Innehållsförteckning för February 2022 från Street Machine

EACH year at our Street Machine of the Year VIP party in Canberra during Summernats, we get the pleasure of presenting the Laurie Starling Scholarship award to a young and talented up-and-comer in the industry. This year’s winner is 19-year-old Corey Scragg from Deluxe Rod Shop, who joins a prestigious list of Australia’s brightest young automotive designers and fabricators to have been recognised with the award. The Laurie Starling Scholarship for Innovation and Excellence in Automotive Fabrication was established in 2015 by Laurie’s parents Rob and Julia, after the incredibly talented fabricator passed away at the age of 29. It awards $4000 to a person studying an accredited course in automotive design or fabrication, and for 2022 it also scored backing from the legends at Milwaukee Tools, who threw in…

WITH only a matter of days before his retirement becomes official, Seattle police detective Burt Simpson (Coleman) has every intention of finishing his ‘short time’ as quietly and injury-free as possible. But when a routine blood test for his life insurance policy gets sneakily switched for that of drug-positive bus driver Spivak (Jackson), Burt is mistakenly told he has only a few weeks to live. He soon learns that his insurance payout will increase tenfold if he gets killed on the job. He springs into action, responding to every dangerous call-out in the hope of getting shot and better feathering the financial nest for his ex-wife Carolyn (Garr) and young son Dougie (Eriksen). Burt tricks his best friend and work partner, Ernie (Frewer), out of harm’s way so that Burt…

DARYL O’Sullivan didn’t mean to create an Elitelevel car when he began the build on his HK ute – it just happened that way. “It was built to be driven, but these things can get out of control,” says Daryl of the handmade, all-steel, airbagged pro tourer known as ABADHK. “It was just meant to have the rust fixed, be painted and have an LS swapped in. But as we did things, it just led to the snowball effect and everything was elevated.” We last saw Daryl’s HK ute (which he bought as his first car at the age of just 15), in the November 2018 issue of SM, where it was resplendent in raw metal. This allowed us to see many of the amazing yet subtle modifications done to…

JASON Mansweto bagged the Street Machine Summernats 34 Grand Champion title in what was a hard-fought contest indeed. Only one point separated Jason’s XW Falcon (SM, Jan ’22) from the two runners-up, Jason McGrath’s LC Torana and Peter Beauchamp’s FB Holden. The Grand Champion title is the pinnacle award at Street Machine Summernats. In order to win, a car must score highly in the show judging, score well in the People’s Choice vote and kick arse in the driving events. And the field contending for the award this year was a tough one. Aside from the top three finalists, we had Judith Menso’s Top 10 Elite-placing LX hatchback, Simon Pickrell’s XW Falcon, Dean Rickard’s HT Monaro, Jason Sandner’s evergreen LX sedan, Geoff Seiter’s XY, Arthur Mitsoulis’s Valiant hardtop, Adam Kruger’s…

THE first-ever Street Machine Summernats Fringe Festival rocked Braddon on the Friday and Saturday nights of the ’Nats, with hundreds of Australia’s toughest street cars coming out to play in a chilled-out environment. Lonsdale Street and the surrounding block was closed to public traffic, creating a precinct filled with restaurants, food trucks, pubs and bars, plus DJs and live music well into the night. Pedestrian entry was free, allowing onlookers of all ages to enjoy the quality metal up close. Summernats co-owner Andy Lopez said the Fringe Festival was created to harness Braddon’s existing nightlife energy in a safe and controlled way. “Braddon’s had a long relationship with Summernats; cars have gone down there for years and years to cruise around,” he said. “Over the past few years it was…

THE atmosphere was explosive at the burnout pad on the final day of Street Machine Summernats 34, as 20 of the country’s top burnout cars and drivers vied for the 2022 Burnout Masters title and a massive $25,000 first prize. A variety of tyre-melting naturally aspirated and blown machines made up the list of finalists, which had doubled in number from previous years. The five best cars from Thursday’s Wildcard Shootout had competed in the Saturday elimination round in a bid to join Sunday’s Masters finalists, but only Tim Brown in the CEMBLO VK Commodore made it through. It was full ‘send it’ mode from the moment the finals started at 4pm. Brad Kilby collected the wall in HAMMERTIME as he swung around in the exit chute, but his wife…

