POP PROGRESS

Gary Cawthra is one of Wellington’s go-to guys when it comes to race car engineering, and he’s currently deep into the build of a Ford Pop for Allan Blithe. While Allan’s been away from the scene for the best part of a decade now, the Pop has been in-the-build for a few years of that time, having only recently been delivered to Gary to complete. The car started its transformation from streeter to strip weapon many years ago under the ownership of Mike Reid. These days, there’s not a lot left from the original starting point, with the first chassis being relegated to scrap. The replacement chassis had the front half of the ex-Guy Lim Pop with a back-half built by Bob Tynan. Mike put it up for sale at this point complete with the 434ci small block from his nine-second Nissan ute. Under Gary’s welding torch, further work has been undertaken on the chassis, including replacing the original front half to bring it up to modern specs, and using all of Gary’s expertise. With the hours of welding completed, the chassis was etched in black and now the assembly work is well under way in an effort to get it on track at some stage this coming season. With the engine combo running into the nines in a full-weight streetcar, and the Pop being around 800kg lighter, and a lot shorter, it’s bound to give Allan a wild ride — although that’s something he’s well used to having previously driven a nine-second T-bucket. Luckily, with a BTE Powerglide installed, he won’t be too busy shifting gears so can keep both hands on the wheel. All going to plan, by the time you’re reading this, the car will be back with Allan to wire up, then — time permitting — it will be painted V green before the Test and Tune at Masterton Motorplex in early November. If you play your cards right too, you may even be able to get yourself a ride in it, as one of the initial requirements was for a car that could take a passenger for a skid. The other requirement was that it needed to have eightsecond potential. For licencing and to get the car dialed in, it’ll be run in naturally aspirated guise only. Once sorted, we have no doubt the goal of running an eight will be achieved.