Innehållsförteckning för May 2016 från Street Machine

SYDNEY’S Paul Foley is a quiet, humble sort of guy with a fierce passion for drag racing. His Hombre moniker has been a mainstay at Aussie drag strips for nearly 50 years, standing as a proud signifier of both a close group of mates and a handful of iconic race cars. 01: THIS is Paul’s good mate Erik Johnson at the wheel of the flathead-powered bucket he built in the late 60s. “He pieced it together in his dad’s shed using plans from an American hot rod magazine” Paul says. “I bought it off Erik in ’68 and couldn’t wait to race it at Castlereagh. C/CR is an old hot rod class where I went up against the likes of Mike O’Sullivan and Trevor Chapman, and the sidevalve ran in…

MONZA MASH HEY guys, years ago there was an article in SM about a Sydney-based gent who had an A9X and a Chevy Monza – both cars stick in my mind as being absolutely stunning. Just wondering if you know what issue it was in and whether I could obtain a copy of that mag? The Monza was something unusual at the time, and brought back memories of one that we saw from time to time in our teenage years around Brickies and Carter Street and a couple of inner-west locations. It and a gold Corvette were two cars that never lost, irrespective of who took them on. Anyway, keep up the great articles. I am really appreciating the diverse range of coverage, whether it’s about Aussie, NZ, US, street…

TO THE ears of a hardened petrolhead, it has the unmistakeable corrugated idle, valvetrain clatter and bassy exhaust of a tough street machine. But the sound doesn’t match the scene – where said petrolhead might expect a wicked-up Monaro or Falcon, they are instead confronted with the stately sprinkled-with-chrome white elegance of a 1965 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. Huh? “People see it roll by and it’s like: ‘Is that – that’s a – wow, a Rolls-Royce!’” owner Ben Crombie explains, pointing comically at his tough white luxo-barge. We get that. This car’s odd blur of sight and sound scored plenty of smiles – and a thumbs-up from a couple of black-suited security spooks – at Canberra’s Old Parliament House where we took some pics. Ben bought his Rolls with a Chev…

I BOUGHT THE CAR AS A ROLLER IN 1999 TO FIT AN RB30 TURBO ENGINE. WITH SOME BASIC HOME MODS IT RAN 10.50 WHILE I WAS STILL ON MY P-PLATES WHILE it will always be a case of different strokes for different folks, if you haven’t noticed that turbocharged V8s are all the rage when it comes to fast, legal street cars, you probably haven’t been paying much attention. The pointy end of the field at both Hot Rod Drag Week and our own Street Machine Drag Challenge is populated by turbocharged V8-powered missiles, and that alone should tell you that dangling one or more snails off the side of a healthy bent-eight has become the path to street car righteousness in recent years. Victorian Luke Green knows this to…

MICHAEL’S RODEO COPPED MORE SMOOTHING AND SHAVING THAN A BONDI BEAUTICIAN’S SHOP THE WEEK BEFORE BIKINI SEASON A MINI-TRUCK in Street Machine? Heaven forbid! But before anyone gathers a mob and starts lighting torches, take a good, close look at the work Michael ‘Bobbin’ Ellard has put into his ’92 Holden Rodeo. Bobbin and his mates have built a modern custom car, featuring a shortened back-halved chassis, chopped top, suicide doors, handmade guards, Cadillac tail-lights, custom suspension, and packing an LS1. Dubbed Severed Ruby, the House Of Kolor-coated ’Deo has wowed both Meguiar’s MotorEx and the Summernats Elite Hall, taking a swag of trophies from both and even a Top 10 finish at the ’Nats. It’s even cooler when you realise the history Bobbin has with this particular truck. “I…

WE HAVE a love/hate relationship with project cars here at Street Machine; we love to build them, but we hate to give them away, and our latest project, an LX Torana hatch A9X tribute car, might just be the best – and therfore the worst – of the lot. It’s not the quickest or the priciest but it is jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and one of you luck buggers is going to win it. Unfortunately our busy schedules and deadlines have prevented us from getting too hands-on with this beast, so we flicked the keys to Mick and his team at Glenlyon Motors – aka Rats Ass Racing. Mick is overseeing the project from start to finish and dealing with any headaches that come along while we sit back and marvel at…

