2022-01-01 Street Machine

RIGHT: A PCS paddle-shifter
has been set up by Danny
from Initial D Racing to click
gears in the manualised
Powerglide trans. The shifter
works on an electronic control
box hidden under the seat,
which operates the cable
connected to the side of the
gearbox
BELOW: Along with the
Tuff Mounts engine and
trans mounts, the engine
hardware includes custom 2in
primaries, twin 3in exhaust
with MagnaFlow mufflers and
electric exhaust cut-outs by
Boosted Fabrications. Billet
rocker covers, bonnet catch
and hinges finish the look

with a custom low-profile EFI drop-tank from Bain Racing rather scary-streetable, even on pump fuel, so I can’t wait for the
than a fuel cell, as it gives me 75L instead of 30.” ProCharger!”

The Torry thumps to the tune of a 650hp, 434ci Pavtek small- Having built a bunch of cars through the glory years of street
block Chev. “I didn’t put an LS in this car because I like the old- machining, does Fred think it’s become easier to put a cool rig
school 70s and 80s vibe,” says Fred of his engine choice. “But together? “It’s better today because we have access to more
we did put some modern touches on the car like the fuel injection, parts both locally and overseas, as well as lots of information,”
steering-wheel paddles and custom-made billet pieces.” he says. “The only hard part I found was finding the tradespeople
willing to do the work and the ridiculous wait times to get in to
The mill is built off a Dart four-bolt block and packed with have it done. In the 80s and 90s, I found there was more we
a Scat 4340 crank, Scat H-beam rods and custom JE slugs were allowed to do, without the current issues of compliance.
for a 10.5:1 comp ratio. A custom-ground hydraulic-roller cam Still, back in the 80s you would fabricate parts, but today you
operates the valves in the DRP alloy heads. The 550cc injectors can get it made out of billet!”
are fed pump 98 by a Holley pump, while a FuelTech FT450
ECU controls the show. Despite all the smoothed metalwork and custom billet
hardware, Fred is keen to do what he’s always done and use
While Fred originally went with throttlebody injection stacks, the car on Melbourne streets.
tuning issues caused them to be swapped out for the Tremaniac
Racing NxtGen intake. The plenum style makes sense, as he “Even though it is really highly detailed, I want to get out and
plans to bolt a ProCharger onto the combo to really add some drive it,” he says. “I might take it to the races, but I haven’t built
hot sauce to this burger with the lot. it for that. I want to keep it a clean, traditional, old-school-muscle
street car, like how we used to build them.”
“The idea is to get to around 750-800hp once the ProCharger
is on,” he grins. “Right now, even aspirated, it has enough to All the attitude of the 80s and the smarts of today – sounds
wheelspin in top gear when you stand on it at 70km/h. It is
like the perfect cruiser to us!

101STREET MACHINE

102 STREET MACHINE

LADKAEDSSIDAEBNAPDTATTRAHKLE’IISORNAFLAOLMFAHIULOISEMSSIEECGEFRALOETWHBERNRAC’TSLEADASALSYOICNBSGASSIHDESAAW

STORY IAIN CURRY PHOTOS CHEZ IMAGES

103STREET MACHINE

BACKYARD cricket, lunch down the RSL, a
stubby cooler gift and someone – usually Dad
– having one too many. Not all Father’s Days
have to be this way. Instead, Queenslanders can
head to Lakeside Park, north of Brisbane, for a
packed day of cruising, eighth-mile drags and
spectacular metal on show at the All Aussie Father’s Day,
the track’s largest themed day of the year.

The one main rule is that every car involved must be
Australian-manufactured. Sure enough, at the 2021 event it
was True Blue as far as the eye could see, with willing dads
and their offspring arriving in an eclectic mix of motorised
Australiana.

Organiser Dan Sharp said the event attracted around
2500 spectators, helped along by it being one of the most
family-friendly gatherings on the calendar. “It’s a great
opportunity for the whole family to come out – Dad, Mum
and the kids – and experience the track and cruise with
like-minded people,” he said.

With a 110km/h speed limit and no tyre smoke, drifting
or burnouts, this was certainly a more laidback experience
than you’d get at the likes of Powercruise.

The participants we spoke to were happy enough about
this. “There’s no ego, no idiots and no risk of getting your
car damaged by someone doing something stupid,” said
Brett Hagley, who had brought along his four kids for the
day’s entertainment.

“It’s about being courteous to other drivers, and road rules
apply,” organiser Dan said. “You can have passengers in
any seat as long as they’re legally allowed to be.”

With a total of 14 cruise sessions throughout the day
(nine open, two VIP and three other specialist sessions), the
track action was practically non-stop, typically with plenty
of family members loaded up in Dad’s ride.

A short eighth-mile drag component spiced things up,

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01 Dean Ferris’s Mk1 Escort 02 Darren and Laura Parry’s 03 Simon O’Carroll had great 04 This stunning 383 Chev-
panel van, BOMBSHL, immaculate HG Belmont took a fun showing his sons what powered HG Monaro runs
attracted considerable attention, well-deserved Best Interior award 930hp feels like on track in his Holley Sniper fuel injection,
as you’d expect from a Barra- thanks to a cabin Goldfinger would 565ci big block-powered HG wagon, Powerglide and 9in, pushing out
powered classic with a quarter-mile be proud of. Mirroring the factory INFAMUS. Beautifully rough around around 600hp on E85. Owner Joel
PB of 8.6@157mph. Its E85-sipping colour, the refurbished Antique the edges, the Holden landed the Munroe said he was at Lakeside for
FG XR6 donk uses a Proboost GT42, Gold inside was showroom-good, Best Old School award. The mini- a bit of fun, cruising and racing up
and is backed by a Powerglide and the only change from original tubbed street wagon is rollcage- the straight, all to show his dad
transmission and 9in diff. If was an auto conversion to replace free, so it hasn’t run at the drags what the old Holden could do
Australia Post needs help cutting the column-shift manual – plus a set yet, but it should have plenty of
its delivery times this Christmas, of furry dice. The HG’s old 161ci six potential given that the motor went
look no further has been dropped for a gutsier 253 8.70 in Simon’s Torana racer

THERE WAS NO EGO, NO IDIOTS AND NO RISK OF GETTING YOUR
CAR DAMAGED BY SOMEONE DOING SOMETHING STUPID

105STREET MACHINE

too, with flag-drop starts rather than full drag lights. No
passengers were allowed for these runs, and after some
impressive elimination battles, Andy Fensom’s big-block
Chev-powered Torana showed a clean pair of heels to
Nathan Peters’s Barra-motivated VC Valiant. Both were
stunningly presented classics with guts to match their
looks.

Away from the track, Lakeside was an entertaining place to
wander around given the variety of metal on show: restored
mighty-value Monaros, Toranas and Falcons; huge-power
modern street Commodores; a one-of-43 Dick Johnson XE
Falcon Grand Prix Turbo with a factory Garrett T04; and the
odd bit of Chrysler muscle to mix things up.

