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BROADCAST A N D R E W B R O A D L E Y G’DAY, and thanks for picking up the August issue of Street Machine. There are some incredible cars in this month’s mag, not the least of which being Adam and Kelly Rogash’s epic new Mk1 Capri, STRIPSHOW (p.26). The twin-turbo big-block monster created quite a stir when it was unveiled at Meguiar’s MotorEx earlier this year following a frantic six-month build. Lightweight, with plenty of tyre under it and certainly no shortage of horsepower, the Capri is a purpose-built drag-and-drive weapon with parallel fuel systems for both pump fuel and methanol, a full interior, and the ability to quickly and easily bypass the 98mm turbochargers for making the road miles at Drag Challenge. Since MotorEx, the crew has had the car to Heathcote for some eighth-mile licks to refine the chassis side of things, before dragging it from Melbourne to Sydney for Grudge Kings. After a wild mid-track wheelie in testing, the Capri went on to reel off a 7.00@191mph on its first full pass, promptly followed by a 6.91@199mph. I was there to see it happen, and I don’t mind telling you that it was impressive. There’s only a handful of six-second street-driven cars in the country, so to land there so early on in the car’s development (and with a shit-ton of horsepower left in reserve) bodes very well for the future. While Adam is yet to prove the Capri’s streetcar chops at Drag Challenge, he’s eager to do exactly that this year. With no fewer than four past DC competitors now armed with proven six-second-capable cars, and the new, state-ofthe-art Tailem Bend strip added for the 2023 event in October, maybe we’ll hand out our first six-second hat at DC this year! With that being said, if you prefer blowers over turbos, you’ll no doubt enjoy Ray Elia’s VH Valiant Regal (p.34). It’s a staunch bit of gear, with 543ci of Mopar fat-block up front topped with a shiny 10/71 and Joe Blo EFI injector hat. And if you’re of the belief that power adders are for people who can’t build engines, then Pat Langdon’s Quey (p.54) might be more your jam. It’s packing 632ci of GM’s finest, and it makes 1000hp and change with no need for artificial aspiration. In other news, Street Machine Legends Volume Three is out now! On the cover is the late, great Chic Henry smoking out the Summernats burnout pad in his iconic ’62 Impala. While the first two editions of SM Legends focused on the iconic cars of the first and second decades of Street Machine’s history, Volume Three is all about the people who have made the sport what it is today. Among the 40 legends covered are the likes of Rod Hadfield, Victor Bray, Howard Astill, Peter Fitzpatrick and Paul Bennett. Telfo and art director Gavin Morrison delved deep into our archives to turn up some rare – and in some cases neverbefore-seen – imagery. She’s on sale now in all major bookshops, or just scan the QR code below to grab it from our online shop. Cheers, Broads. [email protected] SECONDS 3000HP DRAG& DRIVE CAPRI FIRES UP! FREE ENTRY PAGE 52 A$6000+ GEARWRENCH TOOL CHEST! MOPAR MUSCLE! BLOWN & INJECTED 543CI BIG-BLOCK VH VALIANT! WIN $11.95incl GST NZ $12.45 incl GST AUGUST 2023 streetmachine.com.au SCAN TO purchase WEBSITE streetmachine.com.au EMAIL [email protected] SUBSCRIPTIONS secure.whichcar.com.au/streetmachine MERCH shop.streetmachine.com.au FACEBOOK streetmachinemagazine INSTAGRAM streetmachinemag YOUTUBE STREETMACHINETV MAIL Street Machine, Unit 9/3-5 Gilda Court, Mulgrave, Vic 3170 SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES [email protected] (02) 8315 2092 9am-5pm (EST) Mon-Fri FREE NEWSLETTER! Scan the code: STREET MACHINE 005
BELIEVE THE HYPE With an injected SBC up front, Steven Thrift’s cherryblack EH is shooting for 10s SLEEPER: 2JZ VL The other big Japanese six powers Chris Ethell’s sneaky VL Commodore! 05 BROADCAST10 NEWS FRONT14 PEOPLE LIKE US 16 SNAPSHOTS 18FANGING FLICK 21 YOUR STUFF 110IN THE BUILD 114IRON MAIDEN 122 DIRTY STUFF 124 URBAN WARFARE 128IN GEAR 132 READERS’ ROCKETS 140LOL142 SUNDAY TOO FAR AWAY 146 MILL OFTHE MONTH > REGULARS > FEATURES 088 118 COOLY ROCKS ON Retro cool takes over Coolangatta for a huge Gold Coast weekend GRUDGE KINGS The huge Sydney meet saw big wheelstands and bloody impressive ETs TECH TORQUE: LT FAMILY The lowdown when it comes to GM’s latest generation of small-block shove TIME MACHINE: ’66 MUSTANG Janet Hough and Victor Reilly’s gorgeous ex-feature ’Stang is still going strong DRAG CHALLENGE: K24 CELICA This screaming Honda-swapped notchback is a seven-second force to be reckoned with 42 94 100 104 RAY ELIA 1972 VH VALIANT REGAL ADAM & KELLY ROGASH 1970 MK1 FORD CAPRI 66 104 100 042 066 CONTENTS A U G U S T 2023 | V O L UME 43 | I S S U E 8 094 146
CRANKY AS Tyres beware! This stunning blown and injected VH Regal packs 543 cubes of Mopar grunt GREY’S ANATOMY The latest evolution of Jason De Silveira’s LSAswapped C10 is low and anything but slow PREMIER LEAGUE Pat Langdon has transformed his first car into a 1000hp, all-motor monster FEROCIOUS FELINE Cat Hewitson’s VK-fronted VL Calais smokes rubber with NASCAR power DREAMWEAVER Legendary drag racer Ben Gatt takes his heirloom XT from family chariot to neat-as-a-pin streeter 034 060 054 076 082 STRIP TEASE Adam Rogash’s mindblowing, street-ready Capri has already run a six!
Published by Wheels Media, a division of Are Media Pty Ltd ABN 18 053 273 546 © 2023. All rights reserved. ISSN: 0810-0187 COVER PHOTO Chris Thorogood COMMERCIAL MANAGER – ENTHUSIAST Joseph Lenthall (02) 8114 9421, [email protected] NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR – AGENCY Jodie Smith [email protected] VICTORIAN SALES MANAGER Kim Simonsen - (03) 9567 4311 QUEENSLAND SALES MANAGER Todd Anderson - 0409 630 733 NEWS EDITOR Kat Fisk NEWS DESK Jordan Hickey MARKETING SPECIALIST Tim McAlpine PRODUCTION SERVICES Di McLarty FINANCE BUSINESS MANAGER Margaret Clantin ACCOUNTANT Sasha Wein EDITOR Andrew Broadley ART DIRECTOR Leah Gionis ADDITIONAL DESIGN Povi Pullinen SUB-EDITOR Brett Collingwood VIDEO & EVENTS PRODUCER Scott Taylor JOURNALISTS Kian Heagney, Jack Houlihan DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER Mary Lee SOCIALS Paul Cronin EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Simon Telford KICK-ARSE CONTRIBUTORS Mark Arblaster, Troy Barker, Peter Bateman, Caprice Photography, Carly Dale, Drag Photos, Matthew Everingham, Rusty Gregory, Ben Hosking, Nathan Jacobs, Iain Kelly, Steve Kelly, Jordan Leist, Simon Major, Shawn McCann, Craig Parker, Michelle Porobic, Liam Quirk, Grant Stephens, Shaun Tanner, Noah Thorley, Chris Thorogood, Noel Tuckey, Boris Viskovic, Ashleigh Wilson FINANCE DIRECTOR Marena Paul AUDIENCE & INSIGHTS LEAD Tim Kenington PUBLISHING DIRECTOR – DIGITAL Mike Stevens PRODUCT & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Ben Barren CONTENT DIRECTOR – ENTHUSIAST Simon Telford CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER Jez Spinks CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER Joseph Lenthall CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Scott Davison CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Christian Clark P H O T O : C A C K LI N G P I P E S
NEWS FRONT A U G U S T 2 0 2 3 : A L L T H E N E W S T H A T M A T T E R S S T O R Y J A C K H O U L I H A N QUEY TO THE CAPE > TOM CARRIERA’S MASSIVE FUNDRAISING ODYSSEY ENDED WITH A BANG! AN UNLIKELY 70s classic recently notched over 11,000km in a pilgrimage to Australia’s northernmost tip and back, raising money and awareness for a great cause along the way. Twenty-seven-year-old Tom Carriera of Wangaratta, Victoria drove his HQ Holden ute all the way to Cape York – and back through the centre of Australia – to accompany mate Cam Gray and his dad Andrew on a fundraising mission for Young Veterans, dubbed ‘Tassie to the Tip,’ in their 1978 HJ45 Land Cruiser. Tom didn’t expect to tag along at first. “Cam said I should come, and I said, ‘No way I’d get time off work, and I don’t have a 4x4 to do it in,’” he says. “But then my boss said I could take as much time as I want over winter, so I said, ‘What about a month to go up to the Cape?’” Tom’s an HQ fanatic, with a GTS sedan and Kingswood that make regular Street Machine Summernats appearances, so he decided to have a go with the farm-fresh ute he picked up earlier this year. “It’s just a 202 and four-speed; nothing flash,” he says. “It’s still got the banjo single-wheeler diff, and I had all the Sandman gear in the shed. Because I was tagging along, I thought I’d put a few Young Veterans stickers on the ute, just to help them out a bit.” The trip kicked off on 9 June with a 600km leg from Wangaratta. “The day we left was the day I finished the ute,” Tom laughs. “I got it registered and did 25 kays around town getting fuel and stuff, then hit the road!” It was all fairly smooth sailing until the bitumen gave way to north Queensland’s corrugated dirt. “It actually rattled the carby in half!” Tom says. “I pulled over and one of the screws was completely out.” When we first chatted with Tom, he was camping 45km from the tip of the country, waiting for Cam and Andrew to tackle the iconic Old Telegraph Track in the Cruiser. “I did a little bit of it, which I probably shouldn’t have,” he laughs. “The poor old ute’s not made for that, and it was pretty hairy! I’ve got a fridge in the back, double batteries, a rooftop tent and a heap of tools, so she’s not overly great on fuel, either.” Tom copped some good-natured ribbing about his vehicle of choice along the way. “People have been coming up going, ‘You’re a dickhead,’ and laughing with me,” he says. “A bloke on the HQ Holden Facebook group said he did the whole Telegraph Track in his HG ute 30 years ago. Not everybody had 4x4s, so they just used what they had.” The next leg of the trip was an extended solo AN UNLUCKY KANGAROO FOUND ITS WAY INTO THE UTE’S FRONT END, PUNCHING THE RADIATOR INTO THE CLUTCH FAN 010 STREET MACHINE
