Innehållsförteckning för September 2016 från Street Machine

WITHOUT doubt one of the most talked-about cars at Meguiar’s MotorEx in Melbourne was Tony Morphett’s FJ ute, which is being put together at Creative Custom Cars down in Dromana. While unveil cars at MotorEx are usually completed, the FJ is nowhere near finished, but that didn’t mean it had any less impact. The amount of engineering, fabrication and customising that has gone into this car already is staggering, and while it has the underpinnings of one of the world’s finest touring sedans – a 5 Series BMW – there are still plenty of traditional custom touches and styling cues that will give the car more of a 60s street machine vibe than a 21st-century corner-carver. The first thing most people noticed was the engine, and it usually had them…

“This year I’ve gone with a big-block Chev. It made so much grunt that I had to add some weight to the rear end so it would make more smoke” WE MET Mitchell at Gazzanats Darwin, where he’d brought his wife and kids out for a weekend of burnouts, powerskids and track cruising. After seeing his HZ Holden one-tonner unable to keep a set of tyres on for just two powerskids, we had to find out what was powering this mental machine. This thing is mental, what’s under the bonnet? It’s a Dart 582ci big-block Chev with Brodix heads, 15:1 compression and running on methanol. It makes around 950hp at the crank and it’s hooked up to a TH400 transmission and a nine-inch diff with 2.75 gears and a full…

STOCK OR NOT? IN READERS’ Rockets in our May ’16 issue we featured SM snapper Nathan Jacobs’s cool grandpa-spec XB Fairmont sedan. It’s an all-original car running the factory 302 Clevo, so other than adding an Edelbrock Performer inlet, electronic ignition, and treating it to a lowering job, Nath hasn’t been keen to mess with it too much. But we were wondering what you guys would do, so we asked the question on Facebook: Should Nathan modify it further, or leave it close to stock? Mitchell Warburton – Close to stock as possible – on the outside. Make the inside of the engine bay a warhead! Clan-of Staisch – As boring as it may seem, leave it stock. Get two, and keep one stock to trailer the modified-to-the-hilt version around.…

THANKS to a year-long qualifying series, Meguiar’s MotorEx brings together the finest cars in the country to duke it out for the bragging rights of being crowned Superstars Grand Master – in other words, the best of the best. It was no great surprise that Chris and Colleen Bitmead’s XBOSS Falcon (SM, May ’16) took home the top award, but I’m guessing there were some anxious moments for those guys after Adam and Kylie Perry’s back-to-front FB, Tailspin, took home gold in three of the categories. “We weren’t planning on debuting the car at MotorEx, but we wanted to make them work for it and give them a run for their money,” Adam said. The two big drawcards were parked right next to each other at the front of the…

I WAS IN TROPICAL DARWIN SOAKING UP THE SUN; WATCHING BURNOUTS; PLAYING WITH FIREWORKS. TOUGH JOB, BUT SOMEONE HAS TO DO IT TALK about the perfect time for a trip north. While the rest of the Street Machine crew were freezing their nuts off down south in the midst of the coldest week of winter so far, I was in tropical Darwin soaking up the sun, watching burnouts and playing with fireworks (legally, of course). It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it. Straight off the plane I was rocking a Melbourne-spec jeans and jumper combo, but by the time I walked out to collect the hire car in the 33-degree heat I’d definitely had enough of the winter garb. After a cheeky wardrobe change in the car…

IT’S NICE to know that sometimes when everything changes, nothing really changes. That’s the warm and fuzzy feeling I get when casting my eyes over this pic: a trifecta of legendary Aussie panel vans – built and shown nearly 40 years ago by three close mates – reunited and living on in the care of three passionate custodians. This is vanning royalty. Gary Pierce’s HJ, Jade, Ken Dawson’s Foxy Lady HG and Steve Abbott’s yellow Vanrat HJ come from a time when high-end show-winners could be built at home for modest bucks and were driven to shows for maximum enjoyment. Just reading the names of these vans will stir the emotions in many. Those monikers are inextricably linked with each van’s distinctive personality and are the key to their longevity;…