THE late 60s and early 70s gave us the golden era of American muscle cars. They were proportioned so deliciously right, and none more so than E-body Mopars like the ’71 Plymouth Barracuda. Fronted by a brawny, shark-like mouth, its tight style lines flow through to wonderfully curvaceous hips, topped by a perfectly structured roofline. It’s these features – coupled with the rarity of ’71 Barracudas – that drew Matt Mitchell and partner Katie Bourke into a hunt for an example to call their own. “We always wanted to do a restomod, creating a reliable car for us both to use,” Matt says. “For me, it’s more than just a car with hand controls. As a tetraplegic, I need to consider the seat height and positioning, and access to other…

AS DARREN Young surveys his uberslick 1965 HD Premier, a smile creeps across his face. “To have built almost every part of this car myself has been very rewarding,” he says. “I’m pretty chuffed with how it has turned out.” The fact that it’s gracing these pages proves we agree. And while Darren’s skills as a qualified panel beater and spray painter are apparent throughout, it’s the memories made and experience gained during his Holden’s long transformation that matter most to him. Darren’s adventures with the HD began 18 years ago, when he chanced upon it for sale for next to nix: “I jumped on it – it was a massive $2400,” he laughs. “The car was painted gold, so I gave it a quick change of colour over the…

TONS of Toranas rolled into Albury-Wodonga over an early-November weekend for the first ever Torana Muscle on the Murray event. Based out of the Quality Resort Siesta in Albury on the New South Wales side of the Murray River, the one-make event attracted many fine and rare Torries from across NSW and Victoria. The weekend’s itinerary included Saturday’s scenic cruise out to Bethanga and Lake Hume in Victoria, with lunch back across the border at the Kinross Woolshed, and Sunday’s show ’n’ shine at the Siesta. Torana Muscle on the Murray was organised by the Expatriates Auto Club from Griffith, with a joint organising committee comprising members of the Melbourne-based Aussie Torana Legends Social Cruisers. Plans are already afoot to make it an annual event, with Steve and Sharon Brown…

MOST people don’t get to hang on to their first car. Fewer still manage to transform it into a trophy-hauler beyond their teenage dreams. Dave Barnard is one of those few to have done exactly that with his Monaro, but this build is far more than a new set of rings and a quick blow-over in the factory colour. No, my friend, this HQ is all about the details. His uncle is the one who first kindled Dave’s fire for Munros. “My uncle had a purple HQ GTS,” he says. “One day he dropped me off at school in it, and that’s when I started really liking Monaros.” When Dave was a second-year apprentice, he managed to scrape together enough folding stuff to purchase a Monaro of his own –…

SHOVING a Ford motor into a Holden never fails to get the purists all riled up. But for Jake Cartledge, who threw a turbo Barra into his VK Commodore wagon for some extra grunt without breaking the bank, the results are undeniable. Twenty-one-year-old Jake first got his mitts on the VK when he was 17, and even back then it wasn’t running a lazy Holden donk. “The car was built by JPC around 10-15 years ago and had a turbo RB30 in it on LPG,” he says. “We had a play around with it for a little bit, but it just wasn’t good enough for what we wanted.” It wasn’t long before Jake and his family started tossing up what a Barra would look like instead. “I did consider an…

IT’S not uncommon for a project car to hold a special place in the hearts of those willing to take on a serious build, but it’s especially true of John and Glenda McCue’s HZ Holden Sandman. The van was owned by their son, Luke, who died in a car crash in December 2020 aged just 18. Luke had been Year 12 captain at Trinity College in Goulburn and had just begun an apprenticeship in auto electrics only a week before the accident. He was also a talented rugby player and had been named the Crookwell Young Citizen of the Year at the Upper Lachlan Shire Australia Day Awards in 2020. WHEN GREG DROPPED THE VAN OFF, HE TOLD US WE SHOULD GET OUT THERE AND DRIVE IT, SO THAT’S WHAT…

> LETTER OF THE MONTH NATS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT HEY SM, I just got back from Summernats 34, and in my opinion it was one of the best ever. You could just tell everybody was stoked to be there after being cooped up for so long. The quality of cars was fantastic, too. I spent heaps of time in the Elite Hall, especially gawking at Jason Mansweto’s ridiculous XW. It was awesome to see a tough, iconic street car win Grand Champion, then bash out a pretty impressive skid. I don’t really want to mention the dreaded C-word, but the mask situation was heaps better than I expected. Most people seemed pretty responsible and there was heaps of sanitiser around. It was a massively needed event, and I’m so…

