Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2025 i Street Machine

IN OCTOBER, Aussie racer Grantley Schloss capped a stellar debut season in America’s Radial Outlaws Series by winning the Pro 275 Championship, piloting a ProCharged, Noonan Hemi-powered 1967 Chevy Nova. The Queens lander and his dedicated crew took the title at No Mercy 16 at South Georgia Motorsports Park – one of the biggest and most prestigious radial-tyre events in the world. It’s the same event where Schloss scored a breakthrough victory last year, which opened the door to a full US Radial Outlaws Championship campaign for 2025. Schloss and his crew went into the 2025 season finale in Georgia as one of three teams still in contention, following a monster season that included wins at the US Street Nationals, Bama Outlaws, and Shakedown at M’Town, and a runner-up placing…

EMAIL your missives to gday@streetmachine.com.au. Keep it short and sweet! > LETTER OF THE MONTH LUNCHTIME AS MY son Joshua is a huge fan of Street Machine and all things cars [check out his Lego burnout ute in Department of Youth on p. 20 – Ed.], I just wanted to share an adventure Joshua and myself went on recently while fundraising for a great cause. We participated in this year’s Lunchbox Rally, a kid-friendly event where entrants buy a car for less than $1500 and drive through outback Australia to raise money and awareness for the Cancer Council (visit lunchboxrally.com.au for more info). We picked up a Skoda for $500, and Joshua named our team ‘Street Machine’, after the magazine he loves reading and learning from! We did our best…

OCTOBER 2026 will mark a decade since Ford shut down Falcon production, ending a 57-year-legacy. The Falcon remains one of the most powerful icons of a golden era in Australia’s history – transporting families, working as taxis and police cars, helping farmers work the land, and winning touring car races all over our wide brown land. Those brash, bold Falcon GTs of the late 1960s and 70s had a huge impact on Queensland’s Ryan ‘Oxy’ Kelly, who clearly remembers when his own GT love affair began. “I think I was about 12 years old when I saw an XY GT Falcon driving down the road, and I just knew at that point that I wanted one,” Ryan recalls. A quarter-century later, his passion has evolved into a 1346hp, supercharged Godzilla…

IF ANYTHING tells us that it’s a particularly awesome era for us gearheads, it’s the fact that Daniel Hookham’s 1979 VBSL/E Commodore is what we’d consider a ‘street car’ today. It’s a stunningly detailed build that was unveiled to the world in the Elite Hall at Street Machine Summernats 37, but it’s also wheelspun its way to a 7.09-second quarter-mile thanks to an EFI, twin turbo V8 making north of 2500hp. This is far from a tube-frame Pro Mod or a gutted race car, and the engine package is based around a production block and cylinder head combo like you’d find in thousands of off-the-shelf production cars. And Daniel’s VB is immaculately detailed, too, with paint in the engine bay nicer than what you’d find on the body of some…

CAR-building trends have traditionally ebbed and flowed between outrageously wild outlaw machinery and clean, simple streeters. Gearheads would build wilder and wilder cars until Johnny Law would crack down on them or owners would get sick of living with flat-out race cars on the road, and then the pendulum would swing back to a focus on detail rather than race-inspired engineering and trophy winning body mods and paintjobs. Lately, however, we’ve seen a new trend on the rise: street elite. Take this epic ’57 Buick Special coupe, built by Warhorse Motorsports in Rutherford, NSW and owned by Novocastrian Jason Roberts. The glowing Mazda Soul Red paint, pin-sharp bodywork, slammed stance, and bespoke interior all scream ‘show car’, while the 600rwhp powerplant gives it the vibe of a true street machine.…

LIKE a lot of us, Nathan Stewart’s dream Aussie classic as an 18-year-old was an HQ coupe. However – also like a lot of us – the cost of buying one far exceeded his teenage budget, so he settled on this ute instead. “It was very much a ’roo-hunter ute; it had the rollbar they’d hang off the back of it as it drove around the paddocks, and it was all rusty and full of red dirt,” says the now 29-year-old Canberran. “But I traded it for the set of standard wheels from my VE Maloo, so not a bad deal, in my view!” With the help of his uncle and grandfather, Nathan got stuck into the job of turning the clapped-out Quey into his dream machine. “I wanted a…

LIFE OF RILEY RILEY ARNOLD HZ HOLDEN UTE “I WAS about seven when I got my first Holden ute, an HQ, and I’m now 17, so that’sbeen along-term project. So long, in fact, that I ended up also getting this HZ around two years ago. It had a 179 and a three-on-the-tree, and I bought it for $4500 with the intention of just getting it on the road as-is to drive on my Ps. My brother and I soon ripped the interior apart and fixed the floorpans, which were absolutely trashed. My dad helped me fix the rust in the doors, sills, and anywhere else that required it. Then we started the bodywork, removing a couple of pretty nasty dents and straightening every thing out to make it look a…

