Table of contents for November 2023 in Street Machine

THE VAILO Adelaide 500 Supercars meet is set to host an elite car show curated by accomplished American customiser Dave Kindig, together with his co-host of the Kindig Customs reality TV show, Kevin Schiele. The first-ever Kindig Custom Car Show, presented by Shannons Insurance, takes place 24-26 November, and will bring together a bunch of Australia’s best elite-level show cars to be judged by Kindig – the guy behind Utah’s Kindig-It Design and the long-running Kindig Customs show. Now in its 10th season, Kindig Customs features Kindig and his team tackling everything from slammed post-war US metal to a gullwing Mercedes. Kindig-It Design gear has popped up on SM feature cars too, including Judith Menso’s rad LX hatch and the Rides By Kam ’Cuda. Kindig’s bringing two of his own…

COOL FLICK FACT: Following the film’s release, DeLorean head honcho John DeLorean contacted writers Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis to thank them for immortalising his car. HILL Valley high-schooler Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) is living his best 1980s teen life to the power of rad – he’s hot with a guitar, can handle a skateboard, and has a lakeside rendezvous planned with his favourite girl, the spunky Jennifer (Claudia Wells). Marty dreams of rock ’n’ roll stardom and slipping behind the wheel of a spankers black HiLux Xtracab, but he has a couple of hurdles in his way: his parents, the awkward George (Crispin Glover) and well-meaning Lorraine (Lea Thompson); and the constant derision of overbearing school principal Strickland (James Tolkan). Marty shares an unusual friendship with the local…

THE WHOLE CONCEPT WAS A PRO STREET CAR THAT’S STREET-LEGAL AND ALL UNDER-BONNET BUT WOULD STILL RUN A GOOD NUMBER ADAM Francica was a fresh-faced teenager when he first hooked into his home-built XY project, with the goal of transforming a depressed Fairmont into an 11-second street brawler. Adam and long-time mate Con Constantinou (now of Pro Street Metalcraft) started the original build – which they dubbed ‘Pro Street #001’ – while still in high school. They finished it back in 2006, earning them a Top 60 Elite finish at Summernats 20 and a feature in our July ’07 issue (which you can read at streetmachine.com.au). The next decade was spent showing, racing and enjoying the car, but in 2016, Adam decided on a full rebuild. “The whole concept was…

GENERALLY, it takes a lot of professional help and collaboration to get a car built to the standard of Charlie Azzopardi’s gorgeous 1956 Chevy Bel Air. But you’ll notice that his Thanks list at the bottom of the specs panel in this feature is unusually short. That’s not because Charlie’s a rude bastard; it’s just that he built the whole thing himself. We’re not just talking about dropping the engine in, bolting on some wheels and refitting the interior here. Everything from the chassis work, engine building and even the PPG paintwork was done in Charlie’s shed with his own two hands, making his Chev the very definition of a home-built machine. “It didn’t leave my shed until it was done,” he says. Charlie’s love affair with tri-five Chevys began…

IT’S not often you see a late-model burler like a this in the pages of Street Machine, but any car built to the level of Adam Fraser’s VF-based 2017 HSV Gen-F GTS should certainly command your attention. For any purists out there wondering if this is a genuine HSV GTS that’s had an angle grinder taken to it, we have some bad news for you: this car is no tribute – it’s the real deal. Adam has owned tough Holdens his whole adult life, and he considers his GTS his ideal car. “I’ve got a few Holdens, including a VZ ClubSport, my VT SS with an LS3, a twin-turbo VF and so on, but this’d be the crown jewel of the collection,” he says. That certainly wasn’t the case when…

WHILE there are always a number of stunners lining up for a week’s torture at Drag Challenge, the rough-and-tumble, DIY, get-shit-done machines also tickle our fancy, and Chris Imlach’s twin-turbo LS-powered 1962 Chevy Nova is a prime example. “It was never meant to be this fast,” Chris admits. “It started completely stock and has just constantly evolved from there.” The Nova came into Chris’s life as a last-minute auction purchase from eBay. “I was on a flight, so I told my mate to bid on it and win it for me no matter what,” he says. “I wanted an HQ Monaro but couldn’t afford one at the time, and a Nova was second on my list, so we went for it.” A plumber by day, Chris built the whole car…

Send your favourite funnies to: LOL, Street Machine, Unit 9/3-5 Gilda Court, Mulgrave, Vic 3170, or email them to: streetmachine@wheelsmedia.com.au. > GAG OF THE MONTH CULTURAL DIFFERENCES JANE and Tarzan are getting to know each other, and she’s trying to teach him the different things about her culture. Finally, she gets around to talking about sex, and asks Tarzan what he does for sex. He shakes his head and says, “Tarzan no do sex.” Jane is shocked. “But Tarzan, surely you must do something when you need some… you know, relief?” Tarzan replies, “Tarzan use hole in tree.” Jane considers this for a moment. “Well,” she says, “let me show you what we do where I come from.” With that, Jane takes off her little outfit and lies back invitingly, completely naked.…

