Innehållsförteckning för May 2023 från Street Machine

WITH their clean lines and smooth styling, the ’49-’51 ‘shoebox’ Fords are perfect candidates for modification, so it is a shame we don’t see more of them built into street machines. Normally they’re fitted out with period custom touches, but Brett Hewerdine’s ’49 coupe shows the awesome presence they’re capable of when given the street machine treatment. Resplendent in a custom Hell Bent PPG candy red and sitting low over-20-inch and-22-inch Schott Accelerator billets, this Ford receives a hint of menace from the polished Short & Ugly injector hat poking through the rotund bonnet, hiding a rowdy blown big-block Chev. But what else did you expect from the man who broke the internet with his 1FATHT pro street Monaro (SM, Apr ’19)? “All my cars sit on the ground and…

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GEELONG has long been home to Ford Australia, its ties to the Blue Oval dating back 98 years. The first Model T knock-down kits were assembled in the bay city, and Ford has sponsored the Geelong Cats AFL side since 1925. It makes perfect sense, then, that the biggest Ford show in the southern hemisphere is hosted in Geelong, within spitting distance of the iconic but now-disused engine casting plant. Since its debut in 1991, Geelong All Ford Day has seen a few venue changes thanks to its continued growth. The lush but tricky-to-navigate grounds of Deakin University were replaced by Corio’s Sutcliffe Reserve a few years ago, which proved more than spacious enough but prone to becoming either a dustbowl or a mudpit, depending on the weather gods’ whims.…

@aaron_mcinnes_ AARON McINNES 1955 FORD F100 “HERE is my 1955 F100 panel truck, which I have been building for my house deposit. I’ve just finished building a 351 Windsor for it with some upgrades. I painted the block in the body colour, and every nut and bolt is stainless. The C6 gearbox was built by me, too. I have also converted it to disc brakes and am doing a full wiring tuck so nothing will be seen in the engine bay. I have worked seven days a week to finish this thing for as long as I can remember. It’s a lot to do by yourself with limited hours to spare.” TikTok: _last_x_ ANTHONY ZAMMIT FORD XH PANEL VAN “THIS is my XR6 mock-up 1998 Ford XH panel van. Exterior-wise,…

JARED POWELL VS COMMODORE “I PURCHASED my 1996 VS Commodore in 2016 with the LS1 installed, standard wheels and the bodywork sorted. Then I had to get it engineered for all the mods, including the driveline, suspension, wheels, and interior mods like the sheet-metal firewall behind the rear seat. The LS1 got a top-end rebuild, with the biggest Kelford cam you can run without a piston change, Higgins heads, Pacemaker extractors and a full three-inch system. My daughter Evelyn (then aged eight) helped fit the nitrous Sniper kit. The gearbox is a rebuilt 4L60E, fully manualised with billet internals and topped with a B&M shifter. I also fitted Auto Meter gauges and a full stereo installation with complete boxed boot and speakers, sub capacitor lighting and built-in Holden logo. The…

CLOSE ENCOUNTER TWO blondes are walking along on a beautiful night in Sydney. One looks up at the splendid full moon, pondering. After a few moments, she asks her friend, “Which is closer: the moon or Hobart?” The other blonde responds, “Duh! Can you see Hobart from here?” Bim Bowe, email CALL OF NATURE A NUN urgently needed to go to the toilet, so she went to a local bar. It was very noisy there, but when the visitors saw the nun, dead silence reigned. The nun approached the bartender and asked, “Excuse me, can I please use the toilet?” The bartender replied, “Of course, but I must warn you that in the restroom there is a statue of a naked man whose private parts are covered only by a…

MAY 2023: ALL THE NEWS THAT MATTERS THE peaceful paddocks around Wilby Park Raceway in northern Victoria were brought to life on Saturday 15 April for the fifth instalment of the Retrospeed Wilby Park Sprints. The sprints are open to street and race cars made before 1978 with a period look, the aim being to create a fun, casual event with a cool retro vibe. HAVING NO OTHER CARS ON TRACK MEANS DRIVERS ANXIOUS ABOUT BENDING THEIR PRECIOUS METAL HAVE VERY LITTLE TO WORRY ABOUT Those kipping in the trackside camping area awoke on Saturday morning to the sound of side-exit exhausts delivering raucous, ill-tempered, cold-start race motor notes. Within a few hours, and after a few sighting laps, spectators were able to experience the full vocal range of those…

