Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2021 i Street Machine

IT HAS been five years since NSW Roads & Maritime Services introduced a new form of conditional registration tailored to modified classic cars. While it doesn’t suit everyone, it is a great thing for our sport, allowing street machiners to register their cars for 60 days a year at a hefty discount. Previously, drivers of stock-standard historic vehicles were catered for, as were street rodders. Street machiners, however, were stuck in no man’s land. Now, we can save around $1000 a year on our rego if we choose – winning! Nevertheless, the scheme is still the subject of significant confusion, so let’s put some of that to bed right now. For starters, some folks have trouble getting their heads around the difference between the Historic Vehicle Scheme (HVS) and the…

WHILE out cruising one night, young couple Mark (Hinton) and Lynn (Peterson) sucker local tough Billy (Hampton) into losing $550 in a street race between Mark’s Pontiac Firebird and Billy’s raked-out Mercury Cougar. While Billy does a runner on the night, the pair spot him the next day and give chase, leading to them meeting the rest of Billy’s gang, the Hi-Riders, a bunch of misfit street racers and local yahoos who raise the rear of their hotted-up muscle cars to crazy levels. After winning another race against Billy to settle the debt, Mark and Lynn start hanging out with the Hi-Riders, heading off to a bar to chill with them. The town’s local hothead spies the gang’s cars while cruising by and challenges Billy to a race for $100.…

WE MADE ONE BONNET OUT OF TWO TO GET THE SHAPE AND STRENGTH BACK IN IT SO THAT IT DOESN’T FLOP AROUND IT’S good to have goals in life. You might use them to progress in your employment or learn more than four chords on the ukulele (note to self: practise more), but Graham Miller’s goal is to own an EH Holden of each body style, and so far he’s sitting at 75 per cent. “I’ve got a ute sitting here ready to go,” he reveals, “but it’s going to take a little bit of convincing the missus before I start that, because I’ve got to have a rest.” As well as the gorgeous windowless van on these pages, Graham’s also got a six-cylinder station wagon, which he describes as…

PULL up a pew with burnout stalwart Phil Kerjean in his backyard bar, ‘The Smokin’ Roo’, and you quickly begin to realise that he and his VC Commodore wagon have a hell of a story to tell. And he’ll happily tell it to you too – right after he fixes you a bourbon. The walls are adorned with photos, magazine covers, trophies and the odd busted component, all of which speak to memories he’s made over 25 years of building, breaking, skidding, racing, showing and swearing at the car. “I bought it in 1995 off a uni student in Wollongong for $2500,” Phil begins. “It was a VC SL wagon with a 253, air and steer, and it was pretty ratty. I always wanted a wagon just for something different;…

A LOVE of cars can come from many places, but for a lot of us, our earliest roots in this hobby stemmed from our fathers and close family relations. A shared interest tightens bonds like little else, and when that person is no longer with us, we can find solace and comfort in happy memories of them hurling spanners across the garage because that blasted, infernal, stupid doohickey failed again. Chad Ribbons doesn’t just have memories. Following the sudden passing of his dad, Scott, Chad spent 12 months rebuilding the ’65 HD Holden ute that his father had spent many years piloting – often with a young Chad riding shotgun. “This was my dad’s daily driver when I was growing up, so I spent half my childhood in it going…

WE ALL do it: scroll the ‘for sale’ section on social media, looking for our next project. Usually we’re just dreaming. Nick Knight took the next step. “I was on Facebook back in 2015 and came across this dirty green HQ with an ugly cloth interior, but it had what I wanted in a streeter, so I booked tickets to Brisbane for me and a couple of mechanic mates,” says Nick. A deal was done and the car settled into street duties back in Sydney before a blast at Powercruise saw the tired 350 give up. “That’s where it all began,” Nick says. “I had Chad from Prostreet Engines bolt together a stout 406-cube small-block. We upgraded the trans and diff, and that combo never gave us an ounce of…

