committedfew.co.nz

For us at Committed Few, cars are an absolute passion, as they are for most reading this. New Zealand has a great automotive scene and industry but there are definitely certain styles of cars that we at CF prefer. If you like the CF style you’ll probably find that you can’t get your fix via NZ publications. That is why we had to do something about it. Through CF, we are starting to meet more and more like minded people in New Zealand. Take Kenny for example, who owns and built this cool as fuck 1946 Chevrolet Fleetmaster bomb. He stumbled upon our site somehow (we don’t push CF at all) and got in touch when he saw that I had also purchased a ’46 Fleetmaster. At the risk of sounding like a bit of a pansy, I was somewhat flattered to think we must be doing something right and that CF is actually reaching a Committed Few of you out there. We found we have a common interest in Bombs and Bellflowers and emailed for some time until I finally made it up to Hamilton to meet Kenny and go for a cruise in his ’46. It is a car that had to be covered…

Kenny’s 1946 Chevrolet Fleetmaster is an example of a true street-driven home-built bomb. The culture and pride of lowriding , build it yourself with help from family and friends and cruise it with a proud smile on your dial, is epitomised in this car. It’s an ongoing project and has been done so far on a sweet low budget. Being New Zealand new means it’s right hand drive. Kenny saved it from being bulldozed into a pit on a North Island farm in a rotten state. He took the body off the chassis and replaced it with a tidier body found by Murray at Valley Customs. Murray has helped Kenny find a lot of the rare factory accessories that this Fleetmaster sports, including the flying lady hood ornament. Spot the Solar spotlights, original inside fan, hat holder, and Thermadore swamp cooler sitting pretty along with other sweet accessories. Since Kenny has added full Fleetline side trim. It has that true vintage lowrider feel with 15 inch artillery wheels and sits a little lower with 2 inch blocks in the rear while the front is kept standard. Running a Chevy 216 dipper six cylinder with split manifold, straight pipes, no mufflers with custom 1 ¼ inch tips, gives it that east L.A. Chevy six sound that is just too cool. Kenny took me for a rap, and boy it got me so excited to get stuck into my own ‘46. With serapes for seat covers, no roof liner and the Fulton visor tilted low, it’s built for cruising the streets. You’ll find Kenny at most of the North Island events with his club the ‘Carnales,’ which is Spanish slang for brothers. The Carnales are a tight bunch of good fellas dedicated to lowriding without the bullshit attitude. You’ll be seeing more from the Carnales here on Committed Few in future…

Travesía por siempre

Some more joys of being a kiwi living in the States. Jeff shares a few shoots from Billetproof 2011 the past weekend with us.

Del Shannon – an all time fave

On a recent trip up north I caught up with Kenny from the Carnales. Kenny took me for cruise in his very cool ’46 Fleetmaster and introduced to me some of his club members and friends. Such a great crew of people with a great scene up there. I’ve never seen so many vintage GM’s and vintage Chevy engines in such a small radius in New Zealand. These guys have got it going on when it comes to vintage lowriding. Keep posted for a full story on Kenny’s ’46.

This is Chris’s garage (Kenny’s brother) and Carnales member. Chris’s long term project is his ’59 El Camino and next to it his ’38 Pontiac bomb still driving on O.G. black plates. Chris has built up a triple carb intake with split manifold.

Another stop was at Don, Ma’s and Dan’s place in Hamilton. Don & Dan are Carnales members and this is Don’s ’37 Chevy sedan. The ’37 is Don’s first car which he bought for a song (a long time back). Notice that its right hand drive. The interior was originally done in the 70′s and the chromed 216 dipper pulls the ’37 down the 1/4 mile in about 17 seconds… believe that! Dan is building up a ’63 lowrider wagon that will be 100% bad ass on completion.

Kenny took me to Valley Customs in Cambridge where I took a couple of quick shots. Here you’ll find Murray, he’s the big fella. Such a good guy with a keen eye on what is right and wrong when it comes to cars with a passion for the 40′s Chevy’s. Murray has the turbo charged 283 powered ’47 sedan delivery. Its not bagged either, thats how low it drives! Now this is quite possibly the 1st picks out there in NZ of Murray’s ’42 Aerosedan that landed the day before I visited. Its the only ’42 Chevy Aerosedan in New Zealand. Its a true Bomb being assembled in the Los Angeles factory, living in L.A. its entire life with Murray purchasing it from the previous long time owners. Its beautiful! You’ll find the sling shot project and steel Model A pre war racer complete with 4 banger being built up by some customers. There are some other gems in the shop also. A cool place!

You may have seen this slammed Chevy C10 whilst travelling in Queenstown New Zealand? If you have been there and haven’t noticed it there is something odd about you as even if you’re not into cars, average people notice this pick up when Blair is driving it to and from work. Blair has been fucking around with cars ever since i’ve known him. He has a natural mechanical mind that I wish I had. Thats why he’s a chopper mechanic and i’m not! No car that i’ve seen that Blair has owned over the years has kept the standard engine and his C10 is no different. The 666 Chevy C10 is so plain and simple. Its shaved, its black and white and its low! Everything is tucked away nicely. It drives low, and parks on the floor…none of this driving standard height shit and laying it out just to park. The engine driven compressor ditches away with that gay hum of the standard air tank compressor and adding mufflers to the lines silences the sound of the air escaping when deflating the bags. This slammed C10 is a daily driver and it has come along way from the confederate flag styled pick up that it once was. No gun racks in the back now, just a sawn off under the bench seat. This is what Blair has to say about it.

- 8 inch notch out back with 3 link designed for the height of the 20 x 8.5″ wheels
- front crossmember pancaked 1.5 inch so it lays frame, crossmember, back bumper and arms all at same time
- tubular lower front arms
- re routed steering for crossmember
- fuel cell under deck at back
- new flush mount tranny crossmember
- accuair manifold
- york engine driven compressor
- 1kz 3 litre turbo 4 holer, manual fuel pump, manualised auto box, column shifted, homemade dump pipe, intercooler but no sneezing clutch or blue silicone joiners running biodiesel
- cassette stereo
- panelled and shaved by the bragg bros at machine and steel in taupo, all metal, blackboard paint.
dunno what else

The story goes I was hunting for a good c10 while overseas, this one came up in Taupo so I got my cousin to go look at it for me and he bought it on the spot. He’s a hot rodder and an engineer so I got him to do the 4 link while I was still away. Months passed and he ended up going to town on it, when I picked it up it had a sweet 350 and looked the business and was bagged but still a bit high so I took to it last winter notching the back, and I redid the front crossmember, but when I went to put the front crossmember back in the lower arms hit the headers so I used that as an excuse to pull the engine and go diesel which I had wanted to do for the last 5 or 6 years or however long I’d been dreaming about this thing.

I wanted a straight 6 turbo diesel, I like the look of them and wanted a kind of industrial engine, look and sound wise. I couldnt find a halfway decent motor so I went the toyota and am stoked for it. It goes great and doesnt burn squat which is an important consideration given I have no space under the deck for a big gas tank and didnt want to put the tank in the tray. Engine swap was no major, it pretty much sits on the 350 mounts.

Plans are to ditch the toolbox in the back and just drive it and drive it. I’ve put around 6000 miles on it since the engine swap and she hasnt missed a beat.