Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2015 i Street Machine

BREAKDOWN VEHICLES: 1977 Pontiac Firebird funny car, 1974 Chevrolet Vega funny car, 1975 Chevrolet C30, Dodge L1000, 1978 Chevrolet Camaro, 1975 Ford Econoline, 1970 Plymouth Barracuda, 1969 Pontiac GTO, 1972 Dodge Challenger, 1966 Chevy II STARS: William Smith, John Saxon, Claudia Jennings, Nicholas Campbell, Judy Foster, Don Francks, Cedric Smith DIRECTOR: David Cronenberg ACTION: Lots of old-school fueller and funny-car action, including some pretty cool ‘driver’s view’ sequences PLOT: The FastCo drag team struggle to stay afloat as they battle a slimeball sponsor’s rep and lock horns with a rival race team GOOD guys/bad guys flicks come in many forms, but Fast Company is the only one to my knowledge that’s based around drag racing. Professional racer Lonnie Johnson (William Smith) is at the top end of the fueller and…

IT’S no coincidence that this XC Falcon shares a few of the Mad Max Interceptor’s styling cues – the bloke that owns it, Grant Hodgson, has had a hand in building quite a few Interceptor replicas in partnership with Gordon Hayes over the years, many of which ended up overseas. This one, though, is Grant’s personal ride, and even though it’s also overseas – the USA to be precise – it’s for a very good reason. He’s been having a great old time taking part in the Hot Rod Power Tour and the Street Machine Nationals in Du Quoin, Illinois. This isn’t the first time Grant has had a crack at the Power Tour. He moved to the US in 2005 and took the car with him: “I did the…

WHAT you’re looking at is a matching pair of full-weight, untubbed, leaf-sprung XW Falcons that run deep into the sevens on 275 radial tyres. It’s a feat that seems to defy the laws of physics, but what these cars may lack in terms of giant slicks, tube chassis, lightweight body panels and any semblance of aerodynamics, they more than compensate for with a combined 4400hp! “People often ask if the time boards are working properly!” laughs Steve Bezzina, owner of the blue XW. At present, the car is among the top dogs in Outlaw Radial, and has gone as quick as 7.38@194.5mph. The white one is a 7.54-second, 3800lb behemoth owned by Lou Ludica and Frank Marchese of Dandy Engines fame, and they’re the blokes responsible for screwing together the…

IT IS something of a sore point amongst Chrysler fans that a Valiant was never able to clinch victory at the Bathurst 1000, but the marque has a proud history at Australia’s great race nevertheless and the Vals certainly gave the annual 500-mile production car races at Mount Panorama in the late 1960s and early 70s a good shake with the legendary Hemi Pacers and R/T Chargers. But some may not be aware that Chrysler’s involvement in ‘The Great Race’ started during the formative years of the 500, at Victoria’s Phillip Island Raceway, when the original R- and S-Series Valiants made their debut in the 1962 Armstrong 500. When the race moved to its permanent home at Mount Panorama in 1963, Chrysler Australia products enjoyed immediate class success. It was…

DUNCAN Macfarlane is only the second owner of this Blue Oval time capsule. He had a few XAs back in his late teens and has always been a fan of the first truly local Ford. His wife Karen likes Falcons too, so when he found this car online and made the inevitable purchase, it was initially supposed to be for her. Duncan was alerted to the car by a mate. “I hadn’t been looking for one, but we went and had a look and I ended up buying it straight up” he says. And why wouldn’t you? Just check out the sun visor, mud flaps, mesh headlight protectors and venetian in the back window. It’s the real deal, the one-owner barn find we all dream about. “The old boy who…

BESIDE the New England Highway at Cottonvale, just north of Stanthorpe, Queensland, sits Pete’s Hot Rod & Resto Shop. You’ll know it by the yellow ’28 Model A roadster on the roof of the shed, and it’s well worth stopping by if you happen to be in the area. Especially in February, when proprietor Pete Neale hosts the annual Moonshine Run. Now in its eighth year, the Moonshine Run is old-school in both ethos and execution. Officials wear white shirts, and the vibe is laidback and friendly in a way that only a country event can be. Pete started the Run in 2008, with a small turn-out of five cars, but word of mouth increased numbers year by year; the 2013 event drew over 150 cars. A sizzling brekky at…

TOUGH TEST IN THE Amazon rainforest, three explorers were walking: an Irishman, an Englishman and an American. Eventually they came across a tribe, and the leader of the tribe told them that if they wanted to pass through this territory, they had to pass the Three Caves test. The explorers agreed and asked what the Three Caves test was. The leader of the tribe took them to the caves, where he said: “Inside the first, there are three bottles of rum, each 100 years old and said to be toxic. You have to drink one each. In the second is a lion with a thorn in his foot. You must remove the thorn. In the third is a woman who has never been satisfied, and she must be satisfied.” The…

