Innehållsförteckning för August 2019 från Street Machine

THE Queensland Hot Rod Show is one of the longest-running indoor shows in the country, and notched up its 48th event in early July. The event went into hiatus last year – after shows at the Brisbane Convention Centre in 2015-2017 – but was back this year at its traditional home of the RNA Showgrounds. The show saw some killer cars debut, including Jason Behan’s MINTVAL VG Valiant coupe, which we featured in bare metal back in the June 2016 issue of SM. Ben Jack’s crazy Viper V10-powered ’68 Dodge Coronet also made its first show appearance and jagged the prized People’s Choice Award. Both Mopars scored invites to the Meguiar’s Superstars competition at MotorEx 2020, along with Russell Weaver’s killer ’69 Camaro and Michael Groves’s ’55 Chev. The top…

19 JUL, INGHAM, QLD Ingham Autofest, Ingham Showgrounds. Call 0417 511 557 or email admin@autofest.com.au. 20 JUL, HORNINGSEA PARK, NSW Trash & Treasure, 1895 Camden Valley Highway. For more info search shannons.com.au. 20 JUL, BAXTER, VIC Penlink fundraiser meet, BP Servo Peninsula Link southbound. Search Facebook for more info. 21 JUL, COFFS HARBOUR, NSW Swap Meet & Classic Vehicle Display, 123 Pacific Highway Coffs Harbour Showgrounds. Call Graeme 0417 236 277. 21 JUL, CURL CURL, NSW Machines & Macchiatos, Harbord Bowling & Recreation Club. Search Facebook for more info. 21 JUL, GOLD COAST, QLD Gold Coast Swap Meet, Mudgeeraba Showgrounds. Call David 0428 279 291 or email swap.gcaac@gmail.com. 28 JUL, EASTERN CREEK, NSW All Ford Day NSW 2019, Sydney Dragway. Visit allforddaynsw.com. 28 JUL, CLONTARF, QLD Corvettes Down Under Classic…

FAST cars are in Kris Edwards’s blood. Hailing from the NSW Central Coast town of Wyong, he is the third generation in a line-up of street and track racers. Kris’s grandfather Arthur was a street racer of the bike kind through the late 1940s, before turning his hand to speedway during the golden era of the 1950s and 60s, while his late father Colin was a regular racer at the infamous Brickies street drags at Homebush in the mid-to-late 70s. Chris arrived on the scene in 1980 and grew up on an automotive diet that included his mum Jenny’s LJ XU-1, a 308-powered HJ wagon in brown with gold stripes, Monaros, and even Hatch Hutch-equipped Toranas. 01: AS A YOUNG tacker, Kris immediately fell for the REVHED HQ Monaro owned…

SPEED cameras are annoying enough as it is, but imagine if those cameras were not only booking us for creeping over the limit, but for our rides being too loud? Well in the UK that might be a real possibility, with trials beginning for speed cameras that can detect cars that are too loud and automatically book offending motorists. We shared this story on Facebook to see what you all thought; suffice to say, many of you weren’t amused. Matthew Mawley-Mills – Would it be considered evil to crank the bass on a boom-box, set it to max volume and fix it right next to said noise camera? Jai Christopher – Whack it into neutral when you glide past. Greg Hatswell – The country is being run by fascists. Shayne-Bambam…

DAVID Frake, Leo Khouri and Mark Lamb are quick to reassure us that they aren’t madmen. Although, as we stand between two irreplaceable, iconic Aussie muscle cars covered in dirt and bug guts, it would be easy to query that. Leo explains that their seemingly insane plan – driving their near-priceless Phase III GTHO Falcons around Australia – was born of a simple premise. “We just wanted to show people what these cars were built for – and that’s Australian roads,” he says. He’s not wrong; after 40 days and 16,953 kilometres of their Phase III Odyssey, there’s plenty of those Aussie roads still stuck to their cars as they sit amongst their cleaner, trophy-sniffing brethren at the 2019 Falcon GT Nationals in Adelaide (SM, Jul ’19). THE PHASE III…

