Table of contents for July 2023 in Street Machine

LETTER OF THE MONTH COVERED IN GLORY HEY guys, just wanted to say well done on that awesome June issue cover! Different vibe to the normal colour combo, and certainly not in a bad way – the perfect lines and paint on Peter Lewis’s XC just wouldn’t pop on a darker background. In fact, that whole photoshoot is a highlight for me; it really captures just how crisp and OEM-looking so many parts of this car are. On that note, I also loved Alastair Brook’s snaps of John Szwede’s LX hatch. Classy, atmospheric and a cool location with all the modern race cars lurking in the background. The car itself ain’t bad, either! Frank Dawson, email AGENT ORANGE READING the June 2023 issue, I was rapt to see the feature…

MAKING THE TOP 60 AT SUMMERNATS WAS A DREAM COME TRUE, AND NOW THAT I’M GETTING FEATURED IN THE MAG, I’VE ACHIEVED EVERYTHING I WANTED TO GROWING up, all Simon Andrus wanted to do was build a tough, clean streeter that could get unveiled at Summernats, make the Top 60 and get featured in Street Machine. Well, it may have taken a little while, but Simon can now cross that hat trick off his bucket list thanks to this incredible XB Falcon sedan. “I’m stoked,” says Simon. “Getting unveiled at Summernats and making the Top 60 was a dream come true. At Showcars Melbourne, I won the Rare Spares Choice award, plus Best XA-XC at the Geelong All Ford Day. And now that I’m getting featured in the mag, I’ve…

BACK when the term ‘retrotech’ was first coined, it basically meant bolting an injected five-litre and overdrive auto into your Torana and calling it a day. But OEM powertrain tech has evolved tenfold in the years since, and the aftermarket has done a stellar job keeping pace, too. These days, a street machine built in the retrotech style can boast four-digit horsepower figures, clockwork reliability, impeccable street manners, modern suspension and braking systems, and all the comforts of home. With all that in mind, Rocky Sarkis’s LH Torana stands as a top-shelf example of just how good a modern street car can be. Powered by a 388ci Dart LS force-fed by a BorgWarner S480 snail, it can be turned up to deliver a projected 1000-plus horses at the treads on…

HARDCORE street machiners always hold fond memories of their first build, and Melbourne’s Mark Attard is a walking, talking example. He’s got a clutch of stout cars in the shed, but this HJ Monaro GTS replica is especially close to his heart, as it’s inspired by his earliest project. “When I was 21, I built an HJ Premier, which was a really popular car back in the day,” Mark says. “It ran a 10.90, which was really quick for a street car 20 years ago. I wanted it to be an angry pro street car, but, being a young bloke, the funds just weren’t there.” Mark’s life moved on and brought with it a bunch of other killer cars, including the turbo VE Maloo we featured on the cover of…

JOSHUA WHITEHEAD XL FALCON WAGON “THIS is Frankie, my 1963 Ford Falcon XL wagon. She was my first car when I was 16 in 2010, and I’ve had her ever since. I worked on her with my old man to get her roadworthy, and drove it to school in Year 12. I daily drove it for a few years from there, and then retired her to weekender status. She’s been off the road for a couple of years now due to sitting too long during COVID (as I was working too much), and she now has a few little issues that I’m trying to work through. It has a 170ci Pursuit motor, three-speed column shift manual, extractors, resonator, custom interior and a massive sound system – perfection! My future plans…

WE BUMPED into Mudgee lad Joe Box at the Tuff Mounts Holden Drag Nationals, wheeling his farm-fresh, 355ci Holden V8-powered HZ ute deep into the 12s. Tell us about the ute, Joe. I bought it back in 2021 off a bloke from Bathurst who had dragged it out of a paddock in Cowra. I saw it on Facebook and decided to make him an offer and managed to buy it. It was a 202/three-on-the-tree car and it was in pretty bad shape; the rear quarters were rusted out and the floors were all gone. We got the motor running so we could drive it in and out of the shed, then started cutting the rust out of it. I wanted to stay with the rough farm ute look, but at…

01 THE MISSING LINK GOT a HK-HT-HG Holden in need of a four-link kit, but dreading the cost and time of having one fabbed up? Well, the team at United Speed Shop have good news for you, because they now offer a bolt-in, coil-over, parallel four-link kit for HK-HGs. The kit mounts via the factory leaf spring mounts, which are used for the lower forward bars. It works with both the standard and aftermarket diffs, and includes QA1 double-adjustable coil-overs, all the mounting hardware, and an optional 25mm torsional anti-roll bar. To find out more and place an order, head to unitedspeedshop.com. 02 WHEELY GOOD LOOKING for something different when it comes to a flash seet of rims? Well, the folks at Speed Pro Distributors in Melbourne have just taken stock of…

