Innehållsförteckning för August 2021 från Street Machine

THE boys at Castlemaine Rod Shop have just revealed the new engine they’re planning on shoehorning into the front of their ‘Real Deal’ LC Torana: a 5.7-litre Ferrari V12! Real Deal’s previous powerplant, a 1500hp, 565ci supercharged big-block Chevy, has been sold to American YouTuber Cleetus McFarland to use in his TOAST burnout car. “I was looking to change up Real Deal, and Cleetus wanted a new engine for his burnout car, so we worked out a deal and it gave me the reason I needed to do something different with the Torana,” says Castlemaine Rod Shop co-owner Heath Waddington. “We wanted to do something really different from all the LS and Barra stuff out there, and then we started looking at Ferrari engines for sale here in Australia. Now…

BORN during the ‘Ozploitation’ era of Australian cinematic awesomeness, The Man From Hong Kong is unquestionably one of our most underrated action flicks. When Sydney cops Bob Taylor (Ward) and Morrie Grosse (Keays-Byrne) arrest and detain Chinese drug mule Win Chan (Hung), the pair struggle to glean any information to help them identify and take down the crime syndicate’s head honcho. They call on Hong Kong-based police inspector Fang Sing Leng (Yu) to lean on Chan and traverse the language barrier in an attempt to extract some answers. Like a perfect melding of Bruce Lee and James Bond, Fang is suave but has the skills to get the job done – while also packing super-smooth abilities with the ladies. When Chan is killed on his way to court to give…

HELPING out your friends is an integral part of the car enthusiast life, and Billy Shelton’s immaculate VL build started off exactly that way. While his SICKO HQ Monaro (SM, Nov ’07) is going through a bare-metal rebuild, he and a team of mates have turned out this killer firstgen Commodore, packing a 1000rwhp turbo LS and immaculate detailing everywhere you look. Billy and his mate Paul Butler of PB Automotive started off with a 90,000km-old, RB30-powered ’86 Commodore SL that Paul hadn’t got around to rebuilding. The pair then pushed through COVID and a crazy 12-month timeline to debut the eye-bashing sedan at the inaugural Rockynats. It was only meant to be a cheap project to have some pressure-fed fun in – until Billy’s OCD kicked in. OUR PLAN…

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WITH A beautiful setting on the majestic coastline of NSW’s Crowdy Bay National Park, The Rattletrap is one of the coolest hot rod events in Australia. Once a year, the Drag-ens Hot Rod Club commandeer the secluded Crowdy Head Beach to create an immersive timewarp back to the sand sprints of the 1940s and 50s. Period-correct two- and four-wheelers snaking down the beach in heads-up racing is a magical sight for spectators and a dream come true for those taking part. Entrants need a traditionally styled rod or vintage race car from 1941 or prior with a maximum rim width of six inches, or a pre-1960s motorcycle (or equivalent reproduction). THE DRAG-ENS HOT ROD CLUB COMMANDEER THE SECLUDED CROWDY HEAD BEACH TO CREATE AN IMMERSIVE TIMEWARP BACK TO THE SAND…

PAUL Vella can thank his family for his car addiction. “My brother Lorry has a ’57 Chev, my dad’s got a Customline and my other brother Charles has got a Mustang, so it’s in the blood,” Paul explains. “Their cars were pretty much finished, so I thought, let’s do another one.” A first-year apprentice mechanic at the time, Paul quickly discovered that the cost of such a project can escalate rather swiftly – particularly if you’re talking tri-five Chevys. “As soon as you mention ’57 Chevs, the price of everything goes up a grand. I asked a guy at a car show which Chev he’d recommend I get, and he told me to get another job!” Paul laughs. With that in mind, when he discovered this ’57 as a bare…

FOR Daniel Ward, it’s all about going as fast as possible for the least amount of money. That’s why he dumped a twinturbo LS into his VG Valiant, pissing off a whole bunch of Mopar enthusiasts in the process. “It had a 360 small-block and a 727 in it when I got it, but there was no way I was going to get the same results I did with the LS with any kind of Mopar engine,” Daniel asserts. “Plus, it is fun to see the Mopar boys cry a bit!” The proof is in the pudding: the Val has a PB of 8.74@153mph to its name, thanks to around 1200rwhp worth of shove. We say “around” 1200, because the most impressive part about this car is that Daniel built…