detour through the heart of Australia, cutting across to Mount Isa and down to Tennant Creek, Uluru, Alice Springs and Coober Pedy. Feeding the laden 202 across the NT’s 130km/h roads proved tricky. “I thought that was going to be the bee’s knees; the foot was down and I was up her,” Tom laughs. “I knew the roadhouses up there would be spaced out, but I didn’t realise just how spaced out. I was just watching the fuel gauge go down, so I ended up having to slipstream behind a caravan for 70 or 80 kays because I was running out of fuel. “I pretty much made it to the Barkly Roadhouse on fumes, and it took 75 litres of fuel – pretty much a whole tank! I thought it was hilarious when I got there, of course.” There was a close call with a scrub bull on the waterlogged roads out of Tennant Creek, and Tom found himself avoiding camels later on. “I thought I was home free once I got through the top half of South Australia, but I was very wrong,” he says. Just an hour from home, an unlucky kangaroo found its way into the Quey’s front end. “I wasn’t speeding, but I was thinking I should take it easy because there were probably a few around,” Tom says. “The second I thought that, old Skippy came out and I didn’t even have time to brake.” The impact punched the radiator into the clutch fan, bent the nosecone under the bonnet, mangled the radiator support and snapped off a driving light. “I rang my brother and he had a spare radiator sitting in his workshop, so he brought me that while I pulled the roo out of the grille and smashed out as much as I could with a 4lb hammer,” Tom says. “I was going to just ask him to bring the car trailer and load it up, but I thought, ‘It’s come this far; it can bloody drive home!’” All up, Tom drove 11,338km over four weeks, and despite the last-minute smash, he’s stoked to have done the trip, with his time spent at the Cape a highlight. “You can’t describe what it’s like up there,” he says. “Through the Territory and Uluru are just so different to here, and the people I met through the ute were just sensational. “I had that many people try to talk me out of it. Don’t listen to them – just give it a go!” STREET MACHINE 011 > HOT GOSSIP LEGENDS GATHER! THIS year’s Adelaide Auto Expo (17-18 November) is set to bring some of the most iconic street machines ever built under one roof. We’re talking about some real heavy-hitters, including Colin Townsend’s SMOTY-winning FJ, Phil Rillotta’s Raging Bull LC Torana, and Ian Hazel’s PREM70 HG wagon (below). CRUISE FOR A CAUSE THE street machiners of Canberra showed their class in July, turning out in force at Exhibition Park to support Cruise for a Cause. The event was held to raise funds for Ryan Tanaskovic, a local towie and Ford freak who is fighting a tough battle against leukaemia. Over 450 cars entered the event, which saw almost $75,000 raised to help Ryan and his family. His friends and family got his XY running in time for the event, enabling him to rip a massive trailer skid in celebration! NEXT! WE’VE got a spicy array of feature cars for you next issue, including a stunning Harrop-blown, plastic-powered VH Commodore, a gorgeous XR Falcon with a Gurney Eagle-headed Windsor, and a wild HR ute with the tallest induction set-up in the known universe (below). We’ll also announce the 16 finalists for the richest prize in Aussie street machining, the 2023 Milwaukee Street Machine of the Year. You stand to win $5000 cash just by voting for your favourite, so pick up a copy of the September issue of Street Machine and throw your hat in the ring! On sale 31 August – don’t miss it!
NEWS FRONT A U G U S T 2 0 2 3 : A L L T H E N E W S T H A T M A T T E R S S T O R Y K I A N H E A G N E Y EVERYONE loves a good sleeper, and for our latest Carnage project, Scotty Taylor has decided to create a super-cool example of the concept by throwing a 1UZ Toyota V8 into a VR Commodore-based Toyota Lexcen wagon. The 1UZ will be helped along by an appropriately large Pulsar 7170G turbo, and we’ll be keeping the thing registered to create an awesome drag ’n’ drive machine that’ll also be able to haul parts for all our other Carnage projects. We bought the Lexcen wagon off Facebook Marketplace for cheap as a standard and fairly tidy machine. We drove it around stock with the Buick V6 until the transmission packed it in on Telfo in the middle of nowhere during one of the Drag Challenge Weekend 2022 drive routes. That was the trigger to tear the car down to make way for the 1UZ V8, which we’d scored from a viewer who donated a whole (but very sorry-looking) Toyota Soarer runner to pillage the engine from. The project is in full swing right now, with Scotty having treated the mill to a Scotty’s Garage hone job and rebuild, along with getting the thing mounted in the car. If you’ve been watching the series on YouTube, you’ll know it hasn’t been an easy task, with the much wider quad-cam V8 causing a bunch of clearance issues for Scotty. Carnage sponsor VPW Australia has provided plenty of good gear for the project so far, including a whole Proflow fuel system, 70mm throttlebody, and boost clamps (which eliminate silicone joiners). We’ll be raiding the VPW catalogue for even more parts as we edge closer to getting this thing done. We’ve also got to give a shout-out to Haltech for providing the engine management side of things, and Castlemaine Rod Shop for the engine mounts and Wilwood brake booster delete kit required to help the tall 1UZ squeeze into the Lexcen. The photos you see here are of the car at the Top G Fabrications workshop in south-east Melbourne, where Top G’s Ben has sorted all the major piping work to the Proflow intercooler and mounted the big Pulsar hairdryer. We’re eyeing off around 500rwhp and timeslips in the 10-second range, and with flex-fuel, the car should be the perfect allrounder for street and strip. If you haven’t already, make sure you check the build out by scanning the QR code above or heading to the STREETMACHINETV YouTube channel. ON THE WAGON > OUR CARNAGE 1UZ V8 SLEEPER WAGON PROJECT IS FULL STEAM AHEAD! SCAN FOR CARNAGE! 012 STREET MACHINE
PEOPLE LIKE US S T O R Y & P H O T O S A S H L E I G H W I L S O N BRYAN & TRACEY LITTLE > BRIBIE ISLAND, QUEENSLAND WHEN we heard there was some unique metal rolling around this year’s Cooly Rocks On festival (see p.42 for full feature), we set out on a mission to spot Bryan and Tracey Little’s split-window Kombi and Ford Sunliner convertible amongst the thousands of assembled cars. We found them parked side by side, which was where we caught up with the married couple to talk about their love of classic cars. You’ve both got some rare rides! Tell us about them. BL: I’ve got a 1960 Ford Galaxie Sunliner convertible. There are only six in Australia, and three are in Queensland. It’s got a 351 Cleveland in it with a C4 automatic. The engine, transmission, brakes and suspension have all been rebuilt during my ownership. TL: I drive a 1965 split-window Kombi called Charlie. She’s a genuine Westfalia. The uniqueness of this one is that she’s got what they call a turret-top – a little pop-top. The story of CharlieisthatanAmericanboughtherinGermany and travelled through Europe with her in the 60s. He then got a job in the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme and brought her over. That’s when she was converted to right-hand drive. What’s the history of your Sunliner, Bryan? BL: They made 44,762. This one was brought into Australia brand new by somebody who worked in the US Embassy in Canberra; that’s why it’s right-hand drive. I bought it about seven