BY MY reckoning, this incredible ’63 Lincoln Continental is the ninth car of Mark Sullivan’s that we’ve featured since 2005: “Not bad going for an individual,” says Mark, who then admits: “I’ve slowed down a bit actually.” Yep, it’s been about 18 months since we last featured one of his cars, but when you look at his latest creation – and the sheer size of it – that’s still pretty good going. If you’re familiar with Mark’s previous cars, which are essentially muscle cars, you’ll notice this Linc is quite the departure, but still utilises the key styling cues of his other builds: big wheels, low stance, updated interior and killer bodywork and paint. A LOT OF PEOPLE SAID: “DON’T TOUCH IT, DON’T DO WHAT YOU DO TO THEM,” BUT…

THERE seems to be two main ways that modifiers put strength into vehicles. There’s the ‘railway iron’ method, where the design relies on heavy structural members that resist the applied stress from bigger engines in a simple fashion to get a strong structure. Traditional and modern hot rod chassis and some street machine subframes rely on this approach, but it’s often unnecessarily heavy and can look a little crude. Boxing a chassis with 3/8-inch plate and using I-beam X-members come to mind as examples of this kind of overkill. During the 50s and 60s, factory designers found it convenient to keep convertibles rigid by simply adding massive I-beams to their closed car frames to replace the loss of the roof structure. If you have worked on one of these cars…

USUALLY when Queensland’s Phil Halpin and his two sons hit the drag strip in anger they’re straddling motorbikes, but when Drag Challenge Weekend came to town a few months ago, the boys opted to trade in their crotch-rockets for a weekend in Phil’s WB panel van. When Phil got his hands on his WB pano many moons ago, it was just a humble farm rig with a typically asthmatic straight-six and 450,000km of hard yakka under its collar. Since then, Phil has given the exterior a renovation to get rid of all the dents and battle scars, but the biggest change by far was the driveline. The old junker 202 and three-speed auto were binned in favour of a turbo LS combo. The mill is an L76 6.0-litre with an…

01 FABTASTIC THE team at Australian Rod & Custom Components have you sorted for all your rear end needs with their new fabricated nine-inch housing kit. Hardware consists of a 0.119in-thick chrome-moly steel body and a 5/16in-thick chrome-moly steel third member mounting face, machined to fit 3in tubes. Those are paired with 3in, seamless 5mm-walled tubes and billet housing ends to suit the larger Ford style. The kits are available in just about any specs and can either be sent out as a DIY deal for customers to assemble, or the Australian Rod & Custom boys can weld it all up. Find out more at partsforhotrods.com.au or on 0418 675 170. 02 HIGH VOLTAGE WHEN you leave you pride and joy sitting unloved for months on end, odds are that…

SYDNEY DRAGWAY 20 JUL Test & Tune 24 JUL Race 4 Real 31 JUL Race 4 Real 07 AUG Race 4 Real 11 AUG Street Meet 14 AUG Race 4 Real 17 AUG Test & Tune sydneydragway.com.au Phone (02) 9421 0700 SPRINGMOUNT RACEWAY 03 AUG Track Championship 23-24 AUG Nitro Funny Cars & 400 Thunder springmountraceway.com WILLOWBANK 20 JUL Test & Tune 31 JUL Test & Tune 03 AUG Street Series 10 AUG Qld Championships 24 AUG Jamboree willowbankraceway.com.au Phone (07) 5461 5461 BENARABY RACEWAY 26 JUL Off Street Meet 27 JUL CQDRA Round 5 02 AUG Off Street Meet benarabyraceway.com Phone 0419 703 710 NORTHERN RIVERS 28 JUL Drags (02) 6663 7225 WARWICK DRAGWAY 17 AUG Bracket Meeting warwickdragway.com LAKESIDE 04 AUG Off Street Drags facebook.com/lakesidedragracing…

AN EXAMPLE of one of Holden’s most iconic modern muscle cars – the CV8 Monaro – is about to undergo a comprehensive restoration and rethink at the hands of its original creators. Holden has teamed up with Craig Lowndes and a select number of key build partners on Project Monaro – a VZ CV8, which they intend to give away to one lucky customer upon completion. Members of the Holden design team that originally penned the V2 Monaro are involved in the build, which will see the car restored with as many Holden Genuine, Chevrolet Performance and ACDelco components as possible, but enhanced in several key areas to individualise the car and make it go, stop and steer better than ever. If the concept rendering is anything to go by,…