CHELLE FORD LX TORANA “THIS is my LX SS Torana hatchback. It was purchased as a roller back in 2014. It’s a factory 253/four-speed SS, but following a four-year build by my husband Jay, with some assistance from myself, it now features a mild 308 with VN heads putting out 350hp at the wheels. The power runs via a tricked-up Trimatic to a nine-inch diff with 3.5:1 gears. The paint is Tuxedo Black, and the wheels are Convo Pros. I drive the SS most weekends, whether it be on cruises with mates, pub runs or to local car shows.” Photos: Pics by Chaddo KEN GILCHRIST HQ MONARO “MY 1971 Monaro is a Dandenong-built car that we purchased about three years ago. Since then, other than paint, the car has been…

THE Victorian Government is considering introducing new rules that would affect the state’s Club Permit Scheme. The Government recently released its Regulatory Impact Statement, Road Safety (Vehicles) Regulations 2021, which has recommended a number of amendments. The biggest proposed change would be to vehicle eligibility criteria, increasing from 25 to 30 years. Currently, vehicles 25 years or older from their build date are eligible for the Club Permit Scheme (CPS) in Victoria. The impact statement says the reason for the proposed change is because “Victoria seeks to align with other states and territories in relation to the age of vehicles and the CPS”. Other states such as NSW, Queensland and Tasmania that have similar schemes already operate under a minimum 30-years-or-older build date for vehicles to be eligible. Safety was…

LETTER OF THE MONTH FREE EXPRESSION HI ALL, was just scratching around at home with my airbrush and felt pens and finished off my Camarodore concept. The idea is to take a 2017 VF SS-V Redline Sportwagon and custom-fit a 2015 SS Camaro front end, seal up the two rear doors and remove the front guard vents to create a ‘Nomad’ wagon. I did this in one of the previous Expression Sessions where I created the Nomagna – I’m not sure what issue it came out in; it was a while ago. This build will run a twin-turbo, 7.0L LS7 motor; tricked-out SS Camaro drivetrain; nine-inch diff; full custom chassis; firewall mods to make room for everything; and a custom sheet-metal engine bay. Underneath will be Air Ride suspension, Brembo…

BUILDING a dream car often means diving headfirst into the unknown. Even the best-laid plans can be thrust into peril by any number of complications, be they mechanical, financial or personal. When the challenges start to pile up, many just roll their project into a corner and throw their hands up in defeat, but Matt Kennedy persisted. His reward? This gorgeous XT Fairmont with a tough aspirated powerplant to match. Having spent his younger years hooning around in XWs and XYs, the now 45-year-old admits he has something of a soft spot for second-generation Falcons. “I paid $15,000 for the XT in 2011 from a bloke in Dromana,” recounts the self-employed powdercoater. “It was a complete car with a little 302 Windsor and C4; you could just turn the key…

I WANTED A SHORT-STROKE MOTOR THAT WOULD REV. I DID SOME RESEARCH AND INCORPORATED NASCAR AND SPRINTCAR ENGINEERING TIPS SOMEWHERE, a bunch of purists are sharpening their pencils to write sternly worded letters to Ryan Pearson. But they can jog on, because Ryan took an abandoned HT Premier and built it into a super-neat, 1300hp blown burnout rig, which is heaps better than the old Holden languishing under dirt. “I came across the car on a job I was doing, just collecting dust in a shed,” the Sydney-based air-conditioning mechanic says. “It was a little 253 and totally stock, but it came with the original purchase order and logbooks from Holden. The car was in really good condition and the interior was mint.” Ryan initially intended to build the HT…

THE EH HAD A RUST HOLE IN THE REAR FLOORPAN THAT JASON’S MATES WOULD THROW EMPTY ICED COFFEE CARTONS THROUGH ADELAIDE’s Lonsdale Autoshop has been pumping out killer builds for a few years now. Jason Riding is the main man on the spanners, and in recent years, he’s repowered Mick Cox’s AP6 Safari with late-model Hemi goodness and installed a Coyote V8 in Alan Robson’s Boxwood Green F100, along with all the chassis work required. He’s HiLux-diffed an 808 coupe, six-speed Tremec-ed several Toranas and even rebuilt the suspension on my 1973 Isuzu Bellett GT-R. But one thing he hasn’t done is finish off his stonking EH Holden Special. Until now. To say it’s been a long time coming is an understatement; Jason has had the car for 30 years.…

