Thread: Rod Hadfeild, a man and his cars,

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I thought that you guys might enjoy a bit of Aussie flavour.
One of Australias best known HotRodders is a man called Rod Hadfeild,
In this thred i will try and post up as many of his cars as i can find, be prepared to be left with your jaw pointing towards the ground
the first car i will post is his 55 chev. The video speaks for itself.
Rods 55
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIj2G...ayer_embedded#!
heres some info,
http://www.hotrodhotline.com/feature...er/05hadfield/


This artical is a few years old now, but it will tell you a bit more about the car.

THE WORLD'S most powerful street registered car, with 3000-plus horsepower from its supercharged V12 aero engine, will make its international public debut in Canberra for Summernats 16 in early January.

The machine is called Final Objective and is the culmination of five years of work by Australia's premier street rod builder Rod Hadfield at his Castlemaine Rod Shop.

The 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air Sports Coupe has been a labour of love, sweat and gears for the vastly experienced Hadfield, who aims to have the Guinness Books of Records officially verify the car's status within the next six weeks.

After leaving Canberra, Final Objective will begin its touring schedule which is certain to take it and its owner, plus its custom-made trailer and merchandise, all around the world.

Particularly eager to see the completed car are street rod show promoters in the US, because Hadfield has tapped a rich vein of aviation heritage by using the same engine that powered the famous Lancaster bomber, and the Spitfire and Mustang fighters.

It's an extraordinary machine in every detail, with the task of making it street registerable providing its own set of challenges and bureaucratic red tape.

"We bought the car back in '89 and started collecting the bits we needed from then on; I scoured the swap meets, on the Internet and spent hours on the phone to the States hunting down specialist parts," Hadfield said.

He chose a Chev because from a promotional perspective, the popularity of that car and particular model in the US is unsurpassed. Taking the car on tour Stateside was always a primary goal in order to recoup the enormous time and costs in building The Final Objective.

"No car creates as much universal interest as a 1955 Chev two door. If you're a street rodder, that's everybody's dream car," Hadfield said.

"And the Rolls Royce Merlin is one of the world's most famous engines.

"We wouldn't be a free country today if not for the Rolls Royce Merlin," he added. He secured the rare engine as a spare from a Melbourne race boat called "Aussie Connection".

He started the project using a non-supercharged engine and then switched to forced induction when a suitable unit became available about five years ago.

Trying to find a gearbox which would handle the power was the first problem. He uses a Lenco that's customised from a Top Fuel drag car.

"We had to hand-make almost everything on the car, from the headlights back."

The V12 engine fits in the engine bay in a reverse direction. Since there was no fan belt drive off the enormous Merlin the aircraft, of course, didn't need them so all the necessary brackets and ancillaries had to be designed and carefully modified to fit.

He took the car for its first drive up and down his own driveway two years ago "just to prove the concept and the conversion".

"With all the stress and the strain and anguish of the building process, it was a relief to hear it running," he said.

"We had to get a permit to drive the car on the road and prove that what we'd done would work as a street car, then we had to pull it apart again and detail it.

"There are some silly people out there building cars that detail and paint as they're going along; what if you had to change something?"

And as expected, the bureaucrats in Victoria didn't exactly warm to the idea of a machine this awesome being given a rego sticker and licence plates. "I wrote them [Vicroads] a letter explaining what the car was about, what it was for, and didn't pull any punches," he said.

When the engineers wrote back saying they didn't think the car would be eligible for registration, Hadfield went straight to the top. He wrote direct to the office of the Minister for Transport stating his case.

"I explained that I'd been knocked back for rego on a car they hadn't even looked at and I think once they realised how serious I was about this project and that I wasn't going to go away, that seemed to get things happening," he said.

After the engineers visited his shop to see the car and picked their jaws off the floor they had to approve it.

"Why couldn't they? Just because it's got 3000 horsepower doesn't mean it's not safe," Hadfield said.

"It's not as though this engine has been plonked into some flimsy little chassis. This is a very strong construction.

"It's got huge power disc brakes and six pot calipers off a Pontiac Trans Am race car, power steering, windscreen wipers, headlights, treaded road tyres, seat belts, heater demisters, indicators everything you'd expect in a road car. Even a horn." He hasn't yet cruised through Castlemaine in Final Objective and he'll be sure that when he does, it'll be a very cautious outing.

"Crikey, if you flattened the throttle in her, you'd change lanes. It's got a torque output that's almost immeasurable."

And just like the Mustang of old, the starting procedure is extremely complicated. Firing up the Chev sounds more like an excerpt from a Biggles book.

"It almost takes a pilot's licence to start it," he said.

"It's no different to starting an aeroplane; you have to turn on the pumps, prime it, get fuel pressure and oil pressure up, set your idle mixtures to full rich, open the air bleeder, prime the fuel as the engine turns and boost the starting coils together until she fires up."

The cranking is achieved by a heavy duty starter motor from a Ford truck.