CUTTING a walking lap of Roni Haddad’s VL Turbo SL, there’s nary a hint of the 800hp it has on tap. And that’s exactly how Roni intended it. After receiving a few too many defects for his old car, a searing yellow VL with obvious horsepower cues, this time ’round he’s opted for the peak of subtlety. Only the keen-eyed will spot the Mickey T-shod rear wheels, and, when the bonnet is popped, the RB30 barely hints at being fettled. But while it gives the illusion of being fairly harmless, Roni’s engine is spitting out some serious power thanks to the know-how of the number crunchers at Maatouks Racing – best known for their crazy-fast VL Turbos and GT-Rs. Roni and company have done a great job of keeping much…

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ANTON BROWN 1973 HOLDEN HQ UTE “I ALWAYS promised myself that if I was ever fortunate enough to put a street machine together, it would be in the vein of the cars from the glory days, drawing inspiration from such icons as Ron Barclay’s SMOTY HQ and Scott McLachlan’s Summernats-winning ‘Blue Diamond’ WB. The opportunity arrived when I spotted an unmolested HQ Belmont ute sitting in a shed at my wife Anne’s family farm. It had been sitting for over 30 years before I made the decision to bring it to Perth and give it the mother of all birthdays, ending with the ute being finished just in time to make the Elite tent at Motorvation 34. The chassis and body were blasted back to bare metal where there were…

WITH A record 294 entries, this year’s Street Machine Drag Challenge will be the biggest ever – and it’s set to get even bigger. Legendary Western Australian drag racer and 11-time national Doorslammer champion, John Zappia, has thrown his hat in the ring! Yep, that John Zappia. Needless to say, John won’t be strapping a set of plates to Zap’s Rat and heading over to Calder. While he might get away with that at Hot Rod Drag Week, it probably wouldn’t go down too well here in Oz. He will be bringing the race car across for some east coast events after DC, but his chariot during our five-day street car torture test will be a VP ute that he’s owned for some 20 years. “It started off as a…

LETTER OF THE MONTH HISTORIC ART I HAVE been a car enthusiast my whole life. Years ago, I stumbled across a damaged Manila folder while removing hard rubbish from the condemned Ford Australia headquarters. During the demolishing process, we recycled a lot of metal filing cabinets that had been written off by Ford and destined for scrap steel. As I loaded one of these into a skip bin, a few folders fell out and I noticed a drawing in one of them. It so happens that what I found was an original drawing by legendary Ford designer Jack Telnack of the famous XA coupe two-door. This could actually be the first drawing of the car. It highlights different options not available on the finished production model, such as the rear…

SOME cars just take to the pro street look. A set of tubs, fat meats out back and a metal mountain jutting from the front end works a treat when added to an early-70s Plymouth Duster, Ford Maverick or a classic-era Chevy Nova – provided one steers clear of stink-bug rakes and disco-era paintjobs. Harley Hamilton’s ’67 Nova SS is a prime example of this, with a tubbed, four-link rear end swallowing serious rubber and a blown 406ci small-block whining away up front. Hunkered down over modern wheels and with killer paint, it packs a lot of Aussie street machining flavour for a US import. “It came into the country as an 80s pro street car with graphics, a blown engine, full tubs and all that stuff,” Harley says. “I…

IT WAS never supposed to win the inaugural Rare Spares Rockynats. The lush Opal Green XR Fairmont was lucky to even get to Rockhampton following a snap COVID lockdown. Then, on day one of the event, it was in pieces – on Good Friday of all Fridays – as owner Paul Hart and wife Jade seemed destined to become unwilling spectators, despite making the impromptu nine-hour towing mission north. A trophy didn’t seem just unthinkable but ridiculous, especially given that the car was initially bought as a quick money-spinner. “This XR popped up on Facebook – a factory Fairmont; six-cylinder; really nice condition,” Paul says. “The first thing I thought was, ‘Well, I’ll go grab it and flip it.’” Paul nabbed the clean 1967 sedan for a paltry $7500, including…