years ago. How did you both get into the car scene? BL: I’ve always had a fascination with cars, especially big cars with dual headlights. My father worked for Rolls-Royce for a while in the UK. He was a very good toolmaker and made bikes that did motor racing in New Zealand, where I was born. TL: We both have such an appreciation for classic cars and how they’re made. As a young child, my grandfather was an old-school diesel mechanic. I loved to sit and watch as he worked on different machines. When did you two meet? TL: We had our first date 12 years ago at the local golf club. Unfortunately, I didn’t realise I’d organised our date on the same day the V8s were on. I was watching the TV and Bryan thought,“What’s going on? She’s kind of looking behind me all the time and not really making any conversation.” Then he realised what I was doing and we discovered we were both Ford fans. Andyou’vebeen cruisingtogether ever since? BL:We love going to shows together and sharing the history of the cars. We’re in the Gold Coast Muscle Car Association and are very grateful they let us display our cars as a couple. TL: We’ve been going to Cooly together now for 12 years. Bryan first introduced me to the Wintersun Festival [forerunner to Cooly Rocks On]; he’s been going for 25 years. I’m sure your cars turn a few heads parked next to each other. BL: You just don’t see cars like mine or Tracey’s at shows. The Sunliner is such a unique car; it was only one year they came out with that body shape. And you never see the pop-top Kombis in Australia. TL: We get so many kids looking at the cars and grandparents that will stop and tell old stories. We love the classic cars and rockabilly scene and the people that we get to catch up with. It sounds like they’ve taken you on some adventures. TL: I’m a marriage celebrant and have used Charlie in the background at a few elopements. She’s so cute and romantic, and the green is very in vogue. BL: We also did the Gold Coast V8 drivers’ parade in Monty [the Sunliner] in 2018 with Fabian Coulthard and Tony D’Alberto, and again in 2022 with Will Davison. TL: We love these cars and will be holding on to them as long as we can. YOU JUST DON’T SEE CARS LIKE MINE OR TRACEY’S, SO WE LOVE GOING TO SHOWS AND SHARING THEIR HISTORY 014 STREET MACHINE
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WHILE Holden was the maker of choice for many budding Australian customisers of the 1960s and early 70s, Ford and Chrysler products fromthe preceding decades were also popular and cheaply available once they had a few years under their belts. A number of builds from the Aussiedelivered Ford and Mopar stables left an indelible mark on our show scene and captured the hearts of many, so for our final Snap Shots instalment on custom builds of this era, we remember a few icons that flew the flag for the Blue Oval and the Pentastar. 1: SURE, all hot rods are basically ‘custom’ by default, but it isn’t overly common to see pre-’48 models treated to body mods like headlight, grille and tail-light changes. George Clark was one builder who opted for touches more commonly applied to post-’48 builds, and his 1939 Plymouth Coupe was pioneering in many ways. These threewindow coupes were an Australian-build-only TJ Richards & Sons bodyshell, so they were already a rare car when George commenced the build in 1957. He added slightly canted International truck headlights along with a custom grille and taillights, while the original flathead six-cylinder was extensively modified and fitted with a ‘six-pack’ triple two-barrel carburettor set-up that George developed in 1960. Virtually every part that could be unbolted was chromed, including the brake drums and leaf springs, and the Plymouth’s original Tangerine paintjob was later replaced with a purple metalflake respray by George’s brother, Alick; it’s rumoured to be one ofAustralia’s first’flake-painted hot rods. George and the ’39 were no slouches at the strip either, and this drag racing connection offers a clue to the car’s fate: it was this very ’39 that was later purchased and rebuilt into an iconic black pro streeter by the late, great Mario Colalillo. 2: TONY Alessi’s AP5 Valiant sedan was barely two years old when it nabbed the cover of The Australian Hot Rodding Review for September/ October 1965. Built into a fastback and modelled loosely on the ‘big-window’ Plymouth Barracudas of that era, Tony’s Val had the factory tail-lights mounted vertically rather than horizontally, and the custom rear screen was shaped from Perspex and covered a boot area that opened up to the interior. The AP5 retained slant-six power, was resplendent in bright red paint, and rolled on chromed reversed rims, while the front end was tastefully customised with twin headlight assemblies froma ToyotaStout. The Val was later relocated from NSWtoBrisbane, but sadly, by the mid-1970s it was seeing out its days in a local wrecking yard. 3: CALLING Vin Boyle’s 1959 Dodge Custom Royal sedan ‘radical’ would be a serious understatement. Vin kicked off the build in the mid60s by sectioning the bodyshell a full six inches before trimming the doors and guards to suit. The front bumper was recessed well up into the stone tray area to form the custom nose and offer some crash protection, while the usually pronounced rear fins of this model were trimmed right down to create a hipline for the quarter panels. The Dodge was later purchased by Bruce Andrews, who altered it from what you see here by adding US Racing five-spoke mags, a new rear bumper using two Austin Freeway units, and a boldly revamped grille featuring unmissable DODGE lettering and chromed tube bars. Mechanical performance was often an afterthought in the custom scene, but this Dodge had ample go thanks to its 350hp, 361ci Chrysler V8 sporting a Wade solid cam and twin Carter four-barrel carbs. Thankfully, this amazing SNAP SHOTS S T O R Y S I M O N M A J O R AUSTRALIAN CUSTOM FORDS & CHRYSLERS 3 1 2 4 016 STREET MACHINE
Mopar survives in the hands of custom aficionado Leigh Russell, who purchased it in 1976 and is currently preparing it for a return to the streets. 4:THE‘TopCustomofAustralia’gongfor1967was awarded to Dave Andrew’s 1953 Ford Customline. Dave’s wildly restyledCusso was built at his brother Tony ‘Blue J’ Andrew’s Kustom City and, later, Mag Wheel Centre shops, where Dave worked as a paint and panel man. He began by welding up the rear doors, frenching a pair of aerials and adding air scoops to the rear quarters and bonnet, before creating a custom nose that used canted Toyota headlights and a handcrafted, chromed coppertube grille set above a rollpan. The rear was shaved of any unnecessary additions before being outfitted with a matching rollpan, number plate recess and ’59 Cadillac tail-lights – surely one of the first cars to sport this mod in Australia along with the Pirotta/ Caruana ‘Crimson Pirate’ Model A bucket. The completed body was lavished in multiple coats of deep bronze flake and finished off with a set of Mag Wheel Centre ‘Kustom Mag’ rims. A hopped-up 250ci sidevalve V8 provided the grunt, backed by aBritishRiley four-speed. The Customline was later soldsoDave couldfocus on otherprojects, and, like many other customs, has since been lost to time. 5: THIS custom Falcon known as Delta has led an eventful life indeed. Built in the late 1960s by young Brisbane panel beater Neil Flynn, Delta was crafted from a written-off XL Falcon sedan and treated to Mustang-esque fastback styling from the A-pillars back. Once Neil had wielded his sheetmetal skills over the main bodyshell, he added an XP front clip and gold Amos wheels, and painted the car in Fire Red Candy with gold stripes and lacework. A Valiant slant-six and Torqueflite were both lavished in metalflake paint and chrome, and the build scored People’s Choice, Best Interior and second in Radical at the 1969 Brisbane Hot Rod Show. Local policeman Cliff Crawford was smitten with Delta and bought it from Neil, using it as daily transport until 1973, when his ever-growing family struggled with the limitations of two doors. Delta ended up waist-deep in water during the 1974 Brisbane floods, before later being stolen and used as a getaway car for an armed robbery. It was back on the Brisbane scene by the mid-1990s sporting maroon paint and a Windsor conversion, before disappearing into the back blocks of a Chinese market garden and resurfacing again in 2012. Happily, these days Delta is in the hands of another panel beater, Chris East, who plans to restore the car to its original 1960s guise. 