Hewey's Tiki Wagon: Update page 5

This wagon thing is gonna be my new ride. I gotta sell the bug first, but its a done deal. Im buying it off my brother so the deal isnt gonna fall through (he got a work ute, so the daily driver is no longer required).

Thats my brothers other XY in the background. Standard and oh so sweet.

Whys it in "creating tiki"? 'Cause shes gonna get a tiki makeover! I will update this with pics and descriptions of the tiki things I do to her. Cant wait :)

Its a 1970 XY Ford Falcon (made here in Australia). She’s got a straight 6, with a column shift auto, two bench seats, and no rust! Most (as in all) XYs are done up as muscle cars, so my custom one should raise a few eyebrows :)

I'm giving away a piece of art to whoever comes up with the best name for it. Details and entry here:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=16232&forum=1&0

Everyone laughs at me because I am different. I laugh at everyone else because they are all the same.

[ Edited by: hewey 2005-10-16 16:06 ]

[ Edited by: hewey 2005-11-29 22:26 ]

[ Edited by: hewey 2006-07-16 02:50 ]

That will be a one of a kind showpiece, hewey! It will be great to see you transform it into a tiki muscle car. Great idea!

Hewey, that looks like a Fun project. Nice ride.

Here is a little insperation for ya , the most bad ass tiki wagon built.

Cant wait to see some updates once its yours..

Hey hewey- What a cool ride! Congratulations on this deal. I've always thought that the station wagon should be brought back into production.

Hewey: there was a car at the KOA Kustom Nationals at Phillip Island earlier this year that had a tiki theme runnin' thru it. Was a HZ wagon: green, fake wood panelling down the sides and bamboo accented interior. Tryin' to find pics, but no luck so far.......

Sam - Whaddya mean wagons should be brought back into production? Dont you guys have new wagons? We do.

Peddro - I know the one. I bought Australian Street Rodder with the coverage of the Kustom Nats just for that one pic. I dont think the woody look would work on a brown wagon, but I dig it. Has that car ever been featured in any mags?

Ive already got ideas for a custom bullet style grille, wicked shifter, and a wild dash treatment. Im sure I will get more ideas when Im cruzin in her. Oh yeh, I just entered in the Sydney Nostalgia Drags in October. I want to get her more "respectable" before then too. Watch this space :)

Hey Hewey- They're back, I like the new Chrysler wagons - but it seems to me that they were gone for a little while there - or not very popular anyway.

Hewey - In the US wagons took a kick in the guts due to the SUV and minivan craze.
As for that green wagon, I don't think the look suits the HZ anyway....it's just too new. Maybe an EH/EJ.
I think yours would gain a bit in the looks department with an altitude adjustment....preferably down!
There is a little "cult" US zine out there called "Wagons Of Steel" that features wagons specifically. Very difficult to get though.
A good friend of mine has an AP5(?) Valiant wagon done in gasser style which he's had for years now. Probably the coolest one in the country...but you'll never see it in the local mags....well, maybe once or twice by accident.

[ Edited by: PEDDRO 2005-08-25 21:42 ]

[ Edited by: PEDDRO 2005-08-25 21:48 ]

Peddro - That HZ wagon is for sale in the latest Cruzin (id scan it in for everyone else, but my scanner died). Right kinda idea, but doesnt quite work. Not customised on the outside enough, and the colour isnt right. Too bright.

My wagon is gonna get black steelies and thin whites, and hopefully an altitude adjustment. Depends on the folding as to how low, if I do get it done. First to go are those bloody mud flaps.

Love that Gasser val wagon. Guessing it doesnt get a look in because it belongs to a guy who is also selling rod and custom mags. Funny how that works :)

many companies make station wagons its just that they are no longer in the minds of non-wagon owners. Wagons today are even called things like five door coupe. My girlfriend has a SUV and I tell her that mine is a lowered SUV. I love my wagon and I did the first big tiki mod. this past weekend An old wiggle Hula girl (.25 cents) on the dash. I am going to try for a shift nob this weekend. I will post a pic here when I finish.

On 2005-08-26 06:49, hewey wrote:
Peddro - That HZ wagon is for sale in the latest Cruzin (id scan it in for everyone else, but my scanner died).

Don't buy it....but I do have pix from yesterday at a swap meet I was tradin' at. Some pretty quirky features in that wagon. I'll post them when I get a chance to download them.

On 2005-08-26 06:49, hewey wrote:
My wagon is gonna get black steelies and thin whites, and hopefully an altitude adjustment. Depends on the folding as to how low, if I do get it done. First to go are those bloody mud flaps.

Sounds like a good start.

On 2005-08-26 06:49, hewey wrote:
Love that Gasser val wagon. Guessing it doesnt get a look in because it belongs to a guy who is also selling rod and custom mags. Funny how that works :)

He's quit sellin' the zines now. He'd been sellin' those zines for a long time prior to the "other" mob, so was time to go do somethin' else....hence now I have most of the stock.

Heres what she would look like with a little attitude adjustment :)

Sorry to bring this back up but I've downloaded the pix of this thing for Hewey and thought he'd like to see some of the ideas. Like I said above, I took these on Sunday. Some neat ideas, if not the right car.

