Searle's Street Rod Tudor

Alan’s A Model is home built hot rodding at its best...

- AL O'TOOLE

Northern Suburbs Street Rods Club member Alan Searle got into hot rodding about sixty years ago, when he had a fitting and turning teacher rock up at school one day in a ’32 roadster. He was instantly hooked and from that moment on he constructed model kits for many years while he saved up the funds to build his own full size hot rod.

After being introduced to Ray McDonald in the mid-to-late eighties, Alan built his first rod, a T bucket that he owned for about eight years before selling it to build a house. The bucket was sold to Bruce “Rooster” Rhue, who later sold it to a new owner in Adelaide, but Alan has lost track of it since. Once the house deposit was secured, Alan took off to the Bendigo Swap Meet and returned with a Model A Ford chassis that sat in his shed for three or four years before a pickup body was purchased from Richard Jones. Six years later the pickup was finished and has now been on the road for over 15 years.

In 2011 Alan’s son purchased a near complete Model A Tudor from Keith Sutton, who had imported it from the USA. He started working on it but later decided he really wanted a coupe instead and when one became available, he purchased it and Alan bought the Tudor from his son around 2014.