6: CUSTOMLINES were a popular Ford product here in the years before theAussie Falcon and were often used for hot street, race or custom projects. However, none were quite as wild as this 1955 model built by South Australian Bob Hoskins. An avid hot rodder and customiser, Bob was a skilled fabricator and initially considered a roof chop for the Cusso, but instead opted for a sectioned body, removing five inches from above and below the centreline before pancaking the roof an additional 2.5 inches to further lower its profile. Tube frames created the basis for the custom front and rear ends, while modified wheelarches, chromed reversed rims and Vermilion Fire paint with matteblack highlights and a gold vinyl roof completed the look. The matching gold vinyl interior was just as radical, with four bucket seats, a full front-torear centre console and a plethora of gauges and switches. A warmed-over Y-block V8 backed by a Humber Super Snipe four-speed gearbox were just the ticket forBob and the Cusso to clock up several thousand kilometres once it was finished in 1972. The car went through a number of hands and even a sinister flat-black paintjob before being stored for the past three decades, but it remains in Adelaide and has received a worthy restoration back to its Hoskins specification. 7: AN ABSOLUTE showstopper both here and during its 1970 tour across the ditch, Ron Wickham’s beautiful 1952 Ford F100 was a radical custom indeed. Ron began the build in the late 1960s with a well-used ex-NRMA tow truck, shortening the chassis six inches and sectioning the cab a further six. The front was extended to create a trick Firebird-inspired nose, finished with a fibreglassbonnet,Toyotaheadlightsandhandmade split grille. The tray was from an XT Falcon ute and was shortened in length, width and height, and used two pairs of inverted HD sedan tail-lights to create a Mustang effect. The Blue Wildfire paint was complemented by extensive chrome plating throughout, along with bright yellow and white detailing for the Chrysler 313-cube ‘Poly’ engine, which featured triple and later quad carb set-ups on Ron-built intakes. Unfortunately, subsequent owners of this Effy weren’t as caring, and by the 1980s it was languishing in a Newcastle wrecking yard. The remains were saved by a Brisbane fan, John Bishop, who began a significant and faithful rebuild on the truck before offering it up for sale as an unfinished project in 1985. That is where the trail runs cold; it has been nearly 40 years since the Wickham F100’s last sighting, likely making it yet another Australian custom icon that we’ve lost. 7 6 5 STREET MACHINE 017
T HE 1978 flick Grease has become such a cultural touchstone over the past 45 years that reviewing it in 2023 seems a little redundant. That said, modern-day critics haven’t been too kind to the film in recent years, with many declaring it all kinds of inappropriate based on current mores and attitudes that didn’t exist when it hit the big screens back in ’78.Because of this, I fear there’s a whole generation of younger movie fans who might miss out on the simple pleasures of this box-office smash, so let’s try to redress the balance. The film’s premise is simple – two high school kids from completely different walks of life fall in love during summer break and fear they’ll never meet again, only to later find themselves reunited and having to navigate the trials and tribulations of 1950s high school life. Danny (John Travolta) leads the local cool gang of misfits, the T-Birds, with his best mate Kenickie (Jeff Conaway), while new girl Sandy (the late, great Olivia Newton-John) clings to the skirt strings of Frenchie (Didi Conn), who rolls with the Pink Ladies, headed by the abrasive Rizzo (Stockard Channing). As the worlds of Danny and Sandy collide, the pair try to adapt to each other’s lives, and, along with their friends, belt out various musical numbers in an attempt to help guide them all towards answers. The film offers a fun mix of harmless innuendo, simple comic elements, teen coming-of-age issues and great tunes. However, we’re here for the cars, and they are very cool – most notably the flame-throwing black ‘Hell’s Chariot’ ’49 Mercury of rival Scorpion gang leader Leo (Dennis Stewart) – while the road-race between Leo and Danny in the white version of Kenickie’s ‘Greased Lightning’ ’48 Ford sees some tricky wheelwork as they traverse the concrete walls of the Los Angeles river. The rides created for the film by customiser Eddie Paul have become legendary and since immortalised as diecast models and the like; they hark back to an era of movies where the cars oozed as much star quality as the performers. VERDICT: 5/5 IGNORE the recent negativity; Grease is a fun and energetic film with plenty of sass and an obvious connection to its stage-play roots. It’s full of cracking songs, many of which have since embedded themselves in popular culture, and any possible ‘problematic’ connotations will likely fly straight over the heads of younger viewers, just as they did when we were kids. GREASE 1978 > GREASE IS THE WORD BREAKDOWN VEHICLES: Custom 1946 Ford Super De Luxe, 1949 Mercury convertible, 1948 Ford Super De Luxe, 1948 Studebaker Commander Regal, 1956 Buick Special, 1949 Dodge Wayfarer, 1956 Plymouth Savoy STARS: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway, Didi Conn, Jamie Donnelly, Dennis Stewart, Sid Caeser, Alice Ghostley, Dody Goodman, Eve Arden, Frankie Avalon DIRECTOR: Randal Kleiser ACTION: Some panel-chewing road racing for pink slips pushes 1940s handling characteristics to the limit PLOT: Two 1950s teenagers who fall in love during a summer beach vacation unexpectedly meet again and try to establish a relationship AVAILABLE: DVD, streaming FANGING FLICK S T O R Y S I M O N M A J O R COOL FLICK FACT: ‘Those’ skin-tight pants and leather jacket worn by Olivia Newton-John in the film fetched $405,000 when auctioned off in 2019 018 STREET MACHINE
4-7 JAN 2024 SUMMERNATS.COM.AU SKID ROW DRIFTING SHOW CARS UNVEILS DYNO BURNOUTS FRIDAY SATURDAY SATURDAY
YOUR STUFF Write to: Your Stuff, Street Machine, Unit 9/3-5 Gilda Court, Mulgrave, Vic 3170, or email [email protected]. Make sure you include your address (not necessarily for publication). Keep it short and sweet! > LETTER OF THE MONTH HR DEPARTMENT HI BROADS, I would like to thank you in writing for your kind words in your editorial about my old HR ute in the July mag. I didn’t realise you were a big fan of the car, mate. It gives me great pleasure to see that Craig and Kristie McKenzie have taken the HR to the next level (SM, Jul ’23, pictured right), and I wish them all the success in this coming year. I would also like to thank Chris Thorogood and Kian Heagney for putting together a great feature article on the incredible work that Craig and his team have done to the HR to bring it back into a highly competitive showcar scene here inAustralia. Again, many thanks for giving the HR a new platform to continue its historic journey with Craig and Kristie. Ditch Jones, email HEY Ditch, great to hear from you, mate. Yep, the ute is one of my faves from back in the day. I love that its story has now evolved, and it was a pleasure to be able to run it on the cover again years later. Craig and Kristie have done an amazing job with it. Glad to hear you’re pleased with how it came up in the mag! – Broads SATISFIED CUSTOMER HELLO Andrew, I have been a Street Machine subscriber for over 20 years now and hopefully will be for another 20 years. I have loved every issue since subscribing – great value, delivered straight to my door, wellpackaged and sealed. I hope Street Machine magazine never finishes! Anyway, keep up the brilliant job of keeping us revheads glued to the magazine. George Andrasik, email HEY mate, thanks very much for the kind words – it’s much appreciated. Glad to have you aboard! – Broads INSIDE: AUSTRALIA’S WILDEST SLEEPER SUSS IT OUT PAGE 114 PLUS: TWIN-TURBO CHARGER MILWAUKEE YOUNG SMOTY WINNER LS ENGINE GUIDE WILD CUSTOM HR DROPPED, CHOPPED & BLOWN! $11.95incl GST NZ $12.45 incl GST JULY 2023 streetmachine.com.au 20/6/23 2:14 pm 20/6/23 2:14 pm ELITE HALL HI, MY name is Owen and I wanted to share with you a picture of my hallway that leads into my bedroom. I am a very passionate Holden supporter – if you can’t tell already by the pic – and I have turned this boring hallway into what I now call the ‘Holden Hallway of Fame’, thanks largely to posters from Street Machine! I love the mag and would love it if my hallway could make it into the next issue! Owen Laycock, email STREET MACHINE 021