Note, the bamboo venetians, painted roof and coconut horn button!

Thanks for the pics Peddro. Im sure the other guys will get a kick out of it too. For the record its a Holden (Aussie arm of GM) Kingswood. Early 70s I think (i dont know my Kinsgwoods)

I like the bamboo curtains and lots of stickers in the rear window. The bamboo trim doesnt line up on the rear quarters and looks cheap as a result.

Mines gonna be better of course :)

Seems to get a fair bit of attention Peddro? A big crowd around it.

Wow, thats a nasty lookin green. I love it!

Thats a cool wagon. First time Ive seen it. I like the curtains, it makes for cheap tinted windows. The coconut is a nice touch on the steering wheel. Ok hewey, we need a progress report.

On 2005-08-31 07:41, teaKEY wrote:
Ok hewey, we need a progress report.

Progress to date: ZERO. I have not even bought the thing yet as i cannot sell my bug. I need to sell the bug to get the cash. Already dropped the price by 20%, and still no bites. I asked around a lot of people and they all say price is too low if anything, and still no buyers. Pissing me off big time.

Progress to date: ZERO. I have not even bought the thing yet as i cannot sell my bug. I need to sell the bug to get the cash. Already dropped the price by 20%, and still no bites. I asked around a lot of people and they all say price is too low if anything, and still no buyers. Pissing me off big time.

Not that I'm interested in buyin' it Hewey, but how much you askin'? What model/year? Reason I ask is 'cos my ex had a beetle that we were told we'd be lucky to get $500 for. I did a lot of cleaning up (new carpets, rust-treated, chassis-black the floor, new steering wheel, etc.) and a few weeks later, she was $1950 richer.

[ Edited by: PEDDRO 2005-08-31 21:14 ]

Shes a '72 beetle. Worth about $4200 by my reckoning (and by my VW mechanic, and anyone else who knows old cars). In very nice condition, 91000 original miles etc. I originally advertised it for $4500 neogotiable, to allow some price movement. Ive dropped it down to $3800 negotiable, and still no calls. Just no market for it.

Everyone laughs at me because I am different. I laugh at everyone else because they are all the same.

[ Edited by: hewey 2005-08-31 22:41 ]

Hey Hewey - nice beast - an old friend of mine had an XY wagon and he used Contact woodgrain with chrome stips (adhesive ones that go down the side of cars to stop people dinting your ride when they open their doors ?know what I mean?) ..he put that around the contact woodgrain and it looked surprisingly good. red rims are a must mate! and some whitewalls to give her some finesse' and dont forget the pinstriping - maybe you can drive her up to the Luau next year and we can stripe her over the weekend (I have a couple of friends up here that are very good stripers so I am sure we can bribe them with alcihol to get the job done).

Hewey, I wonder if an EBayMotors auction might work for you?

It occurs to me because oftentimes I see delicious Volvo 240 wagons on there that really get me salivating. ORANGE VOLVO, yummmmm...:D Auctions on more interesting collectible cars (like old bugs) do SEEM to do well. I know there's EBay in Aussieland, too, right?

Seriously, I do love wagons and am proud of Volvo for not abandoning them. I might add, if the current gas crunch continues for much longer we might see a huge decline in those horrid SUV things (no flames please, I've a right to my gentle opinion!) and...the Return of the Great American Station Wagon!

I'll take an early 60's model myself, please--to go with another burgundy Volvo 240 snif...

GOOD LUCK selling your bug, man! Don't lose hope!

Marcus that striping sounds cool. I was gonna get a sign place to do some to my design, but alcohol bribery sounds like my kinda deal. I understand the woodie idea.

Not sure about the volvo wagons, although I do like the coupes from the 60s. I love my flames, but the wagons not gettin em.

Good news, bad news time.

Good news - I got accepted into the Sydney Nostalgia Drags in October

Bad news - I still havent bought the car I entered...

Well, its time to get some proper tiki in this topic. Here is a plastc molded tiki a mate bought for me whilst in NZ. Its about 5 inches tall. Its gonna be the shifter...

...when i buy the car...

ill post some pics when I get it installed.

Wicked!!

That will look awsome...

Cool ,hewey.... What Tiki Wagon would be complete without one?? :wink:

Hewey, I LOVE That shifter knob. That is just my style. Now get to work and Buy That Car, Buy That Car, and then WinWinWin.

http://www.billetaccessoriesdirect.com/photos/autos/tiki_ps_l.jpg

TeaKEY, that is SCHWEET, What izzit? Man oh Man it is nice

Ben , its a honda accord wagon . check out the billet machined wheel stands he had made for car shows .

Sorry Hewey to get your thread off topic , that Tiki will make a great shifter.

nice shifter, hewey... why don't you carve up a tiki to match?

Hewey, your wagon is gonna be way sweeter than that junker...

I thought I would post some pics I am using for inspiration. Some sweet island style rides here:

First up, the Prosign (London based sign shop) daily driver. No airbags either, just tubbed.

