Innehållsförteckning för November 2016 från Street Machine

JUST finishing Hot Rod Drag Week in any half-fast car is a big ask. But to finish with an eight-second average in a ridiculous car you built in a week? Highly unlikely, but that is what Shepparton’s Harry Haig, along with tuner extraordinaire Terry Seng and mates Shannon Jennings and Ryan Jones achieved at this year’s event. We figure even the astronauts in the International Space Station would have caught up with their exploits, but we know some of you don’t internet, so here’s the Reader’s Digest version. The car itself is a ’69 Chevelle SS that Harry found in a field and got up and running for last year’s event, complete with the 396 big-block and four-speed it was found with. They had a heap of adventures and made…

I decided to put it back to the original Panama Green colour, fit a Statesman dash and give it a retrim, ready for Red CentreNATS WE MET Kev last year at a roadhouse somewhere north of Coober Pedy, on our way to Red CentreNATS #1. The carby on Kev’s slant-six, push-button-auto-equipped AP5 Valiant was playing silly buggers, but after it was fixed, Kev (who had so far driven solo all the way from Perth) joined our otherwise all-Holden convoy for the rest of our trip. We all vowed to return for another round of RCN in 2016, but the only one of the group to do it in a car was Kev, this time in his HZ van. We gave him a call a couple of weeks after the event…

BREAKDOWN VEHICLES: 1932 Ford three-window, 1955 Chevrolet 210, 1955 Chevrolet 3100, 1958 Edsel Pacer, 1956 Ford Thunderbird, 1949 DeSoto Deluxe, 1955 Packard Clipper, 1942 Ford Jailbar pick-up STARS: Kieran Mulroney, Brian Bloom, Ashley Laurence, Larry Hankin, Cameron Dye, Danielle von Zerneck, Paul Le Mat, Candy Clark, Dennis Lee Kelly DIRECTOR: Mark Deimel ACTION: Some well-staged drag strip action and back-roads street racing do the trick, along with wholesome small-town street cruising PLOT: Two brothers bond during the build of a supercharged deuce coupe, but fight for the affections of a local girl ONE of many Hollywood coming-of-age flicks that centre around small-town life in 1950s USA, Deuce Coupe follows Eddie Fitzpatrick (Mulroney), a high-school senior trying to find his place in the world. His older brother Ray (Bloom) is a…

TOP DRAWER MY SON Ty is 10 and is an absolute car nut. He would love to see one of his drawings in your mag. Here is an XC coupe he recently drew. Jared Zegers, email ADVERTISING: Matthew Rice agency/direct, GPO Box 4088, Sydney 2001. Ph (02) 9288 9706. Vic rep: Bruce Williams, mob: 0418 349 555. Adelaide: Meghan Ritchie Ph (08) 82675022. Queensland rep: Todd Anderson, mob: 0409 630733. Japan: Japan Trade Services Ltd, 2-24-1-302, Ohashi, Meguro-ku, 153. New Zealand: Bauer Media Ltd, 49-55 Anzac Avenue, Auckland. Ph 389 254, Fax 389 498. United Kingdom: Publicitas Ltd, 525-527 Fulham Rd, London, SW6 1HF. Ph 385 7723, Telex 99 9223. Street Machine is published by Bauer Trader Media, a division of Bauer Media Ltd ABN 18 053 273 546, 54-58…

AFTER cruising my humble EJ Holden to the first Red CentreNATS in Alice Springs last year, I thought it would be cool just to fly in from Melbourne, grab a hire car and enjoy the event street machine-free. After all, I’d spent all year telling anyone who’d listen that RCN was a great event and even if you didn’t have a week or two spare to drive there, you could fly in, fly out and have a bunch of fun. Which is true – I had a blast – but man, I missed being able to participate in my own car. I flew in on the Friday and headed straight out to RCN headquarters at Blatherskite Park, where the entrants were assembling for the Street Parade. Last year, the assembly…

YOU COULD BE FORGIVEN FOR THINKING STEVE’S CAMARO IS ALL SHOW. BUT SUCH NOTIONS EVAPORATE THE INSTANT HE POPS THE BONNET TO REVEAL THE 406CI NELSON RACING ENGINES SMALL-BLOCK, GOOD FOR 1451HP WITH its flawless panels, mile-deep paint, incredible brightwork and insane detail, you could be forgiven for thinking the ’68 Camaro of Steve Hopes is all show. But such notions quickly evaporate the instant Steve pops this bad boy’s bonnet to reveal those 406 cubes of Nelson Racing Engines small-block, which busts out a genuine 1451hp. Moving underneath only serves to underline the point, with a complete Street Rod Garage SRG-Force chassis, monster brakes, Tranzilla six-speed, Watt’s linkage, nine-inch and fat, sticky rubber – all extreme G-Machine gear. Steve built his rad Cam for tackling the twisty stuff –…