BEHIND every big-name car, there’s often a talented machinist, detailer or fabricator who shies away from the limelight – someone who is always there to help get projects over the line, just to see their mates succeed and for the love of their craft. For many people in Western Sydney, Alan McDonald was that guy. From a tiny, ramshackle old shed in his backyard in Blacktown, Al plied his trade machining custom parts for some of Australia’s all-time greatest show cars. We’re talking Laurie Seguna’s insane MR SIK Gemini, Damien Lowe’s transcontinental CHU88Y Commodore, and Ed Brodie’s legendary ‘MR HJ’ Holden, just to name a few. Profoundly talented, deeply humble, and admired by all who knew him, Al passed away in June. We asked some of his good friends and…

IT’S NOT THAT HARD TO BUILD SOMETHING THAT’S ALL GO, BUT TO DO IT WITHOUT ANYTHING THAT LOOKS OUT OF PLACE TAKES A LOT OF THOUGHT STREET MACHINE 163 ALEX ATKINSON 1977 CHRYSLER VALIANT REGAL > NARANGBA, QLD AFTER considering a turbo build for his Valiant Regal’s original 265 Hemisix, Alex Atkinson realised he could drop in a small-block 360ci V8 and turbo for about the same money. So of course he went the V8 route, and turned his grandpa-spec Regal into a boosted street-cruising sleeper. I don’t recall Valiant Regals coming from the factory with a snail hanging off the motor – what’s the combo? It’s a 360-cube small-block with cast-iron EQ Magnum heads, aftermarket rods and pistons to drop the compression to 8.0:1. It has a Garrett GT42R…

WIN! WIN one of three Mothers packages, including glass cleaner, carnauba cleaner wax, car wash, polishing pads, a pack of microfibre towels and more! See www.mothers.com for details.…

THERE have been plenty of cool new events for Pro Street-style cars popping up across the country over the past 12 months, and the latest is Grudge Kings, dreamed up by Sydney racer Po Tung. Po ran his first event at Sydney Dragway in late July, attracting over 100 heavy-hitters – and good crowds despite the cold weather. As the name suggests, the bulk of the racing was done in ‘call-out’ style, with cars racing over a quarter-mile for the pure hell of it – no finals or overall winners. The grudge element of the event was divided into Pure Grudge, for any car with swinging doors and slick tyres, and Street Outlaws, for street cars that were driven to the track and racing on street rubber. Headlining the event…

THE second Red CentreNATS in Alice Springs is almost upon us, ready to rock 2-4 September. Entrants are coming from all over Australia and in even bigger numbers than the 450 that headed to Alice for last year’s historic inaugural event. One very special entrant is former NT Chief Minister, Marshall Perron. Although Marshall lives in Queensland these days, he is remembered in the Territory as a great friend of our hobby and motorsport in general. He campaigned hard against moves to push old cars off the road in the early 90s and was patron of the Australian Street Rod Federation for over a decade. And while we’ve met a few petrolhead pollies over the years, none can match Marshall’s history with the sport. In fact, as a young bloke,…

 RACHELLE Splatt might be a married mum with a tribe of kids, but she’s also a tough racer who has stormed her way into the record books both here and in the USA. She made her Top Fuel racing debut way back in 1992, and quickly turned the category on its head as she powered past the established teams to reset both the speed and ET records. MY FOCUS WAS JUST ON DRIVING AND DOING THE BEST I COULD, SO WHEN WE RAN THE 300MPH IN TEXAS, IT WAS A BIT OF A SURPRISE That success got noticed in the US, where Rachelle scored a drive with the Luxor Casino Top Fuel team. It was with the Luxor team that Rachelle would become the first woman to run 300mph in…

START ’EM YOUNG HI GUYS, here’s some photographic proof that when you’ve amassed 20 years of spare parts from an HJ GTS build, the kids can build a car too! Andrew Archer, email DRAGSTER FOR CHRISTMAS THIS is the wall in my shed. Note the dragster. I got it on Christmas Day 1978. I love that bike more than gravy and potato. I rode it ’til my feet bled between’78 and ’84. So many fun summers on that bike. I was a babe in the sun, and creeks, paddocks and DIY BMX tracks were my world. When I finally settled in Townsville and found Mrs Redmond, my uncle Dave sent it to me; it had been in his shed roof for a long time. I remember in about ’87 or…

