The Shed magazine December/January 2026 issue 124 on sale now
The Stude-Maker
Studebaker marketed their groundbreaking 1950 Aero-Nose models as “luxury for everyman.” A young Trevor Halstead thought this was a bit of him, so he began purchasing Studebakers in the early 1970s. The fact that the Champion model he chose was $50 less than the Ford he really wanted did play a small role in that life-changing decision. As they say, the rest is history.
“To the man on the street, they became known as bullet noses, and while they proved to be Studebaker’s best-selling model in 1950, those aero-lines did not age so well, and by 1952, the company reverted to a more conventional front end.
Fast forward a couple of decades into another hemisphere, and a one-man Studebaker ‘Next Look’ revival was about to begin, in the workshop of Studebaker devotee and custom-builder, Trev Halstead. This time, though, those vintage lines would take on wild and offbeat shapes.
In Trev’s shed, deep in the heart of dairy country, “Studees” as he calls them, are often completely transformed: chopped and channelled; shortened and sectioned into sleek, sometimes outlandish, jellybean-coloured chariots.
Think Big Daddy Roth cartoons and vintage sci-fi fantasy. He is known for building the shapes he likes, particularly the bullet noses, and creating completely fresh lines without sacrificing Studebaker’s distinctive look. On occasion, Trev has even been known to rebuild them as stock, too.
Whatever the brief or design, every detail is methodically and meticulously crafted by Trev, whose idiosyncratic reputation is legendary in the custom car and hot rod world.
Woodwork: getting started – part one
Not be too many weeks pass before someone asks me how to get started in woodworking as a hobby. I have had a life-long interest in making or building things but only in the last 20-plus years has my woodworking become dominant. Most people contemplating something in the woodworking area say they have had previous exposure to the craft, but often that was just a brief introduction during their school days.
Perhaps the biggest decision is first to determine that you want to start making something out of wood. Once under way, you will probably move in a particular direction that interests you.
One of the best places to start is at a woodworking hobby class at a local school or polytechnic.
Hammering history
You can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of Kiwi women who have become blacksmiths in their 60s. Judy Waterston of Livingstone, inland North Otago, is one of them.
As a child Judy spent hours in her engineer-father’s workshop sorting nuts and bolts, tidying away his tools, sweeping up, and watching him make things. She says her love of tools and machinery came from her dad.
The blacksmithing seed was sown in 1972 when Judy first saw Nicol’s Blacksmith Shop in Duntroon, some 40 km from Oamaru up State Highway 83. The building was being devoured by periwinkle planted 100 years before to act as a fire retardant. Most of the windows were smashed and it was draped in cobwebs.
“I looked through the broken windows and when I saw the anvil and bellows they took my breath away,” she remembers. “I’ve loved this building ever since.”
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