MARK Thomson didn’t need much convincing to make the leap from singlecarby small-block to a turbocharged, intercooled and injected six-litre LS-engine for his HG Premier. “The car has only been on the road for about 18 months” Mark says, “but I got so sick of the fuel economy with the old 400ci small-block set-up, while these LS engines seem to make plenty of power as well as being reliable and economical. Mark Drew is a good mate of mine and when I saw what Raelene’s HR was doing, I thought to myself, I want a bit of that!” Being a cabinet maker and TAFE instructor, Mark isn’t as confident with the spanner-twirling as others, so he tapped Mark Drew on the shoulder for this engine build. The bottom end is…

THAT’S right: The Street Machine Drag Challenge – Australia’s own version of the US phenomenon Hot Rod Drag Week – is on again. Following the success of last year’s event, we’ve decided to go large: This time it’ll be five tracks in five days and 1500km. We’ve also chosen to keep it all within Victoria for this year’s event, starting and finishing at Calder Park. This will give racers somewhere secure to leave their tow rigs while they’re out cruising and racing. Last year we deliberately kept Drag Challenge small and only invited a select bunch of racers to participate, but this time around we asked you guys to nominate yourselves so we knew who to send entry forms to. We had over 130 expressions of interest, and now that…

A SUNNY winter’s day at the Bairnsdale Dragway gave the perfect backdrop to the inaugural Powerhouse Engines AspoNats on Saturday 22 August. Some of Australia’s toughest aspirated burnout cars and some well-known blown beasts (minus blowers, of course) battled it out for a share of the $15K prize pool. It was a great opportunity for some of the real torch-bearers for natural aspiration to shine. The relaxed event even saw Senator Ricky Muir drop in for a spin on the pad in his Falcon, in one of the non-burnout driving events. Tim Brown in CEMBLO ended up taking the win in his Haddad 440ci LS-powered VK Commodore, with a great display of driver control and the biggest smoke-out of the pad for the whole event. South Australian Brett Gray came…

YOU’LL find Smith Concepts nestled in a warehouse in Brookvale’s industrial area, on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Inside, cranking some good tunes, is Kyle Smith – proud owner, hard worker and champion of ‘custom cool’. Kyle’s been pushing his custom painting and pinstriping skills for more than six years now. He’s just moved from his first, more humble workshop and is now carving a name for himself, applying his skills to cars, bikes, helmets and everything in between. How did all this start? I was right into drawing and graffiti in high school, and I left at the end of Year Nine to pursue arts at TAFE. I did two and a half years of fine arts and graphic design courses, and ended up landing a job doing automotive window tinting,…

LETTER OF THE MONTH REVERIE A RAINY day in Townsville. I go find the only (little) mountain we have and drive my Brocky up it in the wet, dreaming of the other, more Panoramic mountain that stands some 200 kilometres west of Sydney. In my mind I drive from Windsor up the Bells Line of Road. I punch second gear up Bellbird Hill and the deep exhaust rumble brings a smile to my face. The drive from the lookout atop Bellbird Hill to the bluff, windswept decline of Scenic Hill at Lithgow is one of my favourites. The mixture of some sweeping long corners and steep ranges allows the driver to work the transmission and throttle with great passion. During the section around Mt Wilson, you drive through a 35km/h…

THE VL Walkinshaw was outrageous from the moment it was unveiled in 1988, but Shane Ross’s 1000hp example is particularly out there. Yes, this tubbed, LS-powered monster is a genuine VL SS Group A SV, built to an elite level as a genuine street car in just 10 short weeks. Shane is no stranger to tough cars, with a bad-arse blown HDT Brocky in the shed, also built up from a genuine HDT muscle car. But MON5TR is on another level again, as it’s making 1060hp at the wheels at just 18psi boost. And it’s rocking 22x12 Simmons rims and a power-sapping ’Glide. Such a stout power figure is thanks to 402 cubic inches of LS V8, inflated by a single, massive 94mm turbocharger, and built by brothers Kent and…

THE white XW has been part of the furniture at Dandy Engines since 2004, when the boys bought it cheap with no real intentions other than to have some fun. The first combo was an aspirated, cast-headed 351ci Cleveland; one of the first of its kind to run into the 10s on pump fuel. From there, a 6/71-blown Cleveland powered the car to a 10.0@138mph, before CHI commissioned Dandy Engines to build an aspirated 427 combo. With that motor, the XW became the first stock-bodied Falcon in Australia to run nines on pump fuel. A race-gas 440ci combo followed, which went 9.22@147 on radials, and then the current turbo set-up was built and the car was treated to a rebuild. Steve’s blue XW has also undergone a lengthy process of…