I WAS SHOCKED WHEN THE VK WON A TROPHY AT MY LOCAL CAR CLUB’S ALL GM DAY, FOR BEST STOCK VB-VL – IT OWES ME LESS THAN 10 GRAND! I WOULD like to talk about $10,000. I’ve been reading some old SM mags from the 80s, and started to brew on what a street machiner could do with $10K in 2016. Not much, I hear from the peanut gallery! Well, maybe that’s true at an elite level, but at a more grassroots level I think you can do plenty. So what could the average street machiner build for $10K? Here are some great choices: a factory LS1 SS Commodore, a same-model Statesman, or a 5.4L XR8 or Fairlane. Sure, these cars are going to have high kays on the clock…

PHOTOS of a swoopy, black EJ Holden coupe have been circulating around the internet for over a decade. Countless threads of chatter have been dedicated to the car, but beyond the fact that it had a removable FB/EK roof, hard facts were scarce. That is, until we bumped into the owner/builder Hugo Halls at Adelaide’s Kustom Kulture Weekender, last month and got the story. Turns out, Hugo had lusted after topless late-models that were out of his financial reach, but also loved customised cars like Bob Moule’s legendary Bobcat FJ and locally built 50s sleds. He thought it would be cool to put the two together to make something really interesting. This EJ coupe/convertible was the result, though it’s actually not the only one Hugo has built. “I built two…

23 APR, EASTERN CREEK, NSW Street Machine Supernats, Sydney Dragway. Contact Ahmet 0417 458 327. 24 APR, KENILWORTH, QLD Kenilworth Hotel Classic & Custom Car Show, Kenilworth Hotel. Contact (07) 5446 0206. 24 APR, KERANG, VIC Kerang Show ’n’ Shine, Kerang Showgrounds. Contact Sandra 0400 698 424. 24 APR, MAFFRA, VIC Maffra Motor Museum Automotive Swap Meet, Motor Museum. Contact Peter 0427 455 513 or Sue 0428 456 614. 24 APR, PAKENHAM, VIC Pakenham Swap Meet, Pakenham Football Ground. Contact (03) 9585 6567. 24 APR, PENRITH, NSW 43rd Annual General Motors Display Day, Museum of Fire. Contact Ray (02) 9631 6896. 25 APR, WERRINGTON, NSW Anzac Day Show ’n’ Shine, Colonial Hotel. Contact Michael 0416 139 742 29 APR–01 MAY, YARRAWONGA, VIC Yarrawonga Rod Run, in and around Yarrawonga. Visit…

ON YER BIKE THE age-old cyclists versus motorists debate is one that elicits, shall we say, ‘strong’ views on both sides. That much was apparent from the response on our Facebook page to Dave Carey’s piece on the new bike-passing laws, which you can read on streetmachine.com.au. Most Australian states have adopted the laws, which state that when passing cyclists, motorists must keep a minimum of one metre’s distance in a 60km/h zone, or 1.5 metres in a zone with a higher limit. Dave suggested that maybe on some roads bicycle use could be restricted to certain times of the day. Cam – As a cyclist and a car nut, I think you have hit it spot-on. Just like cars can park in certain areas at certain times of the…

AS FAR as regional Aussie drag strips go, it’s hard to beat Portland’s seaside South Coast Raceway. It’s got green grass, nice food, and there’s the marina and some cool wind farms nearby. But we weren’t there for sightseeing. We were camping at the track, eating Damien Kemp’s pasta and anticipating the next day’s racing, when the Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars would be gunning for 200mph while scaring the shit out of anyone without ear protection within a half-mile radius. After sleeping in Hayden Ivers’s car trailer (read: very enormous, very cold Esky) because I couldn’t be arsed setting up the tent, we woke on Saturday morning to find the eighth-mile track prepped to perfection. The mental Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars fired up in the afternoon. For those that don’t…

HOW many times have you heard stories of ultra-rare, one-off factory-built specials that turn out to be nothing more than a myth or urban legend? Well, this incredible panel van is no myth, it’s a bona fide one-of-one, special-order XW GS panel van that rolled off Ford’s production line in September 1970. The story goes like this: Melbourne’s Doak family managed to convince Heath’s Motors Ford in Geelong to order – and then Ford Australia to build – a unique XW van, equipped with all the factory GS goodies. Ford was reluctant, but the Doak family were very persuasive. They traded-in their near-new 327 HK Monaro to finance it, and in the end 20-year-old surf-mad Bruce Doak got his dream machine. The Silver Fox van was registered (KSA-714) on Friday,…

