SNAP SHOTS
STORY SIMON MAJORW
ITH 50 years in the car scene
tucked under his belt, Erik
Johnson has seen trends
come and go and then come
back again! Last issue we took you for a spin
through Erik’s early years of hot car building;
this time ’round we pick up the trail in the 70s
and ride on through to enjoy a few examples
of his current fleet.01: IN 1975 Erik forked out $3000 for this 1969
XW GT, an early build running a 351 Windsor
and Top Loader combo. “I worked with a guy
who had a mate at the local motor registry,” Erik
says. “When the HOT prefix series of standard
number plates came to Wagga, he put aside
HOT350 for my mate and HOT351 for me;
there was no such thing as personalised plates
back in those days so it was the best $6 we
ever spent! Those plates went on a few cars,
including our gold XD Fairmont Ghia, which
was stolen from the Parramatta Speedway in
1992; it only ran a stock 302 so I hope those
crooks were gravely disappointed! We had the
plates reissued and they now live on my sonCasey’s XR Falcon. As for the XW GT, I sold
it for $3500 and felt on top of the world for
making an easy $500; if only I still had it now.”02: BY 1985, family and work commitments
had left Erik with little in the way of spare time,
so he bought this chopped ’35 Ford sedan off
well-known SA rodder John Bryant. Erik added
the Center Line Indy Champ wheels to boost
the visuals, which along with a stout 350 Chev
made for a great-looking and reliable family hot
rod. But old habits die hard: “I couldn’t help
myself; I raced it at the 1988 ASRF Street Rod
Drags held at Calder and won the national title
for the 14-15.99sec class. It ran consistent
14.50s and I pretty much bluffed my way
through all of the rounds,” Erik laughs. “The
damage was done and I wanted to go faster.”03: SOON after the win at Calder in the ’35,
Erik had the go-fast bug again and started
shopping around for something tougher. “I
purchased this 1932 Ford roadster with a
high-performance 427 big-block Chev for
power, backed by a Muncie four-speed andnine-inch. It was built by members of the
Drag-Ens club but was a fresh car on the
scene when I bought it. I swapped out the
wire wheels for early Ford steelies and ran an
11.90@121mph best. It was registered and
did plenty of street miles, and the only change
for the track was some cheater slicks. I sold it
in 1997 after having plenty of fun.”04: ERIK Johnson Transport was running
a fleet of six trucks by 1993, with this Ford
Louisville the pride of the fleet. “I was pretty
much office-bound by this stage – as happens
when businesses grow – managing the work
and drivers, but often yearned to get back
out on the road. The 1989 F150 was my
personal work truck, which I bought in 1990
with 16,000 kays on the clock. It was an
ex-police bull-wagon running an injected 302
on straight gas. It was a great all-rounder and
I kept it for 16 years!”05: ERIK sold the trucking business in the
mid-90s, and Just Cuts opened a store in
his local shopping complex, which seemedERIK JOHNSON
WAGGA WAGGA, NSW
1423