KIRSTEN LINEHAM

Hi Kirsten, that’s a pretty cool Dodge Ram you’ve got there. Could you tell us a little about it?

We imported it a year ago — it was actually October 28 last year — through Westcoast Classic Imports Ltd, where we’re repeat offenders. It’s been lowered and runs a 5.2-litre Magnum V8. The exhaust has been redone and sounds amazing.

Have you done any work to it since then?

It came with all that stuff already done. All we had to do was sort new rims and tyres, as the originals weren’t good for the VINing process. There aren’t too many options out there for these vehicles, so I’d like to thank Alicia at Jacks Tyres for her research in helping us find suitable replacements. We’re really happy with how the truck sits now.

Sounds like you’re pretty into your cars — have you got anything else of interest?

Oh yeah, I’ve been into cars for about as long as I can remember. We’ve also got a 2010 Dodge Challenger and a 1965 Ford Mustang. My dream car would be a 1957 Ford Thunderbird — my father has one, completely restored — but all our cars were choices made. We stripped the Mustang right down and rebuilt it — hard going but totally worth it.

Do you have a tough time deciding what to cruise around in over summer?

My husband Trev races a super stock at the local speedway, where I’m club captain, and that takes up a lot of our time over summer, but we do find time just to cruise around the countryside. The car culture down here [Nelson] is incredible — there’s always something on, such as day runs or club events.

Have you taken the Ram on any long-distance trips out of town?

No, I actually haven’t gone too far in it yet. The farthest it’s been driven would probably be the first drive home — Trev picked it up in Wellington, took it on the ferry to the South Island, and drove it back to Nelson.

It must make for a pretty cool daily-driver?

Yeah, we recently moved to the countryside, as we needed more shed space and space for the cars, but we’re only around 15 minutes from town. Surprisingly, the Ram is quite fuel efficient, and I love driving it — it rumbles along the road; built for cruising not speed.

Is there anything you’d like to do to it in the future, or are you happy with the way it is?

Well, it’s got a lot of paint fade, so I’d quite like to freshen up the paint in a nice and simple matte black. Next year would be good! Other than that, maybe get the interior redone at some point and update the ’90s cassette player! There’s nothing much else; it runs and drives beautifully and had only 47,000 miles on the clock when we imported it — we’re assuming that’s accurate, and it definitely drives like it!

Thanks for your time, Kirsten. It sounds like an awesome cruiser, and we hope you’ll keep making the most of it!