This club prides itself on its easy, laid-back atmosphere, vehicle diversity, and lack of rules, being a place where friends can be made for life. When it comes to the car scene in Canterbury, Cantabs are spoilt for choice when it comes to clubs. No matter whether your interests lie in hot rods, vintage tin, or single-brand models, the district has got you covered. With the Canterbury area being as vast as it is, club nights can involve a fair amount of travel if you live north of the Waimakariri River, and, over the years, several clubs have sprung up to cater for the North Canterbury region. In 1986, Graham Coates, or Grimm as he is better known, along with friends Rodney Cullen and Peter Childs, hit on the idea of forming a club in Rangiora to cater for hot rods and custom vehicles. Putting an ad in the local paper to gauge interest resulted in 25 people showing up at the Rangiora Cricket Club for the first meeting, which came as a pleasant surprise.
The first year saw the club run under the banner of the ‘North Canterbury Rod and Kustom Club’ but it was later shortened to its current name, as the group thought the original name was too long. Over the years, meetings were held at the Southbrook clubrooms and later at the Town and Country Club. Talking to Graham about the earlier years, he still has many fond memories of those days, remembering the club’s first run out to nearby Oxford, where it snowed. Another memory was how active the club was with its involvement in interclub runs. “I can remember helping out with the 1994 Hot Rod Nationals in Christchurch,” Graham recalls. “We arranged the grasskhana, which was a lot of fun.”
Something that the club prides itself on
