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| The home of Australian Hot Rodding on the Net |
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| Hot-Rod Internet News - 16th December 2002. |
| We will keep you informed of any upcoming news on these pages so please check back. We will be updating whenever there is something newsworthy or the 1st and 3rd Monday of the month. Our aim is to make this site 'The home of Australian Hot Rodding on the Net'.
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Your News
Hey you! Have you got any news? Well how about sharing it with us.
Email news@hot-rod.net |
What's on in DECEMBER!
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Australian Capital Territory
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New South Wales
| 1 |
Ramsgate Swap Meet (2002), Ramsgate Primary School Chuter Ave. Ramsgate. Cars and motorbikes, 6am start. Entry $2, sellers $15, monies to benefit school Enq 0409 123 370 |
| 1 |
Central Coast Beach Run (2002), paul.hilton@angelfire.com.au |
| 13-15 |
27th Annual Back to Bathurst Rod Run (2002), goodies bags, observation runs, mystery bus trip on sitecamping at showgrounds. Street Rodders United, Enq Bill May 02 6365 5375 |
Queensland
| 2 |
Cruisin Cooroy 2001 Combined Car Show, Swap Meet Motorkana and trade stands. Johnson Park Cooroy Enq. Daryl 0407 588 697 |
| 3rd |
Car Show and Swap Meet, Cooroy, Combined Coastal Car Club Enq. Julian 0418 213 247 or Vince 0417 797 420 Fax 07 5442 5411 |
Victoria
| 1 |
Ramsgate Swap Meet (2002), Chuter Ave Ramsgate Enq. 0409 123 370 |
| 1-2 |
Whittlesea Swap, Show and Shine (2001) Whittlesea Agricultural Showgrounds, Yea Road (Melways 246J8) Enq. Andrew (BH) 03 9716 1863 or (AH) 03 9436 1814 |
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Tasmania
| 18 |
American Car Show and Swap Meet 2001 RSL Oval, Sorell Enq. Ron03 6243 8625 |
Western Australia
| 1 |
Rant 'n Rave at the Raffles Hotel Perth Rock 'n Roll Club Enq Craig 0419 949 987 Tickets Tony 9401 9151 |
| 15 |
Christmas Lights Cruise (2002) |
Hot Rod News
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| 16/12/2002 |
Merry Christmas I'll get it in now as the next couple of weeks will fly. It has been a fantastic year for Hot Rod Internet, the recognition that we are now achieving is fantastic. Just to give you some indication here's some of our stats for this year. We served up 446,595 pages from 3,407,263 requests to 112,728 individual viewers. The HRI Members pages were our most popular page with 224,513 hits, next came the Cars for Sale page of the Swap Meet with 192,547 hits and then the Photo Gallery with 87,141 hits. After that it was all Bench Racing Forum.
We received over 580 emails, nearly 200 advertisements for the Swap Meet and over 90 people took the time to take our Survey. The Photo Gallery being the most popular part of HRI (27%) and 58% rating our site as excellent. Interestingly this page didn't get a vote!
One of the most popular inovations for this year has definately been the Hot Rod Bench Racing forum, I look forward to where this will go in the next 12 months.
I'm on holidays until the 10th of January, in that time I hope to get to the Gary the Ghost's Picnic at Mornington and the 1st Kustom Nationals at Phillip Island.
Lastly have a great Christmas, be safe and have fun and thanks to each and everyone who has visited this year and we look forward to coming back bigger and better next year.
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| 01/12/2002 |
Go-Whoa is a Goer Yes the Go-Whoa will be on at the ASRF Nationals in Geelong next Easter. A sponsor has been found to cover the additional insurance required to run this event.
ASRF Public Liability Insurance I have just received our copy of the ASRF blanket event coverage of Public Liability Insurance.
Updates Just a few updates this time. A couple of new Readers Rides added. More links and Hot Rod Vendor listings. Bendigo Swap Meet photos are now up. Coverage of the Ballarat Rod Run, thanks to Ian Cornish.
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| 20/11/2002 |
Another month! Absolutely amazing, I just can't keep up at the moment. Firstly apologies to all those people who submitted ads for the Swap Meet. Dave has had some major problems and the Swap Meet got a bit behind, but I've just gone through and updated it all, so if your if your looking to buy or sell, it might be a good time to have a look.
The Aussie Hot Rod Vendors pages has had a major revamp, there's now a page for each State, so this should help you guys find the right places. If you have a hot rod related business you wish to promote, just send us an email.