It was the old-school, big-horsepower beauties that really
turned heads, though.

Drag runner-up Nathan Peters’s VC Val – finished in

106 STREET MACHINE

TRACK ACTION WAS PRACTICALLY NON- 01 John ‘Gypsy’ Morrison has owned his
STOP, TYPICALLY WITH PLENTY OF FAMILY 1955 Ford Mainline ute for over 25
years, and this is its third build. Under its
MEMBERS LOADED UP IN DAD’S RIDE airbrushed bonnet is a 351 Windsor, mated
to a T5 transmission and 9in diff. Gypsy
reckoned he now has close to 500hp on tap,
making the XD Falcon four-wheel disc-brake
conversion all the more important

02 Darryl Protheroe’s JUICY AU Falcon ute
runs a 289 Windsor with Cleveland
heads, a pair of 465 Holleys, mild cam and
C4 with manual shift-kit. It was originally
built as a burnout car, but recently blew its
gearbox, so the Father’s Day event saw it get
a good shakedown after its rebuild. The
custom tray features beautiful polished
timber, and it rolls on 15x14 rear steamrollers

03 This Barra-powered VC Valiant (SM,
Oct ’19) may have a motor that some
purists frown upon, but you can’t fault the
execution on display. The incredible custom
work to fit the GT3566R-turbocharged F6
Barra mill under-bonnet rightly won owner
Nathan Peters the Best Engine Bay award

04 Robert Creedon’s ’87 VL Calais, CROOK,
was seriously rapid down the straight
thanks to 850rwhp from the Whipple-blown
408ci mill. Rob brought the whole family
plus his in-laws along to the event, and went
home happy with the Judges’ Choice award

05 A 700hp, 421 small-block powers Paul
Curley’s 1971 HG wagon, which runs
10.7s on the strip. Paul reckoned the teal
streeter drives “pretty good for an oldie”,
and with so much room for passengers, it
was an ideal way to give the fam some
Father’s Day entertainment

107STREET MACHINE

01 Andy Fensom’s BBC-powered
Torana cleaned up at the All
Aussie Day. The immaculate Torry
scooped the Best Holden award, then
took an easy victory in the drag final
against Nathan Peters’s Barra-powered
VC Valiant

02 After showing rapid form in the
drags, this Mk1 Capri didn’t give
its driver the best Father’s Day present.
As it flew down the straight, there was
a pop, and it crossed the finish line with
half its bonnet in the air

03 This stunning 1972 GTS Monaro
coupe was parked in a Cloncurry
shed in 1985 and left untouched for
almost 20 years. The 35,000-mile
Munro was then given a new battery,
sparkplug leads, fresh oil and water
and some petrol, and then it was a case
of ‘fingers crossed’. She fired after 10
cranks and is still being restored 16
years later

AFTER SOME IMPRESSIVE
ELIMINATION BATTLES, ANDY
FENSOM’S BIG-BLOCK CHEV-
POWERED TORANA WON THE

DRAG RACING FINAL

House of Kolor Pavo Purple – stopped everyone in their
tracks. Some may grumble about its transplanted Ford
Barra, but it’s hard to question when it runs as hard as it
does. It won the Top Engine Bay award, giving the haters
something else to seethe over.

For those with a thing for Mk1 Escorts, Dean Ferris’s
bright orange BOMBSHL panel van took some beating. It
also harbours a Barra six, this time with a Proboost Garrett
GT42 turbo doing the damage. Dean was there just for the
cruising, rumbling away home before the drags started.
A shame, as with an 8.6@157mph PB, he’d have been
tough to challenge.

The show ’n’ shine was well contested across numerous
classes, but Judges’ Choice went to Rob Creedon’s VL
Calais, CROOK. Despite its immaculate looks, it enjoys
a life on the track too, helped by 850hp from its Whipple-
blown 408ci V8.

The Queensland weather gods got busy making sure
every dad was home in time for Father’s Day dinner. With
a few cruise sessions to go, biblical rains came down to
have dads, mums, kids and their precious metal scurrying
for the exits. Fortunately, Lakeside Park’s plaza had been
revamped in the weeks beforehand, with resurfacing work
saving the rims and paintwork of the escaping entrants.

Despite the rain towards the end, the day was a chilled-out
treat celebrating two worthwhile causes: Dads and Aussie-

built legends.

108 STREET MACHINE

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6 Cronulla Crt Slacks Creek QLD 4127
Performance Wholesale Australia
W | performancewholesale.com.au
E | [email protected]

P | (07) 3808 1986

110 STREET MACHINE

111STREET MACHINE

VJ VALIANT
T’S a brave man that takes on the restoration of a Valiant
hardtop. They were rare when they were brand new, around 10 years prior, and, while it wasn’t a great paintjob,
with only a few thousand built, and without the level of there wasn’t anything nasty popping out indicating that it
aftermarket support that Holdens and Fords enjoy, you might be rusty. Mario decided to get the body sandblasted,
and guess what?
Ieither need to buy a pretty decent car to start with or have
“The sandblaster got along the driver’s guard and halfway
a sizeable network of contacts so you can track down up the A-pillar, then stopped and gave me a call,” says Mario.
parts. As it turned out, Mario Girbin had neither. “He didn’t want to blast it any further until I got there and told
Relatively new to the Mopar scene, Mario hadn’t yet him what to do. Hearing that gave me a sinking feeling in the
established those vital contacts when he picked up a VJ stomach.”
hardtop that initially seemed a lot more solid than it would Obviously, Mario decided to go ahead with getting the whole
prove to be. Mario had played with cars in his native New car sandblasted, and on the upside, it had never had any
Zealand, but they were mainly K-series Corollas. They’re major repairs or accident damage; it just had rust everywhere.
cheap to buy and cheap to run, and, unlike the barge-arsed “As soon as we started blasting it, it turned to lace,
Valiants, they actually go around corners – something that NZ basically,” he says. “There isn’t a panel on the car that
has a lot of. He’d also dabbled with some other interesting hasn’t been repaired. Every hanging panel was replaced, the
rides like a Lexus V8-swapped HiLux and a Mitsubishi L300 A-pillars were cut off, and half the radiator support, the whole
van with an Evo engine in it! passenger-side inner guard, the entire floor, the roof and the
Mario was actually on the hunt for an XA or XB sedan to fill boot floor were replaced. The plenum was repaired, the panel
up the garage space in his newly acquired home. He finally behind the rear window had to be hand-fabricated, and I put
had the room to tackle a project – nothing too crazy, just a NOS rear scuttle panel on as well. Even the front and rear
something he could tidy up and cruise with his mates. window openings had to be remade.”
“I bought the hardtop about a week after I moved into the The magician that performed all of the rust repairs was Luke
house,” Mario recalls. “But I ended up owning three Valiants, Pakenham, a good friend of Mario’s who had a three-month
because I bought a CL wagon, which got cut up for parts, window before he was moving his entire family to Darwin.
and a VK sedan, which I bought so I had something to drive “I employed him full-time for three months to do all my panel
around while I was doing the hardtop.” beating, and he worked his arse off in my garage smashing
The build took around two years to complete, which is pretty it out,” says Mario.
good going, so you’d think it must have been a fairly tidy car For those of you who might be keeping tabs on where all the
to start with, yeah? Nah. Val hardtops have ended up, this car left the factory wearing
“When I bought it, I thought I’d done the right thing by Star Bronze metallic with a Parchment vinyl roof and interior.
making sure it was pretty complete,” says Mario. “The guy had But restoring it back to that combination was never on the
done a very good job of including just enough stuff to make it cards for Mario. Some Valiant fans are a bit sad it didn’t end
look complete, but the more I learnt about the car, the more I up Sherwood Green. Instead, Mario chose Deep Chartreuse
worked out that I didn’t have the right bits. Even the bits I did metallic, a Chrysler colour from the VG Valiant range. “A lot
have weren’t useable.” of people wanted me to paint it silver, but sometimes it’s nice
But that wasn’t the worst of it. The car had been painted black to paint a car a colour that people don’t expect. Plus, there’s

