LEGEND: ROD HADFIELD
Allison Hadfield has written the book on her dad, hot rodding visionary Rod. It’s a cracker!
ROD Hadfield wasn’t the first guy to build a hot rod in Australia – not by a long shot – but he is undoubtedly one of the most prolific and consistently innovative builders in the country. Even a handful of his many builds would qualify Rod for legend status alone, but once you add in the groundbreaking work Rod and his wife Carol did in the modified car industry – and their efforts both on and off the track at Lake Gairdner – you’ve got a bloke who has spent his time on earth well.
Rod’s daughter Allison grew up amongst all this and has long thought that someone should write a book about Rod’s life. Allison is a librarian by trade and has experience writing for journals and publishing her own ’zines, so when she figured out that the job of writing Rod’s biography should fall to her in 2016, she was well-equipped to tackle such a daunting project. The Mad Scientist of Australian Hot Rodding: Rod Hadfield is a cracker of a book that I devoured in one long sitting. The book devotes a chapter to each of Rod’s most famous creations – builds like his blown ’34 Ford coupe that became a trophy-winner on debut at the 1967 Melbourne Hot Rod Show; his record-setting 200mph Salt Shaker; the Merlin V12-powered Final Objective ’55 Chev; and many others.
But there is a lot more to Rod’s story than simply his automotive creations. For starters, the book serves as a history of the Castlemaine area itself, at least as far as hot rodding goes. It is also a deeply personal account of a young man finding his way in the world in the 1960s and early 70s. Destined for the life of a dairy farmer, Rod was instead fascinated with cars and machinery. The story of how Rod battled with the expectations thrust upon him is by turns moving, amusing and inspiring.
By the time Rod finally broke away with the farm, he’d already had a long association with the Castlemaine region thanks to hot rodding and it would become the perfect place to pursue his ambitions. Rod had already completed his
DESTINED FOR THE LIFE OF A DAIRY FARMER, ROD WAS INSTEAD FASCINATED WITH CARS AND MACHINERY
LOWS INVARIABLY ACCOMPANY THE HIGHS WHEN ATTEMPTING TO FULFIL OUTSIZED AMBITIONS ON THE HADFIELD SCALE
first gearbox swap by this time and these became the foundation of the Castlemaine Rod Shop business that Rod and Carol would build with great energy for the next 30 years.
The stories from these early years of the business are fascinating. For example, when Rod first started advertising his gearbox adapters through Custom Rodder, the family had no phone to answer enquiries. The local police station would instead field the calls and give Rod a list of numbers to call back from the payphone!
The book carefully documents many of those folks who assisted Rod on his journey, including the pivotal figure of his grandfather Ray ‘Pa’ Warman; his early mentor Herb Brisbane, who taught Rod to weld; the Rod Shop’s first employee Ian Mapson; and the late, great Billy Musset, amongst many others. If you can read the telegram Pa Warman sent to Rod after he took out the 1970 Melbourne Hot Rod Show without getting a tear in your eye, then you are made of tougher stuff than me!
Despite the author’s close relationship with her subject, she doesn’t shy away from the hard stuff or fail to document the lows that invariably accompany the highs when attempting to fulfil outsized ambitions on the Hadfield scale. There is plenty of humour, too, and some great archival images. As Molly used to say, do yourself a favour; grab a copy s at graffittipub.com.au or cruzin.com.au.