HERE’S one for the Mopar faithful. What you’re looking at is a bona fide 1000hp, pump fuel, all-motor Chrysler Hemi street-and-strip engine, pieced together by Bill Kaglatzis at BK Race Engines. “The customer wanted us to build him a street-driven, drag-focused engine,” Bill says. “It had to be nothing other than a Hemi; he’d wanted one his whole life and we couldn’t have talked him into anything else. We don’t do a lot of Chrysler Hemi stuff, and we were initially looking at making 850 or 900hp with it. But we’ve done Chevy and Ford big-blocks that were similar capacity to this that have cracked the tonne, so I thought, ‘Why can’t we make 1000hp with a Hemi?’” The block and crankshaft are from Callies, with Oliver rods and Diamond…

JUNE was a big month for drag racing Down Under, and quite a historic one, too. The 55th Winternationals at Willowbank marked the end of an era, being the final event for the 400 Thunder series, and the very next weekend saw the final meeting for the short-lived Australian Drag Racing Championship at Nitro Up North in Darwin. Both series will be replaced by the new National Drag Racing Championship, which will kick off at The Bend Dragway, 21-22 October – just a week after we wrap up Street Machine Drag Challenge 2023 at that new South Australian track. At the Winters, Morice McMillin won the first Nitro Funny Car championship to be contested Down Under in decades. Morice ran a record-setting 4.702-second pass over the 1000ft to win both…

RESEARCH for our recent deep dive into custom FX-FJ Holden history uncovered a number of very cool later-model custom Holdens built in the 1960s and 70s. Although not as dominant as their venerable humpy brethren, the decade long FE-HR model run still provided perfect fodder for budding hot-car builders also looking to personalise their rides. Here are a few that caught our attention, and we’ll round out our Snap Shots custom series next issue with a look at some iconic non-Holden builds. 1: THIS FE sedan built by David Chapman was an innovative and unusual custom Holden of the late 1960s. The Melburnian busied himself by sourcing an HD ute shell and a written-off HR wagon – both near-new cars at that stage – and grafting the ute’s outer rear…

ONE of our readers, Troy Ibbett, recently shared his VF Valiant with us for our ‘In The Build’ section (SM, Mar ’23), a car built in tribute to his recently passed father. Troy used the twin-cam turbo Nissan RB30 engine from his Skyline drift car to give the Valiant new life, so we decided to share the unusually powered Mopar on our Facebook page. Here’s what you had to say about it. Laurence Campbell-Rogers – Tidy build, well done! Philip Gee – Yep, your old man would be so proud of what you have achieved – great job! Mickey Signet D – Looks great; good to see something a little different. Classic Valiants and JDM – why not have both? It’ll be easy to forget the haters when that RB…

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RETIREMENT. For many, it’s the opportunity to slow down a bit, take it easy. Maybe buy a four-wheel drive and a two-storey caravan for a leisurely road trip, getting in the way of truckies on the way to somewhere like Birdsville or Broome. Or, if you’re a car nut like Queenslander Russ Scougall, you could use your impending retirement as the motivation to build a twin-turbo Valiant Charger capable of chasing eights at Drag Challenge! The appeal of Chrysler Australia’s coupe has been with Russ for a long time. “I was 10 years old when the Charger came out in 1971,” the plasterer explains. “My uncle was a flamboyant sort of fella; he was a cane farmer and he bought one new. My dad collected it for him, and for…

STEVE Holland of Dutchy’s Garage (formerly known as Dutchy’s Mini) is a bona fide automotive mad scientist. This gorgeous – and ferocious – Mini is testament to that, although his journey to this project started out the same way many do. “My first car was an EB S XR6, and I did all the usual mods to it,” Steve says. “Then I bought a GC8 WRX – being from a Ford family, I was lucky I didn’t get kicked out of home! I loved the sound, the power and how it drove like it was on rails. My brother Clint had a Mini and I thought it was so much fun to drive, so I finally bought my first one in 2009.” Steve had a lot of fun restoring and…

WHEN we spied Nicole Jaggs’s glistening LS-powered LH Torana amongst the Grand Champ contenders at this year’s Rockynats, we knew we had to find out more about both the lady and her stunning sedan. How did this LH come into your life, Nicole? I had an LH Torana as my first car, but I eventually sold it and moved on in life, as you do. Then a few years back, my hubby Paul and I saw this one at our local suspension shop. The Torana wasn’t for sale, but it became a running joke for about 18 months where we’d always ask, “Is it for sale yet?” Then in 2018 we were offered the car, as the bloke’s wife was keen on a new kitchen. SOME SAY WHY PUT A…

SAM ZULLO HT MONARO “MY STORY started 40 years ago when my red HT Monaro was stolen two weeks before I was married. Of course, I didn’t renew the insurance, so I lost everything. I told myself I would get one again someday, and for years I looked but it was never the right time. Finally, at 60 years old, it happened; I bought this Monaro two years ago as an unfinished project. It was painted and had the running gear but it needed to be finished and engineered for South Australian roads. So with the help of Carlo Albanese from Carlo’s Classic Muscle Cars, we went to THR Engine Developments to go through the whole car to try and recreate my old car’s look and do the modifications needed…

