Built by: Pontiac Jack in Merlynston, Victoria, Australia

One of my favourite kits when I was a little tacker was Aurora's Hot Surfer. A hot-rodded fire truck loaded up with boards and heading off to make the scene. I love that box art!

When the Kitbash Kooks Kontest came up, I knew I had to build the Hot Surfer for the BeachBomb section. Only problems were: a) I didn't own one and, b) I wasn't likely to find one. When I picked up a copy of the book"Hot Rod Model Kits", and there was a photo of the box art, the only illustration of the finished model available, I had the last piece of inspiration needed.

I decided to build one from what was available. I wanted to stick to the style of the original, but add a few showrod style parts. I started with a R-M 31 model A woody reissue, kept the fenders, cowl, chassis and floor. Almost everything from the cowl, back is scratchbuilt from Plastruct and Evergreen. This includes the body, seat riser, fuel tank and mounts, ladder racks and surfboards, which are made from wooden tongue depressors.

An AMT 57 Chevy gave up its 409 engine with injectors from the AMT Thunderbolt 2 monster truck. To this I added plug leads and radiator hoses made from plastic and aluminum tubing. The exhaust system is made from parts of 3 different kits.

The chassis was modified to fit the engine, but apart from that, it's basically the stock kit parts with the suspension lowered. It has working steering. Wheels and tyres are AMT.

The grille, headlights, horn and cowl lights are straight from the box. The greyhound radiator cap is from AMT's 34 coupe.

The seats are from AMT's 25 T kit, and the handrails are from the Paddy Wagon. The tail lights were rear view mirrors, and Italari treadplate is used for the rear step. The red beacon light is from the parts box and the bell is from a craft shop.

The whole thing is sprayed with Gunze metalflake red and clear coat from rattle cans. The surfboard decals came from various kits.