Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2017 i Street Machine

BURNOUT Masters is the be-all and end-all when it comes to frying tyres in front of monster crowds, and the 2017 series is going to be bigger than ever. It all started with Summernats 30, where the top five in the Burnout Masters earned a spot in the Street MachineSummernats 31 competition. Throw in the top three from the Summernats Burnout Championship, and there’s eight ‘golden tickets’ already taken for next year. The West Australians will have first crack at what is left when Gazzanats WA fires up 3-5 March; the winners of both the blown and naturally aspirated competitions will score an automatic entry to the Masters at Summernats 31. One week later, the circus swings back east to Lardner Park for Motorfest, where the top two entrants will…

NOW heading into its ninth season, the Discovery Channel TV show Street Outlaws has been a runaway success. Two of the most popular cast members, Farmtruck and AZN, blew into Summernats 30 like a tornado, and everyone wanted a piece of them. The pair are household names the world over; not that you’d pick it, as you couldn’t ever hope to meet more humble, knockaround car guys. Here’s an excerpt from our chat, the full version of which you can find at www.streetmachine.com.au. Were you surprised at the huge following Street Outlaws has Down Under? AZN: The show Street Outlaws has its own demographic, but when it comes to what countries adopt our show, we have no idea. When we came to Australia and saw the amount of fans that…

BREAKDOWN VEHICLES: A fleet of 1950s Dodge 100 trucks, 1942 Willys MB Jeep, 1952 Standard 12 utility, 1951 Land Rover Series I, 1946 Morris van, 1952 Vauxhall Velox, 1934 Austin Seven, 1957 Ford MkII Consul STARS: Stanley Baker, Sean Connery, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins, Patrick McGoohan, William Hartnell, Sidney James, Jill Ireland, Gordon Jackson, David McCallum, Marjorie Rhodes DIRECTOR: Cy Endfield ACTION: Aggression and intimidation are the name of the game when driving a truck for Hawletts; rubbing bumpers and sideswipes are a daily occurrence. The finale stunts are impressively cutting-edge for a 60-year-old film PLOT: An ex-con trying for a clean start lands a driving job with a local trucking company. He’s quickly obsessed with breaking the record for most loads in a shift, alienating himself from other drivers…

ON OUR Facebook page recently we posed the simple question: If you could have one car from the year you were born, what would it be? STREET MACHINE – 1972 Torana GTR XU-1 – Telfo. Brett Ebb – Telfo, I thought it was a Sandman like how we discussed back in the 80s at Nundah State School! Steven Harley – If I had to get something from the year I was born I guess it would have to be a VN Group A. Christopher ‘Bluey’ Blanks – Suppose I could put up with a Walkinshaw. Steven Harley – We need a Walky and a Group A to cruise around in! Bruce Crockett – If you want a ‘cruiser’, the VN SV5000 was better! Steven Harley – I can’t afford either!…

WITH AROUND 300 CARS ENTERED, THERE WAS PLENTY OF COOL STUFF TO CHECK OUT WITH LOTS OF VARIETY FOR ALL TASTES THERE were a lot of changes for this year’s Motorvation, the biggest being the move from a three-day event to one day. If you haven’t been keeping up with the news from the Perth Motorplex, the changes were due to the previous long-time management standing down and VenuesWest, a state government statutory body, taking over. It’s not all doom and gloom though, as a lot of the previous volunteer staff were still on hand to ensure that the event ran smoothly. While it might seem like a bit of a downer, the one-day-only format actually worked pretty well. The traders and entrants set up on the Friday and…

PAUL WRIGHT HAS SPENT MORE THAN TWO DECADES PLAYING WITH HIS FAVOURITE TOY – A FERAL, METH-CHUGGING LX TORANA I DON’T GET TO DRIVE THE CAR ON THE STREET THESE DAYS, SO I THOUGHT I MIGHT AS WELL GO BALLS-OUT AND GET ON WITH IT BOYS and their toys, eh? Sydney’s Paul Wright has been mucking around with his YLDTOY Torana for more than 20 years. In the 90s it was a neat little streeter, rocking a set of 14-inch Dragway five-spokes, a velour interior and a mild 308. It even made the Top 100 at Summernats back in the day. Two decades and numerous rebuilds later, it has morphed into something that’s just plain silly. Fans of Holden’s homegrown bent-eight will be pleased to learn that beneath the…