THE eighth instalment of Australia’s biggest drag-and-drive event will be the first major event to be held at the brand-new The Bend Dragway in South Australia. Street Machine Drag Challenge 2023 will happen just a week before the venue is officially opened by the Spring Nationals, which will be the first meeting for the new National Drag Racing Championship. That means Drag Challenge will be the first time most folks get to see the new strip in action, so the eyes of the drag racing world will be upon us! And this one will be a doozy, with around 1600km on the road legs as the convoy travels from Tailem Bend in South Oz, to Mildura on the Victorian/NSW border, to Heathcote Park in Central Victoria, across to Portland on…

WHEN Ditch Jones unveiled this very HR ute way back at Street Machine Summernats 20, it made a big impression on the scene with its wild body mods, blown Holden six-pot and grey-over-yellow paintwork. Nearly two decades later, the ute still lives on, now in the hands of proud custodian Craig McKenzie, who’s put a modern spin on Ditch’s original vision to recreate the HR as a repeat elite-level show winner. We’ve relived the story of Ditch’s original build of the car a few times now (SM, Apr ’07 and Yearbook 2022), but if you missed any of those, here’s a basic recap: Ditch wanted a stand-out show machine, so he commissioned Drago and Rob Ostric from Sefton Concept Vehicles to undertake the extensive body mods you see here, along…

THERE are many measures of a great car show. You need quantity, quality and variety of cars, throngs of involved spectators, great vendors, and above all else, an awesome vibe. The 2023 Sydney Hot Rod & Custom Auto Expo had all this and more, making it a show everyone should add to their must-do list. Organised by Andy and Donna Minas, the event takes place each year at Rosehill Racecourse, utilising every possible square metre of the venue. This year there were 320 official entrants on show, along with plenty more great cars in the show ’n’ shine area – essentially VIP parking for spectators who roll up in something special. To kick off proceedings, the black silk covers were slid off eight never-before-seen stunners, many of which you’ll see…

IT’S NOT too often you see a stripped-out XY sitting in a driveway these days, so when you do, chances are the owner is worth having a yarn with. Rob Herrington did exactly that, his chance encounter on the street sparking both a new friendship and a massive ratcheting-up of his Falcon project into a deep-black, 820hp powerhouse. “I bought the car just over five years ago from up the back of Lake Eildon,” Rob begins. “The original guy had put it in a shed in Echuca after completely stripping it to bare metal and undercoating it. The door couldn’t be closed, so over two or three years, the weather got in and rusted the front guards, engine bay and front half of the roof – it pretty much destroyed…

FEW things will ruffle purists’ feathers like fitting your classic ride with an engine from a rival manufacturer. Josh Messineo knows all about that; he chose to stick a cheeky iron-block LS into the front of his AP5 Valiant. THE INTENTION WASN’T TO UPSET THE MOPAR FAITHFUL, BUT RATHER TO FIND THE CHEAPEST AND EASIEST ROUTE TO A FOUR-DIGIT STREET CAR The intention wasn’t even to upset the Mopar faithful, but rather to find the cheapest and easiest route to a four-digit street car. “The goal was to break the 1000rwhp barrier, and you just can’t argue with how easily we did it,” Josh reasons. The AP5 has been built as Josh’s new drag-and-drive machine, which he hopes will dip into the eight-second zone. “I don’t like race cars you…

THE topic of what constitutes a sleeper is one of the most divisive and hotly debated in the scene, but we’d wager that anyone would struggle to argue against the sleepiness of Dylan Matwijow’s turbo LS-swapped Hyundai iLoad. Dylan has owned the van since the start of the year, buying it already done with the turbo LS combo, engineered and all. “I bought it from a mate of mine after Powercruise. The second it was for sale, I told him I’d buy it no matter the price; I just had to have it,” he says. Dylan’s mate originally purchased the van as a standard workhorse, with the bulk of the car built by Trent Smith and the crew at JM Auto Repairs. “It had a knock, so after a few…

GAG OF THE MONTH ONCE BITTEN A RUSSIAN wrestler and an Irish wrestler were set to square off for the Olympic gold medal. Before the match, the Irish wrestler’s trainer came to him and said, “Now, don’t forget all the research we’ve done on this Russian. He’s never lost a match because of this ‘pretzel’ hold he has. It ties you up in knots. Whatever you do, do not let him get you in that hold! If he does, you’re finished.” The Irishman nodded gravely in acknowledgment. As the match started, the Irishman and the Russian circled each other several times, looking for an opening. All of a sudden, the Russian lunged forward, grabbing the Irishman and wrapping him up in the dreaded pretzel hold. The crowd gasped, and the…