THE ups and downs of project-car life can test our patience, resolve and mental fortitude at the best of times, but Pas Daskalakis wanted his ’74 XB Falcon coupe to be insane right from the word go – hence the number plates it now wears! This hand-built, 700hp streeter represents a nine-year long pursuit of what Pas sees as the ultimate hardtop. “When you make a decision to build a custom car and change almost everything, there will be challenges, and you quickly become a problem solver,” Pas says. “We have fitted, removed and refitted panels, the running gear and the interior trim over a dozen times to get this car right. But if you surround yourself with a great team of experts, then the challenges become easy and you…

DESPITE a few COVID-induced changes to the line-up, Street Machine Summernats 34 saw a roster of 17 stunning cars revealed to the public as part of the Great Meguiar’s Uncover. The original plan would have seen 23 of ’em! Having a year without Summernats in 2021 no doubt helped bump up the numbers, with a few of the unveiled cars enjoying their long-awaited debuts having been finished off many months ago. The spicy cough not only impacted the number of unveilings, but the judging team as well. “I lost five judges in five hours, so we had to scramble to rebuild the team,” said chief steward Owen Webb. “Drago Ostric headed it up. Trudy Camilleri [winner of the Snap-On Apprentice of the Year gong back in the day, amongst many…

FOR the second time in recent years, a Barra-powered car has taken home the top prize in the Summernats dyno competition. Henry Winter’s 2009 FG XR6 Turbo Falcon claimed both the Boosted Six-Cylinder and Overall win in the 2022 Haltech Horsepower Heroes comp. The FG pushed out a best of 1257rwhp on 34psi in the MPW Dyno Cell in Sunday’s final to secure the silverware. The win came as a surprise to Canberra-based Henry, who was just hoping to put on a show for the crowd with his stonking Falcon. “I really didn’t expect to win, but I’m so over the moon that we did,” he said. The FG was built and tuned by ESP Racing in Queanbeyan. The Barra retains the original stroke and crank but uses a grout-filled…

FEW of us forget the moment we fell in love with cars. For Justin Schmidt, it came while doing work experience, helping a builder on the roof of a local McDonald’s store. “I saw a VL skating up the street in the wet, and that prompted me to start researching,” Justin recalls. “I found internet forums dedicated to VL Turbos, and the rest was history.” Justin bought his first VL when he was just 16 years old. “It had some rust and a damaged quarter panel,” he says. “My uncle had tough cars in the past, so he showed me how to repair the paint on my VL. That taught me that you can just do things yourself.” I KNEW WITH A TURBO I’D WANT MORE POWER THAN A STOCK…

IT ONLY took Peter Tsekenis two years to go from making his drag racing debut to commissioning a 1000-plus horsepower small-block that pushed his street-going XY into the eights. Bill Kaglatzis from BK Race Engines is the brains behind the brawn in the bay of this fast Falcon. “It’s not every day a customer walks through the door and says, ‘I want to run an eight with an NA small-block; what do I have to do?’, but that’s exactly what Peter did,” he says. Naturally, Bill was happy to accept the challenge, even after Peter ratcheted the difficulty level up to 11 by insisting he didn’t want a dedicated race car – it had to stay streetable. Peter had acquired the Raw Orange XY in 2015 and was initially happy…

ONE of the very many hot-car events that fell victim to COVID restrictions this year was the Showcars Melbourne Father’s Day Car & Bike Show. Nevertheless, promoter Elvis Barbieri was able to secure an alternative date and the show went off without a hitch in the Melbourne beachside suburb of St Kilda. The iconic Acland Street shopping strip was shut to traffic and trams for the day, with hundreds of hot streeters filling the streets, car parks and grassed areas in the shade of Luna Park. With live bands, DJs, kids’ activities and the general public thrown into the mix, the atmosphere was next level! WITH LIVE BANDS, DJs, KIDS’ ACTIVITIES AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC THROWN INTO THE MIX, THE ATMOSPHERE WAS NEXT LEVEL!…

THE early 90s saw the Australian show car scene evolve dramatically. The top trophy winners went from being essentially restored cars with nice paint, lashings of chrome and maybe a retrimmed interior to full-blown show cars. This new direction saw huge hours invested into smoothing out all those mass-production blemishes while adding a ton of refinement and detail. Carmine Carofano’s ultra-slick 1973 HQ Statesman, INFINITY (SM, Jul-Aug ’93), was one of the leaders of this new school of super-detailed, super-smooth rotisserie builds, a style that still proliferates today. There’s not a burr, spot weld or daggy edge to be found. The Stato started life as a factory 350 Chev model. The original engine was replaced by a far healthier 350 thanks to the work of John Sawka. It was also…