> DEPARTMENT OF YOUTH PONY EXPRESS HI, MY name is Fred. I am 10 years old, love cars and draw them all the time. This is my picture of a Mustang fastback. It would be awesome if my drawing was in Street Machine. Fred Thomas, 10, email PERFECTLY IMPERFECT HEY legends! Tell me if this sounds familiar. The weather is nice, you have knocked enough domestic jobs off the list to put your brownie points in the black, and there’s a car show on. So, you grab the keys to your old banger, hoik up the roller door and climb into the driver’s seat. A couple of hefty pumps on the go-pedal and you kick it in the guts. You pull out of the driveway and head off to the car show to take part in the show ’n’ shine. As you roll through the entrance, old mate at the gate gives you a wry smile and directs you “down the back for this old banger, mate”. You nod and plop her into drive, wait the 3-6 business days for the shift to lurch you forward slightly, then scamper away with a wisp of oil smoke dutifully trailing behind. That’s all well and good, but a bunch of us blokes got a bit tired of being the cheap sideshow to the main event. We decided to make our own show, and we called it Patina Breakdown (pictured left), a celebration of the perfectly imperfect – flaky, scuffed, bruised and battered. Worn in but not worn out. So, in November 2022 we rolled into the Moonambel Recreation Reserve in western Victoria. We camped two nights and made use of the local pub only 300 metres down the road, where many stories were swapped and friends were made. We had a local coffee Kombi keeping the caffeine up, and a wood-fired pizza van for the big display on the Sunday. On show day, the turnout was amazing. Some killer cars showed up, with any apologies for dirt, dust or rust being batted away with a “don’t you dare apologise for that stuff – you’re at Patina Breakdown!” The locals have welcomed us back for round two of Patina Breakdown, which will take place 17-19 November. The venue is once again Moonambel Recreation Reserve, around 2.5 hours north-west of Melbourne and 45 minutes east of Stawell. We will have a meet-and-greet at the Moonambel Resort Hotel on the Friday night, a cruise to Avoca for lunch on Saturday, and there’ll be plenty of time to relax on Saturday night at the Rec Reserve. Sunday will be the open-to-the-public display between 10am and 2pm. Entry is $10, but if you want to camp there’ll be an extra fee set by the Reserve. Car entry for the show on Sunday is $10 per car. All funds raised will be donated back to the local community. We hope to see you there! In the meantime, you can find more info on our Patina Breakdown Facebook page. Tim Barnett, email 022 STREET MACHINE
v ROAD TRIP! > IN YOUR FACEBOOK REMEMBER when Aussies spent more time getting the family car out to see our country’s big backyard than they did in the 4x4 accessory aisle? Well, young tacker Tom Carriera decided to relive the glory days of basic Aussie motoring, taking his ’73 HQ Holden ute all the way from Victoria up to the tip of Australia at Cape York. The drive was all in the name of charity, so we shared Tom’s story on our Facebook page. Here’s what you had to say. And for more on Tom’s journey, turn to p.10 of this issue! Shannon Heraud – That is so cool! What an awesome adventure. Wok Smith – You just can’t beat the mighty big-block Holden six! Rodney Menso – We drove the Monaro from Ayr to Canberra for Summernats 12, stopped in Bathurst for a few hot laps on the way down, then across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on the way home. No mobile phones or Google Maps to spoil the fun either! Paul Robbo – That is so awesome. Back in the day, my 308 HZ pano did some epic trips, includingSydney toCapeTribulation. David O’Farrell – I did that exact trip over 30 years ago in my old HQ sedan. I was fresh onmyP-plates and had no idea about the tropical weather. I only just made it back into Cairns before the monsoons hit. Crazy times; I remember the locals telling me I was mad when I got back to Cairns. Andrew Levine – Those HQs would go anywhere. Commodores can’t achieve what the HQ could. Steven Jaksetic – I did a full lap of Australia back in 2019 in just 28 days in my WB. Raised a bit of coin for a local charity then. Cape is the next on the bucket list. Hopefully 2024. Jon Read – I did the Gibb River Road and went into the Bungle Bungle Range in my HJ ute. I also went to Palm Valley when I lived in Alice Springs. Tony Nardi – I had a GT Falcon I took bush to Kakadu NP, crossing the South Alligator River – GT guards and bonnet swapped for each trip with standard panels. You can take a well-prepared 2WD a lot of places. Ron Kiehne – I took a WB Holden all the way to Punsand Bay and back in the 1990s. Mind you, l did spend a little time underneath it, and I also had to make a welder out of three 12V batteries – worked a treat! North East Autoshop – Tom Carriera, we better get this thing to Summernats 36! Christine Rich – I remember doing the Canning Stock Route and the Gunbarrel Highway in an HZ in the late 70s and early 80s. Kev Harris – Gee whiz, how is this even possible without a $150K V8 diesel ute kitted out with all the gear? Dave Bradbury – I saw a bloke do it in a 120Y back in ’89. Made me wonder why l bought a new HiLux to do it. Phillip Furnari – Do that with an electric car. Deegee Stone – I rolled my HQ ute (with dinghy on top) outside of Laura at 30km/h. I hit a bulldust hole and the car did half a roll and landed on its roof. I left the dinghy on the side of the road and kept going! There was fun to be had back in 1984. Kim Leach – I was told that the only thing that would make it to the Cape was a fully kitted-out 79 Series dual-cab. Well, there ya go! 024 STREET MACHINE Importer of High Performance Auto Parts For Over 20 Years Special Orders & Custom Cams Airfreighted Weekly We deal direct with the US manufacturers and can offer service, backup and support that otherresellers cannot. Ph 08 8363 5566 [email protected] www.autopd.com.au
VISION TWISTED VISION C U S T O M M A D E W H E E L R A N G E 2 0 2 3 SW5 SUMNER SW4 SW7 RADLEY SW6 ATLAS SW4T SW7T VISION II SPRINTER BILLET WHEELS / 15-24” FORGED WHEELS / 15-24” TWISTED AERO TWISTED AERO BRN TWISTED VISION II TWISTED PARMENTER FINSTER RAPID 015 FORGED 015H FORGED 019 FORGED 021 FORGED 001 FORGED 003 FORGED 005 FORGED 007 FORGED 009 FORGED 011 FORGED 013 FORGED 013B FORGED FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT WWW.SHOWWHEELS.COM.AU PHONE: (03) 9034 3431 EMAIL: [email protected] GASSER FUSTER GT1 SF002 SF006B SF008 SF008PT SF010 BR-8 1 PIECE 15x8 15x9 15x10 BR-8 3 PIECE FORGED 15, 16, 17, 18 INCH BLACK RACING SW1 POLISHED SW1 GRAY / MACHINED LIP CAST ALLOY / 15” 17” 18” 20” WESTON NITRO 2 NITRO SW3 TWISTED NITRO
ADAM ROGASH HAS STRAYED FROM HIS COMMODORE ROOTS TO BUILD ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S QUICKEST STREET CARS S T O R Y L I A M Q U I R K P H O T O S C H R I S T H O R O G O O D 026 STREET MACHINE
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ENGINE BAY: The Dandy Enginesbuilt 596ci big-block uses an aluminium Brodix block, Pro-Filer 12-degree heads and a custom solid-roller cam. It makes 1000hp naturally aspirated, and more than double that with a mere 20psi up its skirt courtesy of the twin 98mm Pulsar turbos! Adam expects north of 3000hp when he lets it eat BELOW: The cam-driven fuel pump is strictly for methanol and draws from a tank in the engine bay to feed the whopping 5500cc XX Racing injectors. The boot-mounted fuel cell, with its twin Walbro 525 pumps, feeds pump fuel to the 2400cc injectors for street duties 028 STREET MACHINE
S THE proprietor of MPW Performance, Adam Rogash is not new to building show-quality, big-power cars to tight deadlines, but his new street-and-strip Capri is next level. It also represents a change of tack from Adam’s previous projects, as he elected to build the car largely at home rather than at the shop, allowing his wife Kelly and young kids to be heavily involved. Not only did Adam and the family choose to depart from the Commodore platform and twin-turbo LS engine combination that has served them so well over the years, they gave themselves just six months to build it. Lunatics. “I was keen to do a Fox-body [Mustang], but the missus liked the shape of the Capri,” Adam says. “We found one in Queensland that was engineered for a big-block, so that seemed like a sign.” The car turned out to be a bit like a Tinder date – it presented pretty well in photos online, but when Adam and Kelly laid eyes on it for real, it was barely recognisable. “It was f*cked,” says Adam, bluntly. The years had not been kind to the Capri, with dodgy rust repairs and liberal helpings of body filler among the hidden ‘gems’ awaiting the Rogashes as they began to tear the car down. Adam, Kelly and the kids spent every spare evening and weekend tinkering on the car together – family time that Adam is grateful for. “The car was pretty bad, but it gave me the opportunity to get the kids involved with rust repairs and bodywork and teach them the process,” he recalls fondly. With the car straightened out, the team could turn their attention to chopping