ASK anyone who has built a car to elite show standards and they’ll tell you the most important thing is getting the right people involved. Joel Lambert works in the mines at Port Hedland and only returns home to Melbourne every few weeks, so when it came to turning his HG Monaro into a show-quality stunner, he needed someone he could trust and who could make most of the decisions. Fortunately he found that someone in Darren Reid. But an elite-level build was far from Joel’s mind initially. A lifelong early Monaro fan, at age 17 he bought this car as a roller from his old boss at the local butcher for $5000. It was a factory white six-cylinder GTS in decent shape, and had been given a lick of…

01 BRAD PIZZI 1964 EH HOLDEN PANEL VAN MAR 2016 BRAD Pizzi succeeded in cracking the Summernats Top 60 with his glorious EH, as well as taking out Top Van; not bad for a young bloke with nothing but skills, a shed and an EH-mad family behind him! A Rod-Tech coil-over front end brings the van into the modern era, while an L34-spec 308 running triple Demon carbs and a T350 shifting via the column keep it decidedly old-school. The underbody is fully detailed and two-packed; Brad’s allergy to stone guard no doubt helped him take home the tinware. 02 BRENT MURRAY 1968 DODGE DART CLONE MAR 2016 VALIANT hardtop bodies have to be perfect to look even remotely straight, so for Brent and crew to not only nail this…

DAD’S RULES WERE: “I’LL GUIDE YOU BUT I’M NOT BLOODY DOING IT FOR YOU – YOU HAVE TO LEARN SOMEHOW!” B LAKE Evans had a head start on the rest of us – he was the proud owner of this LC Torana when he was just 12 years old. “I bought it off eBay, with my own money,” he says. “Dad and I bid early and were the only bid.” An excited Blake and his slightly shocked dad Paul headed east from the Barossa to Melbourne with an empty car trailer and a meagre $5000. “It wasn’t as good in the flesh, but it had all the hard-to-find parts and was running,” he says of the 186-powered S-model in Lone O’Ranger orange. Young Blake figured he’d turn it into a…

THE FAB WORK WAS DONE BY ADAM AND HIS BROTHER DOM. “WE’RE SELF-TAUGHT AND WE DO EVERYTHING AT HOME” SOMETIMES it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the blown injected V8 in the dog. In spite of its comically oversized engine, Turbo 400 auto and nine-inch rear end, Adam Ursino’s Datsun 1200 ute weighs in smack-bang on 1000kg, making it a lightweight by any measure. And with its LQ9-based, 8/71-blown meth-chugging motor good for a neat 1000hp, you don’t need to be a rocket surgeon to run the numbers on the power-to-weight ratio. Yep, it’s fair to say FUKDAT is a pretty sprightly little beast. It’s brutally tough, easy on the eye, and wonderfully unique, all at the same time. And better yet,…

01 TOP DOG THE Junkyard Dog from Boyd Coddington Wheels is a one-piece cast-alloy wheel design for muscle cars, hot rods and other custom vehicles. These rims offer an old-school five-spoke design that blends traditional looks with the latest technology. Available in powdercoated gunmetal grey (pictured), polished or chrome, with sizes from 17 to 20 inches and a variety of stud patterns. They’ll look the goods on any old-school ride. Prices start at $315. For more info call American Republic Wheels on 1300 76 19 20 or visit www.americanrepublicwheels.com.au. 02 SHINING ARMOUR KNIGHT’S Garage, creators of some of the coolest custom cars in Australia, also offer some pretty sweet apparel. They have hats, singlets and T-shirts available that will help you stand out from the crowd and let everyone know…

BETWEEN TIM AND I WE’VE GOT 25 CARS, MOSTLY OLD FORDS RANGING FROM FULLY RESTORED TO PRETTY POOR CONDITION. WE’RE DEFINITELY FORD PEOPLE! WE MET Allana Lambourne at Gazzanats Darwin, where we were blown away by the trio of cars she brought out to the track. We’re talking a genuine all-original XC Falcon Cobra, a ’79 Ford Escort and an FPV FG R-Spec Falcon. Allana is one of the partners involved in putting on Gazzanats Darwin, so she’s one serious petrolhead, and we had to find out more. You brought three cars out to Gazzanats, why do I get the feeling you have more? I actually had four there. I also had my daily-driver Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT with the 6.4-litre Hemi up at Gazzanats, but I didn’t really drive…