ANDREW Goodwin is a man of many talents. Not only have we already featured one of his cars (SM, Jul ’15), he’s also been a contributor to the magazine, photographing events and a handful of feature cars for us before work commitments and raising a young family took priority over throwing himself into abject poverty to become an automotive photographer. The XR Falcon featured some six years ago is now gone. In fact, Andrew swapped the rolling XR shell – after already selling off the driveline – for the ’64 Galaxie 500XL in front of you. ANDREW ADMITS THAT HE DOES HAVE A BIT OF A THING FOR FORD MODELS WITH ROUND TAIL-LIGHTS The deal was done just as Andrew’s second child was born. “My daughter Josie was born on…

AFTER a year that included lockdowns, toilet paper shortages and, of course, Black Summer, many in the Victorian car community had been looking forward to a decent car show. Even after their first attempt was cancelled at the last minute, the crew from Showcars Melbourne knuckled down and delivered the city’s first big automotive event of 2021. The Melbourne weather was typically miserable, but that didn’t stop people packing Moonee Valley Racecourse to ogle the shiny metal on display. “I think the toughest problem was the weather,” said Elvis Barbieri, the event’s top dog. “But we got through the day and still drew a good crowd. We put on the show; that’s the main thing. With all the COVID restrictions, it’s a bonus to get anything of this size done.”…

WHILE we’re used to seeing Sydney’s Steve Grima behind the wheel of his 02KRUZ turbo LS VK Calais, the Drag Challenge Dial Your Own veteran will be bringing a VN along to this year’s event. Packing an LS2 6.0-litre inflated by a BorgWarner S480 snail, the fluoro four-door has so far made 740rwhp on 18psi, drinking United pump E85, and has run 8.63@156mph. “It’s a BT1 ex-cop car, actually,” says Steve. “I believe it was built about 15 years ago and was an aspo 355 street car. It then did some duty as an aspo LS skid car, then went drag racing, so the owner mini-tubbed and turbocharged it. I kept my eye on it for sale for ages, and it sold. I regretted not buying it.” Fortunately, Steve learned…

GAG OF THE MONTH TEAMWORK AN ELDERLY man and his wife entered a fast food restaurant. The wife sat down while the man ordered one hamburger, chips and a drink. He then sat down with his wife, unwrapped the hamburger and carefully cut it in half, placing the other half in front of his wife. He then carefully counted out the chips, dividing them into two piles and neatly placing one pile in front of his wife. He took a sip of the drink, then his wife took a sip, and then he set the cup down between them. As he began to eat his few bites of hamburger, the people around them were looking over and whispering. Clearly, many of them thought that this was a poor old couple…

LAST issue we delved into Mark Parsons’s formative cruising years in the late 1970s and early 80s, but this time ’round we explore the later 1980s as Australia’s street machine scene was really coming of age and Mark’s builds evolved with the styles of that time. But wait, there’s more! Yep, Mark reckons we haven’t even got to the good stuff yet, which we will cover in the ensuing months. 01: “I DON’T know why I built this; it kind of happened by accident,” Mark says of his one-of-a-kind MkII Cortina. “I was working at Gordon Leven Tyre & Mechanical in Sydney and stumbled across a 186S engine lying out the back. An old mechanic who worked there said he had race pistons and conrods, a Yella Terra head and…

IT WAS as if the gods didn’t want the inaugural Rockynats to happen. A pandemic, flooding rains, a lockdown still in effect just hours before scrutineering… we should have expected an earthquake, too! The first scheduled Rockynats was cancelled last year due to COVID, but, thanks to the organisers, entrants and the Central Queensland town of Rockhampton, its rescheduled debut over the 2021 Easter long weekend was a glorious event for so many reasons. It was a celebration of freedom and fast cars, with a spectacular street parade, a rare spot of legal street racing, and burnouts by the idyllic Fitzroy River. Up until 24 hours before the Good Friday kick-off, the Street Machine team, along with owners of 1200 cars and 400 bikes, had no idea if the event…

THEY come from all over the country, in all kinds of vehicles, to answer one simple question: How fast can I go? Welcome to the salt flats of Lake Gairdner, South Australia – home of the annual land speed racing extravaganza, Speed Week. The lake’s seemingly endless salty vista is surreal to say the least, but it’s also exquisitely flat, making it the fastest race track in the country – perfect for testing yourself and your machine against the gods of speed. There’s no prize money at Speed Week, just racer versus machine versus the salt lake. Building a salt racer can take decades, and for some competitors the drive to the lake is over 30 hours, but they do it all for the simple joy of competing and the…

