two friends..from rodding, to racing, and rodding again..

Les and I first met when the Winter family came to Brisbane from Toowoomba in 1970....good friends straight away..even tried our hand at a business sideline...Les and I would do the rounds of the wrecking yards out at Dalby..cutting early Ford stub axles off cars and selling them to Gardner bros. who built sprint cars....wish we had just dragged home all the old Fords!!

 Les owned a lot of cars...this old A went through many owners..spent time at Wilga Street..you can see the pink 36/37 roadster that joined the hot rods he owned

 My old A bucket saw plenty of work at Wilga St., Les painted it for me...but no, he didn't do those horrid flames

 another coupe of many owners..ol stars and stripes at Wilga St

 and this is where my memory gets dull...the A..was it a sedan delivery first, then a roadster, then back to a sedan delivery..The chev days, and the start of our drag racing..I took the Y block out of my bucket, and put in a 283 and toploader..we both ran 13s, then 12s..Warren Wilkie was in their racing with us as well in his 30 model.

 so here's Charlies shed..with the A, and the old T cattle truck as well.

 wriggly cover 318 resided in there for a while as well.

 This not so much for the A, but Porters old roadster that Les owned..and one of Charlies old Mercs in the rear

 no fenders..wet dirt road..ton-a-fun coming home together from Port McQuarie rod run..check out my wiper mark on the stock screen..(funny thing in those days..I just used a good stock screen, but that changed one late night coming home from Toowoomba when somehow, the screen cracked and broke...I was cut across the arm as the PLATE GLASS screen broke over me and exited over the pickup bed..could have been nasty!)

 45 years later...and he still has it!..been reinvented many times over the years..but one day....it will get done again!

 dang..look at those holes....the start of the Chev/Toploader instalation

 outa sequence, but the delivery did get to Albury..or is this Mildura...about 1980 me thinks

 we got our photo shoots by Brier together

 Loved the old hot rod shows at Indooroopilly...we had some laughs together

But our racing days with our Model As had got to us, time to upgrade, and Les turned this street 55 into a street-strip car

Then, about 1980.. it got a chassis upgrade and an LS7  454..10 second times..gotta go faster

I got the bug again..well, an Anglia 105E chassis car with a 454 in 1983..low 10s-133mph

I was there at the start of the Wild Bunch.1986...4 cars at that first meeting..moved up to blowers now, and 9 sec.ets 150 mph were common

not fast enough..built a Calais in 1987 and upgraded from the sb to a BB, and 8 sec ETs and 170 mph

So Les upgrades to a blower car...times are coming down.we both had help, Les relied on GENTLEMAN  Jim Reed to help with engine development, while Col and I had help from ALKY BURNER Jeff Burnett

we upgrade again in 1990, bigger cubes, and low 7 sec times..my first full pass was 8.12 @ 175..not bad in an untried car..just get in and smash that gas pedal..ended up high 7s 175 mph that 1st day.

Not only does Les upgrade..he beats us by one meeting to get the 5th spot in the Rocket Industries 200mph club..we get there a month later!

The upgrade by ANDRA to a Group 1 class called Top Doorslammer in 1993 saw us call up Wayne Daley to build a new all f';glass 55 in 1994..the 540 cube BB went 6.66 @ 210.

Les upgrades around mid 1990s to an all 'glass car, but changes to Hemi power...like we should have..his reward, 6.30s and 218mph

1997..I'd quit racing, and back to my hot rod love with this 32 roadster

 followed that up in 2001 with this Blue-Black 32 sedan..rare shot here at Geelong 2011 with my new deuce next to my old deuce..it hasn't changed much..now has cowl lights

Then followed that up in 2004 with the orange 32 roadster

 and 2009 for the current 32 sedan, and peeking behind, the 2014 maroon 32 roadster

at around the mid 2000s, les gets the rodding bug again, and gets his current 32 sedan on the road..good friend to both of us, Doug Mole photo-bombing

one last shot in the race car for the Winternats a few years ago...then parked the car for good...he still has it in storage, and is still available for sale, along with the drivetrain

getting ready for retirement meant pushing along with the newly imported steel 32 coupe..not quite done yet, as time is tight...think I heard Gavin Adams say that once.

 out of sequence, but Les had a desire to live some retirement years in US, as well as Aus, so this is his current US driver, a big cube Olds powered 32 sedan...this will come back to Aust eventually..

but before the sedan was the little pickup, that he drove from Texas to the LA Roadster Show, another bucket list tick-off.

Les Doug and I at the 2015 Lone Star roundup..all known each other for over 40 years.

Now Les heads back over there soon, and first priority is to start chasing up parts for the newer steel 32 coupe he bought in 2015..this one will be built RHD to suit Qld TAC, and so, eventually will end up back here to keep company with the green coupe, the black tudor, the Yellow Tudor, and the down-on-it's luck 29 sedan delivery

Here we are..planning what adventures will happen in USA in 2017

he heads off next week, so come down to my coffee morning this Sunday and say "see-ya"

he leaves next week, just about all of his aussie life packed and on hold until he returns next November...ready to go...look after yourself, my friend...send plenty of stories and photos,