THE MORE I LEARNT ABOUT THE CAR, THE MORE I
WORKED OUT THAT I DIDN’T HAVE THE RIGHT BITS. EVEN

THE BITS I DID HAVE WEREN’T USEABLE

STANCE: The hardtop sits nice and low thanks INTERIOR: The all-black interior features an
to wound-down torsion bars on the front and R/T dash, three-spoke sports wheel, bucket
flipped spring hangers on the rear. You can also seats and a console, and was beautifully
spy the mandrel-bent twin 2.5in stainless pipes reupholstered by 1st Choice Car Upholstery

112 STREET MACHINE

ENGINE: Mario sourced the PLATES: The WOGBRO GRILLE: Those with a keen
318 from a CL Valiant wagon plates make sense eye will notice the VK Valiant
that was in pretty good when you consider grille. That is, if they can drag
shape, but he warmed it up that, although a New their gaze away from that
a bit with a Hughes cam, Zealander by birth, stunning Deep Chartreuse
Weiand intake, 650DP and Mario has Croatian paint, a standard colour from
some Pacemaker headers ancestry the VG range

113STREET MACHINE

AS SOON AS WE STARTED SANDBLASTING IT, IT THANKS
TURNED TO LACE, BASICALLY. THERE ISN’T A
PANEL ON THE CAR THAT HASN’T BEEN REPAIRED Hillbilly Bingham for the amazing
paintwork he laid down in an
unfamiliar booth, and FARC panel
shop for pulling through with a booth
at the last minute; Nick Harris for all
the mechanical and assembly hours
he put in with me getting the car
back together; Martin Smith in NZ for
not only supplying me a roof for my
car, but also coming through with a
lot of hard-to-find, hardtop-specific
parts that no one else would part with
at the time

BODY: Check out those reflections and
the crispness of the lines achieved by
painter Hillbilly Bingham

VJ VALIANT MARIO GIRBIN
1973 VJ VALIANT HARDTOP
a lot of silver hardtops around, and I’ve always liked green.” ABOVE: The stunning lines of the hardtop
Another mate’s talents were tapped to paint the car, a are evident in this shot. Apart from Paint: PPG Deep Chartreuse metallic
sharing doors with a Charger, pretty
bloke with the unlikely name of Hillbilly Bingham, although much everything from the A-pillar back is DONK
there’s definitely nothing hillbilly about the quality of his work. unique to the hardtops
Just check out the photos – the reflections, the gaps, the WHEELS: Yes, this could be a photo from Type: Chrysler 318ci
sharpness of the body lines. It’s one of the nicest paintjobs 1986, with the gleaming 14x8 Cheviot Inlet: Weiand Stealth
you’ll ever see. Tridents and 245/50 Bridgestone Eagers Carb: Holley 650 double-pumper
proudly on display. And there ain’t nothin’ Heads: Standard
When it came time to address the interior, Mario knew it had wrong with that Valves: Standard
to be black. He admits he’s a bit of a grub when it comes to Cam: Hughes Whiplash
cars, so there was no way a white or light-coloured interior 213/[email protected], .320/.344 lift
was going in, but he’s also a firm believer that muscle cars Bottom-end internals: Standard
look best with black interiors. No arguments here. Radiator: Triple core with
AU Falcon fans
“There isn’t a single part of the interior that is original to the Exhaust: Pacemaker headers, twin
car, so I had to source the entire interior from elsewhere,” he 2.5in stainless pipes
says. “The back seat I brought back from New Zealand as Ignition: MSD 6AL
checked luggage on an Air New Zealand flight!”
SHIFT
The dashboard is another part of the puzzle that adds a real
muscle-car vibe to the reimagined interior. It’s an R/T dash Gearbox: 904 TorqueFlite, Stage 2
that Mario had refurbished, which wasn’t a cheap exercise, shift kit
but it sure came out nice thanks to the talents of Karl Jensen Diff: BorgWarner, 3.92:1 gears
in South Australia.
BENEATH
In the interests of not having the build time blow out, Mario
went with a pretty mild drivetrain donated by the sacrificial CL Front end: Lowered 2in
wagon. The engine had been rebuilt by the previous owner Shocks: Standard (f & r)
and only had around 20,000km on it. Pretty standard, but Brakes: Discs (f), drums (r)
Mario did the right thing and put a cam, 650 double-pumper
and nice exhaust on it. With the 3.92 gears in the back, it ROLLING STOCK
scoots along nicely, but Mario’s got plans.
Rims: Cheviot Trident 14x8 (f & r)
“Sometimes these things need to be done in stages, funds Rubber: Bridgestone Eager
and time permitting,” he says. “As far as a cruiser goes, it’s 245/50R14 (f & r)
great, but I wouldn’t mind a bit more power out of it, so I’m just
starting to get some parts together to build a stroker 408 with
around 500hp, along with a 727 Torqueflite and a shortened

nine-inch to fit some 15x10 Convos.”

114 STREET MACHINE



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STORY SIMON TELFORD HAVE you ever got home from
PHOTOS SM ARCHIVES shopping for a barbecue at
your place and wondered
if you’ve bought too many
snags? Sure, 30 people
have said on Facebook
that they’re coming, but how many
will actually turn up? If you’ve ever
felt that pang of pre-party anxiety,
imagine how Chic Henry must
have felt the night before the very
first Street Machine Summernats
back in 1988.

As you’ll read in our Legend piece
on page 26, Chic invested big-
time in that first event, but it paid
off handsomely, with almost 2000
entrants storming the nation’s
capital to be a part of that first ’Nats.

And they’ve been coming in
droves ever since. The event has
changed with the times – as it must
– but it’s hard not to look back on
the early days with some nostalgia.
So with that in mind, we’ve dug
through the archives to give you a
taste of the first 10 years of Street
Machine Summernats.

117STREET MACHINE

1988

SUMMERNATS 1

WHAT a way to start. Over 2000 entrants, a brand-
new burnout pad and 50,000 punters. The results
list saw Rex Webster’s FJ and the Queensland
pro street Commodores of Rob Beauchamp and
Greg Carlson fighting it out for the top gongs.

