Sweeney's Street Rods

This tasty T is the latest on the long list of...

- AL O'TOOLE

1927 Model T Ford Tudor

Wayne Sweeney

Devils CC

Maiden Gully, VIC

Wayne Sweeney got into hot rodding during the sixties through his brother-in-law who had a single spinner ute fitted with a blown V8. With Wayne’s help that motor ended up in Noel McTaggart’s ’37 Ford coupe, then it went down to the Spades in Melbourne where Peter Quaife and Roger Brockway installed it in their roadster. In 1969 Wayne bought a ’56 Ford F100 pickup for himself and his new wife Shirley to use as their hot rod. Soon after, he bought ’53 and ’55 model F100 pickups, the latter of which was fitted with a Chrysler 318 motor, gearbox and diff. During these times the Sweeney’s were also into speedboat racing and speedway but before long, Wayne was hit with the urge to build his own street hot rod.

Among the photos spread throughout this article you’ll find a shot of some young blokes standing on a trailer in the seventies with a dilapidated Pontiac Tudor that Wayne brought home and built into the very tidy, red boat hauler pictured alongside. This car is still on the road today with the same running gear, wheels and red paint and is owned by Neville Fisher at Weethalle, in the Central West region of New South Wales.

Wayne started the Maitland Rod & Custom Club with Gary Chapman (wearing hat in Pontiac photo) in late 1974 but their first recorded meeting wasn’t until June 14, 1975 with 10 members in attendance. The photo with the current club logo inset shows six of the original club cars from the early days. In 1982 the club changed its name to Maitland Street Rodders. These days Wayne lives in central Victoria and as you can see from the plaque on the back of his Tudor, he belongs to the Devils Car Club.