Hey guys (down in New Zealand).... I was wondering if anyone may have photos of the old Devlin 1940 Ford rod, "Wild Honey". That was such a great piece of machinery, thought you might like to share pics with us all.....
Caceo Have just asked if anyone has pics on the NZ Hot Rod forum. Otherwise KiwiKev or Foreverfour may have some archives. Wild Honey is also immortalised on the back print of NZ Hot Rod Mag t-shirts.
Thanks Rusty I will always remember that car as being the "vehicle" for getting me into hot rods.... It was a classic on the show car scene and I often wonder what happpened to it...
No pictures but I remember often drooling over it outside Autoparts on a Saturday morning. It was one hell of a car
Thanks rustyduece. Caceo- I know the feeling. Over here I saw Con Mantzaris' 'Rhapsody in Blue' duece when I was about ten. Gone.
YUk,. mustache-eod men in short shorts with deep tufted running boards and sheepskin in their pipes. It was hard to believe anyone could do that to a 40 vert then. Here's a pic of Miss Horowhenua in the Pink Panther from Kete Horowhenua
I've lost my Pics of Wild Honey but I rode in it quite a bit when my mate owned it about 34 years ago, ( Graham Somerville) .it was pretty sad by then with a Y block but still had plenty of credibility ( I suppose you could call it that ) .It had some really crap work underneath and I vaguely remember bits of wood being used to support the trans. It was just red then. I last "saw " it around 1980 when I went back to NZ for visit. It was actually pictured in a Welding company poster advert ,at least the body on a chassis was, with a couple of guys welding on a dirt floor. For those who think the wool in the pipes was bad,consider this,it was built from a nice original 1940 Convertible! .
I remember the car well. I made many parts for it while i was an apprentice. Drag link , Tie rod, pedals , Exhaust flanges etc. It was made from a nice 40 deluxe convertible, sold at Farmers Car Sales Princess St. Dunedin for 150 pound.
"Rhapsody In Blue" is currently owned by a guy from the Thunderbirds club here in Melbourne. It was repainted a very poxy yellow in the 80's,and driven - About ten years ago it was pulled off the road for a rebuild......... The engine was sold to one bloke,the rest of the running gear to another,the chrome suspension to another. Parts from it went everywhere. The current owner has copped a lot of shit from people about not "saving" the car,but it was fairly well rooted by the mid 90's. There is a pic of it as it looks now (in bare metal) in ASR's coverage of the "75th anniversary of the Deuce" held in Castlemaine in '07. It should be back on the road in around 12 months,but about the only part that could be saved from the original car was the cowl! We sold the top and the last pieces of upholstery at Sandown swap meet a couple of years ago. They were the only remaining parts of the original "show car" version. Cheers,PJ
There were some great cars coming out of Australia and N.Z. in those days. I say this, rememebring that the sport was different in those days, and not as "advanced" as it is now... But, even though people tend to think of these as rudimentary or crude, the way of building was different then... Thanks for the photo/s and some memories... (And talking of Australia, what about Joe (???) and his marvellous FX running a fuel injected 289....)
Wild Honey was the wildest show car in New Zealand in the 1960's. Here are some scans from old New Zealand Hot Rod magazines and the awesome book about the early days of NZ hot rodding "Looking Back II"...........
It bet you felt like the king of the world driving that thing around New Zealand in the 60's. Talk about a head turner!
I first saw it in 1967 at the Autorama show in Christchurch. That was my favourite incarnation, primer and flathead. I had my channeled 34 coupe there (first Looking Back), which I had repainted and reupholstered, and I felt positively deflated when I set eyes on Wild Honey. The bar was set, and it was too high for me!
I may be able to find more photos if you are interested. Incidentally, Wild Honey has been heavily modified again and features a blown BB Chev and Southern 500 style wheels. Chris "Starry" Malcolm and Pete "Buck" Rodgers are very keen to build a clone of Wild Honey. They should do okay as they just finished Vandal. See Vandal link here: http://www.nz-hotrod.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=3562&page=1&pp=10
I remember Vandal Well,a mate at the time owned another old show car," Purple Haze". It broke down so it was stripped for a 'rebuild',and as Far as I remember it stayed that way. It was pretty cool riding around in Wild Honey and I remember a mates mum calling it ' that funny old sports car...' We drove it over for a show at Shore city shopping center. It wasn't entered but created a big stir outside the show..Can't remember what year it was,early to mid 70's I think. I hear a few years ago someone had installed a BBC ,so if it hasn't returned to the road,it probably never will.
that's the one.... neat car..well done... I remember drooling over this when I first saw it in "Custom Rodder"
Wild Honey has been owned by an old mate of mine Paul since the early eighties [81-82].He didn't get a lot of the original Wild Honey, just a badly damaged body that had been sandblasted by the previous owner,and i think there was a chassis as well.Its Pauls car,he's building it his way with the help of some rodding mates, its looking good and he's hanging out to do some skids.It is Wild Honey,different but it was saved from being scrap metal.Come on Paul,I wanna go for a ride.
It would be great to get an update. I saw it in a shed in Papakura, in bits around 30 years ago, often wondered what had become of it.
Good to read its still here, and Pauls doin a great job. Body looks a lot like original still. Been a few years since pics were posted. Would love to see some updated pics.
looking at the pics ,I can handle the blown BB Chev,the Arrow wheels ,the 57 dash...even the high back seats...but the jap lookin centre consol ...meh..
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