it up and sprinkling in plenty of race-car eye candy. The back end was cut out to accept the huge rear wheel-and-tyre combination, then decorated with goodies like the MPW fabricated nine-inch housing and the kind of hardware you’d expect from a 2000+hp radial race car. The car rolls around on 315 Mickey Thompson rear radials, a tyre that Adam has used on plenty of MPW builds; however, the tubs were built to also accept a 31.5x12.5 slick. “We’ll start on a radial and then prepare the car to race at Drag Challenge on the big tyre,” Adam says. “Obviously, there’s a big difference between the radial and the slick, but we tried to build the car in such a way that all we had to change was a few bar angles and the rear shocks to swap between the two tyres.” The fab work continued up front, where Adam was obsessed with getting everything to fit perfectly. “It took me three days to get the engine and turbos in the right place,” he recalls. The Capri’s tightly packed engine bay is like aWhere’sWally puzzle of high-performance parts, with Adam managing to cram two 98mm Pulsar turbos, the dry sump oil tank, and a fuel cell for the cam-driven fuel pump into the front of the car, functioning in perfect harmony with the chassis and rollcage, as well as the jewel in the crown: the 596-cube big block. “We’re really known for our LS combinations, but we’re starting to see more diversity in the workshop these days, so it made sense,” explains Adam of the choice of the big-block. “Plus, we’ve got the VK IF YOU’RE BUILDING A DEDICATED RACE CAR, THEN STREET MANNERS DON’T MATTER. BUT WE DON’T BUILD MILD RACE CARS, WE BUILD WILD STREET CARS! STREET MACHINE 029
[ALLSHOW, SM, Oct ’17] to the point where the LS is right on the cusp of reliability – they’re great for 1500hp, but as you edge closer to 2000hp, you can’t work around the fact that they’re a small-journal engine, and that becomes a limitation.” For his first foray into the world of big-cube big-blocks, Adam enlisted the help of Frank Marchese of Dandy Engines. “Frank had just finished building this engine for a customer who ended up purchasing a 481X, so we grabbed the Chev engine and slotted it into the Capri,” he says. “They’d originally built it as a naturally aspirated engine, but the specs made sense for us to add the EFI and turbos and go racing.” The mill is centred around a Brodix aluminium block, and the internals read as you’d expect them to – nothing too exotic. But remember, this isn’t a highly strung aspo engine; a lot of the heavy lifting is done by the bolt-ons. The Pulsar turbos force-feed a Plazmaman billet intake with two injectors per cylinder – one set for street driving on pump fuel, and the other, larger set for racing the car on methanol. One of the coolest aspects of the Capri is how easily it can be converted to naturally aspirated trim for the road legs of Drag Challenge, and for engineering and registration purposes. “The turbos sit on Maven turbo mounts, so the weight isn’t supported by the headers,” Adam explains. “The car runs J-pipes from the 2.25in-primary headers to the turbos, which I can remove and replace with connecting pipes to join the headers straight to the exhaust system, bypassing the turbos. Then we just remove the bullhorns and fit block-off plates. The whole process takes around 15 minutes.” A two-speed Turbo 400 isn’t a misprint – M&M offer its Turbo 400s with only two gears to help racers better select more optimal gear ratios. It’s mated to an M&M bolt-together converter, which Adam and the team have already tinkered with a few times to get the car launching, while out the back, an MPW-fabricated nine-inch houses 3.5:1 gears and Race Products floating axles. More than just a matter of making everything fit though, it had to be practical. Adam and the MPW cohort are avid campaigners at Street Machine Drag Challenge and firm believers in using their cars on the street. “The Capri was a packaging nightmare! We had to make everything fit, but it also had to be easy to work on. It really made us consider every system – the cooling system, the oiling system, the fuel system, our suspension set-up,”Adamexplains.“If you’re building a dedicated race car, then street manners don’t matter. But we don’t build mild race cars, we build wild street cars!” Despite the lightning-quick build time, Adam says he wouldn’t change a thing on the Capri: “We built it right the first time. It will be the last big car I build myself for quite a while, so it had to be right.” WE’LL START ON A RADIAL AND THEN PREPARE THE CAR TO RACE AT DRAG CHALLENGE ON THE BIG TYRE 030 STREET MACHINE
WHEELS: The Keizer wheels are a breath of fresh air, and a product the MPW team are looking to stock and use on future builds. They’re 15x6 up front and 15x14 on the rear, with Wilwood brakes lurking behind them INTERIOR: It’s not a street car without a full interior, according to Adam! Race-car goodies like the CO2 bottle, floor-mounted pedal box and the 6.50-teched rollcage share space with Racetech seats, MPI steering wheel and practical suede trim. The Haltech iC-7 dash and Nexus R5 vehicle management system monitor and control every single electrical system in the car EXTERIOR: It’s got us gobsmacked why more people aren’t building tough Capris! Adam has nailed the stance on his car, slung low over a fat wheel-and-tyre combo. The bodywork is as slick as the rest of the car – all steel, save for the front guards, and finished in HAMR Coatings custom Electric Blue STREET MACHINE 031
That mantra extends to the vehicle management system, and in describing how he specced the car, Adam admits he treated the Capri like the Noah’s ark of Haltech products, ushering two of every kind of switch and sensor into the tiny Ford coupe! “We’re pulling data from every moving part on the car, and even some parts that don’t,” he says. “Without the data, you’re just guessing, and on a big-dollar build like this, that’s just not an option.You don’t go fast by guessing.” The Capri has already seen some time on the MPW hub dyno, with Adam punching numbers in the Haltech Nexus R5 that controls the car. After a few shakedown passes to refine the power management and tune the suspension, the car rattled off a seemingly effortless 6.91@199mph pass at Sydney Dragway’s Grudge Kings event – on its second ever full-track pass! Between now and Drag Challenge, though, the Capri is destined for some road miles. “If you have something that’s safe to be driven on the street with all the mod cons – including cupholders – then anything can be a street car if you’re game enough,” Adam grins. ADAM AND KELLY ROGASH 1970 FORD CAPRI Paint: Custom Electric Blue ENGINE Brand: 596ci Brodix 10.2-deck aluminium big-block Induction: Plazmaman billet intake Heads: Pro-Filer 12-degree Camshaft: Dandy Engines customground solid-roller Conrods: GRP Pistons: Diamond forged Crank: Callies Magnum Oil pump: Peterson five-stage dry sump, custom pan Fuel system: Eight XX Racing 5500cc injectors, eight Siemens Deka 2400cc injectors, Aeromotive Li’l Bertha 30gal/min cam-driven fuel pump, boot-mounted fuel cell, two Walbro 525 internal pumps Management: Haltech Nexus R5 Cooling: Custom MPW radiator, SPAL 3500 thermo fan Exhaust: Custom MPW headers, removable J-pipes, Turbosmart 60mm wastegates, dual 3in stainless-steel exhaust, removable bullhorns Ignition: Haltech IGN-1A coils TRANSMISSION Gearbox: M&M two-speed TH400, Reid case Converter: M&M bolt-together Diff: MPW fabricated housing, Strange GLII FHQWUH 5DFH 3URGXFWV pRDWLQJ axles, 3.5:1 gears SUSPENSION & BRAKES Front: Custom-fabricated tubular front end, AFCO/Gazzard Bros 6in coil-overs, Strange steering rack Rear: AFCO/Gazzard Bros 6in coilovers, Haltech travel sensors, MPW four-link, anti-roll bar Brakes: Wilwood discs and calipers (f & r) Master cylinder: 7LOWRQ pRRUPRXQWHG pedal box WHEELS & TYRES Rims: Keizer Beurt; 15x6 (f), 15x14 (r) Rubber: Mickey Thompson ET (f), Mickey Thompson 315 radial or 31.5x12.50 slick (r) THANKS The whole team at MPW, especially Abe; my good friend Mark for helping with the transmission; Frank at Dandy Engines; Dale Heiler for the injectors; Chris Cutajar for reasons no one knows; my wife Kelly and my kids for their unwavering support; Turbosmart; Haltech; Plazmaman; Pulsar Turbos; Cameron at Rosebud Panels; GJ Drivelines; Raceworks; Rick and Dragos; Scotty Cortina at Gazzard Bros; Keizer Wheels; HAMR Coatings; Racer Industries 032 STREET MACHINE
T O T A L C O N T R O L F U L L F L E X I B I L I T Y EMPOWERING AUTOMOTIVE PASSION SINCE 1986 • New Generation ECU • Power Distribution Module • Wi-Fi Module • Wideband Controller • Data Logger All controlled through one powerful software. For more information go to www.haltech.com So much functionality squeezed into one compact, rugged unit!