HERE’S a story I bet you’ve never heard before: “I set out to build a simple, tough hot rod, and things got out of control.” Chris Thomas, the owner of this ballistic Hemi-powered ’32 three-window, blames Norm Longfield. “He got me hooked on Hemis when I helped him with his blown Hemi Willys years ago” he says. “He took me for few laps at Summernats and I’ve also gone for a ride in ‘The Boat’. They’re the most powerful things I’ve ever been in.” Having sampled the forbidden Hemi fruit, the original plan for a simple, blown small-block for his ’32 got heaved out the window and Chris went on a Hemi shopping spree. By the time he was done, his checkout cart included an Indy Maxx alloy block, Indy…

ODDS are that if you’re reading this magazine, cars are your life. But sometimes life isn’t fair; it can fling a drama at you with zero notice, and if that drama is a blood-borne cancer such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma, you’re in for a bumpy ride. South Australian GT Falcon fan Kevin May has seen the effects first-hand; his sister Pam Thompson passed away from lymphoma a while back. But he also saw the great work the Leukaemia Foundation do in supporting sufferers, and wanted to help out. Kevin belongs to the Falcon GT Club of South Australia, which has also been touched by leukaemia, having lost two members to the disease in recent years – Fonz Spirelli and Gary ‘Mr XR GT’ Watson. So it was a no-brainer…

THERE’S two things you can always count on with project cars: They’re always going to take longer, and cost more, than you thought. The idea for our Project Swinger Dodge Dart was to buy a car that was pretty close to what we wanted in terms of panel and paint, and then fill it full of mumbo to give away to some lucky reader. Wham bam, thank you ma’am. It was a good plan, and using our very best crayons we scrawled down an approximate budget and decided it was plenty doable. But as that old military saying goes, no plan survives contact with the enemy – the enemy in this case being our Dart. Last you probably heard of it, the Dart was getting a shiny new engine thanks…

THE SIDCHROME KOMBI WON’T JUST LOOK GOOD – IT’LL GET UP AND BOOGIE, TOO! THE awesome Sidchrome Kombi van project is trundling along nicely. As we mentioned previously (SM, Jul ’15), the Vee-Dub is being put together by the folks at Chisholm Institute of TAFE in Dandenong, Victoria, and the plan is to take this old ex-camper and turn it into a sleek and slammed head-turner. Right now the body is with the TAFE kids and is almost ready for paint. When the Kombi rolled through the gates it had massive rust damage in the floor and front end and plenty of dings from a hard life on the road, but now she is clean and rust-free. Since we last checked in, the van’s motor has also been built. The…

19-20 SEP, EASTERN CREEK, NSW Supernats 2015, Sydney Dragway. Contact Ahmet 0417 458 327, visit www.supernats.com.au. 20 SEP, SOUTH MAITLAND, NSW Toranafest, Maitland Showground. Contact Josh 0432 333 729, visit www.toranafest.com.au. 26 SEP, IPSWICH, QLD Cool Cruisers Spring Classic Show & Cruise, Top of Brisbane Street. Contact Phil 0418 155 246. 26-27 SEP, KUKERIN, WA Kukerin Creek Bed & Burnout Champs, Kukerin Camp Grounds. Contact Nick 0447 604 190, visit www.kukerincreekbedandburnoutcomp.com. 27 SEP, BERRIMA, NSW Southern Highlands Spring Auto Fair, Berrima Public School. Contact Phil 0438 402 797. 27 SEP, CASULA, NSW Motortainment Charity Car Show, Crossheads Homemaker Centre. Visit motortainment.com.au. 27 SEP, ECHUCA, VIC 11th Chevrolet Convention Show ’n’ Shine, Echuca Aquatic Reserve. Contact Greg 0408 454 082 or Tony 0419 506 200. 27 SEP, NARROMINE, NSW Narromine Car…

FOR many of us, the car scene embodies more than just what type of ride we choose to build and enjoy. It is an extension of a lifestyle, which for Michael Hall has meant nearly three decades living the vintage dream; music, art, clothes, furniture and of course cool cars and bikes are all close to his heart. A hands-on approach and a knack for spinning straw into gold have rewarded Michael with a string of neat rides that have all been part of this journey. 01: THE apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! It’s early 1974 and a three-month-old Michael is perched on the family FE panel van with his mum, Jen. “I see this photo and my jaw drops as to what could have been” he says.…