AT LAST! Street Machine Hot Rod #20 is out on newsstands now! As always, the mag is a labour of love for our writers, photographers and artists, and in many ways,Hot Rodis the pride of the SM fleet. It is not only the place where we can cover rods, customs, lowbrow art and the history of our sport in depth, but also where the creative types can flex their muscles and try out new ideas that often filter down to Street Machine proper. On the cover of issue 20 is Travis Fink’s stunning F100. The Tiffany Blue ’55 was one of the star debutants at MotorEx earlier in the year. The concept is whip-smart – build a truck with a killer stance and gobs of horsepower (thanks to a monster…

BASED on the early life of former moonshine runner and NASCAR legend Junior Johnson, The Last American Hero follows a southern-backwater knockabout who becomes a national sporting icon. Jeff Bridges stars as the youthful but sure-footed Elroy ‘Junior’ Jackson (Johnson’s fictionalised name in the film), a young bloke who spends his days tinkering with a hotted-up Mustang, and his nights using it to run illegal whiskey for his father, Elroy Sr (Lund). After Junior bites off more than he can chew with the Feds, Elroy Sr is busted for his moonshine operation and facing slammer time, leaving Junior, his brother Wayne (Busey) and mother (Fitzgerald) without an income. With mounting legal bills and the need to keep a roof over his family’s head, Junior steps into the breadwinning role, but…

MY KINGDOM FOR A HEARSE HI, I’M wondering if there are any updates on the restoration of Pat Fay’s Humpy Mekka FJ Holden hearse (pictured left)? I had a good look at the car and a chat with Fitzy at Summernats. Will be amazing to see the FJ returned to its former glory. I had pictures of it on one of my school books back in grade eight – at least until my maths teacher saw the sexy vampire murals and made me colour them in with permanent marker! Brad Lorre, email HEY Brad! You can keep tabs on the resto at facebook.com/patfayhearse – Telfo VARIETY SHOW G’DAY Telfo and crew, love the mag and I have to say, some of my favourite bits are up the back – Sleepers,…

IT WAS pretty obvious to everyone watching Lego Masters earlier this year that the bloke with the cracking beard was clearly a car guy with an intimate knowledge of all things automotive, a lot of mechanical ingenuity and a really awesome T-shirt collection. Perth-based David Rodman made it all the way to the final, so we had a chat to him about that journey and his awesome LS-powered VP SS. You’re a car guy and a Lego Master – which came first? I started Lego as a child and remember building all the sets as a kid, as you do, and I did do some of my own little cars when I was younger. As you grow older you kind of get out of Lego a little bit, but I…

WHILE there were plenty of awesome cars designed in the 1970s, Holden’s HQ Monaro coupe has to be one of the top shapes to come out of the era of disco, fondue and bellbottoms. Mitch Godfrey’s Top 60 Elite-qualified Monaro didn’t start off as a stunner, but he turned it into a twin-turbo LSX454-powered, smoothed and slicked street car that packs a visual punch by enhancing what the factory gave us in 1972. “I bought the car about eight years ago with a naturally aspirated small-block and an 80s-style interior,” says the Queensland fabricator. “After a couple of weeks I swapped in the L98 injected six-litre and F1R ProCharger from the Tonner I had before the Monaro to wake it up a little bit.” Mitch cruised the coupe for six…

WHEN our mates at Unique Cars reasoned they’d attended enough car events that it was high time they hosted one of their own, we thought we’d better tag along and suss it out. They’d seen how much fun we’d been having running events like Street Machine Drag Challenge, and for their own foray into the event space they decided that while the whole Cars ’n’ Coffee formula was a winner, it could be improved upon by incorporating a more dynamic element. And so they concocted a Cars ’n’ Coffee-style event to be run at Sydney Motorsport Park’s South Circuit, which included plenty of opportunities for entrants to cruise the track, along with race car demonstrations and ridealongs. The name ‘Rolling 30’ is a reference to that dynamic element of the…

ROOSTER TAILS OF WET SAND SPAT REARWARDS AS SKINNY CROSSPLIES STRUGGLED FOR TRACTION ANY traditional hot rodder worth their salt has heard of The Race Of Gentleman beach races in America, or TROG as it’s commonly known. So when the large and highly dedicated Drag-Ens Hot Rod Club decided to hold a similar event for pre-’41 period-style hot rods, vintage race cars and pre-60s bikes here in Australia, builders quickly scrambled to piece together worthy sand racers. Now in its third year, the Rattletrap is held on the picturesque Crowdy Head beach in northern NSW, at the edge of a national park. Tides dictate the date and times of the one-day event, and for the first time, rain also played a part in 2019. Punters were increasingly concerned that the…