YOU may find this a little hard to believe, but this very slick XM coupe is Laurie Seguna’s idea of taking it easy! Laurie’s name might be familiar from his twin-turbo Gemini, ‘Mr Sik’, which became one of Australia’s top show cars. It picked up a host of big awards, including Meguiar’s Superstars Best of Breed Street Machine at MotorEx 2008. But when it came time to build this XM Falcon, Laurie had more modest intentions. “After going crazy on Mr Sik, I had to convince my wife Karen I’d be able to restrain myself, not go overboard,” he laughs. “This time ’round I really wanted something I could take the whole family out in.” ASIDE FROM THE BILLET WHEELS, I REALLY WANTED TO KEEP THE CAR CLOSE TO ORIGINAL…

WHEN it comes to preparing for Street Machine Drag Challenge, most punters concentrate on the task of getting their car down the standing 1320 in a rapid fashion without driving over their crank or rods. However, there is one aspect of DC events that catches out many newbies: maintenance and prep! Working out what tools and spares to take with you should be a huge part of your pre-event preparation, along with properly kitting your car out for five road trips in a row and deciding which of your friends to take (and how many you cram in if you’ve got a small car like a Torana or Capri). Do you bring a trailer, or build a larger car that might chew more consumables? To answer some of these questions,…

1957 CHEVROLET WAGON STEVE MCCUMBER “YOU may remember this car from when it got a brief mention in your mag a while ago. After a battle with a medical issue I’ve been having, I’m happy to say the build on the Chev is almost done at last. It’ll have a blown 434ci small-block Chev topped with a 14/71 blower. The trans will be a twospeed TH400 Pro Outlaw ’box, with a carbon front clip and composite doors. It’ll be finished in 2K paint.” MODEL A CHASSIS & SOHC CAMMER ENGINE TONY WEBSTER “HERE are some pics of my original Model A chassis and genuine Ford 427 single-overhead-cam engine. The Model A chassis has been boxed and drilled/tubed with about 100 holes, along with another few hundred holes in the bracketry.…

GAG OF THE MONTH MONKEY BUSINESS A GORILLA dies of old age at a zoo, right before the zoo opens for the day. It was the only gorilla there and was the zoo’s most popular attraction by far. So the zoo owner offers one of his workers an extra $50 a day if he’ll wear a gorilla suit and go in the cage, pretending to be the gorilla until the zoo can afford a new one. Quickly, the new ‘gorilla’ becomes the latest craze at the zoo, with people from all over coming to see it. But about a month in, the craze has started to wear off, so to get people’s attention back, the zoo worker decides to climb over his enclosure and hang from the net ceiling above…

THE Mark Parsons action keeps coming thick and fast! For part four in this epic series, we join Mark for a walk through the 1990s, where he dabbled with everything from show winners and tough strip runners through to hot rods and everyday drivers. Mark was never short of a car or three, and managed to juggle ever-increasing family and business commitments while fulfilling his need for speed. 01: MARK’S wife Sonja loved her Commodores and progressed from a VB SL/E and VK sedan in the 1980s to this Atlas Grey VN SS in 1990. “It was an October 1989 model – hence the SS1089 number plates – and was brought to our detailing business for a freshen-up from one of the car yards we serviced,” Mark says. “I fell…

SUPER MODEL? IN JUNE, we covered Jay Leno’s alleged 9.2-second quarter-mile run in a new Tesla Model S Plaid. Speaking on the Spike’s Car Radio podcast, Leno said the time was officiated by NHRA personnel to make it the quickest ever recorded in a Model S. You took to Facebook with your views on EVs heading down the strip. Tristan Edmonds – Still don’t want one. Jeremy Reincke – Who cares about quarter-mile times – it’s electric. Geoff Brehaut – Because you don’t buy an EV to run canyons or drift. Quarter-mile is the only performance marker they have! They are horrible to drive. Heavy, computerised AWD cubicles. Cam Wem – Only costs you $120K LOL! Brendon Brazier – Most nine-second cars these days cost about that. You can build…

