and street machines.
But much of the work Rod did in the past 40 odd years was done with Hud by his side, and no greater gift can a father pass to his son than the passion, and skills, to create automotive works of art from original concepts.
“I learnt everything I know from Dad. He was a qualified panel-beater by trade. He worked in Sydney till 1980 when we moved to Wongarbon and he specialised mainly in doing custom work, two-door conversions, roof chops, all sorts of things like that,” Hud said.
“I’ve been going to the Summernats for 30 years. I had an XL Falcon back when I was 13 and by the time I got my license we had it built and took it to Canberra and from then on we just kept taking different cars over the years.”
Hud’s world was turned upside down six years ago when they were working on Rod’s personal car build.
“Dad had parts of this car, a 1934 Ford Coupe, he got the chassis in 1982. It was damaged and he repaired that and ended up getting a cowl and other parts for it over the years and it lived inside the house on the verandah. Dad was always too busy building cars so he never got a chance to get his own done,” he said.
“We finally decided to get onto Dad’s car after coming back from one Summernats and we got two months into it and Dad had a heart attack in the boot of the car and passed away. I’d ducked out for a toilet break, was gone two minutes and found him collapsed in the boot.”
Trying to revive his Dad was an incredibly traumatic event and made it difficult even to look at the ’34 Ford, let alone do any work on it.
Hud said his life eventually turned a corner after a grieving period. He married Jo, bought his parents’ house and got stuck into renovations, completing that project before he could start to ponder future possibilities for the Ford Coupe.
“Then I started to do a little bit on Dad’s car but only to make it my everyday driver, just get it basic flat black and driveable,” he said, before he was confronted by a challenge he felt he couldn’t refuse – a challenge that was the ultimate tribute to his father.
“Summernats’ judge Owen Webb called in home at Wongarbon and said he wanted to do an unveil at Summernats with us and the car as a tribute to Dad, so that changed things up a bit.
“It’s very prestigious to ask to get a car unveiled, a lot of shops want to get their cars unveiled but it’s unusual for a backyarder like me to get an unveil.”
An unveil involves taking a car down to the Summernats, one that’s never been seen before by the public. It has to be a newbuild of a good enough quality and something unique.
He said that request was an incredible motivation – it’s not like a Summernats’ guru often makes house calls to request a special car for an unveil, and it opened something up that was buried deep inside Hud.
“I had to make things a lot tidier than planned but I’m happy at the way it turned out.”
The challenge was to build something that was different from the garden variety Ford Coupe and one that stayed true to Rod’s original vision.
One major departure from the average was the inclusion of a six-cylinder engine, a concept which would terrify most car builders because the standard thinking is that hot rods need V8s.
“It was always going to have a six-cylinder in it, that’s what Dad envisioned and that’s what I wanted to carry out. Dad assembled the engine that’s in it, the last motor he ever built,” he said.
“Everything on this car, I had to put as much stuff as I could that Dad had physically touched or had planned for it so it’s paying a true tribute to what he had planned, but still put my influence on areas which he hadn’t figured out yet.
“Everybody seemed to like the concept of what we had going I think just because it’s unique, with the six-cylinder and the way we’ve gone about it and the history behind it, too.”
Hud was hoping to enter the Coupe in some of the Summernats’ driving events but with the build running up until the last 24 hours before he had to head to Canberra, there was simply no time to shake the car down and prepare it for that sort of trial.
“We were still putting it together as I was putting it on the trailer.
“I’d just like to thank everybody who was involved in the build. It was all done in our shed, the only parts that left here were the seats and thank my wife especially for putting up with me the last month.”
Now that frenetic pace has slowed down, and the car was universally acclaimed for its unique touches and concourse-like finish, Hud can reflect on not only what an achievement it was, but on his own fabrication and engineering skills, proud that his imagination and abilities provided so much please for car enthusiasts from across the nation.
“I feel good when people appreciate the work involved and there’s a lot of stuff on the car that’s very subtle – unless you know a ’34 Ford you don’t pick up on all the body alterations
“There’s a lot of things in this build that were just meant to be.”
He says he’s proud to be a backyarder who can turn his hand to pretty much anything, a skillset that’s part of a dying breed.
“It’s getting harder for the backyarder to compete with professional shops with all the equipment and proper booths and all the modern stuff. I’m still old-school and I’m not qualified either, I just learned from Dad since I was born.
“I’m very proud that Dad was able to teach me all these skills, very proud to have the car done. It’s just big emotional journey and to have it done finally and it’s good for the family, for my mum and my sister to be able to see the completed car.”