LTonight we bring you a ton of new metal. Street Machine Summernats 35 Elite Hall, but that was just the beginning.
With a whopping 24 cars unveiled during Meguiar’s grand reveal, there really is something for everyone, from ballistic Toranas and stoning Falcons to some weird and lovely oddities.
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Dave Stratton
CHEVY C10
Dave Stratton’s ’76 square-body C10 has been seven years in the making. What started out as a Stocko 454-powered farm truck has been modified, with the body now extended to rockers. It has air ride suspension and Rally Intro wheels, which reach 24×16 in the rear under the upper bed floor. Inside is an all-new and highly customized interior with a change to the right hook. Inspiration comes from the powerhouse engines that are built from a 540 cuber, kept old school with a carby and nitrous kit and punched by a turbo 400 and 9in diff.
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Alice Dixon
Suzuki Mighty Boy
Canberra native Alice ‘Spike’ Dixon built his little Mighty Boy in just eight months to unveil it on the SN35, with the Kawasaki Ninja paint hitting the body just two days after the unveiling. Spike turned the Mighty Boy shell into a full-chassis car, mostly to fit incredibly large 335 rear tires. Power itself comes from an aspirated 13B, with “the biggest pull possible,” according to Spike. It’s mated to a five-speed Mazda box, which required an all-new tunnel to convert the ute to rear-wheel drive.
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Anthony Safar
VK Commodore
Anthony has a wild take on the VK Commodore Blue Mini Replica, the biggest eye-catcher being the gold-dipped Simmons spinners in 22. Poking its head through the bonnet is a V7 supercharger, mounted in front of the Warsped-built 400-cube Dart LS. Anthony says once the impressive work was done, the car was rolled out in just nine weeks to debut at the ‘Nats, including a second respray of Candy Blue paint to bring it up to par. .
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Al Magretzer
Morris Minor
This Southern Rod & Custom Build saw owner Al pitching in his work piles. It packs a BMC A-Series four-pot, maintaining 18psi of boost with custom rods and pistons. “The motor is the guts of a duck,” Al enthuses. “It’s making 217hp at 8500rpm, it’s a very strong little car. We stuck with the MOWOG gearbox; the only thing we changed was the differential, because British Motor Corporation didn’t make a differential.” Strong in anything, so it’s a very solid Escort Rally variant. “Everybody’s over HK-T-Gs, XYs and Commodores, and I just wanted something different,” says Al. “Everybody knows somebody who has.”
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JOEY
HJ Monaro
Joey and partner Ivan Haynes took on this tough-as-nails HJ Monaro as a five-year shed build. In the flesh is an LSX up front good for around 750hp, powered by a turbo 400 with Brembos all round and sheet metal 9in. “I had one when I was 16, and just decided to buy another one,” explains Joey. This is Wollongong Block’s first ever car in the Hall.
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Brett Haverdine
’49 Ford Coupe
Built by Pro Flow’s Paul Saint, Brett’s beautiful single-spinner 600-cube, Littlefield 14/71-blown big-block Chev, and a manual TH400 and 9in rear. Hydroshox coilovers fill out all four corners, and Schotts 22×12 and 20×6 hoops cover the Wilwood stopping gear. Andrew and Marty Ash put on Hellbent Red Doco.
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Aaron Gaki
LJ Torana
Aaron Gauci’s LJ coupe is the culmination of his childhood dream, as a usable street and strip machine that can still hold its own against the best on the show floor. He kept this LJ simple, painted in Marina Bay Blue and powered by an aspirated 600hp iron lion with Haltech management. Smaller tubs make room for 275 wide rear rubber, and a peek inside reveals nice Recaro seats and a Momo wheel that decently matches the black LJ interior.
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Simon Waugh
XY FALCON
Ford nut Simon Waugh wanted an XY Falcon GT with proper grunt, and this black-on-black example is the result of three years of hard work. Giving the XY its biggest distinction is a 480rwhp 4V 351 Cleveland, mated to a top-loader manual box. An all-new GT spoiler and black stripes top off the exterior, and Simon made sure the interior is also black and as true to the standard GT as possible. The car sits elegantly on wider than original globe alloy seats, and the underpinnings have been modernized with upgraded suspension and steering.
