Dennis has built the coupe, has already sold four at other events, and is looking to branch out into other car bodies with or without motors.
With his wife Bobbie and daughter Andie, the family runs the retro market at the event — a dawn 'til dusk job that starts before and doesn't finish until after Beach Hop.
"It's a lot of work, but we do it because we love the event," he says.
Dennis was Beach Hop organiser Noddy Watts' right hand man in the early days of the event. He lived in the Coromandel holiday town for 25 years, so grew up with it.
"From roundabout to roundabout, people would just drive, and every car park was full — you couldn't get a car park and everyone would just stand on the side of the road watching the cars cruising."
They were also enjoying a beer — something that is no longer possible with liquor bans in place.
"You could stand on the side of the road with your boot up and a chilli bin in there," he says.
While Beach Hop is now more controlled, it is still a must-attend event, and for Dennis there is just one reason for that — "cars".
"The whole town ramps up for Beach Hop — it takes over the whole town, it engulfs it.
"There's probably six or seven cars parked in each property. It's just absolutely chocker.
"Everywhere you look are just American cars and hot rods."
Dennis' love of cars began with his first job as an apprentice mechanic in Rotorua and it has stuck with him his whole life.
"Mostly American cars," he says, "although in the early days we tended to grow up with Pommie cars. There were very few American cars. The boss' dad had an Impala and he had a 56 Chevy."
"I've pretty much stuck to one or two — a 38 Chevy coupe and a 56 F100 truck."
About three years ago, though, he set himself a new goal, to build a Model A — and this time he is hoping to do everything himself.
"I started from scratch. I wanted to build an old school-looking hot rod.
"Back then I had a Windsor sitting in it and said, 'no, I want a proper hot rod motor', so it was either a flat head or a Hemi — I found a Hemi so put that in it."
He hopes another year's work will be enough to get the car on the road.
"But I'll probably pull the body off and chop the top off it and take 4 inches out of it because that's a hot rod to me," he says.
■ Beach Hop started yesterday with the Warm Up Party in Waihi and then runs from today until Sunday in Whangamata.