1

2

118 STREET MACHINE

3

4 01. How cool it was to see
56 the world’s best pro streeter
lead the Supercruise down
7 Northbourne Avenue! All
the way from the USA, Rick
Dobbertin’s Pontiac J2000
boasted a flip-top body, two
superchargers, twin turbos
and 10 nitrous kits!
02. Greg Thompson may have
hit the wall a couple of times,
but he was stoked to become
the first-ever Summernats
burnout champion in his 454
Chev-powered Capri
03. Graham Cowley’s iconic
HR ute was a hot contender in
the burnout comp
04. Marty Brennan’s MADNES
gave the burnout comp a
red-hot go (having won the
title at the Street Machine
Nationals the previous year)
– and took out Top Wild
Custom at judging time
05. Mark Sgaravizzi’s
88NATS may not have taken
out the burnout comp, but
the fuel-injected, 340-cube
XD Falcon, clad in Phase V
kit, remains one of the
most talked-about cars in
Summernats history
06. Three of the best
pro street cars on earth in
1988 – Greg Carlson’s VK,
Rick Dobbertin’s Pontiac and
Rob Beauchamp’s VL
07. Rex Webster’s immortal
FJ was the winner of the first-
ever Top Judged gong

119STREET MACHINE

1

2 3
4
01. Liz Smith won the go-to- 5
whoa in her uber-cool,
202-powered pink Ford Anglia
02. Future Grand Champ Peter
Fitzpatrick and his Broomstick
Brougham made the finals of
the first go-to-whoa
03. Howard Astill and Mark
Sanders put Rock Solid through
its paces in the spear-a-spud.
And the sheepskin? Straight
out of the pram!
04. Mark Sgaravizzi returned to
the ’Nats with a pro street XE
Falcon in ’89, this time powered
by a big-block Chev. It had too
much traction to work on the
burnout pad, but looked killer
in the Supercruise
05. Glenn Rogers’s
460-powered, Owen Webb-
painted XC ute was crowned
the second Summernats
burnout champ, seeing off the
likes of defending champ Greg
Thompson and the soon-to-be-
legendary duo of Chris Christou
and his HO775 XY
06. Rob Beauchamp’s VL
took out Top Street Machine
Overall for the second year
running – the forerunner to the
Grand Champion prize. Strong
performances in the driving
events and completing the
Supercruise were essential to
the win
07. The much-missed Canberra
Dragway wasn’t officially part
of the ’Nats program in ’89,
but you wouldn’t have known
it by the number of entrants
testing their mettle down the
eighth-mile

120 STREET MACHINE

1989

SUMMERNATS 2

ROBBIE Beauchamp dominated the judging
charts again at ’Nats ’89, but a bloke by the name
of Howard Astill was making his presence felt,
with his ‘Rock Solid’ Falcon scoring a swag of
tinware including Top Engineering and Entrants’
Choice. Young Scott McLachlan won Top Judged
in his super-sano WB ute, and Todd D’Elboux’s
Gemini proved that four-pots could score with
the best of ’em.

6

7

121STREET MACHINE

1990

SUMMERNATS 3

ROB Beauchamp nailed Top Street Machine
Overall for the third straight year, but he had to
contend with an incredible newcomer in the form of
Ron Barclay’s HQ Holden. The mild but incredibly
detailed ute offered an intriguing alternative to the
pro street formula.

1

2

122 STREET MACHINE

3
5

4

01. Chris Christou sealed
the first of his Burnout
Championship wins at ’Nats 3
in his stick shift-equipped XY
02. Frank Aliberti’s
‘Terminator’ VL picked up
second place in the burnout

6 comp

03. SM editor Tim Britten
hands the goodies to Ron
Barclay, who took out Top
Judged, Entrants’ Choice and
a stack of other awards in his
mega-influential HQ ute
04. You’d weep tears to
think of the classic metal
that has been crushed,
crashed or blown up for the
crowd’s entertainment at
Summernats over the years!
Here we see the ‘Aussie
Battler’ monster truck make
short work of a hapless P76
05. Now decked out
in burgundy duco for
Summernats 3, Robbie
Beauchamp’s VL proved its
streetability time and again
at the ’Nats
06. Long-time Summernats
stalwart Mark Yardy and his
YUMMIE ute always put on a
spectacular show

123STREET MACHINE

1
2

01. Mark Sanders’s innovative, 3
P76-powered LH Torana took 4
out Top Pro Street and Top
Engineered Pro Street
02. Wheels scribe, the late Paul
Cockburn, won the motorkhana
and gave the spear-a-spud a
fair shake in his daily-driven
E-Type Jag
03. Graham Oldfield’s blown,
454-powered FX placed in
the Top 10, grabbed Top
Engineered Street Machine
and then blew the hides off on
the pad
04. The all-conquering Rock 3
had its SM feature shoot in a
quarry outside Canberra on
the Monday after the ’Nats.
Howard Astill and Chic Henry
eventually did a deal for the car
to become the giveaway prize
for Summernats 5
05. Chris Christou accepts his
second burnout first-place
trophy
06. Rex Webster’s genre-
busting VW Karmann Ghia
07. Victor Bray mows the lawn
in his ’57. Victor was joined
by fellow Wild Buncher Allen
‘Captain Cusso’ Boughen at the
’Nats for a double act that was
talked about for years

124 STREET MACHINE

1991

SUMMERNATS 4

HOWARD Astill returned to Summernats with
his XA Falcon revamped as ‘Rock 3’, complete
with outrageous Ralfus graphics. The rebuild was
rewarded with both Top Judged and Top Street
Machine Overall – the first time such a feat had
been achieved, and it wouldn’t be repeated until
Darrell Leemhuis did the double in 2009!

5

6
7

125STREET MACHINE

1992

SUMMERNATS 5

HOWARD Astill did it again in ’92, debuting a ’64
Compact Fairlane that was built in nine months
as a Street Machine project car. Howard strolled
away with Top Street Machine Overall, while Ron
Barclay’s evergreen HQ ute took out its second
Top Judged award. Once the Fairlane’s show
career was done, we gave it away to a lucky Street
Machine reader, Patrick Smithers.