THE THREE MAIN THINGS I WANTED WERE BIG WHEELS, BIG HORSEPOWER AND A TOUGH STANCE ALL Jeremy Burnett wanted for the build of his ’55 F100 were three simple things: “Big wheels, big horsepower and a tough stance.” If we were talking cricket, Jeremy’s bagged the hat-trick. It was a pretty simple brief, with equally simple beginnings. “The cab and doors came from a farm in central Victoria and the tub came separately, then it was a case of sourcing all of the parts and building a chassis to suit,” Jeremy says. To get the bones of the truck sorted, Jeremy turned to a mate of his, Corey, who had just started CJ’s Rod & Race Fabrications. “We designed it from scratch, starting with the wheels, because there was…

SETTLING unfinished family business is always a tough score, and when your father is the late ‘Speed King’ Mickey Thompson, it’s exponentially harder. But son Danny laid some long-standing family ghosts to rest by driving his dad’s Challenger 2 to the AA/Fuel Streamliner record of 406.7mph at Speed Week 2016. In 1960 Mickey, in Challenger 1, became the first-ever American to run over 400mph, and while this made him the fastest man in the world at the time, he was unable to log a consecutive pass for it to be recognised by the SCTA as an official record. Mickey then went through an avalanche of bad luck and mechanical gremlins in his new creation Challenger 2, all in pursuit of that elusive record, but eventually mothballed the streamliner to grow…

TO BE HONEST, I KIND OF JUST DID ‘WHATEVER’ WHEN I BUILT IT THE FIRST TIME. I WAS NEVER REALLY HAPPY WITH THE WAY IT RAN WHEN Johnny Ielati debuted the latest incarnation of his immaculate 1970 XW Fairmont at this year’s WA Hot Rod & Street Machine Spectacular, for him it was a double triumph. It not only marked 10 years since he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, which he’d since beaten, but also two decades spent evolving and honing his classic Ford. “The XW is my very first car; I bought it about a month after I got my licence in 1996,” Johnny explains. “I was always going to have an XY or an XW, as my dad always talked about an XW that…

LAST month, Kerry Digney, voice of Summernats and Powercruise, shared some anecdotes from his younger years spent in the colourful environs of the 1960s and early 70s Sydney street racing scene. Well, he’s back this month with more, taking us from the end of his time in Sydney through to his move to Queensland in the early 70s and the motorsportannouncing apprenticeship he received under the late, great Milton Adey. “So you really want to know about how a lot of grandfathers and grandmothers used to spend their midweek nights?” he laughs. “Okay, here goes – you will check to see the statute of limitations has well and truly past, won’t you?” LIGHT IN THE DARK THIS one particular night, nothing was going well for us. Brickies was closed –…

“I REALISE THAT NOT ALL CAR BUILDS WILL BE TO EVERYBODY’S LIKING AND THAT’S FINE, BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY IT’S OUR MODIFIED CAR HISTORY, AND TO ME DENIGRATING THAT IS JUST PLAIN SAD” WHAT on earth is happening to the modified car hobby? Not a day goes by where I don’t see a social media post either seeding for negative banter or blatantly shitcanning an old photo of a modified street machine or early Aussie custom. These posts are filled with hollers of “what a waste”, “wrecked a classic” and “should have left it stock”, comments that go completely against the legacy that our hot rodding forefathers created by bucking the restored car establishment. Do people think those blurry pics were taken earlier today? Do the skin-tight…

EVERYBODY loves a Hemi, and none more so than the people who like to get a quarter-mile down the road quicker than the bloke in the next lane. Graeme Cowin’s been doing it longer than most; the first in Oz to run a nine-second pass in a fuel altered, first to do a five-second pass in a nitro funny car and the first to run a four-second pass in a Top Fueller. And the Hemi has always been his weapon of choice. While we all know the Chrysler heritage of the legendary Hemi engines, there isn’t a single part on this Hemi that ever saw duty in a road car. Built by Mike Kuhl Racing Enterprises in Santa Ana, USA – of Kuhl & Olson fame – the engine is…

