Story & photoS: Al o’tooleCraig lockhart is known for building killer hot rods
and has been doing so for many years from his shop in
south east Queensland, east Coast race Cars.
Starting out as an apprentice mechanic in the bush,
Craig taught himself how to weld and then enrolled
in classes to further hone his skills in fabrication and
panel beating, all while working as a mechanic at a
holden dealership. he built Falcons and toranas in
his younger days, just fun cars that he could take to
Summernats with his mates. he then stepped things
up a notch with a very nice XC Falcon ute before
moving from Dubbo to south east Queensland and
opening his own shop.
Before too long Craig’s work became in demand
and the need for more space saw him relocate to his
current location in 2005. even since then the shop has
grown and sheds have been extended to accommodate
all the work that his skills attract.
Craig’s passion is for traditional early Ford hot
rods but he does all sorts of work ranging from
full restorations to fabrication on drag cars, street
machines, street rods and almost everything in
between.
Since getting involved in hot rodding, Craig has
collected a terri c range of desirable early cars and
parts for himself, but in order to work on his own
projects, he often has to take holidays from the
business to get anything done. A good sign I guess!
Graham parsons owns this small block Ford
powered Deuce roadster but it has a long history in
Aussie rodding having originally lived in Victoria. It
was in the shop to get a freshen up and some more
traditional changes completed when we visited but
has since left to have work done elsewhere.
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