Andover England
01264 353646
Andover England
01264 353646
This Tasca tribute is a 1964 Ford Thunderbolt. Ford made 100 Thunderbolts that were a factory lightweight for drag racing based on the Ford Fairlane. There were 11 burgundy Thunderbolts, and the rest were Wimbledon White. A fact unknown to most people is that two Ford Thunderbolts were adapted for circuit and NASCAR racing. Even though it set a lap record at Charlotte, due to the success of its bigger brother, the Galaxie, Ford discontinued the Thunderbolt for circuit and NASCAR racing, using it only in drag racing. 10 cars were awarded to Ford dealers with successful racing teams; number 6 was awarded to Tasca Ford in Rhode Island. Although widely recognised as one of the best-presented cars in its class, the car raced for only two years before being dismantled and converted to a tube chassis with an altered wheelbase. Tasca Ford are still racing today and we are grateful for all the help and information they have provided for this build. This car was built by Valley Gas founder Jimmy and is powered by the legendary 427 FE Big Block Ford, connected to a Jericho 4-speed transmission and a 9-inch Ford rear axle. The rear suspension is a custom design 4-link with Watts linkage, and at the front is a custom A-Arm suspension set up with coil-overs. It has been built for historic circuit racing and will also get some drag strip action from time to time. There are lots of killer and rare parts on this Thunderbolt that makes it well worth a look, even if you are (unfortunately!) not a Ford fan.
This car has an interesting history, having competed in the Peking-to-Paris Rally. Now it will have a new life as a street rod, with many
cool modifications, such as pillarless doors, a side-mounted rear boot, a flush-fit fuel filler, and smoothed-out running boards. The bonnet has been shortened and nipped in too. The front wings and rear arches have been reshaped, with the rear arches now flared at the back. The rear bumper has had a lot of work, including the exhaust exiting through the overriders. Also on the outside, you will notice the trick grille shell, which will have pop-out headlights. When you get inside this car, the modifications do not stop there! There is also a custom dash and centre console, as well as all-new floor pans.
With all the modern tech around, we stick to the old-skool ways. This Pilot is full of old-skool methods of metal-shaping such as English wheel, lead loading, dollies and hammers. The body then sits on a VGSS Kustom-made chassis with IFS and a 4-bar rear, whilst running a Jaguar V8 under the hood. There are so many killer touches on this car that you need to see it to believe it – and we can’t wait until we get some paint onto this classic saloon car.
We’re especially excited about this build. This Jaguar MK4 has a custom-built IFS and an E-Type Jag IRS, and sits on E-Type wire wheels with the nostalgic knock-off centres. The car will also sit much lower than standard, with large 14″ custom-made brakes and a Daimler V8 built by the legendary Russ Carpenter.
Our team here at VGSS has added a supercharger, along with a fuel injection system from our partners at Aces Fuel. Estimated power will be 300bhp+, which will be put through a modern 7-speed automatic gearbox. This will help this English classic keep up with today’s modern traffic – it might even show up a few at the lights! Inside will be fully loaded with full leather interior, heated seats, AC, electric windows, and central locking. Not only that, but there will also be the latest music system and satnav – everything that is expected from a luxury car of today. There will be all the usual touches you get from VGSS, including our custom stainless steel headers and exhaust system and custom-made aluminium radiator.
The paint will be a custom two-tone mix of burgundy and grey, which will be completed shortly. Stay tuned on our socials for progress updates!
Phil’s gorgeous 1955 Ford F100 in this eye-catching turquoise and black colour scheme came in to our workshop at VGSS for a new Mustang II front end, new front suspension and brakes from Scott’s Hot Rods. She will be getting a full overhaul before she gets sent to the body-shop for an eye-catching new paint job! She started off beautiful, but now she has gone through a bodybuilding phase to look tough and mean. Make sure to check out the arch work we have done to bring the arches closer into the custom-made 20″ wheels. We are super excited to see what she will look like after the overhaul and paint.