420CI TURBO FORD V8 > DANDY ENGINES, CARRUM DOWNS, VIC WE KNOW what you’re thinking. You took one look at this 420ci small-block and thought: “Needs more turbo!” Yeah, and Kim Kardashian needs a bigger butt. Dandy Engines has put this monster combination together with the plan to make somewhere in the vicinity of 2000hp. It’s not the most powerful they’ve ever built, but it’s probably got the most visual impact. That massive turbo is hard to ignore. Built for world-famous British DJ Carl Cox, this insane hunk of iron powers Carl’s Pro Street Capri. Cox spends most of his time travelling the world slinging sick beats, but loves hanging out in Melbourne with his growing muscle car collection, where he was introduced to the Dandy Engines team. The donk…

12-13 AUG, SANDOWN, VIC GreazeFest Kustom Kulture Festival Melbourne, Sandown Racecourse. Visit www.greazefest.com. 12-14 AUG, URALLA, NSW Uralla Dust Up, Uralla Showgrounds. Hosted by Blackjack’s Car Club, check ’em out on Facebook. 13 AUG, CROWS NEST, QLD Cruise To Crows Car & Bike Show, Crows Nest Showground. Contact cruise2crows@gmail.com. 13 AUG, EUDLO, QLD Eudlo Car & Motorcycle Show ’n’ Shine, Eudlo School oval. Contact eudlocarandmotorcycleshow@gmail.com. 13 AUG, CAIRNS, QLD Tropical Meltdown 3#, Cairns International Speedway. Visit www.cairnsburnouts.com. 13 AUG, IPSWICH, QLD Goin’ Country Show ’n’ Shine, Queens Park. Contact Brian 0402 028 079. 14 AUG, CAIRNS, QLD Cairns Swap Meet, Car, Bike & Truck Show, Cairns Showgrounds. Visit www.cairnsswapmeet.com.au. 20 AUG, EASTERN CREEK, NSW Burnout Outlaws #2, Sydney Dragway. Email burnoutoutlaws@gmail.com. 20 AUG, MACKAY, QLD Mopars In Mackay, Mackay Showgrounds.…

WHAT we’re exposed to as kids can have a huge impact on the path we end up following in life, and South Australian Lee Goode is a perfect example. Passionate about anything automotive, Lee grew up in a car-obsessed family surrounded by 50s Chevs and Customlines, which planted the rod and custom seed, and was taken for joyrides in a VH Valiant Pacer, explaining his enduring love for the Chrysler marque. He’s also a talented artist, with a healthy obsession both with old-school jellybean mags and Brigitte Bardot; check out his work on Instagram: @goodecustomconcepts. 01: IN THE mid-80s Lee’s dad bought him his first car, this FJ ute, for 150 bucks. “It was in pretty good condition and I used to drive it around the paddock as a 10-year-old,”…

STICKIN’ IT TO THE VAN LAST time I went on holiday I put my mail in the zipper in the front of my suitcase, and promptly forgot about it. Last month I went on holiday again and found the same mail, from October 2015. It looks like I won the Street Machine sticker competition! So, nine months later, cheers! The stickers will be going on an HZ panel van (see photo). It’ll be a Sandman replica with a few extras – Valencia Orange paint, 350 Chev and T5, and a 70s interior featuring an eight-track. Steve Pacey, email…

THERE’S been plenty of election talk this year, but there’s only one ballot that matters: the Valvoline Street Machine Of The Year. You know the premise: Vote for your favourite street machine of the past 12 months, we’ll tally the votes, and the owner of the car with the most votes takes home the trophy and $20,000. That’s SMOTY in a nutshell – no broken promises, no kissing babies. As usual, there’s plenty to float your boat among the 16 finalists – force-fed, strip-fighting small-blocks; traditional chrome-mountain street machines; elite pro touring supercars; and just about everything in between. From panos to Pontiacs, Monaros to Camaros, pre-Kinger Holdens to a trio of Falcons – this year’s SMOTY is hotter than ever. The 2016 Street Machine Of The Year winner will…

