ONE of New Zealand's most historic hot rods is heading back to the road after gathering dust for 50plus years. This Model A has, for the past sixty years, been referred to as ‘Taf Mathie's Roadster’ after he swapped a motorcycle for it in 1957. It was very likely a hot rod before Taf's ownership. When he bought it, it was red, fenderless and 4-banger powered.
It went through several phases. Fenderless, fendered, bobbed fenders, all the while being Taf's main form of transportation. Soon after he took ownership, Taf was offered a '34 Ford chassis for free, and he and a mate, both on pushbikes, managed to haul the chassis home! At which point, the 4-banger was biffed in favour of a flathead V8, and the Model A body fitted to the crudely modified