This gorgeous 1955 F100 pick up has come to VGSS for a spicy engine conversion, overhaul and stunning new paint job. The Blueprint SBF engine has now been installed along with the 5 speed Tremec transmission and Mustang II IFS. Recently back from paint, we’re looking forward to reassembling this truck for the customer. This F100 is going to be a beautiful truck, not only to look at but to drive as well!
If you take an MR2 Turbo and a stock Renault 5 with a little bit of magic you can turn it into a Renault Turbo 2, like the ones we all remember as the group B rally cars. The difference with this one is that it will get the Japanese reliability and extra power, but with the crazy looking group B rally look. The first thing we did was work out all the wheel bases and track, and we then slowly cut away the body on both cars and dropped one on to the other. It was then the case of working out the best way to get the strength back into the car. We have now got the front and rear wings, bonnet and light pods all in GRP, which will be fitted to the car on this visit – then the customer will wire the car and paint it in one of the classic Renault race colours.
VGSS is thrilled to be building another vehicle for the team at Burlen Fuels – and we can’t wait to see this trade van finished! It will be carrying the Austin J40 Pedal Car company logo and be used to transport the pedal cars to events like the Goodwood Revival. This former Morris Ambulance sits on a custom fabricated VGSS chassis, using a new Kugel IFS and a Ford 9″ Rear on 4-bar and coil overs. Power comes from a new, mid-mounted Blueprint 302 with Ford AOD transmission. Inside there is a varnished wooden floor all the way through with a Kustom dash and clocks to keep an eye on all the vital statistics of the engine. Keep your eyes out for this one, it will be quite something to see on the show circuit!
The Weineck Cobra was built from 2006 to 2011 by the German manufacturer Weineck Engineering. Only 15 were put into production, plus two concept cars.
All of the production cars boasted a 780ci (12.8 L) engine with 1,200hp and 1,760nm of torque! The engines were naturally aspirated and built in-house by Weineck, though the parts were manufactured by well-known tuning outfit Donovan Engineering.
Stay tuned for more updates on this beastly car soon…
This 32 has travelled all the way from France to be here with us at VGSS. It is powered by a SBC which is currently undergoing a full
rebuild with Eagle cams and uprated pistons. It has a 9” rear axle and a dropped I-Beam sat on 32 rails and a Rod Line body. A long term project that should be getting a lot more updates soon!
Hearing about the Andover Soapbox event at the last minute, The Unhinged crew at VGSS stepped up and decided to build a soapbox with only 3 weeks before the event. The body for this was a childrens Totrod, which we cut into 4 and then used our skills as Ally workers to English wheel all the panels to stretch this body to the size it is now. We then set about making a chassis which some will say is probably over engineered, but when you build Hot Rods as a living, it was never going to be the standard 2 pieces of wood you would normally see in this sort of competition. We also then fabricated the front and rear axles and hubs, and used BMX stunt wheels with 14mm axles. We then painted this little sprint car in Orange with white scallops. All the little finishing touches, like exhaust, carb scoops, roll bar, grille shell right down to an orange perspex screen were included too. We think it looks fast just sat there! So after many late nights we finally got this little racer ready and went off to come 2nd in the 1st Andover Soapbox Derby. Next year we WILL be 1st!! watch this space!!
As well as all our projects in the workshop – in our engine shop we build engines from Mild to Wild. Whether it is a street engine or a blown and injected race engine VGSS and the team will get you the horsepower that you need. We also have a machine shop which works very close with us for Rebores, Balancing, and hardened seats etc. We can also Port & Polish your heads, and test your engine on our engine stand to ensure everything is correct before fitting into your project. Remember we are also main agents for Blueprint engines, where we can supply any of their crate engines. Please inquire for more details on engine builds or crate engine requirements on 01264 353 646.
Here you will see some of the other cars we currently have in at the VGSS. We don’t just cater for turn key builds, we also do servicing and small jobs, including engine building and general maintenance.