OVER the last weekend of September, a bunch of Aussie representatives dominated the burnout comp at the 20th edition of the Ice Cream Cruise car festival, held at the I-29 Speedway in Iowa, USA. Jake Myers was one of several Aussie skid legends to head Stateside to show the Yanks how it’s done, putting on a master class in his iconic S1CKO Mustang to take the win. “It was so good; we loved it,” Jake enthused. “We’ve lived the dream and represented Australia the best way we know how: frying tyres, putting on a show, and doing our fellow Aussies proud. What a show the Aussies and the Americans put on!” Joining Jake on the podium was Ryan Pearson in second place with his HOLDON HT Premier and Craig Bailey’s…

OF ALL the custom cars being built around our wide brown land, only a small percentage make the cut to be unveiled at one of our top indoor car shows. These builds are part of a realm where undercarriages are finished to a higher standard than the paint jobs on many new cars, and the finer details are taken to extreme levels. To carry out the work required of an elite show-car build takes time, and plenty of it. So, how did Rob and Jeremy Guljas of Geelong’s Automotive Creations manage to build their blown, big block-powered, elite level 1970 HG Holden Premier in less than half a calendar year? And why would they subject themselves to that kind of pressure? “We built the car from start to finish in…

THE year was 1975. The location: the small NSW country township of Griffith. Here, some 103 entrants gathered for the very first Street Machine Nationals. Hosted by the ’55-’56-’57 Chevrolet Club of Australia, this landmark event is widely considered to be the catalyst for the explosion in popularity of street machining here in Australia. With 2025 marking half a century since that formative first event, a significant celebration was in order, so the organisers of the Griffith’s Biggest Lap charity event (see p. 50 for more!) were approached about incorporating the 50th-anniversary commemoration of the Street Machine Nationals into their 2025 event. As luck would have it, they loved the idea! And so, a select group of around 30 iconic street machines and personalities were invited to take part in…

BRENTON Lee grew up with Cortinas and Falcons as the family transport of choice. His wife and fellow gearhead Rachael, on the other hand, has owned several VLs and Toranas. But despite her Lion leanings, this Cortina technically belongs to her. “We went to have a look at it on Mother’s Day, so when I bought it, I put it in her name – it’s hers,” Brenton says. KILATD was already a mostly complete cruiser when Brenton laid his mitts on it. Rob and Jeremy Guljas from Automotive Creations Custom & Restoration (the team behind this issue’s cover car) had originally put it together with a warm 347ci Windsor/C10/nine-inch driveline and painted it in the modern BMW colour, Mineral Grey, but Brenton had some changes in mind right off the…

IT’S rare these days for someone to own the same car for decades, so it’s pretty special that Jim Lambas has been the proud custodian of this VG Valiant since 1988. Jim’s story is a classic, and may even bring a tear to your eye – especially when you hear the price he paid for what was a meticulously cared-for classic. “I bought it off an old fella in Dandenong for $2500. It had 27,000 genuine miles on the clock, and it was immaculate,” says Jim. “It was a stock-standard sedan, looking a lot like the VG on the cover of the Gregory’s Service & Repair Manual.” While $2500 might seem like a cheap asking price, it was still a stretch for Jim back then on his $92-a-week apprentice mechanic’s…

THIS year marks 50 years since the first Street Machine Nationals took place in Griffith, NSW, so it’s the perfect time to highlight builds from those early years of street machining that helped lay the foundations for the modified car scene we enjoy today. Flip your calendars back to 1982 and Tamworth’s Byron Hiscock was a 17-year-old apprentice mechanic at Harold Kensell Chrysler, just as the Mitsubishi takeover of Australia’s Mother Pentastar was in full swing. “My uncle owned Hiscock Chrysler in nearby Barraba, so I grew up surrounded by Chryslers and was keen to get one of my own,” Byron says. “I had a Mk2 Cortina that I would race in hillclimbs and the like, but it couldn’t keep up with my driving style, and I kept breaking stuff!”…

Email your favourite funnies to gday@streetmachine.com.au. > GAG OF THE MONTH SEEING RED DRACULA wanted to know which of his bats was the best, so he organised a little competition. The bat that could drink more blood in the shortest amount of time would be the winner. The first bat flew off in search of victims, and came back after 10 minutes, its mouth full of blood. Dracula was impressed. “Nice! How did you do it?” The bat replied, “Do you see that tower? Behind it there is a house. I went inside and drank the blood of all the family.” “Very good,” Dracula said. The second bat flew off, and returned after five minutes, with blood all over its face. “Excellent,” Dracula said. “And how did you do that?”…

