Innehållsförteckning för August 2015 från Street Machine

ACRACKING winter weekend brought a couple of hundred cars to Claremont Showground to take part in the Hot Rod & Street Machine Spectacular on 13 and 14 June – and that was just in the car park. Inside the pavilions there were another few hundred cars, motorbikes, trikes and even a tractor on display. That’s the great thing about this show – everything is welcome. Whether it’s stock, modified, big or small stuff that turns your crank, you’ll probably find it here. The two poster cars were the first things you saw as you walked through the door, and they couldn’t have been more different. Les Moran’s 1932 Ford five-window coupe is an exercise in understated design. Washington Blue paint, a simple tuck-and-roll interior and black steel wheels are about…

PRESENTED BY 19 JUL, CLONTARF, QLD 16th Annual Corvette Classic, Pelican Park. Contact 0439 350 454. 19 JUL, EASTERN CREEK, NSW All Ford Family Day, Sydney Dragway. Visit www.allforddaynsw.com. 19 JUL, ROCKLEA, QLD All American Car Show, Rocklea Showgrounds. Contact Charles 0421 089 000 or Eric 0409 055 824. 25 JUL, MAREEBA, QLD All Ford Day, Hansen Ford, Byrnes Street. Contact Lee 0487 931 516 or Michelle 0438 153 204. 25-26 JUL, HOBART, TAS Horse Power Spectacular 2, Princes Wharf No. 1. Contact rodnic1@bigpond.com. 25-26 JUL, HOMEBUSH, NSW Meguiar’s MotorEx 15, Sydney Olympic Park. Visit www.motorex.com.au. 26 JUL, SEVENTEEN MILE ROCKS, QLD Centenary Rocks Carfest, Counihan Road. Contact Ashleigh 0423 917 127. 26 JUL, SOUTH WINDSOR, NSW Windsor Hot Rod & Custom Show, Windsor Leagues Club, corner Rifle Range Rd…

JIM Watson was one of the new breed of 1980s racers. He caught the drag racing bug while still in short pants, watching the action at the old Surfers strip, before the focus shifted to Willowbank, where he and his mates came of age and raced their own cars. An ardent fan of Super Stock and Super Gas, Jim has returned to the fold with plans to fulfil his dream and race at that level. 01: A MALVERN Star dragster was a hot-ticket item in the mid-70s and nine-year-old Jim scored this gleaming red version for Christmas. “It had all the fruit – whitewalls, sissy bar and a three-speed shifter, not to mention a rack on the front” he laughs. “I rode the arse out of it and it was…

YOU’VE been living on Mars or in the Bermuda Triangle – those are the only acceptable reasons to not recognise this Monaro. It has been the subject of more memes, wild photos and video action than any other car I can think of, which comes down to two solid factors – owner Greg Trapnell’s ‘spirited’ driving style and the fact that it looks so wild, twisting and contorting like it’s feeding off all the punishment. It’s sure to earn both Greg and the Monaro a solid reputation Stateside. That’s right, as you read this, the HQ is on a slow boat to the US to tackle the Yanks at Hot Rodmagazine’s Drag Week. The Trapnell name is well known in hot car circles, with both Greg and brother Geoff piloting…

THE AC Cobra shape has long been the source of some awesome kit cars; the contours are timeless and the power, whether of the Ford or GM variety, is usually brutal. But there are a lot of them out there, and Queenslander Troy Hansen wanted something a bit different. Given legendary auto designer Carroll Shelby was deeply involved in not only the original AC Cobra two-seater roadster from the early 60s, but also the Cobra-influenced Dodge Viper (first produced in 1992), it seemed reasonable for Troy to combine the two. Sourcing a current-spec 8.4-litre Viper V10 was the first hurdle; written-off fourth-gen Vipers aren’t exactly thick on the ground just yet, and Troy found that most vendors were asking drug money for good units. He eventually got onto a mob…

MARTIN Agius, owner of this outstanding Mustang, has had a thing for automobiles for quite a while. “I was that bloke up the back of maths class and the teacher would say: ‘Stop drawing cars’” he remembers. “And I’d be leaning on the fence just looking at cars. Back then, all the hotties were Monaros and GT Falcons.” Though he’s now closer to 50 than 15, that teenage enthusiasm for cars laid the tracks for Martin’s career path – as it did for many of us. “I’ve been in the motor trade all my life” he explains. “I started in spare parts for Mitsubishi. These days, I’m in sales with Jeep. Obviously I like cars, but I like dealing with people too.” Along the way, he’s owned plenty and seen…