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RAY ELIA’S VH VALIANT REGAL HAS GONE FROM P-PLATE CHARIOT TO BAD-ARSE, 543-CUBE TYRE-FRYER S T O R Y J A C K H O U L I H A N P H O T O S B E N H O S K I N G STREET MACHINE 035
E’VE all dreamed of finding that perfect one-owner project car, and Sydney’s Ray Elia wound up with one of these elusive gems – not through years of hunting, but straight from his Chrysler-mad old man, John! “My dad bought it new; I drove it when I was on my L- and P-plates,” Ray grins. “I bought it off Dad when I was 16 years old – 27 years ago. I met my girlfriend, who’s my wife now, in the car as well.” By the way, don’t get him confused with Ray Elia of blown VN fame (SM, Dec ’22) – that’d be his namesake and cousin! “I was 22 when I stripped the car,” Ray continues. “It’s just been a slow build ever since; obviously with starting a business and starting a family, it went on the back-burner.” Ray’s first iteration of CRNKY1 hit the blacktop back in 2014, having been doused in custom-mix PPG metallic silver by Keven at Grange Smash Repairs to replace the original black-vinyl-on-white combo. “It was a really good base,” Ray says. “I was actually going to paint it in [Mopar] Vitamin C or Dukes of Hazzard orange, or maybe even a purple, but I reckon the silver came up all right with the chrome!” The wraparound stripe kit from Angel Signs isn’t directly based on a particular design, though similar treatments feature all over American Mopar hotties of the era. “The paint and body are 10 years old now and still in bloody awesome nick, but the rest of the stuff got changed in the past couple of years,” Ray says. Aside from the generous bonnet relief and smoothed rear filler panel seams, the exterior metalwork is basically as-stock, down to the VH 770 front end often associated with Chargers. To power the car, Brett McNiff at St Marys Engines bolted together a stout, 543-cube big-block Chrysler. Built on a 440 block, it runs a forged rotating assembly topped with Edelbrock Victor heads and Comp valve gear. In its original form, it wore twin carbs and a tunnel ram. “I was hardly driving the car, and the carbies would start fouling up and leaking fuel and all that shit,” Ray says. “I’d always wanted a blower anyway, so I went with the 10/71.” The whole shebang came from Joe Blo Speed Shop, from the blower and low-profile hat to the injector rails, linkages, cables and belt guards. “Joe, I reckon, has one of the best 036 STREET MACHINE
ENGINE BAY: ICE ignition with a locked billet dizzy lights up the E85 or PULP to feed the hefty 543ci big-block. The custom four-core radiator from Lowe Fabrications and twin Davies Craig thermo fans have already proven themselves at the car’s Chryslers on the Murray track session WITH ALL RESPECT TO THE TURBO BOYS, IF THEY WERE THAT GOOD, THE TOP FUELLERS WOULD ALL BE TURBO CARS. BUT THEY’RE NOT – THEY’RE BLOWN HEMIS! STREET MACHINE 037
LEFT: “Olivia is my mini-me daughter who is heavily involved in the car scene,” Ray says. “She wants an RX-7, so I’m looking for one of those now! She’s really mechanically minded and loves everything that goes fast. She even got her Ps in a manual” LEFT: “If you look at the bottom of the rear windscreen on a normal Valiant, there’s two seams around the filler panel; I welded them up for a smooth finish,” Ray says. “People reckon it cracks, but mine hasn’t, thank god, and it’s been 10 or 12 years” RAY ELIA 1972 VH VALIANT REGAL Colour: PPG custom silver ENGINE Type: Chrysler 543ci big-block Induction: Joe Blo manifold and injector hat Supercharger: 10/71 ECU: Haltech Elite 2500 Heads: Edelbrock Victor Cam: Solid-roller Crank: Mopar forged 4340 Rods: Callies H-beam Fuel system: Holley VR2 pump Cooling: Custom four-core radiator, twin thermo fans Exhaust: Custom 2.5in primary extractors, twin 3in system Ignition: ICE TRANSMISSION Gearbox: Coan Racing Torqueflite Converter: Continental 5000rpm Diff: 9in, Truetrac, 35-spline billet axles SUSPENSION & BRAKES Front: Koni springs and shocks Rear: Four-link, Strange coil-overs Brakes: Wilwood discs and six-piston calipers (f), Wilwood discs and four-piston calipers (r) Master cylinder: Wilwood WHEELS & TYRES Rims: Simmons FR; 20x8 (f), 20x15 (r) Rubber: Nankang 245/45R20 (f), Mickey Thompson 29x15.00R20 (r) THANKS My wife Samantha (Minister of War & Finance) and my two girls Faith and Olivia; Brett at St Marys Engines; Joe Schembri at Joe Blo Speed Shop; Keven at Grange Smash Repairs; Angel Signs; Pierre Touma at iTilT Towing; Con and Vic at CV Performance; Jack at Earl’s Performance Plumbing; Mark Sant at Ontrak Auto Electrical; Sam at Tempe Tyres; Billy Tsimingos at Final Stage Enhancements; Fernando at Mainalign; Brett at Wicked Industries; Bruce at Charlestone Exhaust; Alan the Valiant specialist; Joe Molluso; Chubby at Lowe Fabrications; my dad John Elia for putting me onto the love of Mopars 038 STREET MACHINE
WHEELS: The three-piece Simmons wheels blow out to a huge 20x15 at the back. “I wouldn’t mind going for more of a pro stock look with the wheels,” Ray admits. “Something like V-series Welds with a 15in at the back with a big bag of rubber; the smallest I can go to clear the brakes at the front is a 17in” set-ups – if I need something urgently, he’ll express post it to me,” Ray enthuses. “It was never a problem for him.” A Haltech Elite 2500 and flex-fuel sensor manage the flow of E85 or 98 from a Holley VR2 brushless pump. “I don’t need a separate tank or to empty the tank, which is pretty cool,” Ray says. “I put the fuel in and drive off – it’s mad!” As for how much power the big mill makes, Ray’s first answer is a simple “plenty”. When quizzed further, he reveals the big-block made 728rwhp and about 1000lb-ft of torque at 5300rpm on the CV Performance hub dyno. “It’s only running around 4psi at the moment, so it’s not even working,” he laughs. “By the time we wind her up and get to 12 or 15psi, she’ll make an easy 1300 or 1500hp.” Behind the fat-block is a reverse-pattern 727 Torqueflite byCoanRacing,packinganaluminiumdrumandbilletinput shaft and hooked to a Continental 5000rpm converter. The back end is a nine-inch with 35-spline axles, Truetrac centre and 4.11:1 gears, which sits in a four-link running Strange coil-overs, all from Brett at Wicked Industries. Brett also squared off the tubs to the rails, allowing Ray to bolt up the steamroller 20x15-inch Simmons rims. “Sam from Tempe Tyres did them for me – he said he had to weld two centre sections together to get them wide enough,” Ray says. “It’d be close, but I’ve got enough room to get an 18 in the back!” Up front, you’ll still find torsion bars, now sharing space with Koni shocks and big six-pot Brembos, while an E-series Falcon rack-and-pinion and 2018 Mini electric pump make shifting the front wheels a breeze despite the hefty mill. STREET MACHINE 039
NEXT! AS MUCH as Ray loves the lazy tyre-frying action of the big-cube Mopar and 10/71, he admits it’s probably more suited to track work than street duties. For that reason, he’s thinking of something different for his next big build. “Maybe a twin-turbo Viper V10, like a restomod with a TKO manual and massive brakes,” he says. “There’s a lot of people going with the Toretto look, and I’m kind of getting over it. With a turbo car, you can control the boost more, whereas on a blown car, it’s all instant power.” “I was going to go black, but I said, ‘Let’s spice it up,’” says Ray of the red leather-packed interior. Steve at Alltrim handled the reworked XR6 front and rear seats, custom flat headliner, carpet, door trims and leatherwrapped dash pad, rounded out with body-coloured accents to tie everything together. The Regal debuted at this year’s Chryslers on the Murray, which doubled as its shakedown run. “We finished it two days before the show and tilt-trayed it down,” Ray says. “The shifter cable melted onto the extractors, so we had a little teething issue there, but it steered and braked and didn’t overheat, and it was bloody hot there!” With the car’s monster torque numbers, Ray’s looking forward to planting his foot at Sydney Dragway before cranking the boost. “It’s actually violent, to be honest with you. I’m looking forward to some slicks and hooking up to see what she can do. “With all respect to the turbo boys, if they were that good, the Top Fuellers would all be turbo cars. But they’re not – they’re blown Hemis!” INTERIOR: Steve at Alltrim managed the interior, including late-model Falcon seats that had their headrests turfed and padding modified to hide their origins. “We bolstered the shit out of them,” Ray says. The Haltech iC-7 dash was added when the blower went on, and liaises with the 2500 ECU IT’S ACTUALLY VIOLENT, TO BE HONEST WITH YOU. I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO SOME SLICKS AND HOOKING UP TO SEE WHAT SHE CAN DO 040 STREET MACHINE
CARS, CHROME & TUNES FROM THE GOOD OL’ DAYS
S T O R Y & P H O T O S A S H L E I G H W I L S O N 042 STREET MACHINE
THE ICONIC COOLY ROCKS ON FESTIVAL DREW THOUSANDS OF PUNTERS TO THE GOLD COAST FOR FIVE DAYS OF CLASSIC CARS, ROCK ’N’ ROLL AND ALL THINGS RETRO STREET MACHINE 043