THE raw and heady excitement of mid-1960s NASCAR racing is well documented in Red Line 7000, a late-period flick from legendary director Howard Hawks with an unusual but often disjointed mix of action and romance. Mike (James Caan), a fierce and focused young NASCAR racer, is partnered with international star Dan (James Ward) and veteran driver Jim (Anthony Rogers). When Jim pushes too hard and is killed in a high-speed crash, it is left to Mike, team boss Pat (Norman Alden) and their mechanic Kato (George Takei – Mr Sulu from Star Trek) to break the news of his death to his newly arrived fiancée, Holly (Gail Hire). This triggers a series of events that sees a number of worlds collide. The team’s replacement driver, Ned (John Robert Crawford), hooks…

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IN CAR-mad towns and suburbs across the country, cruising the main street on a Friday night has long been a staple of Aussie car culture. Griffith’s Biggest Lap is a charity event celebrating that heritage, with all proceeds going to Riding for the Disabled and the Griffith branch of Can Assist. Organised by a small, dedicated team headed up by Tacey Cripps, the event sees the entire main street of Griffith closed off for a 500-strong moving car show, and this year, it raised over $30,000! Marshalling began mid-afternoon, with live music, food and displays to keep everyone entertained, while the cruise officially kicked off with a police escort at 6pm, just prior to dusk. Wonderful weather saw plenty of keen spectators in attendance; the town was teeming with admiring…

AUCKLAND, New Zealand’s Prowear Chrome Showcase 2025 was a big-arse car show at an exhibition centre. Sure, that may not exactly sound like a bold new concept, but when it’s run by a bloke like Azhar Bhamji and his Premier Events crew, you can always expect a show that delivers beyond your expectation. His job is car events, and he’s damn good at it. “We want to tick boxes for everyone, which is how this event has come about,” Azhar explains of the impetus behind Chrome Showcase. “This has been something that’s been on the agenda for a little while. We always have three elements for our events – for 4 And Rotary, we used to have Nationals, Champs, and Jamboree, and it’s the same thing for Chrome – we’ve…

THE quiet regional airport in Gunnedah, NSW was transformed into a battleground in September when No Prep Racers Australia rolled into town for Gunfight at Gunnedah. Almost 3000 people came through the gate and 100 racers travelled from as far away as Queensland and Victoria to put on a show at the weekend-long event. No Prep Racers Australia (NPRA) has built its reputation as an organisation that delivers racing by racers for racers, and the Gunfight at Gunnedah was a perfect showcase of that philosophy. “The NPRA is a family of racers,” said promoter Johnny Habib. “We are passionate Australians who love fast cars. While we are all mates in the pits, when we get to the startline, it’s game on.” With the support of his sponsors, Johnny put up…

KATE Dawson’s Toyota 4K-powered ’56 Morris Oxford is her ride-or-die car. Purchased as a rusty shell so that she had a project to keep her occupied through the COVID lock downs, the Morris’s build journey saw Kate forging deeper relationships with those who worked alongside her and a desire to encourage others to get involved in the car scene. How did this Morris come into your life? Dad and I had recently finished his ’64 EH wagon, and I wanted a distraction from COVID lockdowns. While scrolling on Facebook Marketplace, I found a pair of ’56 Morris Oxfords for $1000. The original owner had recently passed away; I bought them from his family. We were all set to do the six-hour drive to pick them up when we went into…

STREET machines that are purpose built for drag-and-drive events are plentiful in Australia nowadays, and Reuben Davison’s Barra-powered XF Fairmont is one of those in the thick of things. “I fell in love with drag-and-drive events watching Cleetus McFarland taking them on in the States, so during COVID, I decided to start looking for a car to build to do it myself,” he says. “I wanted an XE, but the price gap between them and an XF just didn’t stack up to me, so we got this XF.” Reuben wasn’t interested in building a pretty machine to take on concours events; the only goal with this car was to turn it into a rough-but ready drag-and-drive weapon. A turbo Barra naturally made the most sense for bang-forbuck grunt in a…

MARK CALABRO HG HOLDEN KINGSWOOD “I BOUGHT my 1970 HG Kingswood as a painted shell when I was 19, and I put it together with my dad over a year and four months. It is special to me, because when I was 16, I rode in one of my dad’s friend’s HG Monaros, which had a big-block in it. I told myself that one day I was going to make it my mission to build one. But the cost of a Monaro is close to a house deposit, so I chose a Kingswood to build instead. I already had a worked 308 V8 lying around from a job I did at work, so that got installed, along with a Turbo 350 trans. I also bought a 9in diff for it…

OWNING a race car that’s done battle at some of our most hallowed tracks in the hands of some of Australia’s most legendary drivers must be an incredible feeling. Just ask Larry Kavanagh. Larry is the saviour of the HDT LC GTR XU-1 Torana nicknamed Saggy Sarah (SM, Feb ’11). A race car since she rolled off the line in 1970, this storied machine spent 80,000 miles competing around Australia and the South Pacific in rally, rallycross and touring car events. She was then abandoned in a barn before being rediscovered and saved by Larry. While he estimates he’s covered around 850 laps over his 15 years of racing the LC, Larry says the inside of its blown 202 Holden six – which replaced the original 186 – is still…