THE 53rd Winternationals lived up to its rep as the biggest and most prestigious event on the domestic drag racing calendar. Near-capacity crowds flocked to Willowbank Raceway over the four days of the meeting and were treated to some of the finest and closest racing at the track in decades. It was the first 400 Thunder meeting at the venue since January 2020, and also served as the final round of the 2019/21 400 Thunder season, which began at Sydney Dragway way back in November 2019. For many competitors, it was their first significant hit-out since the COVID-19 outbreak, so it came as no surprise to see many hot-foot racers cutting red lights and collecting centre cones over the first two days. But near-perfect air, idyllic weather and superb track…

I ALWAYS WANTED TO PUT A HEMI IN IT – IT’S THE REAL REASON I BOUGHT THE CAR JON Mitchell was there from the beginning. He was lucky enough to ride shotgun in one of the 18 cars that contested Street Machine’s very first Drag Challenge in 2014. “I went with Steve Reimann in his Dodge Dart, and I’ve done every Drag Challenge since,” he says. That first DC experience caught Jon hook, line and sinker. At the time, this 1970 Dodge Challenger was at home in his garage, still mid-build. “It really inspired me to finish the car and get it ready for the following year,” he says. True to his word, Jon and his bad-arse Challenger were front and centre for Day One of Drag Challenge 2015. Under…

THE SHOW ROLLED TOGETHER AN AWESOME MIX OF METAL, INCLUDING STREET RODS, MUSCLE AND SHOW CARS, PRO TOURERS AND DRAG WEAPONRY INDOOR car shows took a serious knock last year, but if the 2021 Sydney Hot Rod & Custom Auto Expo is any indication, things are looking up. Held over the weekend of 29 and 30 May at Sydney’s Rosehill Racecourse, the show rolled together an awesome mix of metal, including street rods, muscle and show cars, pro tourers, drag weaponry and so much more. After being a smash hit on its debut at the 2019 show, the Nostalgia Lane section once again brought out a stack of traditional hot rods, dragsters, customs and lowriders, introducing Sydneysiders to corners of the car scene not often seen in the Harbour City.…

COMPUTER renderings can make our wildest automotive dreams take shape as highly detailed 3D models, and Aidan Donald is right at the cutting edge of this digital wizardry. The super-talented 21-year-old has already designed a bunch of killer streeters for the top-shelf likes of Moits Motorcars, Pat’s Pro Restos, ProFlo Performance and more. He’s also the current Laurie Starling Scholarship winner and the man on the digital crayons for the much-anticipated return of Expression Session in the next issue of Street Machine. We sat down with the proprietor of Aidan’s Design & Illustration to find out how he became one of Australia’s most exciting young designers. How did you get into drawing cars for a job? I was doing hand-drawn, photorealistic models of Elitelevel cars through Year 11 and 12.…

LEAH Bartolo wasn’t from a car-mad family; her strong passion for rumbling chrome-bumper rides didn’t develop until she was a teenager. Over the following years, she kept her desires at bay until she finally took the plunge and invested her hard-earned into what she had always wanted: a tidy, V8-motivated 1966 VC Valiant. What got you into cars? As a teenager, my friends had Valiants, Monaros, Ford coupes and the like. I always loved V8-powered VC Valiants, but they were out of my price range. When I met my husband Paul in 1992, he had a Drifter panel van (which he still owns) and worked on old cars. That made me want a VC even more! Was it tricky to find what you were after? I had been looking at…

01 HEAD START ALL donks need to breathe freely to give their best, and they can’t do so without good heads. Aeroflow is now producing a series of heads hewn from A356-T6 aluminium, with runners and chambers designed to maximise flow. CNC-ported heads are available for small-block Chevy V8s, as well as several LS donks with four- or sixbolt block designs. You’ve got the option of purchasing bare heads or complete assemblies that include valves, valve springs, retainers and locks, guide plates and 7/16in rocker studs. You’ll find more details at aeroflowperformance.com. 02 GET ’SMART BORN and bred in Australia, Turbosmart has been leading the charge on turbo tech for the better part of 25 years. The company’s innovative eWG electronic wastegate range was launched in 2019, claiming a SEMA…