DURING the winter months, some punters lock up their beasts in the hopes of racing in better weather, but there are always those who brave the dark, freezing mornings for the reward of turning a wheel in anger. One such congregation of diehards meets at the annual Historic Winton. The event, now in its 39th year, is put on by the Austin 7 Club of Victoria and runs over the last weekend of May at Winton Motor Raceway in rural Victoria. The temperature at 2015’s Historic Winton was near-on freezing, but irrespective of the cold weather and the forecast of rain for the entire weekend, a hefty crowd still made it through the gates to settle down with foldout chairs, Driza-Bones and sausage sangas in hand to enjoy the celebration…

THE news of Laurie Starling’s death on 24 July 2014 devastated Australia’s modified car community. At just 29 years of age, Laurie had already achieved so much and forged a reputation as a gifted and innovative fabricator, even drawing praise from legendary US designer and builder Chip Foose. As the driving force behind Henry Parry’s incredible FB Holden – a 2013 Summernats Grand Champion and 2014 Street Machine Of The Year, no less – the depth of Laurie’s talents as a custom car designer and project manager were plainly evident. Laurie was also on both the MotorEx and Summernats judging teams, where he “brought knowledge and skill [to the job] and quickly became an integral part of both teams” according to chief steward Owen Webb. On top of all this,…

GEORGE WEBER 1970 HOLDEN HG PREMIER “SEVEN years ago I purchased this car from a guy called Pete; it had been parked at his father’s house for about 13 years with a suspect gearbox. I took it back to bare metal and my mate Mick did the rust repairs. Colour Smart in Yatala was given the task of paint and panel – the body is painted in Sandstorm Metallic, while the roof is Pearl White. Oppermann Mechanical built the engine – a 253 with a Trimatic behind it, running to a VP Commodore diff – and helped out with any niggly problems. It rolls on 18-inch Coys rims. The car was built to be a tidy cruiser – just hop in and drive. Once it was finished I took the…

AFTER successfully trialling a year in Melbourne, Meguiar’s MotorEx is back in Sydney at Sydney Olympic Park, 25-26 July. The big news is that custom king George Barris is the guest of honour and will be on hand to meet fans and to present the Barris Choice award. George, along with his hugely talented brother Sam, were at the forefront of the golden age of customs. George went on to be heavily involved with movie cars and showbiz in general. What a blowout it will be for the car builder who scores that once-in-a-lifetime gong! The event itself is almost doubling in floor space this year, with 450 cars, as well as 100 traders, dyno displays and fire-ups from both Top Fuellers and Doorslammers. The award side of the show…

THE big three American automakers are madly rushing to fill the void that will be left by our Aussie muscle heroes when local manufacturing ends in 2017. Ford’s Falcon will be the first to go in the second half of 2016, followed by Holden’s Commodore one year later. By then Ford will have the new right-hand-drive IRSequipped Mustang to take its place as the brand’s local performance flagship, but GM and Chrysler’s plans are still up in the air. If those two needed more proof that Australia isn’t ready to be without muscle cars, over 2000 Aussie customers have already placed their orders for the new Mustang. The GM suits in the ’States have confirmed that a true Holden sports car will be available once local production of the Commodore…

BREAKDOWN VEHICLES: 1934 Ford three-window coupe, 1957 Plymouth Belvedere, 1951 Ford Twin Spinner, 1955 Mercury Montclair, 1951 Mercury coupe, 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, 1964 Checker Marathon STARS: Martin Sheen, Vic Morrow, Michelle Phillips, Nick Nolte, Stuart Margolin, Joe Estevez, Gary Morgan DIRECTOR: Richard T Heffron CAR ACTION: High-speed running on dangerous curves by all manner of thin-tyred, high-riding Yankee iron. Plenty of hard-paced hot rod action is a highlight PLOT: A hot-rodding stranger arrives in a small town to investigate the suspicious death of his brother in a road accident. He makes waves with the local sheriff, who he believes is responsible for a spate of similar incidents IT’S 1958 and Michael McCord (Sheen) is a young hot rodder devastated by the death of his brother, Don (Estevez – yes,…

WE LOVE our utes here in Australia. They’ve been a part of our motoring scene since 1934 and a favourite choice of street machiners for many years, and if anything, their popularity is increasing. Maybe it’s because we like to think we have a connection to the land or some kind of manual trade, or maybe we just don’t like having too many passengers. Whatever the reason, we’re just happy people keep building them, especially when they’re as nicely done as Mick Lear’s ’53 Ford Mainline. Notice I didn’t call it a Mainline ute? No need, because back in the early 50s, Ford Australia used the Mainline name to denote a ute, while Customline was the four-door sedan version. In the US they also used the Mainline name, but it…