STREET Machine Summernats 30 (5-8 January 2017) is going to be massive. As we go to print, the ’Nats team already have 1834 entrants on the books and it looks like the final number will be north of 2000. And there are plenty of special features planned to celebrate the big anniversary. For starters, five dead-set legends of the burnout world are strapping on their helmets once more for the pleasure of the crowd: Chris Christou, Mark Dall’acqua, Mark Yardy, Greg Young and Leroy Rees. Then, in the Elite Hall, Owen Webb is working to get as many former Grand Champions on show as possible. And he has a big-name celebrity show car builder coming from the US, but we’ll spill the beans on that next issue. But what we…

08 OCT, STAWELL, VIC L005ENATS, Stawell Motor Sports Club, Burrong Basin Road. Contact Ben 0438 043 132. 08 OCT, BARGO, NSW Bargo School Show ’n’ Shine, Great Southern Road. Contact Matt 0407 054 637. 09 OCT, THORNBURY, VIC Northern Gal Classic & Muscle Car & Bike Show, Furlan Club. Email northerngalevents@hotmail.com. 09 OCT, ALEXANDRA, VIC All Makes Automotive Swap Meet & Historic Truck Muster, Alexandra Showgrounds. Contact David 0428 630 022. 13-16 OCT, NANANGO, QLD The Waterhole Rocks, Nanango Showgrounds. Email nanangoshowsociety@bigpond.com. 14-15 OCT, EASTERN CREEK, NSW World Time Attack Challenge, Sydney Motorsport Park. Visit worldtimeattack.com. 14-17 OCT, PENRITH, NSW Monaro Nationals 2016, Penrith Paceway, 146 Station Street. Contact 0439 835 007. 15 OCT, MT ARCHER, QLD Sixth Asphalt Demons Invitational, Archer Falls Airfield. Visit facebook.com/asphalt.demons. 16 OCT, PENRITH, NSW…

ADELAIDE’S Richie Crampton got his start in drag racing in 1996 as a 16-year-old, behind the wheel of a big-block Chev-powered FC Holden in Super Sedan. After three seasons he moved up to the Supercharged Outlaws ranks, before a trip to Sydney to meet with Graeme Cowin led to a job offer and the beginnings of his career in Top Fuel, working on the bottom end of John Cowin’s car under the guidance of Darren Morgan. In 2004, Crampton travelled to the US to build blocks and piston assemblies on Andrew Cowin’s Top Fuel outfit. When the team returned to Australia, he elected to stay in America and chase his dream of a career in the NHRA ranks. A phone call to American tuner Richard Hogan saw Crampton land the…

WE WANTED TO SEE HOW WELL THIS CRAZY WET DREAM OF A CAR ACTUALLY DRIVES. WOULD IT BE EVERYTHING WE HOPED? OR A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT? WE’RE ABOUT TO FIND OUT AFTER seeing the 1970 Plymouth Barracuda dubbed ‘Sick Fish’ that Rad Rides By Troy built for UFC commentator Joe Rogan, Graeme Cowin (i.e. Mr Rocket Industries), decided he wanted one just like it – only better! So a 340 donor car was purchased out of Adelaide in 2005, and the story of King Kong Cuda began. The initial one-year build blew out to five years – along with the budget. Overseen by Rocket’s Chris Palazzo, the build started with Fast Lane Speed Shop, who remade virtually every panel by hand, as well as incorporated a host of custom touches…

TOM BELTRAME IN THE WILD LITTLE FJ40 LAND CRUISER WAS ONE OF A HANDFUL OF GUYS THAT GOT LOST IN THE SMOKE AND HAD TO STOP MID-BURNOUT WITH Red CentreNATS allowing a bunch of normally extremely illegal blown and injected burnout cars to cruise the streets of Alice Springs, it was easy to forget that a lot of those cars were actually there to compete in the burnout competition; being able to drive to and from McDonald’s as much as they pleased was just a bonus. The burnout comp for RCN #2 kicked off on Saturday arvo, and I tell you what, for a show held in the middle of nowhere, the quality of the field was mind-blowing. Even in the non-Burnout Masters comp there was Tom Beltrame in the…

BONNEVILLE IS HALLOWED GROUND, A MECCA TO RETURN TO YEAR AFTER YEAR IN PURSUIT OF ONE THING: SPEED FEW places on the planet possess the special allure of Bonneville, Utah. To the pilgrims who've flocked there since early last century, the dry salt lake is hallowed ground, a mecca to return to year after year in pursuit of one thing: speed. The Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) hosts the historic Speed Week event annually, but the sufferers of Salt Fever have had to endure an extended wait for their fix over the past three years. Poor weather and deteriorating salt health saw the event cancelled in 2014 and 2015, and racers feared they’d lost their holy ground forever. Thankfully, Speed Week was given a green light for 2016, and…