John's Picnic was another great event. Whilst not as big this year due to the weather, there was plenty to see and do and talk to. I was able to catch up with some of the guys from the Bench Racing Forum, pity was I couldn't talk for long. I did manage to get a few photos
Bendigo Swap Meet Made the pilgramage once again. Typical Bendigo, Hot, dry and dusty, seemed to be a few more people around this year and the quality of junk was up. I managed to pick up a GTS steering wheel for the Chev. Seems as though I have some notariety, as the guy who sold it to me was convinced that I was an EBay wheeler and dealer and that I was going to turn it around a make a fortune. I'll have some photos of the show and shine posted soon, watch the photo gallery.
Guest Map I've introduced a new feature which may prove to be interesting as the site grows. It's a map of the world and you get to put a pin where you live. If you want to give it a try, go here.
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| 23/10/2002 |
Lots happening! Geezz. So much for what's new. My apologies for not having updated this page for 5 weeks. It certainly does not feel that long.
There has been a lot happening behind the scenes, like Hot-Rod Internet exceeded it's 100Mb limit, so I've had to archive off some of the events pages to geocites sites, check the Hot Rod Album for what's changed. Plus the Swap Meet has gone through the roof, with lots of new ads. 2 interesting ones are a very rare '58 Chev 4 door hardtop and '58 Cusso Ute that the owner wants to sell in the States.
There's a new issue of the ASRF newsletter online, and the Kustoms of Australia little pages. Plus for those that subscribe I've just finished the latest DLRA newsletter.
Managed to get to the Chev Car Club Swap Meet at Sandown and just last Friday, Bay Rodders went to the Lindsay Fox museum, which I'd have to say is definately worth a look.
One of the things that has been ocupying my time was the bombing in Bali. As do a lot of Aussies, we had friends there, both locals and ex-pats that we were very concerned about. But it now seems as though they were lucky, at least in some respects. The following lines of verse were sent to me by a friend and I reckon pretty much sum up my feelings.
You hurt us bombing Bali, but we can take the pain,
But if you think you'll beat us, you can think a-bloody-gain
We battled at Gallipoli and we fought the bloody hun
Of all the arseholes we've had to face, you're just another one
You won't get your hands dirty, you won't fire a gun
Whenever danger threatens you just pack your gear and run
You brainwash innocent children to do your evil deeds
Careful not to let them know just where it really leads
You get them to believe all your bigotry and lying
Until they cannot see that there's no glory in their dying
Now we'd like to pose a question, answer if you can
Where does your holy book tell you to kill your fellow man?
Now listen hard and listen well, we're giving you the word
You're never gonna beat us, you spineless bloody turd
You'd never face us personally, you haven't got the guts
You know that if you ever did we'd have your bloody nuts
Our spirit is unbroken, and our heads are still unbowed
We sure as hell aren't scared of you and your gutless crowd
So get your act together -- you'll never win because
What you're really up against is the spirit that is OZ
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| 08/09/2002 |
Events The events pages have just been updated, looks like the silly season is just around the corner, with events on in most States every weekend from here to Easter. Two new sites worth mentioning are for the Bendigo Swap Meet and the Toowoomba Swap Meet, these are great examples of event sites and full of information for all those attending these events.
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| 19/08/2002 |
Well the results of the ASRF Referendum were finaly published in the ASRF newsletter which was delivered mid August. Members in each State voted in favour, but 2 of the State DC's went against their membership and cast their vote based upon their own personal preferences. I know if I lived in either of those States I wouldn't be too happy with those DC's representing me in the future. Regardless of their own thoughts they are there to represent the membership of their State and should do just that. At least now we are back to the same position we had in 1995 when the allowance of mono constructed vehicles disappeared out of the rulebook.
The EVENTS pages have gone through a revamp, with the events now being sorted by States, hopefully this will make the calendar easier to use. There are still a lot of events that could be listed so why not send in the details of your event now! Thanks to Fred from Pegasus for the details and entry form for the very popular Melbourne Cup Day Swap Meet.
The HRI Benchracing forum is really starting to take off. We now have 32 members and there is new postings daily, so there's always something new to look at. Some of the topics have provided some very lively thought provoking comment and as is the case with most forums, tend to stray a little from the original post, but it certainly makes interesting reading. For any Aussie rodder who want to communicate with his fellow rodders right across Australia, this is the place to be. For those that haven't used a forum before, it's a bit like writing a letter to a magazine, but your message and the replies happen a hell of a lot quicker.
The LINKS PAGES. We get a lot of requests to link to other sites, plus there are new sites appearing daily that are well worth a look. Greg is currently going through another big update to the links pages, so if you've got something to show off send it in now!
