to tick all the boxes for a career change for
the Johnsons. “We went to our first owners
meeting in Sydney in ’97 and the franchise
owner said: ‘Erik, we have a 1964 Fairlane
bash car and are not sure what to do with it.’
I got excited immediately, and in the past 20
years have upgraded and added extra cars to
the fleet for bash events, rebuilding everything
and speccing them all up with proper rollcages
and the like. We have an XW sedan, an XY
wagon and an XW ute, and I prepare them
each year to participate in many of the bash
events. This is serious fun, and I’m just very
fortunate that it’s something Just Cuts has
enabled us to do. Grant Denyer has been the
face of Just Cuts for some time, and that’s him
at the front guard of the sedan on the far left.”
06: ERIK loves his ’56 Cussos and Mainlines –
and still owns the beautifully original Mainline
that appeared in last issue’s Snap Shots – but
wanted something he could mess around with.
“I didn’t want a good one, as the plan was to
build a patina-style shop truck painted in my
parents’ Marulan Motors livery,” he explains. “I
found this one in 2009 running a fresh Clevo
and C4 combo but with fairly questionable
bodywork, so it was perfect. My son Casey
aged the paintwork and did all of the
signwriting to get the visuals sorted. The plan
was to take it to Busselton in 2010 for the Hot
Rod Nationals, but my wife Terri said there’d
be ‘no Nullarbor Plain without air con’, so in it
went! It also has power steering, a heater and
four-wheel discs, so it’s a beaut cruiser. It’s a
regular driver too, and also tows around our
Model A five-window coupe.”07: ERIK really wanted an original old American
hot rod; not a car made to look like one, so
he bought this Model A coupe back in 2012.
“It was built as a hot rod back in the late 50s/
early 60s,” he says. “I have traced its history
back to ’99, so I’m still researching its earlier
years.” The ’30 cuts a wicked profile and runs
a 1953 Merc donk that has been rebuilt and
worked, and it cuts plenty of laps at events
like the Drag-Ens Hot Rod Club’s Rattletrap at
Crowdy Head. “It’s nothing flash, but is original
and lots of fun,” Erik says.08: THIS 1968 Ford Mustang coupe, owned
by Erik’s wife Terri, has covered a mere 69,000
miles since it rolled off the production line, and
has been in the couple’s possession since- Owned for many years by a lady in
Redondo Beach, California, the car had already
been converted to right-hook when bought
the Johnsons, who are its fourth owners. The
matching-numbers 302 Windsor and factory
AM radio are still in place, while the original
build sheet is tucked away safely.
09: THIS cool-looking 2000 Ford F150 pick-up
is a Harley-Davidson limited-edition model that
Erik purchased in 2006. The special model was
a popular collaboration between two giants of
the US automotive industry and was continued
for a number of years. “It was a really nice truck
and I kept it until 2016,” Erik says. “My current
runaround is a 2008 F250 with a 6.4-litre
Power Stroke twin-turbo diesel engine. Towing
with that thing is a dream for the nostalgia
drags and the like, but I just can’t seem to kick
the whole concept of hauling cars around and
owning a diesel truck!” s7
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