THE CMR Bonneville team has been taking records back to New Zullund since 2011, when Reg Cook etched his factory SR20DE-powered Nissan NX’s racing numbers into the Production class books. This year’s Speed Week saw them return to the salt after the two-year hiatus with a Honda KA20 donk in the front of the little Nissan they call Cookie. With a smart mix of modifications and some “blue sky thinking” – according to Reg’s daughter Louise – Cookie was able to contend for records in five different categories with quick parts/aero swaps. They kicked off the week by taking the G/Fuel Comp Coupe record at 190.6mph – making Cookie the world’s fastest two-litre naturally aspirated car – and didn’t waste any time swapping out the nosecone and aero package for…

BRUNO GRIMALDI 1971 HQ HOLDEN “I HAD my first car when I was 16, and it all spiralled out of control from there. I now have an HQ coupe and a VK Brock, among others, but my ’71 HQ sedan was for the family and me to enjoy. It was a relatively easy 18-month build that was finished in 2012. The HQ’s heart is a 383 small-block Chev with Edelbrock Performer alloy heads, a Victor Jr intake, and Pacemaker headers flowing into a 2.5-inch twin exhaust. The three-speed Turbo 350 and Strange nine-inch rear end handles the 514hp on pump fuel, plus a quick squirt of NOS. For the suspension I went with Pedders custom springs and shocks and Pro9 adjustable arms. I wanted a solid pro street look for…

LOST THE BEAT A DRUMMER is sick and tired of all those drummer jokes, and thinks it would be good to play another instrument instead. After some thought, he decides he wants to take up the accordion. So he goes to the music store and says to the owner: “I’d like to look at the accordions, please.” “All our accordions are over there,” the owner replies, gesturing to a shelf in the corner. After browsing for a while, the drummer says: “I think I’d like the big red one in the corner.” The store owner looks at him and says: “You’re a drummer, aren’t you?” Taken aback, the drummer asks: “How did you know?” The store owner replies: “That ‘big red accordion’ is the radiator.” R Starr, Liverpool TEAMWORK A…

BRIAN Makin is a Ford lifer. He’s spent nearly 42 years doing his best for the Blue Oval in Australia in a variety of roles, starting with an apprenticeship when he was just 17 years old. But when he finishes with Ford, so too Ford finishes as a manufacturer in Australia. How does he feel about that? “Really bad. Yeah, I uh – I get a bit choked up,” he says, before taking a moment to compose himself. “The thing that concerns me is that, yes, [some] people are transferring to other areas of Ford and they’ll be successful,” he continues. “But obviously other people will leave Ford, and my concern is for their welfare and their opportunities for employment in the district or elsewhere. “I just know the impact…

SOMETIMES the most seemingly fleeting moments can have a lasting impact on our lives, and when it comes to Lenny Casella’s passion for V8s, never has a truer word been spoken. Growing up in a household where Toranas and motor racing were the order of the day, it was inevitable that Lenny would arrive at that destination – though he has taken the scenic path to get there, dabbling in some other cool rides along the way. 01: AS A teenager Lenny showed a major interest in his dad Gino’s white SS Torana hatch. “It was a 308 car in mint condition, but he sold it before I got my licence for my own safety” Lenny laughs. “So I had to settle for a KE20 Corolla sedan, which was followed…

DYNO MIGHT G’DAY, like what appears to be heaps of others, I have been a fan of your mag since the Van Wheels days. It has brought me huge enjoyment over the years and introduced me to events such as Summernats, as well as regular trips to WSID and the old Castlereagh strip. SM has been a distraction from some of the more painful curveballs life can throw and it has made me even prouder to be an Aussie when I see the talent and ability of some of our local car builders. I am obviously not alone in thinking that metal and rubber, put together right, can have a heartbeat. Anyhow, I spotted Eddy Tassone’s name in your September ’16 issue (Rising To The Challenge, p131), which reminded me…

ONE thing that separates the Red CentreNATS from other major street car events is the quarter-mile action at Alice Springs Inland Dragway. Other events may have some form of drag racing, but only at RCN can you hit the dyno, appear in the show ’n’ shine, cruise the streets and then face the Christmas tree for a full quarter-mile pass. Adam Rogash did all of these things in his seven-second NOSHOW Clubsport, and his ear-to-ear grin showed that all the pain and suffering was worth the effort. In the two weeks leading up to the event Adam and his mates didn’t get much sleep. They relocated the turbos in the engine bay, plugged in a new 440ci powerplant with an air-to-air intercooler, repainted the engine bay, and then hit the…