BRENDAN DEGUARA 1973 FORD ESCORT “I BOUGHT my Mk1 Escort three years ago. It needed a diff upgrade, along with minor items to be engineered. Soon after, the standard motor made way for a worked two-litre Pinto with a big cam, head work, forged pistons, twin 48mm Webers and a Sierra five-speed gearbox. I then had the front guards replaced with Twin Cam items, along with a new front panel and round-headlight grille. The car was then repainted in Ford Teal Blue, and a restored set of 15-inch Simmons V4s were fitted. The next jobs are to upgrade to fuel injection with Weber-lookalike throttlebodies and re-trim the rear seat to match the front Recaros.” Photos: Ben Hosking CHRIS ECONOMIDES 1971 LC TORANA “NOT long after my first car – also…

IT’S NOT unusual for gearheads to become obsessed by a model of car, or even a particular part. This longing could be for an HT Monaro or maybe a Trans Am front to fit to your panel van, but in Andrew ‘Macka’ McDonald’s case, it was for a pair of, er, cylinder heads. “Back in the mid-90s I spied a pair of blue-plug W5-model cylinder heads in a Mopar Performance catalogue and it was love at first sight,” Brisbane-based Macka explains. “I just knew one day I was going to build an engine based around those.” Having tinkered with a few Chrysler 360 combos in the past, Macka knew it was time to step things up and build his ultimate W5-headed package. But a lot had changed since the 90s,…

WE LOVE a street party, and it is obvious plenty of you guys do too, thanks to the success of Red CentreNATS in Alice Springs. The good news is Central Queensland will get its own automotive street party soon, with the first Rockynats kicking off in Rockhampton in late June 2020. The Rockhampton Regional Council has partnered with Summernats to bring all the party atmosphere of our favourite car shows to the centre of Rocky, including heads-up drag racing! “For Rockynats, the whole town will host this event,” says Summernats communications director Adrian Hodgson. “It is about bringing the fun of Street Machine Summernats to another part of Australia, so we will bring the party to Rocky and take over the entire town for a week. “We will have burnouts,…

ESCORT SERVICE I WAS knocked out to read about the Harrop supercharger set-up on a 355 Holden V8 using a VR block (Mill Of The Month, SM, Apr ’19). However, I was more surprised to read about Shannon Heraud’s lime-green Ford Escort a while back with a blown 253 (SM, Aug ’18). The article stated that the 253 motor was making nearly 600hp with 12psi of boost at around 7000-7500 rpm. I’m wondering how much torque that 253 is making and what the compression ratio is. Any info would be much appreciated. Andrew Pumfrey, email HEY Andrew, we asked Shannon about it and here’s his response: “Hey mate, the motor runs 9.0:1 static compression with 8-9psi of boost. Torque has been up around the 435lb-ft mark.” Shannon has given the…

THE 358CI EX-NASCAR MILL CAN HAPPILY RUN ON 95-OCTANE E10 BUT STILL PUMP OUT NEAR 750 HORSES ON 6PSI A BIT over 10 years ago, Angelo Furfaro bought himself a 273ci, V8-powered ’67 Valiant as an occasional cruiser. It was a real survivor, as Angelo says: “It was mint – very little rust, and all the hard stuff like glass and moulds were all pretty good.” At the same time, Angelo was also getting around in a stout ’63 Nova that he’d revamped after purchasing it off Gavin Dowling (SM, Sep ’14) minus the driveline. “My wife Kylie and my boys Sebastian and Daniel loved the Nova,” Angelo says. “We cruised everywhere in it: to the drags, street meets, Sunday morning coffee runs – everywhere!” But Angelo had an itch…

HAVING a killer ride to cruise your beaches, pubs and cafes is one of the foundations of the street machining hobby. But the path from boring stocker to something that rattles the windows at the local RSL is often fraught with setbacks and project scope-creep. The Sunshine Coast’s Peter Robson knows this all too well, having not actually intended to build his VE ute into the stunning beast that won Top Elite Ute and Top Elite Engine Bay at Street Machine Summernats 32. “I always wanted a clean street car,” says Peter. “I bought the VE in 2009 with 30,000km on it and drove it for 500km stock-standard. I said to myself that I’d keep it standard for a year, but that lasted two weeks before I pulled the engine…

