There are a lot of rusty nuts in hot rodding, so when a bunch of Waiuku-based mates wanted to name their group they came up with the next best thing: ‘Rusty Studs’.
Rusty Studs isn’t a club. Rules, fees and affiliations aren’t their gig. They’re a ‘social group’ that’s all about low-key fun, having a good time with their cars, and helping each other out in their sheds.
Having said that, things did get a bit full-on for a while… but we’ll get to that shortly.

It all officially started back in 2011 (Doesn’t sound that long ago does it, but we’re talking 12 years), but the Rusty Studs had been mates hanging out way before then.
The ‘Country Boys Toys’ show at a local school was coming to an end, so rather than let it die these petrol heads decided to not only take it on, but also step things up.
The school principal was fully behind the change, but reckoned it’d take years to make it happen.
Well, in a matter of four months the Rusty Studs (they didn’t have a name at the time, but figured they should have one seeing as they were going to run an event) held its first Waiuku Steel ‘n’ Wheels
Festival in a closed-off half of the town’s main street (Waiuku is on Auckland’s west coast, not far from Pukekohe).
The ‘Steel’ part tied in with the nearby steel mill and would hopefully lead to sponsorship from the steel company; and ‘Wheels’ signalled that anything and everything with wheels would be welcome.
“We had an unbelievable response,” recalls original Rusty Stud, Jeff Johnson. “The show grew from there; we had most of the main street closed off. The local council and business association - former Town Manager
Sharlene Druyven in particular - were involved from the start, handling the sponsorship and all the legal stuff.
But pretty soon paperwork and traffic management made everything too hard, and with more bureaucracy and a drastic increase in costs the Rusty Studs stepped back.
Whilst the Rusty Studs is still very much involved with Steel n Wheels - “Council does the paperwork and we do the groundwork,” says Jeff - the group has had a hankering to get back to basics and do
something that won’t be constrained by red tape and the costs of traffic management.

A chilled-out car swapmeet and car display, which will compliment rather than compete with Steel and Wheels, and be held at a different time of year.
This is where Rusty Stud member Terry Short comes into the picture.
Terry owns a big chunk of land on Constable Road, on the edge of Waiuku town centre.
It’s partly developed with some units leased, and one serving ‘Rusty Studs HQ’ duty with a workshop and cosy upstairs clubroom and a bar.
There’s a huge block of empty land out the back, and further along is a medical centre with a large sealed carpark.

On Saturday November 11th the roughly ten acres (and the café in the medical centre) will be the venue for the ‘Rusty Studs Car Show and Swap Meet’.
And being on private land, it’ll be much more relaxed and manageable than running a Steel n Wheels event.
You’ll find details in the next Petrolhead ‘Coming Events’ section.
The 20 or so Rusty Studs members own a variety of street machines and hot rods.

Their big goal for the show is to make sure that everyone who comes along has a good time, and hopefully the group breaks even on costs.
Should Rusty Studs end up in the black, the surplus will be used to progress their group project: a mid ‘40s KB1 series International pick-up that they’re turning into a gasser race car that they’ll
have a turn at racing in the popular NZ Vintage Gas class.

If you’d like to know more about the Rusty Studs email info@rustystuds.co.nz or have a look around the website.