And the power output is an estimate only. Hadfield says that "by the time we monkeyed around with it in the workshop" the real numbers were likely to be much more "but we'll never know for sure".

Five years of full-time construction, six days a week with one or two people working on it means that the build cost is incalculable. As yet there's no insured value, either.

The air-brush paint job alone is a masterpiece, the colour scheme "borrowed" from a Mustang P51 fighter. Each of the 7000 rivets is hand-painted, every single one tape-masked and redefined four times. The painting process alone took six months by Marty Everitt, from Alphabet Signs in Melbourne.

"Marty imaged a Mustang plane on to the car, the shape of the wings, the machine guns and incorporated every tiny detail."

The colours chosen for the car are the same as those used for the D-Day invasion of Normandy when on the night before the event, the rear fuselage of every aircraft which was involved in the invasion had to be painted in a specific stripe pattern otherwise it would be shot down.

The striking blue nose belongs to one of the world's most famous and successful US Mustang fighter groups of World War II the 352nd popularly known as the Blue Bastards.

If there is any interest,
I will post more of Rods cars up in this thred over the next few days, there are quite a few of them. lots of them are different from what you would see any other day.
cheers barnsey
cheers barnsey

Barnsey thanks for the post. What a machine

Keep them coming.
Rod is a legend.
Remember reading about him way back in the early/mid '60's.

Rod hadfield's Ardun headed T coupe video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez0Ly-pUpeY

need to put up the twin blown t coupe

Twin blown coupe will be comming soon lol

Rod Hadfield's Warman Special

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RSwqW96dQc&feature=fvw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AMJJ...eature=related

ok here's the T Coupe with the twin blown shotgun

Rods HotRod Lincoln







I will put some more up tomorrow night. I will leave you with his hemi coupe. it was built a long time ago and still looks the same today, but these days has a new owner.
cheers barnsey

cheers barnsey

this has just given me a thought. maybe we could do a thread on aussie builders?

Originally Posted by spikeo

this has just given me a thought. maybe we could do a thread on aussie builders?

sounds good to me, we have some great builders in this country, it would be nice to share them with the world.
barnsey

Simply amazing! The 55 is NUTS, and the rest you posted are just as nice. Please do continue to post not only his stuff, but the ones from other Aussie builders. We Americans know little about what you guys down there do, so it would be great to get a glimpse into your world.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to share all of those, Barnsey.

Don

Another side of Rod

One of Australia's best known Rodders, Rod Hadfield, is also one of the founding fathers of DLRA. Rod smiles anytime Salt Lake Racing is mentioned. Every year, Rod and his wife Carol, dedicate enormous amounts of time and effort to Speedweek, both as participants and organisers.




Rod is the only member of the DLRA to have raced at every DLRA meeting and the first DLRA racer to become a member of the 200 mph club.



In 2000, he was a member of the Aussie Assalt team. With John Lynch and Leigh Fielder, Rod raced at the 50th Anniversary of Bonneville USA.


On Rods first trip to Lake Gairdner, Australia (1990), he took his flamed 28A Roadster. "The Castlemaine Kid" was originally built for the drag strip but achieved 147.7 mph on it maiden salt voyage. The Castlemaine Kid can still be seen racing with Rod at the wheel at Cruizin's Nostalgia drag meets.



Not content with one car, he raced two cars at the salt the following year! The flamed roadster raced again with a 168.07mph pass. The other car was the "The Salt Shaker" - a Lakester that had been converted from a rear engine rail. The Lakester's top speed in 1991 was 172.89 mph. At the same meet, during a high speed pass, the front axle broke causing the Lakester to roll repeatedly. The wreck looked look an aircraft crash site. Amazingly Rod survived - he had smashed both wrists and a few ribs. But nothing stops Rod!




1992 saw the lake under water and the event cancelled, but in 1993, Rod was back!


In 1993, Rod raced the roadster, and in 1994 he again raced the Lakester (rebuilt). The 1995 version of the Lakester included a 488ci CRS Rodent Engine - his own engine designed and built by Castlemaine Rod Shop. This combination saw Rod become Australia's first 200 mph club member.


When the Lakester was retired, it proudly hung from the roof of Rod and Carol's museum in Castlemaine for many years. Rod is currently building a massive new museum and all of his car collection, including his Salt Racers, will soon be on display again.


On to the next project - Rod purchased a Bonneville 53 Studebaker coupe from the States. After a heap of modifications, it was on its way to the Salt. The best the Studebaker ran was 212.244 mph. I remember this car wildly fish tailing at high speed with the chute out - spectacular! It was the Studebaker that Rod took to the 50th anniversary of Bonneville in the States. Rod sold the Studebaker to John and Debbie Dawson to make way for the "Bronze Aussie".



