EATIN’ DUST

PATINA FROM ARIZONA TO EAST AUCKLAND

Lance has owned his 1965 Futura two-door sedan since he imported it from Arizona in 2017, with the help of dad who was the influence behind joining Southside Streeters Inc. The Futura runs a factory 289 and overall remains fairly stock standard, apart from a new set of wheels to fit the only other modification of upgraded front brakes. The Wilwood four-pot disc brake conversion brings performance into the twentieth century and a little more peace of mind while cruising in Auckland traffic. Being an Arizona desert car, the body is in good shape and the original patina is cleared over for preservation. Plans for the Futura are fairly straightforward — drive it as much as possible and maybe get the interior done in the future. “It drives well for a cruiser so why change a good thing?” Lance comments. A fairly good call for a cruiser. Lance is also involved in midget racing so the hot rodding cars stick to the clay at this point in time.

Lance has been a member of Southside Streeters Inc for the past five years and gets the honourable mention of being the youngest member of the club. Being around the club for some time quizzing Lance on any insights from a younger person’s perspective of where he sees the club going, there was a lot of positive feedback about the club in general. The club members are actively involved in cruises and events are well attended by fellow members, whether it be a social outing or a fundraising drive, pun definitely intended, for other community groups. The question mark he has revolves around traditional hot rodding. You can see in the Japanese and European origin car import car scene that the younger generation embrace the culture and modify their cars accordingly. So the modified car scene is in good health and therefore car clubs should also be in good health going forward. When it comes to traditional hot rodding, Lance feels it is something that is not being passed onto younger generations and is threatened with being forgotten over time. I would agree with this as traditional hot rodding of ’30s-era vehicles is far more complex than modifying full-bodied cars from the ’60s onwards. More automotive art than anything else and something that does need to be passed down to keep the hobby alive. Something to think about, and in saying that Lance has an inkling to get a Mazda RX7 next. Hopefully the club won’t mind too much and he said the members are

laid-back and would probably welcome it anyway.