34 Chev Coupe

  The Magazine Feature Story #15

 https://classiccarsworldwide.com.au

“LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT” – JOHN FAIRBAIRN TALKS ABOUT HIS 1934 ONYX BLACK CHEVROLET COUPE. 88 YEARS OLD, STILL GOING STRONG, GREAT TO DRIVE AND HAS WON 26 TROPHIES. A TIMELESS HOT ROD!

.John is 61 years old, married and lives in Packenham, Victoria, He is currently employed as a Warehouse worker after spending some years as an electrician. His interest in cars goes back to his childhood when he was painting GT stripes and putting big motors into his model cars.

Unique – Love at first sight

Back in 1982 John was looking to buy a 34 Chevrolet sedan when he noticed the coupe in the corner. “I fell in love straight away” he says, “What attracted me to it was that it was so unique. It had an unchopped Holden body which is uncommon as most are chopped or fibreglass repo bodies”. The car was built by Holden and purchased privately in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

Early cars

John’s first car was an Austin A30. He now drives a VE Commodore Berlina.

 Classic cars

Over the years John has owned a few classic cars including an HG panel van, an HK Monaro and  a Chrysler by Chrysler 360 V8-727 Torqueflite Auto and now the Holden built 1934 Chevrolet three window coupe.

1934 Onyx Black Chevrolet coupe – Stats

John highlights some of the main features of the car. “My coupe is a steel body with an unchopped roof with some subtle changes. The roof is filled in, the quarter windows have been removed, the radiator shell has been filled, the gutters have been removed, the dicky seat has been converted to a boot and it has smooth running boards. The look of it is what I call a timeless Hotrod.”

“The motor is a 283 Chev + 60 taken out to a 292 fuellie heads mild cam and the dress up gear either polished alloy or chromed. The transmission is turbo 400 and it runs a 9” lsd differential with 4 wheel discs. The front end is 1300 with a commodore rack and pinion. The paintwork is Jet Onyx Black and is very reflective.”

“The Chevrolet is great to drive. It handles nicely and is great on long trips. I drive it regularly.”

Renovations and modifications

“I have spent 25 years building and renovating the car and lost track of how much money I’ve spent but it’s still cheaper than therapy” says John. “The first modification I did to the coupe was to cut out all the rust and sandblast the body. The doors were then converted to burst proof locks and the quarter vent windows removed. This was followed by my filling the roof centre, deleting the roof gutters, converting the rumble seat to a boot and then recessing the firewall to accommodate the 283 V8 engine.”

“The radiator top panel was filled and the chassis boxed and the 4 ebar rear end set up with a panard bar and L300 front end with a Commodore rack and pinion fitted. The exhaust is s/s ¼” with HPC ceramic coating. All the fuel lines are s/s and all brake lines are stainless steel. The diff is a 9” disc brake with lsd centre with adjustable coilover shocks.”

“The tail shaft is a custom made unit and the running gear is a 283 taken out to a 292 with a mild cam by Wade Cams. It also has double hump fuellie heads converted to run unleaded.”

“The manifold is a durashine highrise with a 600 Holley Carb bolting up to a Turbo 400 with a b & m Mega shifter. The steering wheel is a Mazda 1600 running triumph universals with s/s steering shaft. The seats in the coupe are out of a 240K Datsun and trimmed in black vinyl and velour with blue piping for contrast. The car is painted Jet Black Onyx by Tony Di Bennedetto from Fantam Rodo who was responsible for most of the paint and panels and problem solving.”

Car clubs, shows and magazines

John is an active member of the Australian Street Rod Association (ASRF) which is the main body of hot-rodding in Australia. He is also a member of the Victorian HotRod Association (VHRA) promotors of the Victorian HotRod and Custom Show and he also is a member of the Oz-E-Rodders car club. He says “most weekends I will try to attend local events. The best and most important ones for me are the Victorian Hotrod Show, Motorex (winner Street Elite Top Hot Rod – 2016) and local Coffee and Car events.”

“I enjoy reading Australian STREET Rodding magazine, Cruizin and Classic Cars Worldwide OnLine magazine.”

26 Trophies

John’s Chevrolet coupe has won an amazing 26 trophies so far including eight Best Hot Rod, a couple of Peoples Choice, Best Presented, Best Engine Bay and Undercarriage, Best Old School and Top Car of Show. He proudly says “the trophy that was really amazing to win was the Stret Elite Top Hotrod Pinnacle Award at Motorex 2016. The coupe had been on the road for 15 years when it won and it was such an honour to be selected to win at such a high level of competition. It was nice to be able to share the win with my wife Caz and my mates who helped set the car up and helped out on the build.”

She Won’t Be Right Mate Mental Health Fundraiser with Mr. Excited

John first met Glen Higginson (Mr. Excited) through a mutual friend, Grant ‘Grunt’ Mahoney, and is pleased to announce that he is teaming up with Glen for the ‘She Won’t Be Right Mate’ mental health fund raiser. He will be helping organise the car and bike show and says “it is a charity that was started by my mate Marcus Reeves to highlight mens mental health issues and it has now widened to include families living with someone with a mental illness. I met Marcus at the first Car and Bike Show in 2019 where a group of mates and myself turned up to support the event, We were blown away with the turn out and I was quite shocked when I was awarded Top Car of Show.  I am now involved in organising the 2022 event.”

Past Highlights and The Future – Follow Your Dreams

John reminisces and says “one of the highlights with the Chevrolet was a few years ago when we were doing a fund raiser for a young disabled boy in Ballarat when we gathered some gifts for him. We drove up and presented to him and it was filmed by local television.  Sadly he lost his battle with illness and we then drove the coupe up for the funeral to show our respects which blew his mother away.”

“Another time was organising a day with ‘Canteen’ when we presented them with a shirt with our logo. We were given a bandana as a thank you and we took the kids for a drive and they had their picture taken. The coupe always turns heads and gets the thumb up at lights and it is still fun to drive. As Peter Brock once said, follow your dreams.”

With regard to the Australian Classic Car scene John says “it’s great to see the popularity of the coffee and cars events where all types of cars are welcome and are pretty low key. In the future I hope to enter my car in the Chevrolet Convention one day. I also intend to continue to enjoy catching up with mates, meeting like-minded people and keep supporting charity events.”