1

126 STREET MACHINE

3
2

5
4

6

01. Street Machine cover

7 shoots don’t get much more

iconic than this cracker. Jason
Fitzallen’s fluoro LC Torana is
front and centre
02. Wayne Jones took out Top
Pro Street in the Motorcraft
EA Falcon
03. Reigning SMOTY winner
Craig Parker hanging out of
TUFFXY mid-Supercruise
04. ’Nats legend and SM scribe
Steve Titcumb jumps on the
picks in his CRITTA HQ wagon.
The pair had a good year,
winning the spear-a-spud
05. The Cardboard Fantasy
parade was a ’Nats highlight
for years. These days, blowers
are so common that we don’t
need the cardboard variety!
06. Wayne Doherty’s FATVAN
broke the drought for the
Holden fans by taking out the
first GM win on the burnout pad
07. Ron Barclay accepts Bill
Jones’s Judge’s Choice award

127STREET MACHINE

1
2

3
4

5
6

01. Mark Cannon’s in the judging 05. Peter Fitzpatrick
‘Agent Orange’ HR 03. Howard Astill won claimed the first-ever
must be one of the Top Engineered Pro Grand Champion
most photographed Street in the Street award in 1993 – the
cars in ’Nats history Machine giveaway first of many he
– this is just one of Compact Fairlane would win
literally hundreds of 04. Craig Parker and 06. Mark Beehag give
shots of it we found John Hatton brought the spear-a-spud
in the archives the mobile party a stab in his tough
02. Peter Collier’s machine ‘Baby Cup’ HZ ute
heavy-hitting ’56 HQ, built on a One 07. Gary Myers takes
Chev pick-up won Tonner chassis for out his first burnout
Top Judged and a just $1500! crown
stack of other awards

128 STREET MACHINE

1993

SUMMERNATS 6

DESPITE being held in the middle of a recession,
Summernats 6 was healthy-as, with 1900 entrants
and 90,000 punters through the gates! On the
downside, some ratbag behaviour during the
Supercruise saw that most excellent part of the
’Nats canned – only to return many years later as
the daytime-only City Cruise. This was also the
year that pyrotechnics guru Steve Courtney blew
up a Volvo on New Year’s Eve to the delight of the
crowd – some of whom were inspired to vandalise
more Swedish Taxis outside the event!

7

129STREET MACHINE

1994

SUMMERNATS 7

A REAL test for Summernats: for 1994, the
Supercruise on Northbourne was no more,
instead relocated inside Exhibition Park to run
around the trotting track. There were those who
thought the top cars wouldn’t want to cruise on a
dusty dirt surface and that the magic of the event
would be lost. That, combined with a reduction in
entrant numbers (thought to be a knock-on effect
of a recent BYO booze ban), gave Chic some
headaches, but the revamped Supercruise proved
popular and entrant numbers soon recovered.

1

130 STREET MACHINE

23 01. The Supercruise was brought
45 inside EPIC for 1994 and has
remained there ever since
6 02. Gary Myers on his way to his
second Summernats burnout title
7 03. To keep the crowds
8 entertained, Chic revved up the
9 post-Supercruise spectacle with
a Mad Max-meets-Apocalypse
Now pyrotechnics and fireworks
show
04. Brian Willis’s HK Monaro
stormed the results sheets,
winning Grand Champion, Top
Super Street, Top Interior and
Judge’s Personal Choice
05. Ahmet the Mad Turk swapped
his trusty HD ute for this wild,
roofless HK Monaro
06. Like most of Norm Longfield’s
builds, his blown Hemi-powered
Willys was a next-level deal. It
took out Top Pro Modified, Top
Engineered Pro Modified, Top
Custom Paint, Top Competition
Interior and Top Judged Elite
07. SMOTY holder Frank Rejtano
won Top Judged Street Machine,
Top Undercarriage, Top Engine
Bay and Top Coupe with his wild
’64 Corvette
08. Burnout runner-up was Ron
Clark in his HQ One Tonner
09. Gai Hills was the first
woman to ever pull a burnout
at Summernats, and she took
out the women’s burnout title
in 1994. Not bad for a car that
was the family’s only form of
transport for the weekend!

131STREET MACHINE

12
3

01. Anthony Fabris writes 4
himself into Commodore
folklore, torching the hides on
his genuine Walky
02. The drags were extra
special for ’95, with a group of
touring US Wild Bunch racers
taking on local heroes Victor
Bray and Greg Thompson
03. Paul Cundy steals the
Supercruise show in his blown
Corolla
04. Stuntman Fireball
Campbell was lucky to escape
from his attempt to jump a
line of exploding cars in a
hapless XY GT
05. Dennis Laing gave his
’64 Ford Galaxie a massive
birthday prior to the ’Nats
and was rewarded with Grand
Champion, Top Pro Street, Top
Engineered Pro Street, Top
Interior and Top Undercarriage
06. Mark Sanders continued
his trend-setting ways with his
‘Heatseeker’ HK Monaro
07. Gary Myers and GM176
continued their winning
streak, taking their third ’Nats
burnout title

132 STREET MACHINE

1995

SUMMERNATS 8

ENTRANT numbers were back up for ’Nats 8,
and the quality at the sharp end of the show-
car field was through the roof. Taking on Grand
Champion Dennis Laing’s Galaxie was a who’s-
who of street machining royalty, including Mark
Sanders in his new, oh-so-tasteful HK Monaro,
Paul Bennett in his insane ’68 Camaro, Howard
Astill’s ‘Race Rock’ XC coupe, and a trio of killer
FJ Holdens thanks to Colin Townsend, Darryl
McBeth and Russell Tronc.

5
6

7

133STREET MACHINE

1996

SUMMERNATS 9
SUMMERNATS 9 was a quiet year in terms of

1 Elite debuts – something that would bounce back
in a big way for ’Nats 10 – with John Portelli’s ’32

and John Riskas’s ’55 Chev being the big two new

cars on the scene. The Grand Champion driving

events were a sight to behold, with heavy hitters

like Howard Astill in the Pioneer XA coupe, Darryl

McBeth in his FJ and Mark Sanders’s HK all having
a red-hot shot at the sword. But Peter Fitzpatrick
won the day with his FC Holden, aided by a superb

third outright performance in the motorkhana.

2

3

134 STREET MACHINE

4 01. Russell Hampton’s Land
5 Rover 101 used LPG-fuelled
small-block Chev power to put
6 on one hell of a show on the
7 burnout pad
02. Early days for Peter Gray’s
Camaro, still street-driven and
running an aspirated big-block
03. Another legend in the making
– Tristan Ockers and MINCER
took home the Best Overall
Performance trophy
04. Peter Fitzpatrick nailed his
second Grand Champion award
in his FC
05. Mark Dall’acqua took home
the burnout cherries in his
DMT351 Escort
06. The very first Horsepower
Heroes competition was won by
Anthony Fabris in his genuine
VL Walkinshaw, to the tune of
325rwhp
07. Paul Cundy’s Fairlane would
have to be one of the most epic
Summernats cruisers of all time!
The beast won the Krazy Kustom
award and nabbed second in
Special Effects Paint

135STREET MACHINE

12
34

01. John and Rhonda 5
Zelukovic’s 392 Hemi- 6
powered Studebaker rocked
the establishment with its
innovation and scored a heap
of trophies, including People’s
Choice
02. Gary Myers finished second
in the burnouts in ’97, but he
didn’t miss in the go-to-whoa,
taking out the event with a
record time
03. Howard Astill nabbed his
third Grand Champion win (his
first two when the prize was
dubbed Top Street Machine
Overall)
04. Future SMOTY winner
Ed Brodie was propelled
into super-stardom when
he debuted his revamped
MRHJ. The car claimed a swag
of awards, including Top
Engineered Street Machine,
and won the hearts of Holden
fans everywhere with Ed’s
next-level take on the retrotech
concept
05. Tony DeOliveira took the
burnout win in his blown, 400-
cube Toyota Corolla, ahead of
Gary Myers and a young Mark
Arblaster!