MAMBO SANDMAN REPLICA STEVE VELICKOVIC VU SANDMAN TRIBUTE “I’M IN the final stages of building this replica of the Holden Mambo Sandman. The original concept car was built by Holden 20 years ago, and my paint and artwork was done by John Evans, who also did the car for Holden back then. It’s running a stroked LS1 out to 383 cubes, topped with a Harrop TVS2300 supercharger. The transmission is a TH400, and we’ve appropriately (being a Sandman) customised the inside with a leather interior and a new fit-out in the rear.” BLOWN IMPALA DAVID VEA 1965 CHEVY IMPALA “I’M FROM Hamilton, New Zealand, and this is my Chevy Impala that’s currently under construction. The engine is a 532ci Dart big-block Chev, topped with a 16/71 Littlefield blower and a…

NOEL ST JOHN WOOD FORD MODEL T “I RECENTLY completed my 1926 Ford Model T hot rod. Its patinaclad tudor body has managed to survive rust-free for almost a century and has never been repainted. Authenticity is a big thing for me; to see stuff that old still with its original coatings is really something. I got hold of original Model T chassis dimensions and body mounts to help bespoke-build my own steel ladder frame. For power I’ve used a worked 289 Ford Windsor V8 due to its compact size, and fitted a 351 Windsor Stage 1 camshaft to change the firing order and improve performance and response. The mill is topped with Edelbrock alloy heads and manifold, Holley Super Sniper EFI and an electric water pump. A lighter harmonic…

AS WE wrap up our deep dive into the car world of Garry Johnstone, we get a clearer picture of his ultimate dream car garage. A Holden HQ-WB and Commodore-loving man to the core, Garry keeps returning to these roots, and what he currently has will likely see him clear for the immediate future, at least as far as cars are concerned. Barbecues are another matter, though! 01: GARRY spied this gorgeous HR van in 2018 while hunting a different project. “I’m more of an HQ-WB van guy, so the HR was really left of field for me,” he says. “The guy that owned it was selling an HJ van, which I made a deal to buy – a genuine XX7 [Acacia Ridge-built] windowless Sandman with an LS1 and auto…

THE long-awaited Gen3 Supercars were unveiled at the Bathurst 1000 at the start of December, showcasing the future of the sport with the ZL1 Camaro and redesigned Mustang GT that will be used in the series from 2023. The cars are designed to be as close to their road-going counterparts as possible, using modified versions of their original donks (5.7-litre LT for the Camaro; 5.2-litre Coyote for the ’Stang) and body panels matching their civilian counterparts. We shared the freshly debuted racers with you on our Facebook page; here’s what you had to say. Christie Phillips – Looks cool; two iconic cars. Sandy Ross – Bring on the Dodge Challenger – Mopar or no car! Steve Quasi Hoppitt – It might be worthwhile watching the series again. Anthony Douvlos –…

BURNOUT Masters aside, the Summernats Burnout Championship represents the pinnacle of the sport in Australia. Each year, many return in a personal quest to snag a trophy. For others, just being able to skid on the hallowed ’Nats pad in front of mates and family is their Everest. Either way, the journey to a Summernats burnout trophy is measured in years, if not decades. Watching the hundreds of competitors on Friday and Saturday giving their best to qualify for a spot in the finals, I couldn’t help reflecting how the humble burnout has transformed so much over the years. It was once a gentlemanly high-horse-power run around the pad – only requisite good revs, plenty of smoke and blowing your tyres. But then along came Brasher, followed by Lynchy, and…

SINCE the dawn of Street Machine Summernats in 1988, maniacs have been turning up to the event with ‘Summernats specials’ – wild, usually unroadworthy creations designed with one intent in mind: extracting maximum fun. The pick of this year’s crop in our estimation was Phil Read’s windowless EH panel van, for which he originally paid just $500. “I got it from a guy in Thirlmere who’d bought it sight-unseen out of Melbourne,” Phil explained. “He’d gone down and picked it up, which is when he realised it was too much for him. My mum’s friend put me onto it, and even though I have another EH van I’m building and wasn’t looking for another project, I wound up buying it.” As the owner of Creative Signworx and with a penchant…