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| 15/07/2002 |
The ASRF Referendum on re-instating mono-construction vehicles was held some time ago, we were told that the result was going to be in the July issue of the newsletter. Where is it? If your a member of the ASRF why not call your State Delegate and ask them?
Domain Names, anyone who has a domain name will now be aware that the domain name administration has changed significantly in Australia in the last month. Where there was one (Melb IT) now there are six. To add to this confusion there are a number of re-sellers who are capitalising on peoples lack of knowledge and issuing early bogus renewal notices. They get this information using the "whois" function or one of the several websites that list your domain name and contact details. Most will also try and sell you other domain names like .biz, or .net all of these at inflated prices. They can make up to $100 per domain name that they get. This is money for jam and nothing more than a scam! Be aware and if in doubt contact your webmaster or host to confirm your domain name account.
Under the old registration system it was very difficult to get a .org.au domain name and after several attempts to secure www.dlra.org.au I had all but given up. However under the new administration the rules have changed and it was very easy to finally get it, ever if I did have to pay $59. Watch out for this URL to change soon. The rules have changed for .com.au domain names as well, so now might be a good time to review your domain name purchase. Greg is a Melb It partner and provides a very easy domain name application service, for the same price as what you can do it yourself, so why go through the pain?
Updates to members sites this month include Flat Attack Racing, Klassik Kartoonz, Kustoms of Australia, ASRF and DLRA sites.
Lastly, some of our clients are experiencing fantastic success with their businesses and whilst it is their innovative and quality products that have enabled these deals to be done, they have all indicated to us that their web site has played a small part in their success. Commercial confidentiality precludes us from disclosing who they are, but this is something that we are very proud of and only wish that we could help more hot rod companies by building sites for them. Why not make it something you do for your company this year.
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| 10/06/2002 |
New Bench Racing Forum Greg has been working on a new format for the forum for a couple of weeks and he's come up with something that will make everyone happy. For a start there's no popups, you can add images and there are special threads for engines, construction and registration. The old board will still be around for a couple of weeks and if there are any regulars who want to carry over threads to the new board, now's the time to do it. Check it out at http://www.hot-rod.com.au/benchracing/ |
| 01/06/2002 |
Swap Meet  We have had some major problems with our swap meet in the last few months but hope we now have everything fixed. We have finally updated the cars for sale, parts and wanted sections and removed ads over 2 months old unless we have been notified to readvertise. Many ad requests have come through completely blank so if you do not see your advert appearing now please resend it or contact us. The latest item to go up on the swap meet is this real nice and very rare 1937 Chev Tourer. For more information go to our swapmeet or click on the photo to the right! |
| 01/06/2002 |
Updates Greg has done some updates to the Flat Attack Racing and Klassik sites this week and is half way through a links update. He is also writing his regular column for Larry at Australian Street Rodding this week. Dave has done a few updates at the Castle Auto site. They have their Chev Gen3 looms ready and have one now test driving in an early Holden Panel Van. They have been working on a few other components for these motors as well. They will no doubt start appearing in lots of hotrods soon, especially with them running unleaded and the difficulty in getting decent fuel now. The Castlemaine Rod Shop should have their V12 Merlin powered 55 Chev back any day now so look for some photos and updates on their site soon. Gary at Hoon Auto is working on a new range of T-Shirts and other goodies and also should have his new site up shortly. We would also like to remind people that we both have full time jobs and families and apologise if we have been getting behind lately. This site is a labor of love for us and we will continue to do our best to keep it as up to date as we can. Our family and work committments have to come first (not to mention the occassional rod run or swap meet we try to get to!) and thank our readers for their patience and understanding. |
| 12/04/2002 |
Island State Nationals
Greg has just posted the first photos from Tassie Regional Nationals.
The photos were sent in by Linda Carew. Dave was there and will have some more photos
online soon. It really was a great weekend down in Tassie. |
| 07/04/2002 |
The Street Rod Centre Rod Run
was a great weekend, good weather, lots of old rods, lots of new rods, lots of friends to
talk to. Check out some photos from the Saturday
Show and Shine.
Congratulations to Larry and Mary O'Toole from Graffiti Publications on the publication of the History of Australian
Hot Rodding, launched by no other than Tex Smith in the heart of Castlemaine on the
Saturday morning. If Larry's sore wrist after signing books pre-ordered and purchased on
the day is anything to go by they have another success on their hands. |
| 02/04/2002 |
Well Easter has come and gone, with heaps of events
happening. Dave went to Tassie for the Island State Nationals, so watch out for photos and a story on
that one. I was to go the the Victorian State Nationals at Bendigo, but was called into
work instead. Got to the Easter Nats at Sandown for Sunday afternoon only. Hope to have
some photos of both of these events soon.
