By Craig, “Splitpin” Houston
A FEW years ago, Tim Garrett from
Cambridge was asking around if anyone
knew of a jailbar pickup which was
for sale and it had to be a runner.
At the time I had been working on
one, and it just so happened
the owner had another one in
his shed at home in Raurimu.
It’d been parked up for
years and was a dead stock
version which hadn’t been
running for several years.
A “barn find” if you like.
Graeme, the owner, didn’t
really want to part with it but
after I hassled him for a few
months, he reluctantly agreed
to let it go. So it was pulled
out of the shed, a battery and
some new fuel were put in
it, and it fired up like it had
been running when it was
parked up years before.
An agreement between Graeme and
Tim was made, and the truck was
transported back to its new home in
Cambridge. It was decided to get it’s
rego up to scratch so a bit of rust repair
took place and the paint was touched
up to make it look like the rest of the
truck. Repair certs were completed then
it was registered and back on the road
to be used as a driver. A very happy
new owner and it was great to see
another survivor car back on the road.
While the repairs were being
attended to Tim did a bit of research
and found out the truck had been
used in the war up in Clevedon at the
garage. After the war, it was used inthe orchids in Clevedon for many a
year before it ended up at Graeme’s.
A few months later, Tim decided to
give it some faded artwork, so Wozz was
commissioned to put the army graphic’s
on the doors and hood. If you know
the pickup scene in Cambridge you
will know there is a bit of competition
to have the most horsepower in the
truck which you own as opposedto the other ones and after a couple
of years of cruising around in the
pickup and always being the last to
arrive the old flathead “had to go”.
Tim wanted the pickup to look
exactly like it did so another chassis
was found and purchased and the boys
at Cambridge Panel lead by
Daigo and with Tim’s help put
together a replacement frame
with XJ6 jag front and rear
suspension to smooth out the
ride. A 454 Chev motor was
purchased along with all the
necessary blower parts and
sent down to Steve Hildred in
New Plymouth to put together
the 671 blown big block.
This was attached to the
frame with a turbo 350 behind
it to connect it to the Jag rear
end. A set of American Racing
wheels were purchased from
the states, and then the body
was taken off the original
truck and transferred to the “new”
frame. The truck was then certed.
The complete old frame was taken
to Kumeu and sold to help take
the burden off Tim’s wallet. Now
he can keep up with all his mates
by having gobs of horsepower on
tap and if you get to pull up next
to this “old” truck at the lights be
afraid. He will blow your doors off.64 > NZ HOT ROD AUGUST 2019