BEFORE CHOPPED, THE IDEA OF PUTTING ON A SHOW FOR PRE-’65 CARS BUILT IN AN ARCANE STYLE FROM DECADES PAST WAS UNTHINKABLE ENTRANTS, PUNTERS AND VOLUNTEERS ALIKE PITCHED IN TO FREE BOGGED CARS FROM THE QUAGMIRE, SHARED THEIR FIREWOOD, AND HELPED OUT WITH MECHANICAL REPAIRS ONE of the many great things about the annual Chopped festival, held in the showgrounds of Newstead, Victoria, is that no two shows are ever the same. The cars, the crowd and the bands vary from year to year – and so does the weather. The 2016 event brought rain, which soon turned to mud. This presented some challenges for the Chopped organising crew, but for everyone else the muddy conditions enhanced the feeling of camaraderie that is a hallmark of this show. Entrants,…

01 GET BELTED AEROFLOW’S Holden VN-VS Commodore 5.0L EFI V8 Gilmer-style pulley kits are machined from billet 6061-T6 aluminium. They’re available in a black or silver hard anodised finish for maximum life of pulley teeth, meaning the chance of slippage and torn belts is reduced. The kit includes power steering and air-conditioning V-groove pulleys and all the required mounting hardware. Belts are sold separately. For more information contact Rocket Industries on (02) 8825 1900 or visit www.aeroflowperformance.com. 02 BACK IN BLACK DESIGNED to restore your car’s black plastic trim to a showroom-fresh look, Mothers Naturally Black Trim & Plastic Restorer aerosol is simple to use. Just spray it on and walk away while it does all the hard work. Light oxidation, wax residue and surface film are lifted away from…

ANDREW BROWN 1951 FX HOLDEN “I BOUGHT my FX as a father-and-son project, and while my son lost a little bit of interest in it, I kept going and fell in love with it. I’m a mechanic by trade, so I overhauled the mechanicals first without repainting or trimming it. Around that time I got into business with my own mechanical workshop and my wife then needed a car, so I got the FX registered and drove it to and from work every day for a year, though I always wanted to paint it red. An opportunity arose when an old-school panel beater took over the panel shop around the corner, Master Motor Body Repairs in Pakenham. He did a great job, taking it back to bare metal and painting…

IN A world where LS engines seem to rule supreme, it is refreshing to see that there are still plenty of cool Holden projects in the works – like this very streetable supercharged pump-fuel combo from Powerhouse Engines. John Pilla from Powerhouse built the 355ci Holden stroker for Bud Blandford to put in his HQ Premier sedan. “I wanted it all under the bonnet,” Bud says. “I’ve had the car since I was 16 and I wanted to keep the body as original as I could. I told Johnny I was only aiming for 600hp, so anything after that was a bonus.” The combo runs ported cast-iron EFIstyle heads and a Yella Terra/Whipple 2.4L supercharger with a water-to-air intercooler tucked in underneath. After converting the factory VT roller block to…

THERE aren’t many shows in the world that have been at it for as long as the Grand National Roadster Show. January 2017 saw the 68th year of the show, and the 68th time the honour of America’s Most Beautiful Roadster was awarded. By far the most covetable gong in the American hot rod world, the time-honoured trophy this year went to Bruce Wanta’s 1936 Packard roadster. Built by Troy Ladd and the blokes at Hollywood Hot Rods in Burbank, California, the Packard, dubbed the Mulholland Speedster, is the first AMBR winner in quite a few years to stray from the traditional Big Three-manufactured rod. The stunning coachbuilt Packard was designed by E.Black Design alongside the Hollywood Hot Rod team, and the striking Mulholland Merlot paintjob was applied by Mick…