JANE/FIRTH XL FALCON ALMOST from the start, the Aussie Falcon was associated with success at the highest level of tin-top racing, with no less a pairing than Harry Firth and Bob Jane winning the Armstrong 500 (the predecessor of the Bathurst 1000) at Phillip Island in a 170ci XL. XW & XY GTHO THE XY GTHO is to Australian muscle cars what Muhammad Ali is to boxing – newer models may have eventually appeared that were faster and just plain better, but it simply didn’t matter – the reputation they established was so strong that they are and will always be The Greatest. XA GTHO PHASE IV A MAJOR factor in cementing the GTHO’s reputation was the fact that the next in the line – the XA Phase IV –…

THE Harris Family Racing team have salt in their blood, having attended Speed Week for over 15 years. Hailing from Wellington, NZ, the team brought its B/Gas roadster out of its enforced two-year hibernation to contend for honours this year. Son Lincoln (red hat) has been racing the roadster since ’01, spurred on by dad Chris (seated) and the rest of the family and support crew. Chris is a long-time Salt Fever sufferer, and paid a hefty price in ’88 when he flipped his own race car, leaving him permanently wheelchair-bound. The Harris team’s ’32 Ford-based lake racer is powered by a small-block Ford, made up of a World block, Yates NASCAR heads and Link EFI mated to a four-speed Jerico and nine-inch Strange spool diff. It’s good for 860hp…

WHEN IT COMES TO MY FINAL RIDE, I SURE AS HELL WOULD CHOOSE THE RIOTOUS IMPACT OF DEEP BLACK PAINT AND SIX GRUMBLING EXHAUSTS OVER SLEEPY WHITE SERENITY ANY DAY AS WELL as being a sad occasion, a funeral serves as a celebration of someone’s life – so why shouldn’t you get in on the action when it’s your time to go? I mean, why spend a lifetime cruising in style only to drop the ball when you cruise off this mortal coil? When it comes to my final ride, I sure as hell would choose the riotous impact of deep black paint and six grumbling exhausts over sleepy white serenity any day, and what better way to leave this world on a high than with Hot Rod Funerals.…

I SAW SIMON KRYGER’S CAMARO RUN AT NIGHT TIME, AND IT JUST BLEW ME AWAY. THAT WAS THE TURNING POINT; FROM THEN ON I WANTED TO BUILD A BIG NITROUS CAR HEATH Doherty can pinpoint the exact moment in time when he became compelled to build a balls-out, big-block nitrous car. “It all started at Calder Park in 2012 when Simon Kryger first brought his Camaro out,” he says. “I saw it run at night time, and it just blew me away. That was the turning point; from then on I wanted to build a big nitrous car.” Watching Kryger’s Camaro charge down the Calder Park quarter-mile with the candles lit was all the motivation Heath needed. He promptly bought a Torana hatch and an engine to power it,…

01 BRIGHT SPARKS DENSO’S high-performance Iridium Power and long-life Iridium TT (twin-tip) sparkplugs are made using technologies such as laser welding to improve performance and reduce fuel consumption. Iridium is a metal six times harder and eight times stronger than platinum, and these plugs are made with patented iridium alloy, so they have an extremely high melting point, making them able to handle the high heat and pressure levels in the combustion chamber. For more information visit www.densoautoparts.com.au. 02 BOOST YOUR JUICE RISLONE Octane Booster is a cost-effective solution for treating spark knock and pinging in a wide variety of engines, while also increasing power and performance. Octane Booster increases fuel octane by 20 points, which makes it a perfect choice for customers with classic muscle cars, street racers, off-road…

HAVING JUST COMPLETED MY STUDE’S ENGINE REBUILD, IT’S AWESOME TO FEEL MY SKILLSET GAINING AND BEING CONFIDENT I CAN FIX WHATEVER BREAKS WE MET Kristin Cline cruising around the pits at Bonneville Speed Week, having just qualified for an official racing licence after making a 150mph+ run in a friend’s ’55 Studebaker. She’s no stranger to spanners or Studebakers, having made her 1000km trip up to the salt in a Stude she built herself. How did it feel to go over 150mph? It was amazing! People always talk about ‘salt fever’, and I always felt like I had it just from coming out to spectate, but now that I’ve driven it’s a different level. Turning off from my first run I was already thinking: “I have to go faster!” How…