LIL' BLACK DELUXE

ANDREW SCRIM'S 1934 FORD FIVE WINDOW COUPE IS A HOT ROD WITH A RICH HISTORY...

- AL O'TOOLE

Owner and manager of Harvey Bay Brake and Exhaust, Andrew “AJ” Scrim completed part of his mechanical apprenticeship with ASR Short Cuts columnist, Hugh “Shorty” Nally, who was building a Model A coupe. AJ was in his late teens at this time and it was his involvement in the project that lured him into a life of hot rodding.

He owned a ’55 Chevy back in the day but wanted to build a hot rod, so with Shorty and Don Langdon’s direction, AJ became a member of the early Ford Club of Tasmania and ended up buying a ’38 Club coupe and a ’37 sedan delivery to hot rod, but circumstances changed and the Fords were sold. Meanwhile the ’55 Chevy had its 350 small block upgraded to a 427 and AJ moved to Mackay, Queensland, then back to Tasmania where the Chev was sold and a house purchased. He went without a hot car for some time before moving north again, to the Gold Coast this time, and built another Chevy. His yellow 354 Hemi powered ’34 coupe was on the cover of ASR 109, July/August ’96.

AJ then purchased some moulds from Ballarat and reproduced two roadsters, a tourer and a roadster pickup that were used for tours and rented out around the Gold Coast. When other rodders took interest in the panels he was making, AJ decided to start selling these parts and in the mid-nineties he started AJ’s Hot Rods and bought better moulds from Ken Brownlee. AJ’s Hot Rods produced roadster and tourer bodies, chassis and other parts such as coil-over shock absorbers and steering columns until the early 2000s.