IT WAS ALREADY A BIG-BLOCK CAR BUT HAD SUCCUMBED TO THE BAD COMBO OF TOO MANY OWNERS AND NOT ENOUGH MAINTENANCE THE humble station wagon has been on the fringe of the street machine movement for many years. Once snubbed as the poor man’s choice back in the panel-vanning heyday, their stock has gradually risen, with a few memorable builds now entrenched in Aussie hot car folklore. In recent times the wagon has become a super-cool alternative to the more traditional – and nowadays more expensive – coupe and sedan body styles. And why not? Wagons combine maximum seating capacity with cubic Esky space, don’t pack too many extra pounds if ‘go’ is your thing, and are a more individual choice if you’re keen to stand out from the crowd.…

THIS YEAR THE TWO-DAY EVENT WAS EXTENDED BY HALF A DAY, AND WHO WOULDN’T WANT A FEW EXTRA HOURS TO BURN SOME RUBBER? IF HIGH-OCTANE shenanigans are your thing (and if they’re not, you’re probably reading the wrong mag), Gazzanats WA is one of the most epic weekends on the calendar. This year, promoters Gary and Deby Myers extended the two-day event at Collie Motorplex by another half a day, and it turned out to be a successful move. While the event revolves around the burnout competition, cruising is also an integral part of the weekend, so giving entrants even more track time was a no-brainer. After all, who wouldn’t want a few extra hours to take their mates for a lap and burn some rubber? The cruising action kicked…

THE SHOCK TOWERS WERE SO RUSTED THEY EVENTUALLY SNAPPED OFF FROM THE INNER GUARDS I’VE had my 1963 XL Falcon ute since I was 13 years old. I found it in a farmer’s paddock and ended up buying it off him. The floorpan wasn’t in great shape, and the shock towers were that rusted that they eventually separated and snapped off from the inner guards. When I was 15 I would finish work and head to Dad’s shed or Dennis Harley’s shed to work on it – we all worked together, and between the two of them they taught me everything that I know today. Dennis helped me build a full chassis, replace the floor and modify the trans tunnel. I pulled a UC Torana front end out of an…

MPW PERFORMANCE, DANDENONG ACTIONS speak louder than words in the performance scene. Adam Rogash from MPW Performance knows this better than most, which is why he’s built his own seven-second street machine, an HSV VT Clubsport called NOSHOW. And here’s the engine. At the heart of the package is a Dart LS Next block that they’ve built with the help of Johnny Pilla at Powerhouse Engines. Adam likes the LS Next with its thicker bores, priority oiling and splayed main cap design, rather than trying to contain all that grunt within a factory block. It measures up at 427ci thanks to a bulletproof combo featuring a Lunati Signature Series crank, Callies Ultra H-beam rods and JE pistons, and the whole shebang is topped by a pair of Johnny’s own LS…

IT HAS been a busy couple of months for burnouts, especially for those looking to qualify for Summernats 30 Burnout Masters. In the past six weeks we’ve seen four qualifying events which have added eight new names to the Burnout Masters competition. A win at UBC Victoria for Andrew Pool, who had already qualified, meant that the blown ticket went to Steve Nogas and his KILLA-B Camaro, while the naturally aspirated ticket went to Andrew Lynch with his LS2-powered Corolla LYNCHY. A couple weeks later Justen Brown, with the candy coloured STRUGLIN wagon, won the blown ticket at Gazzanats WA despite some strong competition from Peter Grmusa and Darren Green. In the naturally aspirated class it was Colin Byrne with the SEWERSIDE plumbers van that took home the Burnout Masters…

BALANCED DIET IN YOUR March mag a reader wrote in to have a rant about the rusty XK featured in Readers’ Rockets (SM, Feb ’16). While it wasn’t exactly my cup of tea either, I thought it was worthwhile as a rat rod-style vehicle. I like to see a balance between shiny show cars and cool sleepers, and other alternatives such as that XK. I have a personal preference for sleepers (how cool is John Di Mauro’s HQ?), but most of all I like to see variety and people who think outside of the box. While I fully understand why LS-powered vehicles are so popular (and would love to stick one in my old injected 5.0L Calais), and can appreciate the effort that goes into making a shiny sweet ride…