Next weekend all hot rods will be in Castlemaine for the big 40th Anniversary celebrations
of the Castlemaine Hot Rod Club, I'll be at the book launch for Larry's "History of
Hot Rodding" on the Saturday morning.
DLRA Speed Trials were conducted over the week of the
11-15th of March. I've just finished the pages for the event complete with reports, fastest times and
photos.
The Rich River Rod Run was held over the 15-17 March
and Dale Peucker who was there has very kindly sent in a story and photos to share. Check
'em out HERE |
| 20/03/2002 |
Defeat of Vehicle Scrappage
Legislation Although this is news from the US it has implications here as well.
"WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 14, 2002) – Car hobbyists and related businesses scored
a major victory yesterday when the U.S. Senate voted to approve an amendment sponsored by
Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO) to remove old car scrappage language from the
“Energy Policy Act of 2002.”
The vehicle scrappage provision (Section 822 of S. 517) would have created a new U.S.
Department of Energy bureaucracy to federally fund state-run scrappage programs for
vehicles over 15 years old. Under the program, owners who turned in vehicles for crushing
would have received a cash payment and a credit toward purchasing a newer vehicle, in an
ostensible attempt to improve the overall fuel economy of the country’s vehicle
fleet. The scrappage provision would have denied automotive aftermarket businesses the
availability of older cars necessary to market products and services. It also threatened
vehicle enthusiasts nationwide with the loss of valuable parts and parts-cars for repair,
restoration, and customization projects." |
| 11/03/2002 |
Well this is the first quiet couple of days we've had this
year! The big event for the weekend was the Wangarrata
Rod Run. We didn't make the trip and it's given us a chance to get a few loose ends
tidied up. Boring but necessary.
The DLRA Speed Trials were nearly called off when
insurance for the event still hadn't been secured by midday last Thursday. Negotiations
had been taking place for several months, seems the problem was with the underwriters.
Prez, Wayne O'Grady, had to actually pull the plug before these guys finally came up with
the goods an hour later. Although I was a late withdrawl, I've arranged for heaps of
photos and maybe a mid week phone call so look for all the news from Lake Gairdner on the DLRA website
Some more news about the Left Hook Monaro, seems Bob Lutz, Chief of North American
operations for GM, has ordered 20,000 of the buggers, to replace the GTO. Just to put this
into perspective, this is 3 times the Aussie production run! Whilst he was here, he also
went for a spin in a Commodore Ute, consequently their on order as well.
Updates for the Engine Centre who have just
released a new range of Nostalgic Creations. These are reproduction petrol bowsers, globes
and brackets. Also gumball machines and novelty clocks. A page for the Narrandera Rod Run
has been created.
See you at Maldon next
weekend or maybe Ballarat at Easter. |
| 25/02/2002 |
Ballarat Swap Meet was
huge, with heaps of bargains, but you had to be there Friday. Lots of complete cars for
sale with what seemed to be very reasonable prices. A '34 Ford Sedan absolutely complete
and in very good condition, 1 guard needing repair $14,000 and a '48 Sedan for $6,000.The
weather was certainly a lot cooler than previous years, making the trip around a bit more
bearable
SACREMENTO AUTORAMA my good US friend Ken Smith was
there and managed to take some great photos of the cars on show, lot of new and
interesting cars to look at. You really have to study these photos as the cars have
received so much work on them, often very subtle changes. NOTE: The full size images are a
bit larger than normal, but worth the wait.
Updates There have been a number of updates over the
last 2 weeks including the EVENTS page, the TOURS
pages with additions for the Ararat Jailhouse Rock Run
and the Wangarrata Rod Run and the LINKS pages have received over another 100 links, thanks to all
those who we've swapped links with! |
| 17/02/2002 |
Route 66 Products has a
very special offer to commemorate the 75th Anniversary with Limited Edition Martin Milner
autographed Route 66 licence plates. Martin Milner starred as Tod Stiles in the TV Show
"Route 66" in his convertible Corvette. He is personally autographing each
licence plate. A must for collectors.
Wheelstanders Greg's been scouring the web for photos
of anything that's standing up on two wheels for a new web site he's building. He's found
some amazing shots obviously from the drag racing scene but also in some of the most
unusual places. Check out this A Model! Actually
there could be another page called "When things go wrong!" There's a lot of
excellent drag racing sites out there and amazingly a lot of stuff from the 60's and 70's,
look for them to be listed soon in the links pages. If you have a favorite wheelstander
why not send it in, especially if it's Australian. Remember the Shaker and the APE?