Rod had wanted an all Aussie car running a world record. Holden liked the idea and donated a Commodore body. Murray Anderson built the chassis. Rod and the guys at Castlemaine Rod Shop assembled the purpose built Salt car. Christened the "Bronzed Aussie" it became the unofficial DLRA flagship. This car would have to be one of the most sophisticated and best engineered cars in Australia. The Bronze Aussie has had two pilots, Rod Hadfield and Rod's good mate Lionel West. Lionel West works for Castlemaine Rod Shop and has been heavily involved with all of Rod's racing projects. With a 540ci Donovan powerplant and a motec system monitoring every move, Rod attained a record of 259.067 mph.




Unfortunately this year the Bronze Aussie had an oil fire that exploded a nitros bottle, and destroyed the front of the car. The damage bill is about $150,000. The fact that Rod survived is a testament to the quality of the engineering that went into the Bronze Aussie.





If Rod's next Salt Lake Racer is not ready for Speedweek 2007, the guys of Big Knob Racing have invited Rod to take the controls of the Big Knob's 34 Roadster for his annual high speed cruise across the lake.

Here is a little bit of history about Rod.
this story composed by . Norm Hardinge Big Knob Racing.
http://www.aussiedesertcooler.com.au/rodhadfield.htm

Rod Hadfield

Rod Hadfield’s desire to build custom machines began when his grandfather handcrafted a model of a ’30’s open wheel sprint car and gave it to him as a child. Rod inherited his grandfather’s eye for proportion and design and has built cars all of his life. As a young man Rod Hadfield began building customized cars out of his garage, at age 16 Rod had already started building his first hot rod - a blown Y block powered 1934 Ford. In 1975 Rod moved to Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia with his wife Carol and opened “The Castlemaine Rod Shop”. Carol has had a major role in Rod’s success in the automotive industry and was even office manager at the shop while Rod looked after the workshop and 18 employees. They did any type of automotive customizing that was requested. Rod’s desire was to create customized cars of extraordinary power and design. The first conversion from the Castlemaine Rod Shop was a 1600 Datsun four speed gearbox to Rod's father's FB ute. Interest evolved from that swap and soon Rod was fitting them to other makes and models.


Rod has built many top cars over the years including;

- a 1934 Ford Coupe (winning every event that a car of that time could)

- a V8 powered FJ Holden
- a supercharged and fuel injected Chevrolet powered Zephyr

- a chopped top Ford Anglia

- a '55 Chevrolet Tudor

- a '68 Chevrolet Camaro

- a '67 Chevrolet step side pickup

- a chopped top EK 454 Chevrolet panel van

- a 1919 T Coupe powered by a twin supercharged 429 shotgun motor

- a ’55 Chevrolet powered by a Packhard Merlin 27 litre V12 painted like a P51 Mustang (the aircraft the motor was from)

- a ‘A model Ford pickup powered by a V12 Lincoln side valve motor

- and the list goes on......

In 2004 Rod and Carol sold the business which during that period had manufactured well over 2000 products distributed Australia wide and overseas. They worked with Automotive Engineers in all states of Australia to have their products approved and built whole vehicles using their products.


Rod has worked tirelessly to put the Street Rodding scene in front of the general public; he was a founding member of the “Light Vehicle Working Party Committee” back in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s to help get Street Rod Registration for Victoria, was a member of the “Aussie Assault” team that shipped cars to the USA for the 50th Anniversary of Bonneville, and is founding member #3 in the DLRA (Dry Lakes Racing Association, of Australia) as well as being it's long-time secretary and treasurer - although Carol admitted that she is the one who does the paperwork. The Hadfield’s are a team, and where Rod goes, Carol goes, while finding time to raise two children, run a business and take care of their extended family.



Rod has always driven his cars at the local drag strips; Calder Park (Melbourne), Heathcote Park (rural Victoria) and Adelaide International Raceway (South Australia). The Hadfield’s later evolved toward Nostalgia drag racing and landspeed racing at Lake Gairdner. The first DLRA meet was held in 1990, and Rod is the only member to have never missed their March meet.



Rod was the first man in Australia to go 200mph on the salt flats of Lake Gairdner in a vehicle powered by a motor fully built by their business. He has raced a Lakester, ’29 Roadster, ’53 Studebaker, GM Commodore Sedan, and a GM Holden panel van on Gairdner’s massive salt surface. It is a trip of 16 hours across southern Australia, with the last 100 miles through the bush.



In 1998 Rod received an Australian Motoring Award through Street Machine Magazine on behalf of The Castlemaine Rod Shop, Carol and himself. Rod has won many other awards throughout the years including multiple awards throughout America in 2004 when they shipped three cars to the USA to help push the Australian Hot Rodding scene.


Rod Hadfield is a pioneer of Australian racing and custom car building and will never stop building cars.


ok thats it from me for tonight, I will post some pics of his other cars tomorrow night
cheers barnsey

Thanks Barnsey, very interesting... I'd sure like some detail shots of that '55 with the V-12!!!!!

I will post some good close up build shots for you tomorrow night, its 1 am fri morning here, need to start work at 6.30 am time for bed lol.
glad you like them.
cheers barnsey