AS A GREAT EIGHT FINALIST FOR THE RIDLER AWARD AT THE DETROIT AUTORAMA, XBOSS IS ARGUABLY THE GREATEST MODIFIED CAR EVER BUILT IN AUSTRALIA WHERE do you start when it comes to explaining all the things that have been done to this car? If you’ve been living under a rock for a while, I’m talking about Chris and Colleen Bitmead’s XBOSS Falcon, the XB coupe that took it to the Yanks and came oh-so-close to beating them at their own game. A Great Eight finalist for the Ridler Award at this year’s Detroit Autorama, XBOSS is arguably the greatest modified car ever built in Australia. Yes, there have been Aussies that have taken their cars over to the US and won some accolades; Rex Webster and his amazing FJ two-door…

APART FROM BEING ONE OF THE BEST CAR SHOWS IN THE WORLD, IT’S ALSO WHERE THE HIGHLY COVETED RIDLER AWARD IS HANDED OUT I’VE been fortunate over the past few years to have ticked quite a few things off my automotive bucket list: Bonneville, Pendine Sands, SEMA, and most recently, the Detroit Autorama. Apart from being recognised as one of the best car shows in the world, it’s also the event where the highly coveted Ridler Award is handed out. And if you missed our social media onslaught in late February, you may not be aware that for the very first time a car was entered from Australia. Making it even more special was the fact it was a classic Aussie muscle car, the highly modified yet instantly identifiable XB…

SALT RACERS ARE A FRIENDLY AND ECCENTRIC BUNCH, WITH A STORY IN EVERY PIT IT WAS 2006 when I was last on Lake Gairdner for Speed Week. The World’s Fastest Indian had been released only the year before, and back then 22 motorcycles had lined up alongside 65 cars. Things are different now. This year, some 120 riders and 49 drivers paid their money to experience Speed Week on South Australia’s famed salt lake, with many sharing seats with team-mates. In terms of actual vehicles, I counted maybe 30 with four wheels and 90 with two. While motorcycles dominated the startlines, cars still ruled the roost. Watching Suzuki Hayabusas fly past at nearly 230mph is an amazing, surreal experience, but the thunder and spectacle of Lionel West running 271mph in…

IT TAKES a lot of time and effort to build or restore a car. Specifying and preparing an engine for a project can be particularly challenging, but a crate engine can make things considerably easier. There are different types of crate engine though: you can get a complete turn-key engine, a long motor or a short motor. READY TO GO AS THE name suggests, a turn-key engine is one that’s ready to drop into an engine bay and run. Late-model replacement engines from car companies, such as Chevrolet’s LS series, often fall into this category. However, many classic motors are also available complete and ready to go. Some late-model turn-key engines have headers, others don’t. Most don’t come with electronics, but separate ECU kits and wiring harnesses with sensors and…

AT SPEED WEEK THIS YEAR I DID 231MPH, BUT I WANTED TO GO FASTER THAN THAT. IF I DIDN’T HAVE TO BACK OUT EARLY THE CAR PROBABLY WOULD HAVE GOT CLOSE TO 240MPH GEMMA Dunn is a salt lake racer who has gone as fast as 234mph, at Lake Gairdner’s Speed Week last year (check out the feature on this year’s event on p94). She’s also a clay target shooter, with aspirations of representing Australia at the Olympic Games. Yep, this super-competitive uni student definitely isn’t your average 21-year-old. How did you get into salt racing? My dad, Mark, got into it via the hot rod community about 20 years ago and built his own salt car. Dad and my brother Kurt raced for a few years, and then eventually…

FUNNY FOTO Spoiler alert! CORRECTION ONE day Jim receives a distressing SMS from his next-door neighbour. “Jim, I’m so sorry,” it reads, “but I’ve been wracked with guilt and have to confess. I have been helping myself to your wife when you’re not around, day and night. I don’t get it at home, but that’s no excuse. I hope you will accept my sincerest apologies. I promise it won’t ever happen again.” Jim is enraged – insanely so. He grabs his gun and shoots his wife, killing her instantly. A few moments later, he receives a second text: “Bloody auto-correct! I meant ‘Wi-Fi’, not ‘wife’.” Tadbitt Layte, email DANGEROUS GROUND TWO cowboys came across an Indian lying on his stomach, his ear to the ground. “Look,” said one cowboy to…