THAT INTERNATIONAL MOBILE CALL COST ME £170, BUT WE AGREED IT WAS THE ONE AND ONLY R/T AUTOMATIC AND I DECIDED I JUST HAD TO BUY IT GENUINE muscle cars are a rarity these days; hard driving, rust and natural attrition have thinned the herd. But when your car is the only one of its type ever made, now that’s rare. Like Stephen Gay’s R/T Charger automatic. This Charger isn’t a Six-Pack car – it’s a whole lot rarer than that. It has the body number VH8S29, reflecting its auto R/T status, where you’d usually see VH7S29 that identifies every other Valiant R/T Charger on the planet. Chrysler Australia never offered an automatic transmission with its R/T Charger range. If you wanted an R/T you were getting three pedals, and…

I WANTED TO DO SOMETHING NO ONE ELSE IN AUSTRALIA HAS DONE BEFORE. I WANTED TO PUT A BARRA IN AN HG! BLOKES love a good LS swap these days. They’re madly jamming the alloy pushrod donk into all makes and models around the globe, including a bunch of legendary Ford and Chrysler muscle cars of late. So what happens when a guy like Glenn Watson decides to go against the grain? You get a Ford-powered HG Belmont sleeper that runs 10s and still does the daycare run several times a week! “I had not long sold a tough VH Commodore, so I had some spare cash to get stuck into something,” Glenn explains. “I wanted an HK-T-G Holden so I contacted my mate Joel Blake to see what stockers…

YEP, THIS WAS ONCE A ROAD-GOING CAR, BUT GOT TURNED INTO A SPEEDWAY SEDAN BEFORE IT HAD EVEN REACHED ITS 10TH BIRTHDAY PUT away your typewriters. Yeah, we know, this isn’t really a street machine, it’s a race car. Well, you’re mostly right. You see, once upon a time, this car was a six-cylinder, three-speed ’65 Mustang fastback that lived a peaceful life in Exmouth, a US naval base in the north-west of Western Australia. Yep, this was once a road-going car, but got turned into a speedway sedan before it had even reached its 10th birthday. It’s been resurrected by Brian McDonough, a hot rodder, speedway fan and Mustang aficionado – as in, he judges concours ’Stangs – and Mick Thomspon, one of WA’s earliest hot rodders and a…

IF YOU’RE looking for the toughest street car event this side of the equator, then Street Machine Drag Challenge is it. Entrants have to drive 1500km over average Aussie roads in five days and race at five tracks just to finish. Throw in the pressure of competition, parts breakages, late nights, some unpredictable weather and the police, and you’ve got a recipe for the ultimate racing road trip. It’s exhausting and soul-destroying, but it’s also a whole heap of fun, and that’s why entrants keep coming back year after year. In 2014 we called up 40 people and asked if they were interested in giving it a go and 18 said yes. Almost all of them came back to do it again in 2015, and word of mouth saw the…

GEORGE WEBER 1968 HK GTS MONARO “ELEVEN years ago l purchased this car from a guy called Shane, who used to run it at Willowbank drags. Initially I drove the car as I bought it, tidying a few things on the way, until I had a slight mishap in the garage. So I decided to give the car a freshen-up and had my mate Mick clean up the engine bay. While the engine was out, Colour Smart at Yatala was given the task of paint and panel. It was painted in Monte Carlo Blue Pearl with GTS stripes. The engine is a fairly tame 400ci SBC with a Turbo 400 gearbox running to a nine-inch diff with Truetrac and 3.7 gears. Brakes are HQ (front) and Commodore (rear), and the…

BIRD-BRAINED A MAN goes to a psychiatrist and says: “Doctor, my brother’s crazy, he thinks he’s a chicken.” The doctor says: “Hmm, perhaps you should commit him to an asylum.” “Well, we would,” the man replies, “but we need the eggs.” Paul Tree, email HIDDEN AGENDA FRANK calls the police one day. “I’d like to report my neighbour Virgil,” he declares. “He’s hiding drugs inside his firewood. I’m not sure how he gets it in there, but he’s definitely hiding it there.” So the next day, the police descend on Virgil’s house. They search each log in the woodpile and find nothing. Frustrated, they get axes and split each piece of wood open, but still find no drugs. After a fruitless search, they finally leave. Shortly after, the phone rings…