CHROME-BUMPERED CLASSICS LINED UP AGAINST MODERN PLASTIC SIBLINGS, ENCOMPASSING EVERYTHING FROM SHOWSTOPPING STUNNERS TO CRUSTY EX-FARM VEHICLES AFTER the coronavirus pandemic put the kibosh on most racing events last year, fans and competitors were bursting at the seams to get back to the reinvigorated Heathcote Park Raceway for the much-anticipated fifth running of the Tuff Mounts Holden Nationals. For a Lion-exclusive event, the field was surprisingly diverse. Chrome-bumpered classics lined up against modern plastic siblings, encompassing everything from show-stopping stunners to crusty ex-farm vehicles. Big- and small-block Chevs, angry Holden V8s, turbo RBs and, of course, a legion of LS powerplants made for a bumper field of 158 entrants from all over Australia – a big achievement in our still COVID-affected climate. “We had a waitlist of 30 people, so…

ROCK up to just about any US car show and you’ll find almost as many lead sleds and customs as you will hot rods, muscle cars and street machines. While Australia has had its fair share of stylish customs, we’re nowhere near as prolific as they are over there. Looking at Richard Bell’s ubercool EH ‘Nomad’, one has to wonder why. No matter where it goes, this long-roof ’64 turns every head in sight. Even at Summernats – where you suffer sensory overload from being swamped with jaw-dropping machinery – this EH stopped everyone in their tracks when it rocked up in 1998. The judges loved it, punters loved it, and heck, Chic Henry even gave it his Promoter’s Choice award. Same story when it graced the pages of the…

1950 MERCURY DYLAN WELSH “HERE’S my 1950 Mercury I imported from America. It’s got a 383ci small-block Chev and Turbo 350 auto. A mate and I chopped the roof off, taking four inches off the front and rear. I also fitted a 1953 DeSoto 11-tooth grille and frenched the headlights with ’52 Merc items. I’ve notched the rear chassis and I’m currently fitting a nine-inch diff with a triangulated four-link. Once it’s off my hoist, the chassis will touch the ground. I’ve also shaved the door handles and locks, and just fitted some Winfield custom tail-lights. It’ll be getting a motor freshen-up along with new trim, AccuAir air suspension and much more.” HOLDEN UTE NELSON GRANGER “THIS is my ute project, which will be a burnout and drag racing machine.…

01 A CUT ABOVE AT Carnage HQ, we’re forever cutting, shutting and shortening stuff. While the humble hacksaw still has its place, it’s a hell of a lot quicker and easier to use a good power tool, like Ryobi’s ONE+ brushless compact cut-off tool. It’s designed to slice through metal, tile, cement sheet and pipe at up to 20,000rpm with a 76mm cutting disc. Designed for one-handed use, the tool uses an ergonomic trigger design and has two built-in LED lights. Three different blades are included: a carbide abrasive wheel, an abrasive cut-off wheel and a diamond abrasive wheel. As per all of the ONE+ range, batteries are completely interchangeable. Find out more at ryobi.com.au. 02 ROLL WITH IT DRAGGING yourself around underneath a car can be a tiring and…

YOU could say Todd Keen has a bit of a thing for 60s Super Stock drag cars. He’s already got a ’63 Galaxie and ’63 Dodge Polara in the shed that are street-driven tributes to that golden era of drag racing. But he’s also had a hankering to build a nostalgic drag car, and, as Todd puts it: “What better than the legendary Ford Thunderbolt?” If you’re not up to speed with your drag racing history, the Thunderbolt was a factory-built drag racing weapon based on the 1964 Ford Fairlane 500. “It would have been a lot easier to go with a 385-series or Windsor engine, but I wanted to keep it FE-powered, which meant the engine build took a lot longer,” says Todd. The Thunderbolt would have been cool…