23-26 FEB, EASTERN CREEK, NSW Powercruise #66, Sydney Motorsports Park. Visit www.powercruise.com. 26 FEB, MOONEE PONDS, VIC Showcars Melbourne Showdown 6, Moonee Valley Racecourse. Visit www.showcarsmelbourne.com.au. 03-05 MAR, POWRANNA, TAS 2017 Tassie Nats, Tas Dragway. Visit www.tassienats.com. 03-05 MAR, COLLIE, WA Gazzanats WA, Collie Motorplex. Visit www.garymyers.com.au. 04 MAR, EASTERN CREEK, NSW Grudge Kings, Sydney Dragway. Visit www.sydneydragway.com.au. 04 MAR, GEELONG, VIC 13th Annual Geelong All Holden Day, Geelong Showgrounds. Visit www.fx-hzcarclub.com. 04 MAR, BEECHWORTH, VIC Beechworth Car, Bike & 4x4 Show ’n’ Shine, Swap Meet & Fete 2017, Beechworth Primary School. Contact Anthony 0437 492 271. 05 MAR, KURWONGBAH, QLD All Aussie Fair Dinkum Day 2017, Lakeside Park Raceway. Visit www.qldraceways.com.au. 05 MAR, MINCHINBURY, NSW Idlewild Hot Rod & Custom Car Show 2017, M Centre. Contact Chris 0403 253…

THE PLAN WAS TO PUT IN A 434 SMALL-BLOCK AND TURBO 400, REPAINT IT, RETRIM IT AND THEN BE BACK CRUISING. YEAH, RIGHT! JUST about every dyed-in-the-wool Holden fan loves the one-tonner, and Street Machine Summernats 30 Grand Champion Mark ‘Happy’ Williams is no different. He can’t really remember a time he didn’t want a tonner. “I’ve always wanted one since I was about 10 years old,” he says. “I finally bought this one after harassing the bloke for years. It ran a 350, Turbo 350 and Salisbury, but as soon as I bought it I changed the wheels, lowered it, put a nine-inch in it and dropped the tray onto the chassis.” At the time, Happy lived in Newman, a mining town about 1200km north-east of Perth, and his…

WE COP IT HARD FROM THE PURISTS: “HOW CAN YOU DO THAT TO A GENUINE CAR?” BUT I ALSO HAVE AN ALL-ORIGINAL VL WALKINSHAW THERE are those who reckon that when Peter Brock fettled Holden’s humble Commodore into a bona fide Bathurstwinning classic in the shape of the HDT VL SS Group A, he got it spot-on. Then there are blokes like Shane Ross, who believe there isn’t a car on this planet that can’t be made better by inserting a blown, injected big-block. If you’re the type of enthusiast who rocks an HDT hatpin and recites trim codes in your sleep, it’s likely that Shane’s Brocky has already sent you into an almighty tizz. But spare us the abusive emails, because Shane has heard it all before, and he…

NOW in its 52nd year, Australia’s longest-running indoor show gave itself a slight rebrand this year to become the Victorian Hot Rod & Cool Rides Show. Why? Presumably the aim was to make it clear that while the event respects its pre-’48 roots, it also always has a killer variety of cars on show each year. Or maybe the idea was to pre-empt the inevitable whining along the lines of: “I went to the Hot Rod Show and – gasp – there were Commodores!” Either way, the event is unique in Australia for its killer location at the historic Royal Exhibition Building, moments from the Melbourne CBD by tram and surrounded by beautiful gardens. In addition to the formally entered cars and bikes housed in the Exhibition Building, a passing…

IF YOU SURVEYED THE PUNTERS, THE SKIDS WOULD PROBABLY BE THE MOST POPULAR ASPECT OF KANDOS ABOUT a week out from the annual Kandos Street Machine & Hot Rod Show, I was asked by a mate what kind of event it was. I gave it some thought, and ended up reasoning that it was a bit like Summernats, but with the volume turned down. There’s a show ’n’ shine, burnout comp, go-to-whoa, grass driving events and a sound-off, but if you surveyed the punters, the skids would probably be the most popular aspect of the event by a fair margin. There’s a Best Overall Entrant award that’s very similar to Grand Champion, and until recently there was a Miss Kandos pageant and a dyno comp, too. A well-patronised bar and…

