MUSCLE Car Madness is one of the biggest car events on the Kiwi calendar. But don’t let the name fool you into thinking this is a muscle car-only affair, it’s more of an automotive United Nations where every walk of life is represented in one way or another. At Muscle Car Madness street machines, rat rods, traditional rods, customs, VWs, rotaries, tough Commodores, new and old muscle cars, classic Japanese rides and even something called Kaido-style managed to exist in perfect harmony! You’ll have to wait until the March issue of Street Machine goes on sale to get the full story, but here’s a selection of pictures we brought back to whet your appetite.

This cool ’31 five-window coupe is owned by John Popenhafen from Christchurch. He has owned the rod for five years and has been coming to Muscle Car Madness for just as long.

John’s hot rod is powered by a 331 Hemi Fire Power engine originally from a 1953 Chrysler

This is Dylan Orpwood’s 350 Chev-powered 33 Willys coupe gasser. He has had the car for five years and spent the last two years building it with his own hands!

The import rules are more relaxed in New Zealand and any left-hand drive car can be legally registered so there were plenty of late-model muscle cars getting around.

This Ford Econoline drag truck is owned by Terry and Mel from Christchurch and it’s powered by a nitrous-sniffing 351-cube motor.

The owner of the this late-model F6 Falcon normally skids an XY GT, but the old girl was in the shop during Muscle Car Madness so he tore it up in his daily driver instead.

This XR Falcon was just one of many cars rolling on jelly-bean style wheels. They never went out of fashion in New Zealand!

This gorgeous Ford Thunderbird is owned by Craig Stare from Christchurch and his wife has a matching convertible!

This crazy Kaido-style custom copped plenty of attention. It is owned by Thomas Gordon who also built the car with no prior experience in metal work or fabrication. He’s done well.

We never found the owner of this HQ Holden convertible, but who ever lobbed the roof off it did a very tidy job.

This pro touring ’69 Camaro is owned by Daryn Glass from Christchurch and is packing an carbi LS3 under the bonnet, big brakes and plenty of other modern goodies.

This is Kieran Harris’s tough VL Commodore with Walkinshaw kit. It’s packing a worked Holden 304 and did plenty of cruising at Muscle Car Madness.