FOR the first time in its 27-year history, the institution that is Street Machine Supernats made its way to Winton Raceway on the first Saturday of December for a day of glorious, tyre-smashing action. Track cruising, superskids, roll racing and competitive burnouts all shared the stage, filling out a huge 12-hour roster. There was also a show ’n’ shine held in the car park, which formed part of a two-pronged ‘show-and-go’ competition. If you’re unfamiliar with Supernats, it’s the brainchild of custom painter, drag racer, burnout competitor and promoter Ahmet Kadri Sehirligil. He founded the show at Oran Park back in 1994, before shifting to Eastern Creek as attendance exploded in the late 90s. A huge 750 cars and 27,000 spectators fronted up in 2002 at Eastern Creek, eclipsing even…

STREET MACHINE YEARBOOK BARBECUE WE PUT SOME SNAGS ON THE BARBIE IN BACCHUS MARSH TO LAUNCH OUR 2021 YEARBOOK IN STYLE WE HERE at Street Machine aren’t big on blowing our own trumpets, but I have to say, we were pretty stoked with our 2021 Yearbook issue. Not only did it come with our cracking 13-month 2022 calendar, but the front cover was a ball-tearer, starring Shaun Scerri’s MENT1L HQ in an orange-on-orange punch to the face. Now, Shaun lives in Bacchus Marsh, a rad little town only 45 minutes out of Melbourne that is heaving with tough street machines, customs and hot rods. So it dawned on us that we should jet to Bacchus and hold a launch barbecue! Shaun was up for it – after all, the HQ…

WITH NO OILDOWNS OR MAJOR DELAYS, THE RACING ACTION STAYED AT A HIGH LEVEL ALL AFTERNOON SOME of the country’s toughest Ford-powered brutes descended on Heathcote Park Raceway in regional Victoria for 2021’s edition of the Ford-Powered Nationals. Event organiser Todd Foley (the mastermind behind the smash-hit Holden-Powered Nationals) refused to throw in the towel on the 2021 event, even with all the COVID-induced delays. “It’s the third time we’ve had to reschedule it this year, but I really wanted to squeeze it in before the end of the year and give Victorians a racing event they’ve all been craving,” he said. Friday provided a test day before Saturday’s racing, with challenging track conditions causing some headaches for the heavy-hitting turbo cars. After a few scary moments, the track eventually…

WE ALL dream of a cool daily driver that is reliable, practical and fast, but building something to tick all those boxes ain’t easy. Street Machine scribe and noted deep thinker Iain ‘Marv’ Kelly has a radical solution with his vision for a pro-touring daily: this audacious bumpside F100. To make it easier to incorporate modern smarts in an old shell, Iain’s idea is to merge two of FoMoCo’s most divergent models. “I’d start with a 1967-72 bumpside F100 and a smashed Mustang GT S550, fit the independent front and rear suspension cradles from the Mustang, and then box the remaining chassis in,” says Marv. “The 5.0-litre Coyote and six-speed manual would get the nod, as would a Truetrac in the diff. Plus I’d add coil-over suspension, fat sway-bars, big…

HAVING been immersed in old-school Holdens since she was a toddler, Brodie Francis has a pronounced fondness for Lion-badged rides – preferably with a rumbling V8 up front. In fact, her enthusiasm runs so deep that she decided to punch out her ’77 LX Torara build only months before her wedding. Brodie then drove herself to the ceremony in scorching February heat. We caught up with her to find out more. How’d you catch the revhead bug? My much older brother had an HQ Monaro, so as a young kid I’d hear him driving down the street towards home and the windows would rattle – it was so awesome. Since then, I’ve always loved old-school Holdens. My daily is a CV8 Monaro, which I bought when I was 21 years…

> GAG OF THE MONTH INTERIOR DECORATION TWO nuns have been tasked with painting a bedroom in the nunnery. They are concerned about getting paint all over their habits, so they lock themselves inside the room, strip down to their underwear and begin painting like that. All is going well until there is a knock at the door. “Who is it?” one of the nuns calls out. “Blind man,” comes the reply. The scantily clad nuns decide there is no harm in letting him in if he can’t see them, so they unlock the door and open it. The man enters and says, “Hey, nice boobs! Anyway, where do you want the blinds installed?” Oliver Klozoff, email MISSION FROM GOD GOD said, “Adam, I want you to do something for…