136 STREET MACHINE

1997 8

SUMMERNATS 10 06. 1987 500cc World Champion
Wayne Gardner was on hand
THE 10th anniversary of Street Machine at the ’Nats to promote his
Summernats was a monster, with over 100,000 line of WGR Commodores. The
punters through the gates and entrant numbers Wollongong Whiz spanked his
capped at a record-breaking 1970. A bevy of road car in the driving events
new Elite cars made the event one to remember and blew the smithereens out of
– as did a massive array of special feature events a Yamaha V-Max clutch on the
that were capped off by Lawrence Legend’s burnout pad
(eventually) successful attempt to jump 10

buses on a dirt bike.

7

9 07. The second Horsepower
Heroes crown was won by Matt
Burton’s 454-powered HQ van,
with a best of 372.5hp on the
rolling road

08. Anthony Fabris came third
in Horsepower Heroes in ’97, a
fraction of a horsepower out of
second place. On the burnout
pad, the Walkinshaw was as
spectacular as ever

09. Another high-profile
newcomer was Bill Murfin’s HT
Monaro, BILLIT, which went
on to take out the 1997 Street
Machine of the Year award

137STREET MACHINE

TECH TORQUE

STORY IAIN KELLY PHOTOS TROY BARKER & SM ARCHIVES

METAL MILITIA
> AS NEW BILLET BLOCKS FOR THE HOLDEN V8, BARRA SIX AND CLEVELAND V8 HIT THE MARKET, WE
TAKE A DIVE INTO WHAT MAKES THEM SPECIAL
EVERY time the covers are whipped
off a new billet engine block design, Traditional engine blocks are made through behind some of our favourite engine formats.
car fans hit the limiter like a P-plater a casting process, where liquid-hot aluminium “The guys buying these engines are really
in Dad’s company car, frothing at or iron is poured into a mould and allowed to
cool. Perfect for mass-production runs! A billet going all-out with them as they push for
maximum power or maximum reliability,” says

the 3000+hp potential of these aftermarket block, however, is machined from a single solid Bullet’s Darren Palumbo. “You can make

platforms. But what are billet blocks actually piece of super-high-quality metal called a billet. 1000hp on the stock versions of something

designed for? South Australia’s Bullet Race Engineering like a 2JZ for a time, but the risk is so much

As high-end racers in drag racing, Time has recently added billet Holden V8 and Ford higher when you are pushing an engine that

Attack and other forms of motorsport chase Barra six engines to its existing product line, was never designed to make that power. These

the seemingly opposing goals of reliability which includes billet blocks and heads for blocks are built to make that power.”

and ever-climbing power outputs, specially Toyota 2JZ and Nissan RB six-pots, as well as There are two major benefits to aftermarket

machined engine packages have become the Honda K-series, Mitsubishi 4G63 and Nissan billet blocks, the first being the opportunity

hot new go-to. This is where the billet block SR four-cylinder donks. The team have poured to redesign elements of much-loved engines,

comes into its own. huge effort into improving the engineering massively improving their potential. These

138 STREET MACHINE

These are billets of 6061
aluminium, which will

eventually become Bullet
engine blocks, cylinder
heads and other parts. Jigs
are attached to the blocks
so the metal can be held by
the machining equipment, as
the block needs to be rotated
while it is being machined for
oil galleries, crank and cam
tunnels, mounts and the like
Bullet uses a Haas VF-3SS three-axis milling machine (with a fourth-
axis rotary) to cut the aluminium billets into shape. Once that’s
done, the block has the jigs removed so the ends of the block can be
machined in another Haas VF-3SS that can accept taller jobs. Then it is
sent to be honed for the cylinder sleeves

CNC stands for ‘computer numerical control’, which refers to the
automated control of machining tools including lathes, mills, drills and
3D printers. The CNC machine is programmed to follow a computer-
designed model drawn up in the SolidWorks CAD program and
translated into SolidCAM computer-aided-machining (CAM) software.
SolidCAM then speaks in code to the machine, which cuts the material
in a series of passes

The CNC machine will
automatically switch cutting
bits out to suit the next piece

of machining the program
calls for. Cooling liquid is
sprayed onto the cutting

bit and work surface to
prevent overheating, which
would make the bit go blunt
double-quick. Given the price
of these bits, it is important

to keep them in the best
condition for as long as

possible!

139STREET MACHINE

Being able to engineer upgrades into the block design is a huge
benefit for big-power combos, and a great example is the notch in this
Toyota 2JZ block. The clearancing required in a stock 2JZ block when
fitting large alloy conrods cuts dangerously close to the factory oil
galleries, so Bullet designed larger galleries to sit higher in the block,
so there is no danger of a broken rod taking out the oil gallery

The blocks are honed to accept iron flange-top cylinder sleeves,
arranged in siamese fitment for better strength. “Using a siamese
bore in the block assists us with block strength,” says Darren. “But
it also helps to keep the deck flat and prevent distortion in the
main crank tunnel. Essentially, it makes the whole block more of a
beam construction, so it is less likely to distort under rpm or boost
pressures”
Aftermarket iron blocks are strong, but they don’t have the ductile
strength of aluminium. The improved block strength from better-
quality metal is a huge factor in the attraction of billet engines,
especially as power outputs have skyrocketed in recent years, with
some Radial vs The World cars making over 5000hp at the hubs!

“The factory Holden blocks are getting harder to source and more
expensive, and it is also getting more expensive to make them hang
together at today’s power levels,” says Bullet’s Darren Palumbo
(centre). “We basically identified the weak points of the Holden
platform and remedied them in design, as the only restrictions we
faced were the bore spacing, crank tunnel sizing, head stud location
and physical size”

“We are probably anodising maybe 10 per cent of the engines
we’re doing,” says Darren. “Most of the guys choosing the
coloured blocks are street-car guys. We’ve done them red,
pink, black, blue…”

Before slapping your hard-earned down on a fancy billet block, it is
important to do some research on what cylinder heads and internals
fit, and what level of machining is required before it can be assembled
into an engine. Some blocks come ready for bearings, while others still
need plenty of set-up work