REMEMBER when a 500rwhp pull in the Summernats Horsepower Heroes competition was enough to win the thing outright and bring the crowd to their feet? It wasn’t all that long ago, but a lot has changed in the years since. These days you’re nobody unless your street car is good for a horsepower figure in the four-digit range, and fetching accurate, repeatable numbers out of a 1000rwhp car on a traditional roller dyno is problematic to say the very least. But dyno manufacturers are catching up, and Aussie mob Mainline DynoLog Dynamometers has brought a range of hub dynos to market that sidesteps many of the common issues associated with roller dynos. “Hub dynos have been around for 20 years, and there have been some systems designed overseas that are…

IT WAS A 202 WITH A THREE-ON-THE-TREE, BUT NOW IT RUNS A 308 STROKED TO 355CI, MAKING 491HP AT THE CRANK A CHILDHOOD spent watching her dad tinkering with his old Holdens set Siobhan Ridings up for her vocation as a mechanic, and she’s put those skills to good use on the build of her beautiful LH Torana sedan. Nice Torana! My grandfather bought it brand new in 1974, and it still has the original rego number. I got the car about 12 years ago. Bet it didn’t look like that when your grandfather had it! Definitely not! It was a 202 with a three-on-the-tree. Now it has a 308 stroked to 355ci with VN heads, a manualised Turbo 350 and a nine-inch. The engine made 491hp at the crank,…

WHAT’S a Volvo doing in Street Machine? Well there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to Peter Gatward’s beige, maths teacher-spec Volvo 240 wagon. We spotted this thing putting car lengths on Lambos at Powercruise, so we just had to find out what was going on under the bonnet. What’s in this thing? It’s a Toyota 1UZ-FE 4.0-litre V8 out of an old Crown. It then has a custom low-mount turbo set-up with a Garrett GT4088 running around 14psi. On E85 it makes approximately 450rwhp; it has made 500rwhp on 16psi before but I think this is where it’s most reliable. It’s just a bone-stock standard engine, they’re just really robust and they seem to handle boost pretty well. How do people react when they see this engine…

“A FEMALE SHOULD BE ABLE TO GO TO TUFF STREET WITHOUT BEING HARASSED. THIS IS NOT ABOUT BEING POLITICALLY CORRECT, IT IS JUST ABOUT BEING DECENT” SUMMERNATS organisers have vowed to wipe out sexual harassment at the event by adopting a zero-tolerance approach. Ticketsfor Street Machine Summernats31 are already on sale, and anyone buying tickets online will notice a second checkbox in addition to the regular T&Cs. “We want to make a statement,” Summernats co-owner Andy Lopez said before tickets went on sale on 12 February. “Now, in addition to the regular box to accept the Terms & Conditions, there will be a second box that you must check and it will say something like: ‘Summernats is a safe place for women. I accept by buying a ticket to the…

WHAT makes a true car enthusiast? Is it the diehard with an unshakeable, one-eyed brand allegiance, or someone spreading the love across a diverse range of makes or models? For me, it’s all about the passion, regardless of vehicle choice, which glues us all together into this one crazy scene. Take Glenn Bannister, for instance. Since the 80s he has owned an eclectic mix of cars, steering away from the normal Ford and Holden channels to find his niche down roads less-travelled. 01: GLENN’S stepdad, Greg, came into his life in the late 70s and nurtured his love of cars. “Greg rumbled up in this 1969 Javelin coupe and my jaw dropped,” Glenn remembers. “It’s one of 39 Aussie-built Javelins for that year, and Greg found it at a Footscray…

I LIKED XY FALCONS, BUT WE ALREADY HAD ONE IN THE FAMILY, SO I THOUGHT I’D DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT THERE are no two ways about it – building cars ain’t easy. More often than not, developing the vision and the skills required to piece together a top-quality street machine is something that’s done by making countless mistakes over the course of numerous projects, and learning from each and every one. Then there are guys like Jason Rachele who build masterpieces like this XM Falcon coupe on their first attempt. Granted, he took his time and had the guidance and support of a bunch of car-mad mates, but the XM is certainly of a standard befitting a far more experienced car crafter. Based in the street machine heartland of Shepparton in…