Even cooler, the roof is done in candy red with hibiscus pattern. Would like to do a similar effect on the wagon roof, maybe in a pearl for a ghost effect.

Genuine Barris (yes, THAT Barris) beach buggy. Restored in a very funky surf theme. Apparently VERY loud.

Another VW bus, this one is actually Hawaii based. Beautiful candy green paint, and all those interior panels are REAL hand woven leaves, done by the whole family.

Last one, a mid 50s Ford Mercury Wagon. Thats real wood down them sides too.

dand Hewey, if you could do some of that in your ride then what a ride it would be. Actually that roof wouldn't be too hard to do by many painters. And those white walls are better then dubs (20 inch rims)

Yeh, that roof is very doable. I can do the surface prep myself, along with the flowers. I have a bit of experience in using stencils with a spraycan. For a bit more control, I would probably borrow/hire an airbrush, and spray it myself. As I said, in some pearl for a subtle effect. Then take it to a local spray painter to clear coat and finish it off. Shouldnt cost too much this way either. Probably not gonna happen for a while but.

Ive got a variety of ideas Im kickin around for the interior. We'll see what happens...

Hey Hewey, those panels in the VW camper are lauhala matting, not sure where you can get it in OZ but I'm sure you could, otherwise Oceanic Arts have loads.
It's pretty easy to use and looks great, as you can see.

The wagon now has a name! Thanks to Tikiwahine, its now:

I hope to get is signwritten up as shown for the Nostalgia Drags in mid October. The text will be in a gold metallic/holographic vinyl, outlined in black. Im gonna do it myself for about $15 (the secret is book covering vinyl, like for schoolbooks for kids. Hand draw the letters and hand cut out. Labour intensive, but I can afford it) It will only be staying for the day, but I promise lotsa pics!

hewey has been workin hard on kahoona wagon...I think finkdaddy gave him some of his left over bamboo...

KIRBY
Kirby's Island.com
The Tiki Adventure
Kirby's Gallery

[ Edited by: kirby 2005-09-21 22:11 ]

I missed that pic kirby - cool! Not sure if Finkdaddy wants to give me some bamboo...Finky? :)

Well, yesterday was the nostalgia drags. A good time was had, thats for sure. The week leading up to it was spent trying to get the wagon running a bit sweeter. We got it better, but it has lost compression in one cylinder, giving me 5.5 cylinders of pure, unadulterated acceleration! Well, not quite.

I didnt know if I was gonna be able to get the signwriting done, but it was completed outside my girls place the night before, using the bonnet as a workbench. I got to bed at midnight, for a 5am start.

The weather looked iffy, but the rain held off in the morning. We got the cars scutineered, and had to make some "race mods". A water bottle was strapped to the firewall for a radiator overflow bottle :) . Hubcaps were removed too.

We lined up for our first qualifying pass, and both had to run against 11 second cars. Man, they were so noisy we couldnt tell if our cars were running (no tachos). At this stage we were crapping ourselves, as it was our first time at the drags. Why the hell were we doing this?

We both got hosed. My brother ran a 17, and I got a 20.2! Our reaction times sucked as well. Man it was a buzz though.

Second qualifying pass and I was up against the same car! He hosed me again, but I managed to grab a 19.9. My brother got a 18, as he stuffed up a shift.

Now it was time to race! The top qualifiers were pitted against the bottom qualifiers. I was the slowest car! Well not really, there was a car with gearbox problems who didnt run...

Racing was done in a dial your own format. Basically, you nominate what time you are going to run, and faster cars are given a handicap at the start. First to the line wins. But if you go faster than the time you nominated, you get disqualified and the other driver gets the win. Evens out the playing field, and slow cars like mine can winn if they are consistent.

Well, we lined up, and it rained. And rained, and rained. After sitting for 30 minutes, the event was cancelled. Bugger.

The car show show was tops, and we had a great time. We only expected to get knocked out in the first round anyway. Ill be there next year for sure!

Pictures to follow when I get em.

I forgot to say I bumped into TCer Bobby Peru (a fellow Sydney based tiki artist). He said he might be there, but wasnt sure if he could make it. I saw him in the crowd, and thought he looked familiar (his website has a blurry pic which I saw months ago). Anyway, i thought what the hell, Ill go say hi. It was him. Had a good chat to him.

Took over a year but I finally met another tiki head, hell another TCer!

I got some pics for ya!

The signwriting that I did myself. This was taken today in short sunny spell. The sun really brings out the colour of the wagon and the lettering, doesnt it?

Interior view. Note the Finkdaddy pendant at home hanging from the mirror.

My brother and I waiting for a run.

Coming back along the return road (this section is a burnout pad).

Very cool Hewey. You did a kick as job on the lettering.

come on then, what E.T.?

nice job on the ride, hewey!

Thanks for the props.

Kon H, I ran a 20.2 (my first ever pass), and then my second was a 19.9. Im considering getting "DUZ-19S" plates made up for the next round just to take the piss. Im having a good time, and not taking it too seriously. Hey, I got more track time than any other competitor, haha :)

Yayy!

That looks great Hewey, what fun!