140 STREET MACHINE

BULLET’S NEW BILLET HOLDEN V8
PACKS SOME SPICY ENGINEERING
TO ALLOW FOR A CLAIMED

3000HP RATING

KING OF THE JUNGLE is the oil system, and Bullet claims to have that licked, with the
company’s block using priority oiling just like a NASCAR engine. It
BULLET’S new lightweight, billet-aluminium Holden V8 packs some still uses standard Holden mounts, so a plate mount isn’t required,
spicy engineering to allow for a claimed 3000hp rating. It is available and the crank tunnel takes standard Holden bearings and comes
with water jackets in wet open-deck or closed dry-deck, and can machine-finished.
also be ordered as a solid, totally dry, drag-only block. Bullet will offer
8.875in or 9.1in deck heights, with bores ranging from 4.125in to Other options extend to two sump-rail patterns for standard or
4.185in, meaning a 440ci Holden V8 is now a possibility. stroker cranks, and lifter bore options from standard 904 up to Jesel
cartridge-style, though the Bullet Holden V8 will require an external oil
“Our new engine isn’t just a Holden V8 we scanned and have pump for either the wet- or dry-sump system you choose to run. The
reproduced,” Bullet’s Darren Palumbo explains. “Our design is a block can be ordered to run a distributor or front belt drive, with the
siamese bore with an externally machined water jacket, meaning choice of either an exposed belt-drive timing set-up or a Rollmaster
there is more meat around the fasteners for a stronger platform. And raised-cam chain set.
I’d expect it to be half the weight of an aftermarket iron block.”
For fasteners, the Bullet block rocks half-inch head studs and inner
There are four-bolt mains taking half-inch caps, while the cam tunnel main studs, and 7/16in outer main studs. The rear main seal is a Chev
has been pushed up in the block and now sports a 60mm tunnel item, and the bellhousing runs a Holden ‘turbo’ pattern.
and Babbitt bearings. Bullet reckons that Tighe Cams can provide
custom bumpsticks to suit this new core size. Want one? You’ll need $15,000.

A weakness of the Holden 5.0-litre going back to the very beginning

141STREET MACHINE

BIG FISH on Japanese six-cylinders.
“On the other hand, it was important for us to retain the stock
“THIS is probably the most requested engine we’ve ever done,” says
Bullet’s Darren Palumbo of the company's mighty billet Barra block. cylinder head fastener positions, so customers can also run a head
“We started on the Barra before the Holden program, and there was or intake manifold that they might already have invested a lot of time
a whole heap of work in the background.” developing to work with their car.”

Machined from 6061 forged aluminium, the alloy Barra runs an As with Bullet’s Holden V8, the oil pump must be externally mounted,
OE tunnel, bellhousing, rear main seal and engine mounts, but can but the oil pan can be wet or dry format, and the block comes with
accept bores from 92mm up to 97mm for a 4.5L capacity. Bullet Bullet’s billet integrated sump. Weighing in at approximately 45kg,
ties the caps in using its four-bolt cradle system featuring 7/16in ARP the billet Barra can be ordered wet or dry with cooling jackets for
studs, while ARP 1/2in studs keep the head clamped down. $16,000, or as a solid, drag-only block for $15,000.

“We had to make major design changes to suit what we wanted this “This is for people who are looking to make power and be reliable,”
block to do, because of the way the factory Barra block is designed,” says Darren. “We’ve actually sold six so far, with two being bought by
Darren explains. “The stock main caps hang down like a V8, but we one customer. One will go in his drag car and one in his street car!”
prefer to run our main caps integrated into a girdle for strength, like

Bullet machines its blocks to
take a .904thou lifter like a
Chrysler, and offers an optional
.937 lifter bore, but the ultimate
is a 1in Jesel bronze-bushed
cartridge lifter (at left and
second-left in photo). “The
bronze body encapsulates the
lifter and wheel in a keyway,”
says Darren. “The concept
behind running a larger cam
core and bigger base circle is
to gain lobe lift on the cam at
a lower rocker ratio, because
as rocker ratio increases,
valvetrain stability decreases”

142 STREET MACHINE

Sharp-eyed Cleveland
fans should be excited by

the design on Darren’s
computer, as Bullet plans
to release a billet Clevo
in 2022. “We have found

strong interest in the
Cleveland platform, so
we’re excited to offer this
option next year,” he says
This 3500hp ProCharged brute is the 564ci AJPE TFX from the
Marchese-Szabolics Pontiac Firebird radial car (SM, Apr ’21), which
runs 3sec passes in the eighth-mile on methanol. This is the level of
race car that billet engine blocks were originally designed for, though
they are now appearing in high-end street cars as well

“Everything is washed by hand, because the caustic in the hot wash
makes the aluminium go dull,” Darren explains. “We probably do 150
blocks a year, and a four-cylinder takes approximately 20 hours to do,
while something like a Barra or Holden V8 would need 30 hours”

ONE BENEFIT OF A BILLET BLOCK IS THE OPPORTUNITY
TO REDESIGN ELEMENTS OF MUCH-LOVED ENGINES, MASSIVELY

IMPROVING THEIR POTENTIAL

include modifying the size of cam tunnels and This isn’t any old aluminium he’s talking about, as they try to deal with many times more power
lifter bores, adding material around fasteners, though. Bullet makes its engines from billets than they were ever designed to take,” Darren
adding modern priority mains oiling galleries and of forged 6061-T6 aluminium, which uses says.
more. The other major plus is the metallurgical magnesium and silicon to make up the complex
properties of high-quality aluminium. alloy before being heat-treated for maximum Once they have been machined into shape,
strength. It is the same grade of aluminium the aluminium blocks are further machined to
“A benefit of going to a billet block is that alloy used in the construction of aeroplanes accept drop-in cylinder sleeves, and these can
while 6061 aluminium has similar tensile and firearms, and in chassis for supercars like often be specified to run as wet (with coolant
strength to cast iron, the yield is 10 per cent,” the Audi R8. around them) or dry (like grout-filled, methanol-
Darren explains. “That means it can move 10 burning drag engines that run without coolant).
per cent of its length or thickness before it will “The quality of the forged aluminium being
crack, compared to cast iron, which has a yield used, and the way our blocks are designed Bullet isn’t the only one in the game, of course.
of 1-1.5 per cent. And if cast iron cracks, then to hold strength in the right areas, means you PAC Performance in Sydney has been building
it is junk, while the aluminium can be welded.” don’t have parts of the engine walking around billet rotaries for years, while international
outfits offering billet engine options include

143STREET MACHINE

A TWIN-TURBO CAST-ALUMINIUM OR IRON CHEVY
WILL ONLY TAKE 50PSI SAFELY. WITH A BILLET BLOCK,

YOU CAN GO 100PSI

Alan Johnson Performance Engineering, CN Being able to include upgrades in order to ability to update designs or roll in upgrades for
Blocks, Pro Line Racing, Steve Morris Engines, make engine servicing easier in between racing the next season’s engine are key benefits for
Moran Motorsports and Elmer Racing. Noonan rounds is an important advantage of billet for serious racers needing a four-digit power fix.
Race Engineering even moved its operation Frank, as there can be big money on the line.
from Queensland to Spartanburg, South “The cast stuff is a lot harder to change;
Carolina due to the growing market for billet “Take the ProCharged PLR Alan Johnson you’d have to redesign it, then recast the block
engines. Hemi that runs in the white Firebird [Tech to make those design upgrades,” Frank says.
Torque, SM, Apr ’21] – we can change a set “I actually do a lot of billet stuff now; I do a
Noted tuner and engine builder Frank of rods at the race track and it isn’t a huge 2JZ making over 2000hp for a customer in
Marchese of Dandy Engines has had plenty of drama, thanks to the simplicity of pulling a sump Sydney.”
hands-on experience with billet mills. “Reliability off,” Frank explains. “This Hemi has an updated
is key, as the material they make billet out of is design so you don’t have to remove the intake While they’re not an option for budget builds
much stronger than a cast block,” he says. “The manifold to change a cylinder head. In America yet, the billet block revolution could spell a
weight isn’t that different over a cast block, but we removed a head and changed a valve in the lengthy future for internal combustion engines.
a twin-turbo cast-aluminium or iron Chevy will pits in 45 minutes, but if we had to remove the As second-hand stocks of 60-year-old engines
only take 50psi safely. With a billet block, you intake that would have been hours of work.” dwindle in the future, it is nice to know there
can go 100psi.” are other options available to keep our favourite
With the pace of change in racing, having the
engine designs alive.