> LETTER OF THE MONTH BACK TO LIFE HEY Street Machine crew, I started reading SM way back in about 2005, but I’ve got a confession to make: I stopped reading about 10 years later. Thankfully, my wife could see something was missing in my life and signed me up to a subscription last Christmas. I took this photo of my two-year-old son Colin while on a recent road trip (right) and couldn’t help but feel all warm and fuzzy. I’ve also included another photo of Colin with our ’74 Charger (below) for good measure. It’s good to be back. Thomas Parker, email CHEERS, Thomas! It’s great to have you back on board! – Broads YOUTH OF TODAY WOW, I’m absolutely blown away by what some of the young men…

IT WAS A GOOD RUNNER, BUT THEN IT GOT AN OIL LEAK, AND WHAT WAS MEANT TO BE A SIMPLE FIX TURNED INTO A FULL NUT-AND-BOLT DEAL REGARDLESS of which side of the Holden/Ford fence you sit on, it’s pretty bloody hard to argue that the HQ coupe isn’t one of the coolest shapes ever to roll off an Aussie production line. Greg Eslick certainly thinks so, and his beastly slammed, LS3-equipped, badarse-black ’71 HQ Monaro is a properly good example of how to go about taking one to the next level. Greg first got the coupe around 12 years ago, when it was wearing red paint and harbouring an injected five-litre. “It was a good runner, but then it got an oil leak, and what was meant to be…

I’VE always had a soft spot for VJ Valiants. My twin brother, younger sister and I spent many years of our childhood in the back of my dad’s taxi-spec Ranger as we made the six-hour trek from Kalgoorlie to Perth, thankful that the high-back bench seat meant Dad couldn’t reach over and give us a clip over the ear. Dad’s car was Hemi-powered, but unfortunately it was just the 265 six-cylinder version. Mike Roycroft’s VJ, on the other hand, has a proper Hemi bent-eight. And what’s the only thing that makes a Hemi better? A blower, and this car has an absolute doozy. But more on all that later. For now, let’s backtrack a bit, because this VJ’s got a bit more of a story to tell than what parts…

OSSIE FISH is a long-time Falcon nut, even owning a real-deal XY Phase III in a past life. So, when he found a country-spec, two-owner XW Falcon in 2009, it just had to be his. “[The previous owner] used it as a daily driver to and from work,” the Riverwood, NSW bloke says. “A stock three-on-the-tree, six-cylinder car. I threw a V8 in it probably five years ago and drove it for a couple of years just as a standard 351, but never did anything serious to it.” When the time came to take things a step further, Ossie says he first considered a big-block built at mate’s rates. “My son, who’s into cars, said, ‘Dad, have you ever thought about putting a modern motor in it?’ I tossed up…

ADAM Smith didn’t exactly plan to hit the streets in an Escort. That said, the path that led him to this point did begin with another small British corner-carver. “I’ve always been into cars,” Adam says. “I had Minis in England when I was younger, and when I came out here, I really got into four-wheel-drives. I went looking for another Mini, but when I drove one, I found out that I’m a lot bigger than I used to be!” While on the hunt for some classic Aussie muscle to play with instead, Adam was directed to this snazzy little two-door Esky by his brother-in-law, and he fell in love with it on the spot. Unlike many of the machines that grace these pages, the Escort was actually complete, running…

GOT a sweet ride that’s currently in the build? Send photos of it along with some details to: In The Build, Street Machine, Unit 9/3-5 Gilda Court, Mulgrave, Vic 3170, or email inthebuild@wheelsmedia.com.au. Please note: Send us copies of your prints as we are unable to return photos. FAMILY AFFAIR KYLE GRIMA VH CHARGER “I’M BUILDING my uncle’s ’72 vintage E55 Valiant Charger, which was featured in the December ’84-January ’85 issue of Street Machine, running a cranky 340. He passed away in 2002 when I was only four years old, but when I was around eight, I started getting into Valiants and bought my first one at age 10, a CL ute. I started collecting and building Chargers to replicate my uncle’s, but I’d get halfway through a resto and…

BLOWBACK OPTING for the HTV-style blower instead of Harrop’s current FDFI format provided Troy with some challenges. “With the rear drive of the blower, we did an eight-rib belt upgrade, so that meant all-new front drive pulleys,” he says. “We also cut and welded the blower inlet, as the throttlebodies are normally 92mm on these HTV pumps, but this engine now uses a 102mm Granatelli DBW throttle.” THE boom in popularity of stock-bottom-end combos has seen builders heaping large power adders onto regular production engines to make ridiculous stonk. However, many of these combos only hang around for a good time rather than a long time, which then poses the question: when your SBE mill gives up the ghost, do you throw in another stock long motor, or upgrade to…