AFTER years tinkering with rotaries, David Cox decided to turn his back on the Wankel-powered hand grenades in favour of some classic Chev-powered Aussie metal. With the backing of some very good mates and an awesome family, David has hit the streets again in an angry LC Torana packing 383 cubic inches of Detroit V8. All it took was money, time, tenacity and a plan – although many of those were in short supply at various times during the build. At first David began building an HQ tonner, “but we already had a child, Alexa, and were planning another”, and there’s only so much space in a cab-chassis. So six months in, he cut his losses and sold up. Always partial to an LC Torana, Dave investigated several until he…

THE AUSSIE Ford Falcon has been the mainstay of the Blue Oval’s touring car racing heritage since 1960. Sadly, our much-loved ‘Bird of Prey’ has fallen out of favour with Australian road car buyers, with small sedans, SUVs and dual-cab utes increasingly taking its place. Sales have fallen so far that production is no longer sustainable. By October 2016, the iconic Aussie Falcon will not exist. And when that famous production line at Broadmeadows grinds to a halt, it will also sound the death knell for a race car that has maintained its position at the highest level of Aussie tin-tops for more than five-and-a-half decades. Despite the Falcon’s almost continuous presence on the racetrack, Ford Australia’s direct support of its local flagship in touring car racing has ebbed and…

THIS tough Hemi-six-powered Charger has been part of Georgio Lafazanis’s family for nearly 40 years. “My father Nick bought it as his first car in 1976” 30-year-old Georgio explains. “It was a genuine two-barrel R/T, but it was already modified by the time Dad got it.” That’s for sure – the two-barrel running gear had been replaced with a complete E48 driveline, including a triple-Webered 265, close-ratio four-speed and Dana LSD, while the body had been treated to a GT Falcon bonnet and side scoops, a spoiler and a pair of Thrush sidepipes. Super-cool stuff for an 18-year-old P-plater back in the day. Nick’s magenta Charger strutted around in this guise for a few years until someone dinged the front guard – just the catalyst that he needed to go…

WHEN you make your living off the land, necessity is the mother of invention. Throughout his 40-year career as a sheep grazier on a large property in Central Western NSW, Tony Rohr taught himself how to fix and fabricate all manner of things, largely because his livelihood depended on it. Now in his 70s and long since retired, Tony’s DIY mentality has remained. His shed is well-stocked with projects, and let’s just say his spanners never seem to gather much dust. “About the only things I won’t have a go at these days are building transmissions and tuning EFI” he says. His matching pair of Sting Red CV8 Monaros might look virtually identical with the bonnets down, but they are a bit of a Jekyll-and-Hyde proposition. The ‘little’ Monaro is…

MOPAR unveiled its new Dodge Challenger Drag Pak in June, built especially for NHRA Factory Stock competition. The Drag Pak is a ready-to-race drag car developed by Mopar Performance, and while the new Challengers cannot be legally driven on public roads, they sure look like a blast to drive. Under the bonnet there’s a choice of two Hemi V8s, and Mopar reckons both are capable of slinging the Challenger down the quarter within the eight-second range. The cheaper $US99,426 package features a Whipple-supercharged 354ci iron-block combo, while the atmo 427-cube motor runs an alloy block and will cost around ten grand more at $US109,354. Mopar hasn’t revealed power or torque figures for either engine, but at a guess the answer is “lots”. Both motors push power through a race-prepped 727…

IF YOU’RE about to go see Mad Max: Fury Road – and why wouldn’t you? – make sure you stick around for the credits. Keep an eye out for one in particular: ‘Head Panel Maker/Foreman: Mark Natoli’. An Aussie who has spent his life around cars, Mark is a metal magician whose skills were honed at TAFE and put to the test in the serious business of silver-screen make-believe. We visited his HQ in Sydney, Natoli Panel Creations, to find out more. How did it all start for you? I began my working life in the motor trade in 1975, as a 15-year-old apprentice mechanic at Nash Holden in Lakemba in Sydney. I progressed to the paint shop, so I learnt that trade as well. Eventually I left the day-to-day…

LETTER OF THE MONTH A REAL GEM DID someone say Gemini, 40th anniversary? Here is a photo of my Gem while I was an apprentice truck mechanic in 1992. It ended up with a gloss-black bonnet and the centre of the front bumper cut out, like a Torry of the time. I bought three good second-hand running engines from a wrecker in Sydney. For $200 I would pop the engine out of a wrecked Gem complete with clutch, plus steal as many other parts as the owner of the yard would expect me to steal. I never saw it like that at the time; I felt like James Bond dismantling a nuclear weapon in Russia and smuggling the contents past lazy border guards (wreckers’ yard lunch room). So for $200,…

