REDLINE FEVER

Tauranga’s Mike Guy is one of those blokes who always seems to have a car on the go, and, over the years, he has owned — and usually built — a mind-blowing number of cool ones, starting with a ’41 Ford pickup at just 17 years of age. The pickup was followed by a plethora of vehicles, with the usual V8 Holdens plus some Pommie stuff: a couple of V8 Vauxhall Victors, a V8 Capri, and a scratch-built V8-powered A40 pickup with the tunnel-rammed 327 from one of his Mk3 Z-cars. Mike’s pretty fond of Chevs too, having owned a ’65 Impala, a ’79 Camaro Z28, and ’55 and ’57 Bel Airs, along with the ’56 Chev 150 he still owns. There have also been a few US Fords, including a couple of T-buckets, a ’55 F100, and a ’32 Tudor.

If it’s low, loud, and V8 powered, Mike would probably love to own it. It’s an obsession that started back in the early ’80s, when Mike first spotted a super-low (for the day) brown and black Ford Bonus that used to lurk around the Hutt Valley. Built in the South Island in the ’70s, the little pickup was tiny inside thanks