IT JUST DIDN’T LOOK RIGHT; IT HAD FALLEN FROM THE UGLY TREE AND HIT EVERY BRANCH ON THE WAY DOWN JAI and Corrina Schluter have been drag racing together for the better part of 30 years, but their XC hardtop (SM Fords #8) was way too mental to do double duty as a street car. “We got to the point where we were sick of having a race car that sat in the garage – we couldn’t go for a drive in it or enjoy it,” says Jai. “Events like Drag Challenge are really cool and there’s a new direction in racing, so we thought we’d make a change.” So the beloved XC made way for this ’68 California Special Mustang, which Jai had been coveting for years. “This car…

SOMETIMES dreams really do come true. Just ask 35-year-old Jarrad Rogers; his 1974 G-Pak LH Torana has helped him fulfil more than one dream over the past several months. After a single rust bubble spawned a five-year ground-up rebuild, Jarrad trailered his PPG Sunkist-drenched sedan down to Canberra in January for Summernats 32. Knowing full well that a coveted Top 60 spot was never guaranteed, Jarrad nonetheless dared to dream big. TO RUN AGAINST ALL THE LEGENDS OF SUMMERNATS IN THE GRAND CHAMPION COMPETITION WAS A VERY HUMBLING EXPERIENCE As it turned out, the judges loved the car and come Friday afternoon of the ’Nats, Jarrad almost wept when he saw his name on the Top 60 awards list. “I jokingly told my wife I must have gotten dirt in…

WHAT blows me away about Anthony Villani’s XP coupe is that it was built 23 years ago. Yep, that impeccable blue paint is over two decades old, yet it bears hardly a blemish. “The paint, interior and wheels are exactly as I built the XP in the late 90s,” Anthony says. “It’s done 13,000 miles since, and it still runs the same tyres and brake pads.” Let’s take a trip back to 1996, when a mid-20s Anthony first laid eyes on his prize. “I knew a local Shepparton guy who had an XP two-door with another shell sitting in his backyard,” he says. “So I had a look at it, and then did the deal for $2000.” Anthony dragged home a bare body, with no door mechs or even side…

THE past couple of years have seen a flood of kick-arse go-fast bits for the venerable Holden V8 hit the market. While the iron lion will never enjoy the same level of aftermarket support that small-block Chevs and LS engines have, it is something of a golden age for those of us who remain loyal to Australia’s homegrown bent-eight. The newest of new hotness is Harrop’s TVS2300 supercharger kit. Harrop developed the crankshaft for the factory 5.7- litre Holden strokers in the mid-90s, so the company has been playing with Holden V8s for decades. The supercharger kit is centred around an Eaton-sourced rotating group, teamed with Harrop’s own locally developed housing and manifold, and intercooler and drive systems. I was mighty impressed when the kit produced over 800hp on a…

I DROVE THE WAGON FROM MELBOURNE TO BRISBANE IN 24 HOURS, RUNNING OFF ADRENALIN AND HAPPINESS LONG-roofed Yank tanks really are the cat’s meow. And Manda Groves’ 1962 Chev Bel Air wagon is the perfect example, with its hectares of sheet metal punctuated by long, sleek brightwork. The huge wheelarches easily swallow the massive Intro rims as the wagon lowers its belly to the earth. So, let’s hear more about this dual bench-seated ride. Sweet wags, Manda! Tell us about it. It is a ’62 Bel Air station wagon called Lola, which I bought four-and-a-half years ago. Before Lola I had a ’63 Chevy Impala four-door pillarless that I basically sold to buy this, my dream car. I grew up with wagons, so I’ve always liked them. Plus, my family…

FOR MY NEXT TRICK... A MAGICIAN was working on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. The audience would be different each week, so the magician allowed himself to do the same tricks over and over again. There was only one problem: the captain’s parrot saw the shows every week and began to understand what the magician did in every trick. Once he understood that, he started shouting in the middle of the show: “Look, it’s not the same hat!” Or: “Look, he’s hiding the flowers under the table!” Or: “Hey, why are all the cards the ace of spades?” The magician was furious but couldn’t do anything; it was the captain’s parrot, after all. One day the ship had an accident and sunk. The magician found himself adrift on a…