The History
Once upon a time, the hot rod subject wasn’t so divided or defined as it is today. Looking back on New Zealand’s automotive history, hot rodding was the catalyst for many motorsport genres. Take the late Garth Souness, for example, the Auckland car salesman who raced stock cars in the fifties based around old pre-war Ford coupes and sedans at Gloucester Park and Epsom showgrounds. As you delve into the history of Garth, all kinds of names pop up, from the Ferabend Brothers to Johnny Riley and Red Dawson, not to mention the late Louie Antonievich. These guys were all hot rodders in the purest sense, taking cars and stripping them of their weight, hopping up engines and seeing how fast it would all go. Simpler times and pioneering days of rodding and racing and everything in between.
Some of these guys, including Garth, then went road racing at Ardmore and Pukekohe Raceway – again with mostly pre-war Ford coupes. In fact, the Ferabends fitted a 283 Chev to a Deuce five-window for Garth Souness’ introduction to racing on tarmac in the early sixties. Like all red-blooded gearheads, the addiction to going faster grew, and as the saloon car racing evolved, so did a plan to push the boundaries in the All Comers Saloon Car class. The late Garth Souness (the wallet) and the late Glenn “Jigger” Jones (the wrench) and co were about to create quite the Monster! A 1955 Ferrari Super Squalo Grand Prix car was raced as a Ferrari F1 team car and then sold to an English privateer Peter Whitehead who brought it to New Zealand and then sold it to Tom Clark. After racing here in New Zealand, the unwanted and unloved old fourcylinder Grand Prix car, minus its engine, sat languishing at Johnny Riley’s car yard. It was here where many a night was spent socialising, and it is common knowledge that after a few adult beverages were consumed, it was decided that the old Ferrari Grand Prix chassis would be an