IN JUST three years, the Precision International Brashernats at Sydney Dragway has turned into the biggest and baddest burnout event in Australia, outside of Summernats. Over 7000 spectators filled the stands to witness what has become Sydney’s most popular weekend of burnout mayhem. The country’s toughest burnout cars went head-to-head, mostly for bragging rights, but some had their eyes on the cool $5K first prize and the golden ticket into the Burnout Masters at Summernats 29. Heavy hitters came from all over Australia, with plenty of toughies from Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria, not to mention an abundance of local talent. With over 130 cars fighting for just 35 spots in the early-evening final, it was an action-packed day. The level of showmanship and the quality of the skids was…

ONE of the best things about working for Street Machine is getting to attend lots of cool events in the guise of work. I have a few favourites, ranging from the sheer enormity of Summernats, to the dirty fun of Chopped and the chilled-out vibes of the Six Banger Nats. Joining them at the pointy end of my list is Cooly Rocks On. Held on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend in June, in the Queensland/ NSW border town of Coolangatta, Cooly Rocks On rose from the ashes of the long-running Wintersun event. Wintersun began as a grassroots custom show, but quickly grew into a nostalgia festival of monster proportions. In 2012, the Wintersun organisation decided to take the show elsewhere, so the Coolangatta community rallied to replace it, which it…

I LOVE when a car becomes part of its owner’s persona, a symbol of their identity. It might be as subtle as your granddad’s HT Kinger being visible in three decades of family photos, or as exciting as an iconic build being thrust back into the spotlight after years on the down-low. When El Telfo swung me this story, I have to admit to getting a little excited. See, my teenage years were filled with 80s mags covering all the action I was missing at the ASMF Nats and early Summernats, and more often than not, there was Graham Cowley and this red HR ute, unmistakeable for its (often missing) flip front and ‘real’ HR tail-end. Graham and the HR are a legendary part of our street machining heritage. Long,…

THE art of hand-forming sheet metal into complex shapes almost seems like black magic in this age of high-volume production and exotic materials. But thankfully there are those among us who still know one end of an English wheel from the other and aren’t scared of a planishing hammer. Which brings us to Jamie Downie and Nate Browne from Kustom Garage in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. They’re pumping out metal magic every day of the week, and aren’t afraid to tackle the big jobs. One of their biggest in the past year has been creating the rear quarters and door skins on Peter Sharp’s SHQRP Monaro; a project that was sub-contracted out to them by the guys at Taree’s Down Town Kustoms (DTK). DTK has been transforming this HQ Monaro into…

01 CLUTCH SHOT PICKING the right clutch kit can be daunting, as it’s often difficult to decide which is best for the application. Xtreme Clutch places importance on optimising drivability and performance with all of its kits. This is most imperative with later-model Holdens, where a huge degree of tuneability is available straight out of the factory. For info, call Xtreme Clutch on 1800 258 824. 02 THE CABLE GUYS HOLLEY has added a 90mm throttlebody to its line of cable-driven throttlebodies for LS engines. It eliminates the need for a drive-by-wire throttlebody, while retaining stock low-end drivability. It looks good, is corrosion-resistant and will fit plenty of stock and aftermarket manifolds. Contact APD for more details on (08) 8363 5566. 03 ALL WIRED UP HALTECH now offer a range…

WITH the increase in safety standards in newer cars, there have been some changes within drag racing’s governing authority (ANDRA) in relation to rollcages and tailshaft hoops. Of course, some tracks – such as Heathcote – don’t necessarily run to the letter of ANDRA rules, so you’ll have more flexibility there if you so wish. If you run a car that is quicker than 10.99 but slower than 10.00, you can get away with a half-cage (main hoop, rear stays and side intrusion bars). For cars quicker than 10.00, you need a full six-point rollcage (main hoop, rear and front stays, top of windscreen and taxi bar). For cars produced from 2008 onwards, you can run to 10.00 with no rollcage at all. You need a tailshaft loop in anything…

I HAVE had my HQ GTS one-tonner for about two years now. I was looking for a first car when I was still at school, and one of our neighbours happened to be selling an HQ one-tonner. It had a Premier front, Monaro guards and wheels and a 308 with a five-speed. I liked the look of it so I decided to take it on as a first project. I did most of the work on it myself. I started by stripping the front clip and pulling the motor and ’box out. I gave the motor a freshen-up, and then started repairing, priming panels and overhauling the suspension and steering. I fabricated the tray, and then refitted the motor and ’box. I worked hard on it for a year, in…