The New Monaro has generated enormous interest not
just here in Australia, but overseas as well, especially the States where Greg has
received more than a few emails about more information. Seems the Yanks still want a rear
wheel drive performance car. To satisfy this demand he's just put online a site detailing
the history of the Monaro and some great pic's of the new Monaro, so check out the Monaro Shrine. Greg's
big tip is that HSV will start producing left hook Monaros in the not to distant future.
The Nostalgia thing has never been as big as it is
now. But there are still lots of rodders out there who lived it. And a few of the even
took the photos to prove it. We'd very much like to record some of this history and are
very keen to contact any rodder will to lend us their photos while we scan a few.
This weeks Featured Rod is a '55 Chev Hardtop which belongs to Dave
Hall. Dave runs Westernport Exhaust down at Hastings and does some of the cleanest custom
exhaust installations you will ever see. When nobody else will even quote for a job,
Dave's your man. Dave made the headers and exhaust for Greg's Chev and there still going
strong 18 years later. Not a crack or leak anywhere. You only have to look at the work
Dave has done on the Hardtop to appreciate what craftsmanship is. Give him a call 03 5979
1133. |
| 11/02/2002 |
Vale Gray Baskerville
Former HOT ROD Magazine Editor, Gray Baskerville passed away Fri., Feb. 1. Baskerville,
who was retired, was the long-time senior editor of Hot Rod magazine. He is survived by
his wife Susan, daughter Elizabeth, brother David and sister-in-law Susan. No services
will be held. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to your favorite
charity.
Well I managed to get to one end of the Throttlers Cruise and snapped off a few photos at Cranbourne
before the rodders set off in the rain. |
| 04/02/2002 |
Queenscliffe Rod RunGreg
was at the Fort on the Sunday and he managed to get some of the action from this great
event and a new location.Check it out HERE!
Thanks to all those that have sent in links over the last couple of weeks, they're now all
listed in the LINKS pages. See you at the Throttlers Cruise
next weekend. |
| 28/01/2002 |
Well the Victorian Hot Rod Show
has certainly chewed up a bit of our time. Those weeks after Christmas just aren't enough.
For those that couldn't get to the show, Greg's taken over 100 photos, so sit down in
your comfy chair and take-in the next best thing to being there. Good news from the show
is just how strong the hobby is right now, with many new cars and a big club presence, all
great to see.
Good news for us is the interest in hot rod businesses wanting to get on the 'net.
Hopefully over the next 12 months we will get to help some of these. Keep an eye on the members pages.
Greg attended the Australian Street Rod Federation Victorian State DC meeting the other
Friday night to bring them up to date with what's happening with the ASRF web site, also
he made the same offer that's been on the table since day one. If your club or event wants
a page on Hot Rod Internet, just send it in and we'll gladly publish it, FREE of charge.
We'd like to see as many clubs as possible take up this offer. More details here.
Then on the Sunday it was up to Warragul for the Dry Lakes Racers, pre-race meeting for
the 2002 Speed Trials. All
news was good here with Australia now having it's own rule book and lots of interest from
new competitors in going to the salt the first time. There was also a little detour on the
way home for a quick look at Chris Weir's new lakester which will make it's salt debut in
2003. Most notable is the fact that there will be no visitors from overseas this year,
another legacy of Sept 11.
On a lighter note, whilst searching for more new sites to list this last week, I came
across a page on the Hot Rod Magazine
site about their discovery of the humble Holden Ute. Well it's not so humble being a fully optioned V8,
but most amazing (well not for us Aussies) is the interest it generated, have a look at
the chat forum. |
| 06/01/2002 |
Welcome to the New Year
We've been busy updating all the pages at HRI, as well as providing a new look for some of
our old favorites like Greg's
Photo Album, the Readers
Rides, Rods
Under Construction, Diamonds
in the Rough and the Virtual Body Shop. We hope you like 'em. (We actually had to split
them up onto different sites as we were blowing the Geocities 3Gb download limit.)
The Tours Pages have also received a bit of work with new
pages for 12th Annual Picnic in the Park at
Mornington, Surfside Campout at Port Fairy and updates to
many of the tour pages.
The Swap Meet has had many new items added and is
really starting to grow. You couldn't get a better deal to sell your rod or those parts
cluttering up the garage.
The big surprise has been the Bench Session forum. This is
staring to become very popular and is certainly a great way to get some help or tips from
fellow rodders.
What we'd really like to encourage this year is more submissions from some of our fellow
rodders, if you can string together a few words and send in a couple of photos of an event
you've attended, we'll post 'em. Club secretaries take notice! |
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