He reckons if it's got four wheels you can stick a V8 engine in it.
'That's why my next project is to put a V8 in a mobility scooter and drive that around the shops,” says Greig Covell of the Tauranga Street Machines and Customs Car Club.
For someone who doesn't know a grease nipple from a head gasket, he's joking me isn't he?
Yes, Greig may be in his mid-60s but there's still a bit of the boy, a bit of the devil, the larrikin, in this man. But tomorrow he will be very respectfully parked up in his fully--restored 1939 Ford Deluxe at the club anniversary bash which is held in conjunction with the Greerton Village Cherry Blossom Festival. And he will sharing stories – car stories, engine stories with anyone and everyone who wants to listen.
'There's always someone who learned to drive in a 1939 Ford,” says Greig. 'One elderly woman told me her boyfriend taught her to drive in one, and they started in Queen St.” Imagine that. A V8 with no power steering and no power brakes and your first time behind the wheel in Auckland's Queen St.
And this story from a one-armed man, admittedly all licensed up, but who gallivants around Tauranga in the very same two-ton beast of a car with a stick shift. 'I never think about it.”
He was involved in an accident between two motorbikes at Pyes Pa 46 years ago. One man lost his life, Greig lost his right arm.
He asked authorities if he had to do anything special to drive a car. No, was the answer. But if he had an accident he would have to prove he was capable of driving. 'No accidents but been stopped a few times since,” says Greig. However no questions asked and so no explanation required.
He says it's interesting that in 1971 when he had the accident there were 800 road deaths – three times the number last year – and 200 of those involved motorcycles. Anyhow, the accident put an end to motorbikes for Greig. 'So I thought the only way to replicate the thrill was to put a big motor in a little car,” says the pragmatist.
He turned to rebuilding and restoring cars, which has its frustrations for a one-armed man. 'Things don't turn out, you break things and things take a lot longer. But there's always a way.”
He went to night school to learn panel beating. 'The tutor saw me come in and later admitted he didn't know what the hell he was going to do with me.”
He learned panel beating but he should have learned patience. 'If you lose a limb, learn patience.” This from a man who wanted to do stuff that mostly requires two arms – like welding, building engines, panel beating and stuff. 'Patience is one of life's lessons, and I can assure you it didn't happen for quite a few years.”
Some of the old members of the Street Machines and Customs Car club had a mantra – speed, danger, death. 'Some of us still live by it,” says Greig. 'Drag racing, a bit of club stuff, 120 to 130 mph through the traps. That gets the old ticker pumping still.” They get younger as they get older.
But tomorrow, at the club's anniversary bash in Chadwick Rd, the hand brake will be on. Greig will be telling stories about his two tons of 1939 Ford Deluxe, the 20 miles to the gallon, 10-year restoration project.
'There were houses to build and kids to raise and everything else went on the back burner.” It was nowhere near street legal so he decided to take the body off the chassis and start from scratch. 'That's always dangerous.” But now it's pretty much original. And it's a fine relic from an era of fine motor cars.
'No brakes though. Takes you half an hour to stop. Unless you panic and it's both feet on the pedal and you can stop sooner.”
So what's the association between street cars and cherry blossom? 'We were looking for a home for our show and the Greerton Cherry Blossom Festival provided the opportunity and venue. It has worked very well for both of us.”
And what's the attraction of street machines and custom cars? 'Don't know – perhaps they're for people who have no interest in technology, like me.” He would rather listen to the purring of a V8 to the whirring of a hard drive.
The club's expecting up to 100 cars at the bash tomorrow. 'We will cram them in as long as they are hot rods or home built. We want to protect the integrity of the event,” says Greig.
There's a fundraising auction for the local primary school and Al Dawson and the Wildkatz will provide the ambience. 'Well-known hot rod music. Good old rock and roll and a whole heap of groupies.”
The Street Machines and Customs Car Club's ‘show ‘n shine' is on rain or shine at the Greerton Village square, Chadwick Rd, between 10am and 2pm tomorrow. Entry to the site is off Greerton Rd from 9am.
For more information email tim@roadrunner-starters.com or contact Tim on 07 552 6666 or Greig on 07 543 0803.