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Leo Mortakis
LX Torana
Yellow is the product of a decade-long project shared by Tori Love and her father. “We both had our own visions,” Leo explains. “He wanted a classic ’80s muscle car, but I’m more about the detailed pro street look. We clashed a bit while building it, but we blended our two styles together. The end result is a 9in with a 408 Chev, a Tremec TKO manual and street-friendly 3.5 gears. “It’s nothing crazy, it has a nice ride and just sounds good,” says Leo. The yellow is from PPG, while the black is Leo’s own blend with metallic pearls. “It’s old school, but still fresh.”
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Mike Davidson
’54 BEL AIR
Mike has owned his Bel Air for 13 years and has been building it for six. The car is powered by a Weber-fed 406 Dart-blocked Chev and TH400 auto with Mike – mechanical engineer and general manager of Lovells Suspension – doing most of the mechanical work himself. Underneath that flowing Glasurit Blue Moon Candy paint he’s fitted an HT Holden front end with a Flaming River rack and McDonald Bros arms. Body and paint is the responsibility of Pat’s Pro Restorations in Beaudesert, Qld. “I made it with all the things I ‘dug’!’ The Queenslander smiled.
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Nathan Shepherd
VB Commodore
Nathan scored this 1979 VB Commodore Wagon a year ago as a Tessie shed. Built on the HDT theme, these days the ’79 VB has a 355 cranked, Pavtek-headed EFI V8 and a TH400 three-speed auto. Painted in Flamenco Red, Nathan has fitted a set of old-school side pipes. “It’s a tribute to the original HDT but with a much more personal touch,” says Nathan, who, after showing it off for most of this year, asked, ‘What does it do?’ Intends to answer. in Heathcote Park before committing to street crossing duties.
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Simon Anders
XB Falcon
Geelong-based Simon says he was inspired by the many cool cars from the pioneering street machine era of the 1980s to create his GT-shaped Falcon. “I come from the Ford family and it’s plain and simple early Pro Street,” he says. “Those center lines are a Geelong ‘thing’!” Underneath the Apollo Blue paint is a 620-hose 393ci Ford Cleveland V8 – beautifully rendered in simple silver and black – and a C10 auto. Yes, those 10-inch rear centerlines live on a narrow four-link nine-inch tub-to-rail arch.
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Rocky Sarkis
LH Torana
Purchased 10 years ago as a six-pot pop-pack, Blood Candy is the color of this fantastic Tourana, designed with a nod to Holden’s hot ’70s SL/Rs. But the ’70s trackpack Torey never had a Dart Iron block, with a 388ci LS V8 turbo. “It’s the biggest Borg-Warner turbo we can fit,” laughs Rocky of the Paul Saint/Pro Flow Performance mechanical layout, which includes squeezing in those 20×10-inch rear Simmons and big Wilwoods. Is. Inside, front buckets meet two individually sculpted rear seats.
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Robert Peters
The ’68 Camaro
“I went to America to buy a car so I could look at it and not get stung,” says Robert of his Camaro SS purchase. “But I still got stung!” The ‘sting’ was a very convincing resto of a rusty litter. Once the Camaro shell was lifted from the acid tank in Oz, only a front fender, a door, and the turret could be salvaged. Finished with all new metal, the Camaro now wears a coat of gorgeous Mazda Storm Blue around a pro-charged and intercooled 572 blown-thru big block.
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Caroline Hayes
LH Torana
DC Racer’s new whip drives a 415ci small-block shiv with a nitrous plate, good for a “very easy” 900hp. It’s relatively restrained on the outside but extremely clean and finished to perfection, with a custom front spoiler cast in metal and then fiberglass. “The Torana engine bay isn’t the prettiest thing, but I still wanted it to look like a Torana,” Caroline says of the factory interior guards. The race-ready interior features side-hugging buckets, a momo-tailor and ‘cage’, emphasizing practicality. “It has to be functional, because I’m going to be driving it everywhere,” she smiles. Watch out for the epic Tori at DC of the future!
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PATMC Carter
XB Falcon
Pete, a spokesman for his family’s Western Street and Custom business, tells us that the bonnet skin, roof and quarters of this red paper hardtop were not stitched to repair rust because the car was built to ‘super factory’ standards. was rebuilt, with extremely tight body gaps. His uncle Manuel. The rebuild involved duplicating and highlighting all the factory details down to the painted part numbers of the tail shaft. The interior is also a lesson in showroom excellence. The stunning Aussie coupe is powered by a 4V 351 Cleveland and the red wall tires are the perfect traditional touch.