ONE of the absolute highlights of Australia’s Biggest Horsepower Party is the Meguiar’s Great Uncover. Witnessing the sheets slip off a bunch of fresh builds is always exciting, and the Summernats team raised the bar at the most recent ’Nats, with over 20 all-new cars unveiled to the masses. What’s more, if all goes according to plan, they’re looking to eclipse that at Street Machine Summernats 36, with a monumental 30 cars lined up to take part. “This is set to be our biggest year ever!” said Great Uncover ringmaster, Owen Webb. “We’ll have around 30 cars, and while it might be difficult to envisage unveiling that many cars, we’ve worked out a way to do it that will be really cool, both for the spectators and for the people…

Write to: Your Stuff, Street Machine, Unit 9/3-5 Gilda Court, Mulgrave, Vic 3170, or email streetmachine@wheelsmedia.com.au. Make sure you include your address (not necessarily for publication). Keep it short and sweet! RADIAL GA GA HEY guys, many thanks for Craig Parker’s excellent coverage of the Sydney Hot Rod & Custom Auto Expo (SM, Jul ’23). Could you please tell me how I can find details of the Oz-made radial aircraft engine in Rod Goodman’s trophy-winning Porsche 356 (pictured right)? David Goodsir, email HEY David! Radial Motion is the company that makes those engines! Very cool stuff. Check them out online at radialmotion.com.au. – Telfo I LIKE TO WATCH TO THE crew in the Carnage workshop, as times change, you do have to keep the fleet interesting and fresh. It will be…

MEMORIES of the tough street cars of his youth inspired Freddy Finnegan to build his ideal muscle car. “I’ve tried to maintain as much originality as I can, but I always wanted a blown, big-block streeter," says Freddy of his HK Monaro. “I also love the golden era of 80s south-east Melbourne street machining, which is the theme I built this car around.” The HK in question is a factory 307 GTS car, but it came with a tough SBC stroker when Freddy took ownership. However, that mill didn’t stay there long. “I knew the loose history of the engine and had my doubts about it, so I had Danko Knezevic from Adicted Performance pull it,” Freddy explains. “What he found wasn’t good, so we ended up building the 502-cube…

THE signature palm tree logo of Melbourne’s Riot Lab fab shop adorns the cars of many Drag Challenge regulars, especially those in the ever-competitive turbo Barra cohort. So when Riot Lab founder, bossman and fabricator Ryan O’Donohue finally got stuck into his own Drag Challenge project – a 1300hp 1976 F100 bound for sevens – it was always going to be an in-house effort. “I bought it from some weird old unit in Monbulk,” says 29-year-old Ryan. “I was freshly 18 and I’d just always wanted an F-truck, probably because my old man had a shitbox old one that he thrashed us around in for my younger motocross racing days. It was airbagged all ’round and had an old 302 Cleveland with a Top Loader.” Ryan managed to respray the…

IT TOOK about 10 minutes for the world to discover how choked up General Motors’ Gen III and Gen IV LS engines were from the factory. That’s why we’ve seen huge power made from them using bus turbos, aftermarket blocks or huge blowers. But the factory alloy LS shouldn’t be discounted, as it can be built into an awesome daily driver and weekender with a minimum of fuss and expense. First seen in Australia in 1999’s Series II VT Commodore, the 5.7-litre LS1 delivered us a sniff under 300hp, before subsequent Commodore generations saw this figure gradually increase to a high of 408hp with the 6.2-litre Gen IV LS3 in the 2017 VF II Commodore. The LS platform also provided wild possibilities for the factory speed offerings from HSV. Off…

COMING OF BEIGE ADAM BARNES HT HOLDEN WAGON “MY CURRENT project is this HT wagon I’m calling The Aussie Battler. She’s a fairly original girl from Mount Isa that wears all the scars with her original paint. The plan is to keep the exterior the way it is while throwing in a neat interior and a tough motor. The powerplant in question is an aspo Holden 304, with a COME Racing 396 stroker kit, VN heads, and a Holley 1050 carby to keep it old school. Behind it is a Turbo 400 with a TCE 4500rpm converter, and a nine-inch with peppy 3.9:1 gearing. It’s going to be lowered, and to keep the factory exterior look, we’ll just be widening the original wheels to 15x8. It’ll be a nice cruiser…

