Built To Boogie

Joe Pega’s full size Hot Wheels coupe was...

- Al O'toole

Already a road registered street rod in concours condition when he bought it just a year and a half ago, Joe Pega had painted this three window coupe for the original builder nine years before purchasing it for himself. It had gone through a few different owners since being built but was rarely seen out and about. The previous owner to Joe had only put 1500 kilometers on it, so even though he knew it was a great car, Joe tore it town and started again with the idea of building a really wild hot rod, something like a full size Hot Wheels car. The transformation took just nine months, but there is an incredible number of man-hours in this beast.

A five window Deuce coupe, fifties and sixties Chevies, a Camaro, an EK Holden with a 350 Chevy and a Jaguar have all passed through Joe’s personal garage over the years, and he’s built and helped build many cars and trucks for others. He also spent 20 years building custom race boats and has more recently been building custom motorcycles that get commissioned by wealthy customers from all over the world, particularly China and Dubai. Check out Pega Custom Cycles for more of Joe’s outstanding work.

This Deuce coupe looked much like John Milner’s car from the American Graffiti movie before Joe rebuilt it. It was yellow but wore whitewalls and steelies with hubcaps and was much more traditional-looking than what Joe really wanted.

He took the stock fuel tank out and lopped 14 inches off the rear chassis horns before cutting four inches off the bottom of the rear body panel. While he was at it, Joe moulded in the recessed number plate, taillights and Harley Davidson turn signals, and then turned his attention to the front of the car.