Ford ’56 F-100

Article: Rob Maetzig

What’s really appealing about Americarna is that the vehicles entered into the big event always seem to have a colourful back story.

A classic example is Philippa Butcher’s 1956 Ford F-100 pick-up, which was last year’s Americarna Pick winner.

The vehicle had originally been imported from USA by well-known Auckland rodding enthusiast Warren Fairhurst, and about nine years ago Philippa and her husband John heard it might be for sale.

“We were heading off to the South Island for a bit of a trip, so before we left we wrote out a cheque and gave it to Warren. We told him that if the cheque got cashed while we were away, we would know he’d sold the pick-up to us.”

The cheque did indeed get cashed, and that’s how the Glenbrook couple ended up with their colourful example of this classic American pick-up with its distinctively  vertical A-pillar and wrap-around windshield.

And here’s another great back story. The F-100 is painted in “Roar with Gilmore” colours of the Gilmore Oil Company, a California enterprise once famous for its distinctive marketing techniques and sponsorship of motor racing events.

“The paintwork gives the pick-up a bit of a nostalgic look, says Philippa of the cream, red and black colours of Gilmore Oil Company, which was huge between the Roaring 20s and the end of the World War 2, boasting more than 3500 gas stations in USA. After the war it was taken over by Mobil.

No surprises then that the rego plate for Philippa Butcher’s F-100 is GILMRE.

The big Ford pickup is pretty much standard, although it is powered by a 292 cubic inch Y-block V8 with a few special add-ons. On the inside, a special touch is a bench seat covered in red and white vinyl.

Philippa admits that when the couple first purchased the vehicle it wasn’t particularly nice to drive. “The front brakes were a bit dodgy, so we took it to a chap in Cambridge and he installed a Jaguar front end with much better brakes.

Johnny Butcher passed away two years ago, but Philippa is continuing a 10-year annual tradition of attending Americarna. She doesn’t drive the F-100 or the family’s second American classic – a  1928 Ford Model A Tudor sedan – but other family members are happy to do that.

And this tradition will continue too, if her grandchildren have anything to do with it.

“My 11-year-old grandson loves the cars. He regularly takes them out of the shed to give their engines a bit of a run. He really looks after them”.