WE LOVE it when we stumble across old feature cars that are still out there, especially when they’re about to get a new lease on life. Lots of people remember this epic HQ Tonner drag car built by Con and Vic Elfes of C&V Performance, which appeared on the cover of the December 1991 issue of Street Machine, along with its road-going twin! Well, it’s recently been sold after spending years in storage in Perth. The new owner – apparently a mate of Con and Vic’s – intends to resurrect the big ute, and there’s every chance Con could end up back in the driver’s seat! We’ll have a special Time Machine feature on the Tonner soon, but in the meantime, we shared the news of the HQ coming back…

THE third running of Rare Spares Rockynats was the biggest yet, with a record-breaking 1500 entrants and 57,000 spectators flooding into the event’s Rockhampton locale over the Easter long weekend. The massive three-day event spilled right across the city, which played host to pro-level burnouts, legal street drags, elite show cars, a dyno comp, and plenty more horsepower-fuelled fun. Friday saw a rainy start to the action, but that didn’t stop thousands of enthusiasts from joining in the festivities. Things revved up at 1:30pm with the Canna Street Parade, which saw the event’s largest-ever line-up of cars cruise from Rockhampton Showgrounds through the streets of Rocky and right into the heart of the CBD. The crowds lining the streets cheered as they watched the convoy of drag cars, 4x4s, burnout…

SOME might scoff at the idea of inserting a Nissan RB30 into an LC Torana, but let’s be real – it ain’t such a bad idea. The LC platform was designed for an inline six-cylinder engine, so there are little-to-no packaging or weight concerns. And while the charm of a howling triple-carbed Holden six is undeniable, a 202 has its limitations if you’re looking for single-digit ETs. Most Torana tragics will know that Melbourne’s Kris Velkovski has trodden this path before. Kris’s RB-powered CGMFLY LC was featured in the March 2003 issue of Street Machine, and was a very well-known car around the traps in its day. Yours truly even had a picture of it as the desktop wallpaper on his computer at one stage. It ran as quick as…

NICK Samuel’s relatively young age belies his penchant for tough street cars. At only 31, the property developer can lay claim to the kind of rides that many spend their whole lives lusting after. Like many a Sydney lad, Nick’s youth was littered with old Mazdas and VL Commodores, including a particularly tough RB30-powered VL in his early 20s. “It had a big Maatouks-built engine in it and a tough auto, but I was just a young bloke and didn’t know how to drive the reverse-pattern auto!” he laughs. Ultimately, the turbocharged Nissan overpowered Nick’s inexperience behind the wheel, but it left him with unfinished business with one of the General’s most popular platforms. Nick went on a search for another VL and unearthed a real unicorn to serve as…

WE’VE all been there. You find the perfect base for your dream project and drag it home with boundless enthusiasm. But over time, that enthusiasm wanes, and as you grapple with the enormity of the task at hand, the car sits in the corner of the shed, gathering dust. Once that happens, it can be hard to set the wheels in motion again. That was certainly the case for my mate Ben Lenane, who came to own this 1966 Falcon wagon in the early 2000s. The car was fairly solid except for the floors, which were cactus. For Ben and his buddy Chops, the objective was clear: lose the rusty factory floors and install a full chassis. Work progressed slowly, but as time passed, life did its thing and got…

Aged around 21 or younger and have a neat ride? Send some pics and info to: Young Guns, Street Machine, Unit 9/3-5 Gilda Court, Mulgrave, Vic 3170, or email high-resolution images (1mb+) to: younggun@wheelsmedia.com.au. THERE aren’t too many L-platers out there with an 811rwhp, turbo LS-powered VK Calais to their name. What’s even cooler about Zach Gallahar’s example is that he did a tonne of the work himself, starting when he was just nine years old! What’s your family’s background in cars, Zach? Our family has a mechanical workshop, but COVID sort of stuffed it. Now, it’s become a part-time workshop/hobby shed, with a few customers’ cars we’re trying to finish off in between me playing footy, working at McDonald’s, or doing my VCAL course. DAD BOUGHT THE CAR WHEN I…

01 CUT AND RUN THE ability to laser cut your own parts in your home garage used to be a pipe dream, but not anymore. Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse now offers the wicked new ArcDroid CNC robot with its Simple Trace operating system. In a nutshell, all you need to do is trace a template of whatever you want cut with ArcDroid, and the Simple Trace software turns that scan into a functional file that can then be cut by your choice of plasma cutter. The ArcDroid is super compact, so it’ll fit in just about any home garage and makes creating your own parts like exhaust manifold flanges a hell of a lot easier. To find out more, head to machineryhouse.com.au. 02 FEELING THE FLOW PROFLOW has just released…