THE premise is simple: you vote for the best street machine you’ve seen in the past 12 months, and we hand a trophy and a $20,000 cheque to the owner of the car with the most votes. That’s the Valvoline Street Machine Of The Year in a nutshell. This year’s field of 16 finalists comprises favourites like Toranas, Falcons, Kingers and Mopars mixing it up with unique driveline combos, mega-cube big-blocks, trusty Aussie small-blocks and no less than two Nissan RB sixes. Bagged, blown, turboed and everything in between, this year’s SMOTY is hotter than ever. The 2015 Street Machine Of The Year winner will not only become the 28th to have their name engraved on the hallowed SMOTY intake runners, but will also bag a $20,000 cheque, thanks to…

THE Melbourne arm of the Street Machine team headed out to GreazeFest at Sandown Racecourse over the second weekend of August. This is the second year that the long-running Queensland event has made its way to Victoria. GreazeFest is as much as a music festival as it is a car show, and boss-lady Lori Lee Cash works hard to bring in killer rockabilly bands from overseas and Australia. This year’s roster included Will & The Hi-Rollers from Las Vegas and The Go Getters from Sweden, but we also dug The Hi-Boys from the Sunshine Coast as much as anyone. The weekend also included an art show, vintage markets, live tiki carving, on-the-spot tattoos, vintage hairstyling and, of course, a pre-1970 car and bike show. A big part of the attraction…

ADDING a big engine to a little car is a proven go-fast recipe, but it gets even tastier when forced induction is added into the mix. Street machiners have been fitting Holden V8s to LJ Toranas since the General’s own ill-fated factory hot rod was consigned to the history books, but few have a thumping 1000hp-capable F1 ProCharger strapped to the side, and fewer still are finished to the impeccable standard of Lee Murray’s example. Lee bought the car out of the Trading Post back in 2004, and it’s been steadily evolving ever since. “I’d owned Toranas before but never an LJ, and I’d always thought a V8 LJ would be cool” he says. At the time of purchase the car was running a hot six and nine-inch diff, so…

STRAPPED into my seat I nervously wait as the turbines spool up, the revs build and the engines start to scream. The pilot side-steps the brake and we fire down the runway, piling on the g-forces. The wheels then leave the ground and we swing north towards Benaraby Raceway, near Gladstone in Queensland, where the cars would be launching significantly harder than the Qantas 737-800 I was riding in. The APSA Championship is always tight, but it was made that little bit tighter when the second round at Willowbank was washed out and the planned third round at Calder was cancelled. This turned the six-round championship into a four-round battle; making Benaraby all the more important to those looking to score a big trophy at the end of the year.…

CHRISTCHURCH’S Luke Orpwood is the owner of this amazing 1960 Chevy Impala known as Grim. “I’ve had it for 10 years and it was in bits for eight” he says. “I found it in a barn in Dalhart, Texas, where it had sat for 25 years. “I’ve always been around classic cars since I was born” he continues. “So I had no real choice in liking cars, with a dad who lives and breathes hot rods. I always wanted a big Yank tank ever since my dad had a ’65 Caddy convertible when I was a little kid.” While many think of Cadillacs as the ultimate in full-size American excess, the ’60 Impala is no tiny compact, with its over-three-metre wheelbase. Its slippery shape and optional 348ci V8 made it…

WHEN the big cardboard box with our new headers showed up from the US, we were pretty excited. They cost a bloody fortune, but we were assured they were the right pipes for our left-hand-drive Dart Swinger, and that they would fit our factory power-steering, air-conditioned, column-shift combo. Hmm, wishful thinking perhaps. Fresh out of the box, the coated headers were so shiny and beautiful to behold, and they came complete with collectors, bolts, gaskets and all the fruit needed to bolt them up to our 520hp stroker engine. On the dyno they worked a treat, even though we cooked the shiny coating (we knew that would happen), but our troubles started when we got the guys at Glenlyon Motors to install them when they did the engine swap. “These…

JOHN Di Mauro’s Holden HQ ute was locked away in a shed for 10 years and left to deteriorate. Now it’s been given a new lease on life as a turbo LS-powered strip-storming sleeper that still looks like the knackered old shed-find it was when John got it. This thing was originally a Belmont, so how basic are we talking? It was the cheapest, nastiest HQ they sold. It didn’t even have temperature gauges. No armrests, no radio, no cigarette lighter and drum brakes all ’round. How’d you find it? My mate Andrew found it on a farm tucked away in a shed up at Cunninghams Gap in Queensland. It had been sitting for about 10 years. It was just when people started coming up with the sleeper idea –…