SLICKED HAIR, LEATHER JACKETS, HIGH HEELS AND ROCKABILLY DRESSES WERE AS ABUNDANT AND VIBRANT AS THE CADILLACS AND PICK-UPS ON DISPLAY IPS were swinging and engines were revving as a recordbreaking number of petrolheads rolled into Coolangatta on the Gold Coast to celebrate all things 50s, 60s and 70s at the 2023 Cooly Rocks On festival. Vintage fashion, rock music and car culture of bygone eras were front and centre over the five-day event, with plenty of hot rods, chopped sleds and classic cars lining the beachfront and surrounding streets. The show is an adaptation of the Wintersun festival, which morphed into Cooly Rocks On in 2011. The annual event saw a massive 136,000 spectators in 2022, and this year’s celebrations look to have topped that. The extensive program included car cruises, club runs and a mammoth show ’n’ shine spanning six city blocks. If that wasn’t enough, live music echoed across the precincts, with swing dances filling the parks and an Elvis tribute competition making sure things were all shook up. The action began on Wednesday as the Gold Coast Car Club led a cruise out to Seven82Motors in Nerang, which opened its auction house to showcase the latest inventory and celebrate the grand opening of Big Benny’s Diner. Thursday hosted an earlybird show ’n’ shine at Greenmount Park, while the Nostalgia Markets offered an array of retro threads, trinkets, car parts and memorabilia for visitors to explore. Round one of the Ultimate Elvis Tribute competition began on the main stage, while others joined the convoy out to Balter Brewing. The SCARAB Car 1: Justin Collins’s 1957 Chevy 3100 was built for the drag strip, powered by a 500ci big-block that breathes through an 8/71 blower, runs on E85 and makes 1000hp at the flywheel. The powerful combo sits on a custom chassis and airbag suspension, with a transbrake-equipped Turbo 400 for when Justin hits the track 2: Pin-up model Miss Roxanne La Roller embodied vintage beauty skating among the colourful display of classic rides 3: The high-gloss patina on Luke Kilpatrick’s 1954 3100 pick-up caught our attention. It runs a smallblock Chev, TH350 transmission and airbag suspension, and Luke lapped his pick-up in Saturday night’s car cruise 4: Dennis Rogers cruised up from Newcastle in his EH wagon. For some extra grunt, Dennis slapped a 6/71 supercharger on top of the 253 Holden motor, along with a cam and a set of extractors. The real head-turner is the red Mazda paint with a touch of pearl and metallic BELOW: Dean Webb’s Sandman demands attention with its Absinth yellow paint and Candy Apple Gold flames. Sitting in the meticulously tidy engine bay is a 383ci small-block, backed by a ‘rock crusher’ gearbox and a Ford 9in diff. Dean and the van have run an 11.2 on the drag strip 044 STREET MACHINE
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Club led the charge for an afternoon of beers and banter, and the day wrapped up with the event’s first-ever moonlight swing dance. On Friday, the Kustomville precinct made a triumphant return following last year’s successful debut, showcasing some of the show’s wildest custom sleds, hot rods, coupes, and even an old fruit truck that had been given new life. Mark Duckworth, Festivals Director for Major Events Gold Coast, welcomed the Kustomville showcase’s second outing. “For years we had hot rodders and car clubs that would come out but separate around the whole gig,” Mark said. “We thought it would be cool to create an area and celebrate the custom cars. As we got to know the guys in car clubs, they talked about all the cool stuff they could do like pinstriping and modifications, and it sounded great!” The pin-up pageant added to the fun, with 12 beauties gracing the stage in elegant fashions embracing the rockabilly style of the 50s. Among them was Bunny Boulevard, who claimed the much-coveted crown. The festivities carried on well into the late evening, with worldrenowned Elvis tribute artist Shawn Klush taking the stage, followed by Swedish rockabilly trio The Go Getters, among other cool cats on the mic. There was electricity and copious amounts of hairspray in the air as folks packed in on Saturday. Music was pumping all day as retro acts and rhythm & blues performers rocked the many stages. Slicked hair, leather jackets, high heels and rockabilly dresses were as abundant and vibrant as the Cadillacs and pick-ups on display. 1: Graham Young’s slammed, bare-metal 1948 Dodge pick-up is fed by a 318ci Chrysler engine, with a drivetrain to match. The independent airbag suspension set-up extends to the customfabricated gooseneck motorcycle trailer, all built by Graham 2: Georgie Wilkinson has been flat-out finishing her ’64 Chevy C10. After rebuilding the 350ci small-block and C-notching the chassis, Georgie could give the build its finishing touches. ”I got it back from paint and panel three weeks ago,” she said. “The turquoise colour is close to factory, but with heaps of Xirallic to modernise the paint” 3: Chris Boorer has been a regular at the event since he imported his 1957 Buick Riviera from the US eight years ago. Although the car was already in decent condition, Chris decided to give the Riv a facelift, wrapping the exterior in a striking blue 4: Joe Allia unveiled his stunning 1964 EH Holden, a fatherand-son project that spanned three-and-ahalf years. The streeter is aptly named, boasting a stroked 350 Chev built by Aaron Tremayne. With a Rod-Tech front end, five-speed Tremec gearbox, four-link and a 9in diff, it’s a trick bit of gear THE EXTENSIVE PROGRAM INCLUDED CAR CRUISES, CLUB RUNS AND A MAMMOTH SHOW ’N’ SHINE SPANNING SIX CITY BLOCKS STREET MACHINE 047
1: Zane Waldon spent two years on the build of his custom 1950 shoebox Ford, sectioning the body and chopping the roof by 4in. 7KH ZKLWHZDOOV DQG PHWDOpDNH bumpers set off the DNA Tropical Green paint nicely, while the Chrysler grille and DeSoto taillights exude early custom style 2: Chris Langtry channelled his 1930 Ford roadster 5in and threw a 350 Chev and Turbo 350 trans XS IURQW &KHFN RXW WKH EOXH DQG ZKLWH PHWDOpDNH YLQ\O LQWHULRU DQG chrome OE wheels 3: %URFN %DLOH\ DQG KLV GDG *UDQW transformed their LX SL/R 5000 Torana into a street and strip car. The 308 was replaced by a 350ci Chev with a Holley 850 FDUE EDFNHG E\ D UHEXLOW )DOFRQ T5 gearbox. Flares were added to the original body, as well as a custom-made front bar, bonnet, scoop and rear spoiler 1 048 STREET MACHINE
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Spectators flooded in from all directions for the massive show ’n’ shine, which opened at 9am and included more than 900 restored classics, lowriders, blown hot rods and one-off rides lining every street. Among the artistic displays, merch stands and ratted rods, the Beatniks Car Club hosted a live roof chop, giving the audience a glimpse into the build process of their custom creations. As the sun fell, 250 cars lined up for the Saturday-night cruise. The Coolangatta Hotel was a hot spot to watch the cavalcade of sweet rides and sink a few tins, and onlookers cheered as chromebumper Chevs, restored Holdens and all kinds of rare metal lapped the streets late into the night. Sunday offered another jam-packed schedule and an enormous turnout as festivities continued. More captivating live performances had couples swinging across the dance floors, while others wandered through the markets and Indian motorcycle display, and the live car mods again proved to be a crowd favourite. As the day wound down, a sense of calm fell across the beach. The sky turned purple and the rumbling sound of V8s and lumpy cams filled the air as drivers farewelled the festival for another year, their departure proving quite a spectacle in itself. Cooly Rocks On will be back 5-9 June next year, so lace up your dancing shoes and grab your best girl for another celebration of yesteryear in 2024. 1: Adam Nicholas brought his 710hp 1985 VK Brock tribute up from NSW. “It’s got a 355 stroker in it and a TH400,” Adam explained. “It’s been tubbed and has a set of Forgiato wheels. Everything has been copper-plated for something a bit different” 2: Guy Humphries salvaged motorbike chains to fabricate fuel tank straps and used scrap metal to weld together the parts he collected over the twoand-a-half-year build of his quirky 1951 farm truck. He shortened the chassis, fabricated a tilting and sliding tub, and built a custom dual exhaust system and a set of stacks. One of the few original elements is the 235 Blue Flame Chevy motor with dual Stromberg carbs 3: Josh Northcott’s ’61 Cadillac caught our attention. Josh rebuilt the stunning Caddy with the help of his mates, throwing a 502ci bigblock up front and a 9in underneath BELOW: Lyndon Stephenson bought this ’55 Chevy panel truck during a trip to the US. The slammed Chev was once a fruit truck in the Napa Valley, and if you look closely you can still see the original signage on the doors. The rig sits on a pneumatic airbag system with a custom ladder-bar rear end, and runs a Vortec V8 up front THE KUSTOMVILLE PRECINCT SHOWCASED THE WILDEST CUSTOM SLEDS, HOT RODS, COUPES, AND EVEN AN OLD FRUIT TRUCK THAT HAD BEEN GIVEN NEW LIFE 050 STREET MACHINE