MANY grey-bearded Kiwi rodders will recall the monthly visit to their local magazine shop to pick up a copy of Street Rodder, Rod & Custom, American Hot Rod and NZ Hot Rod magazines. In those golden heydays, there were plenty to choose from. Street Rodder was top of the list for many years and was an excellent source of information via the many adverts and a diverse range of hot rods featured. In the back of each issue was the cartoon artwork of Dave “Henry Hirise” Bell. Dave had a unique style, and his work focussed on current hot rod highlights and things pertinent to the hobby, which was growing exponentially. It struck a chord with hot rodders as it was probably the only cartoon that locked arms with hot rodding.
Bell's cartoon version of a '34 coupe with exaggerated proportions was the masthead for Tony Kelly's Cop Shop column back in 1979. Tom Prufer, a prolific hot rodder & drag racer, was inspired enough by this cartoon to build a real-life hot rod version. Tom recalls that when he saw the Cop Shop cartoon, he knew that he and Dave were on the same wavelength when it came to hot rod design. That cartoon-to-hot rod concept morphed from the pages of Street Rodder to become a hot rod epitomising rake and stance known as the Cop Shop Coupe.
A chopped body, still perched on its original frame, was located in Northern California to get the project kick-started. Tom Prufer and Pete Eastwood remember it being a good body, too. Pete Eastwood – then in his late twenties, was tasked
