A TASTE OF HONEY
POSSESSED from an early age, probably best describes Chris “Starry” Malcolm’s obsession with Wild Honey. His younger brother Dave describes how their shared bedroom walls in Rotorua in the late ‘60s were plastered with photos and pinups of Wild Honey and other hot rods of the time. Fast forward 50 years, and his bedroom wall is adorned with a large fabric print of that same old car .“What does your wife think of that, Chris?”….. Chris explains that she is very, very tolerant.
A lot of water had passed under the bridge before he thought of building a Wild Honey tribute car. Chris was an early member of Oceanside Street Rods in Mount Maunganui and at the time owned a bright red 1938 Ford Sedan that carted the family around to various rodding events. Next was the “Nebraska Nightmare”, which was a standout ‘37 Ford Cabriolet. A ‘32 Roadster with a yellow and purple colour scheme is featured on the front cover of the June 1995 issue of NZHRM. By the time the Buck Rodgers restoration of the T-bucket Vandal came about, he had shifted to the US. It was during the rebuild of Vandal that the thought of a Wild Honey tribute car was kicked around. Buck and Chris discussed the idea on numerous occasions, but the difficulty of finding a ‘40 Convertible in New Zealand was probably the stumbling block.
The Malcolm family moved to the US in 1999 and settled in Pleasanton, home of the Goodguys West Coast Hot Rod Nationals and close to the San Francisco Bay area. Even before they had settled into a life of normality,