To have your product featured here, call Joseph Lenthall on (02) 8114 9421 or email joseph.lenthall@wheelsmedia.com.au. 01 SHARP INTAKE PROFLOW has just released its new Series II intake manifold for the almighty Barra engine. The Series II offers many improvements over the previous manifold, including a redesigned plenum chamber and smaller 80mm ports for greater air velocity. There are new bellmouths for each runner, and adapters are included for both FG and BA throttlebodies, while still also being able to take a Proflow 80mm cable item for those doing older engine conversions. Individual O-rings now seal the manifold to the cylinder head surface, but you can also opt for a generic gasket. The complete kit also includes a billet Proflow fuel rail, mounting hardware and everything needed for an easy…

SEND your photos of fun with cars to: Sunday Too Far Away, Street Machine, Unit 9/3-5 Gilda Court, Mulgrave, Vic 3170, or email high-resolution images (1mb+) to: sundaytoofaraway@wheelsmedia.com.au. Please send copies of prints as we are unable to return your photos.…

LAST month we had a look at some of the foundational rides of Volkswagen freak Rhett Nankervis, and this time we’ll take a tour through some of his more recent and current projects. Rhett’s attention to detail and passion for period-correct modifications – often with a twist – ensure that his cars remain visually on-point while still exhibiting individuality. The builds shown here prove that you can create something both outstanding and personalised by simply putting your own spin on a much-loved motoring platform. 1: RHETT’S dad Ian originally built this Baja Beetle back in 2000 to cross the Simpson Desert! “It did the trip successfully, but then he parked it up and built an off-road ’67 split-screen Kombi to have a bit more comfort on these adventures,” Rhett says.…

WHILE it wasn’t the first car to leave HSV’s Clayton skunkworks (that honour goes to the Walkinshaw), the VL SV88 can lay claim to being the first HSV car to wear its own moniker instead of a Commodore nameplate. Despite its undeniable place in the Lion’s history, Tim Laidler found his real-deal example languishing in a mate’s backyard as a rolling shell. Though he now owns seven Commodores, he admits he’d never heard of the SV88 when he stumbled over the car. “It had been sitting in a paddock and was in terrible condition,” he says. “I just fell in love with the Walkinshaw-style seats and the colour-coded bars and wheels.” This build started in 2018, when Ultimate Metalworks fabbed up the tubs, diff and gorgeous sheet-metal engine bay over…

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THERE was once a time when every town in Australia was split broadly into two camps. Not along religious, economic or political lines, but automotive. For most folks, you were born into a Ford family or a Holden family. Chryslers were an outlier, with Volvos the domain of geography teachers in shorts and long socks. As such, children were indoctrinated accordingly. Holden kids could recite each model from the 48-215 onwards. Ford kids as young as five could expertly explain the difference between an XL and XM Falcon. These days, not so much. The automotive landscape is completely different, and locally made cars are as dead as the dodo. SUVs rule the sales roost and electric cars are on the rise. The old tribal rivalries no longer dominate the schoolyard.…

EVEN casual Street Machine readers will likely be aware that the twin towns of Albury and Wodonga host Chyslers on the Murray each March, Australia’s largest event for Moparphiles. This year’s 30th-anniversary event attracted almost 1000 entrants from all over the country. What you may not know is that Albury-Wodonga is also home to a similar shindig for the more Holden-inclined hot-car fan, Torana Muscle on the Murray (TMOTM), which returned for its third running in September. While a single-model show like TMOTM obviously has a smaller target market than the many and varied brands welcomed under the Chrysler umbrella, it’s still quite a sizeable event, this year attracting around 150 examples of Holden’s most versatile mid-sized product. What’s more, the Torana event is centred around the Street Machine team’s…

1 TO THE MAX THE newest addition to Proflow’s range of LS products is this SuperMax Plus intake manifold. A nicely CNC-machined piece, it’s designed for big-horsepower LS engine applications. “This is the top-level intake in our range, suited to big boost and horsepower builds,” says Jake Cugnetto of VPW Australia, which makes the Proflow products. “We’ve had a lot of demand for this one, and as a cool benefit, it looks as good as it performs.” The SuperMax Plus is made to suit both cathedral- and rectangular-port heads, with a 102mm throttlebody opening. Other neat features include radiused internal runners for smooth airflow, a low-profile lid, and billet fuel rails and fittings. You also get a provision for a GM MAP sensor, four vacuum ports neatly mounted at the…

SEND photos of your car and a few details of what went into the build to Readers’ Rockets, Street Machine, Unit 9/3-5 Gilda Court, Mulgrave, Vic 3170 or email readerscars@wheelsmedia.com.au. Please note: Send us copies of prints as we are unable to return your photos. ELLIS DICKSON SUZUKI MIGHTY BOY “I HAVE a 1985 Suzuki Mighty Boy that my dad, some mates and I built in the shed last year. The car in its entirety was built in my garage, with no hoist, lathe, bandsaw or fab tools – just hammers, a four-inch grinder and a MIG welder! Half of the painting was done in a booth by us, and other than that, everything was done in the shed. We smoothed and shaved the body, which runs flared front guards, a…