AS SUCCESSFUL AS ROCK 2 WAS, IT WASN’T DOMINANT, SO WITH ROCK 3 I DID EVERYTHING I’D ALWAYS WANTED TO DO ONE of the most attention-grabbing legends taking part in the Street Machine Summernats 30 celebrations was ROCK 3 – the amazing 1972 XA Falcon built by Howard Astill. It’s incredible to think this amazing machine rolled out of Howard’s Broken Hill garage waaay back in 1989. What’s even more remarkable is the history behind this iconic street machine. Let’s take a trip down memory lane. In the late 70s and early 80s panel vans were all the rage. Howard’s dad owned the local Ford dealership, so Astill Jr was able to get his hands on a brand new XC pano with a factory 351 and four-speed. With a host…

THE SUPERCHARGED AND TWIN-TURBOCHARGED 5.1-LITRE FORD ALUMINATOR QUAD-CAM V8 HAS COPPED A BRUTAL AMOUNT OF WORK WE’VE had guys build street machines using plenty of cutting-edge race car technology and influence, but none have done it to quite the same level as Vicious, the silver-and-grey ’65 Mustang fastback on these pages. It packs a modern quad-cam V8 inflated by a supercharger as well as two 68mm turbos, plus it has a paddle-shifted sequential transmission, centre-lock wheels, data-logging, carbon-ceramic brakes, independent rear suspension and a wild aerodynamics package to boot! Timeless Kustoms in Camarillo, California, is the shop responsible for this madness, constructing Vicious with the aim of taking on the best pro touring beasts in America. “The concept for Vicious just came out of my head,” says Timeless Kustoms bossman…

THE HD WAS IN BETTER NICK AFTER REMOVING THE PAINT, WHICH IS DEFINITELY NOT HOW THE COOKIE USUALLY CRUMBLES. THE OLD LAYERS MASKED HOW GOOD IT REALLY WAS DO YOU remember the awkward chick at school who blossomed into a supermodel? Or the nerdy guy that was bullied by the ‘in’ crowd but is now the buff billionaire signing their pay cheques? Well a similar ‘time to shine’ has come for many formerly forgotten Aussie classics, as evidenced by the variety our modern-day car scene is offering up as eye candy. Sure, the cornerstone Monaros, Toranas, Falcons and Chargers will always have their place – and rightly so – but with raw project fodder getting harder to find, folks are exploring different options and spinning gold from less common bodystyles…

STOCK-bottom-end (SBE) racing is producing some amazing results from LS and Barra motors in particular, but how about the old Holden V8? Its age doesn’t make it a likely candidate for SBE action, but Jay Jeffreys’s Holden-powered VR ute has something to say about that. Perth local Jay has owned a bunch of tough aspirated combos over the years, including his current VK Commodore with an LS that runs in the 9.40s in Super Sedan. He also teamed up with his brother Blake on last year’s Street Machine Drag Challenge in Blake’s LS-powered streeter, and came away with the Longest Distance Travelled award. Jay’s mates have been onto him for years about getting on the turbo train, and after a recent session on the cans, he agreed to do it…

I HAD THE PINK EH FOR 16 YEARS BEFORE I GOT DRUNK ONE NIGHT AND DECIDED TO FIND THE FIRST OWNER WALKING into Harvey Miles’s shed for the first time, I’m immediately offered a seat at the bar and a cold ale. But it’s hard to sit still; there’s so much to see, and I want to see it. Harvey cracks open a beer and hands it to me; he notices my blink of surprise when he pours himself a Pinot Noir. “I used to smoke 70 cigarettes a day,” he explains without me even asking. “Gave ’em up and suddenly – boom! – I was allergic to beer! So here’s me with a glass of wine!” he laughs. It’s clear that although the gaspers are now long gone, grape…

> GAG OF THE MONTH COSTUME DRAMA TWO friends had gone deer hunting for many years without success. Finally, they came up with what they thought was a foolproof plan. They got a very authentic female deer costume and learned the female deer’s mating call. The plan was to hide in the costume, lure the stag, then come out of the costume and shoot it. So they set themselves up on the edge of a clearing, donned their costume, and began to give the deer love call. Before long, their call was answered as a stag came crashing out of the forest and into the clearing. When the stag was close enough, the guy in front said: “Okay, let’s get out and get him.” There was a long silence before…