Former V8 Supercar
engine builder Jamie Noonan
has made an international success
of his Noonan Race Engineering
business. Now US-based, Noonan
offers billet Hemi, LS, LT and even
Porsche 911-based billet offerings.
Local Noonan customers include
radial racers Kyle Hopf, Jarrod Wood
(pictured) and Wade Wagstaff

144 STREET MACHINE

TUFF MOUNTS
SUPPORT YOU &

THE AUSSIE
CAR SCENE

Support Local and
Support those that

Support You!

Tuff Mounts 2-4 Denis St, St Marys South Australia 08 8374 0011

www.tuffmounts.com.au

DIRTY STUFF

WILLIAM PORKER

SURE, some engine swaps can be and complete rear axle into a Mk1 Cortina milling machine, and new twin-cam pistons
difficult, but when you have to dig the bodyshell. He didn’t own one of these, but were found that were special alloy flat-tops
major pieces out of the dirt, where began searching and finally located what he – the same as in pushrod engines but with
they have been sitting and corroding wanted. He knew the Lotus bits would bolt two valve reliefs to cope with the .337in lift
for 35 years, and then attempt to put them all almost straight into to the Mk1 if he could of the valves in their hemispherical chambers.
together, that’s another level of drama. manage to revive them. The extra-strong 125E connecting rods were
reconditioned; the five-main-bearing cast-iron
This story begins when a guy bought a Ford That was the problem. After 35 years of the crank was ground; and the cylinder head, after
Escort two-door sedan with the intention of pieces sitting in often-wet dirt, corroding the plenty of TLC, came up really well.
going rally racing. The car was powered by metal bits, Bruce really didn’t know what to
a Lotus-Ford twin-overhead-camshaft four- expect. But he knew plenty about rebuilding The water pumps of these engines are
cylinder, the performance of which was a mechanical stuff. recessed into the large timing cover that hides
hell of a lot better than the standard 1.6-litre the single-row chain. This alloy casting extends
pushrod engine, with more than double the He managed to lift the alloy cylinder head forward to mate with the extra forward length
brake horsepower. and was pleasantly surprised to find this of the cylinder head, sealed by a special head
was in reasonable condition. Got the sump gasket.
These Harry Mundy-designed twin-cam off, but managed to drive out only two of the
engines were produced in their thousands, in piston-and-conrod assemblies. The other two Racing people swap the stock cast-iron
a variety of versions. They also powered Colin pistons were corroded so solidly into their camshafts for billet steel pieces, as with higher
Chapman’s sports and racing cars, winning cylinder bores that no amount of bashing with valve lifts and heavy springs, the cam noses
heaps of competition events with what was knockometers would free them. tend to break off and stuff up the engine. But
basically an uprated alloy cylinder head on Bruce was happy with the stock 100bhp,
Ford’s cast-iron, pushrod 116E Cortina bottom Sit down and think. Only way out of this would even though, with a radical rework, these little
end. be to massacre the pistons, and a hammer and engines can belt out over 200.
chisel wouldn’t work, as he needed to save the
So this guy went rallying and had a major special heavy-duty, Lotus twin-cam connecting His four-slot, close-ratio Escort gearbox
disaster with the Escort. Had a confrontation rods. So he got out his drills, aiming to lift the came up okay, as did the higher-ratio rear axle.
with a tree, which rearranged the back of crowns off these seized alloy pistons by drilling Much work saw the bodyshell transformed
the car, which then caught on fire. Burnt out heaps of holes around their perimeters, into and – finally – these Lotus twin-cam pieces
severely. All he could do was pull out the the ring grooves. With enough linked holes, installed. They worked as they should, Bruce
engine, transmission and rear axle and get rid the crowns should lift off. Then he could get went test-driving, and then managed to get his
of the rest. He sold these main pieces to a man into the piston pin bosses, cutting enough new Lotus Cortina registered.
who wanted to install them in a Cortina, but metal away so he could free the pins and drive
instead stored them under his house on the dirt out the conrods through the top of the block. It sits in his house garage now and is seldom
and lost interest. And after many hours of patient hard yakka, he driven, as Bruce says he doesn’t have many
succeeded in doing just that. places to go with it and prefers to concentrate
Thirty-five years later, my mate Bruce heard on other aspects of his life. But after all that
about these now-valuable Escort remains and From then on, the rest of the reclamation work blood, sweat and almost tears, he can now look
successfully negotiated to buy what was there, was almost easy. The factory-strengthened at his Lotus Cortina and know he has a very

MUCH WORK SAW THE BODYSHELL TRANSFORMED AND THE TWIN-
CAM PIECES INSTALLED. THEY WORKED AS THEY SHOULD, AND BRUCE

MANAGED TO GET HIS NEW LOTUS CORTINA REGISTERED

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TIME MACHINE

STORY CRAIG PARKER PHOTOS SM ARCHIVES

SPECIAL FX
> ANDREW ASH HAS ENJOYED A LONG CAREER PROVIDING PAINT AND PANELWORK FOR A HOST
OF AWARD-WINNING RIDES – AND IT ALL STARTED IN 1987 WITH HIS OWN FX HOLDEN UTE

THE July-August 1987 issue of Street Machine was an Award at the 7th Street Machine Nationals in Canberra in
absolute cracker. Mark Sgaravizzi’s infamous 88NATS 1986.
XD Falcon was bursting off the cover, while inside
was Andrew Reader’s sensational EH, the Castrol How, you may ask? Well, being an apprentice at Bowral’s
Collection Phase III, and a full overview of an all-new, upcoming prestigious Pro Finish under the tutelage of none other than
event called Summernats! Owen Webb may have had something to do with it. In fact,
once Andrew had finished cutting out the FX’s rust and ironing
Then, on page 114, Australia’s street machine community got out all its wrinkles, Owen pitched in and laid on the paint and
its first introduction to a legend of our sport, Andrew Ash – or stripes.
more correctly, his red FX Holden ute.
“I’d bought the car when I was 15, before I started working
Between then and now, Andrew has amassed an incredibly for Owen,” says Andrew. “I’d been driving it around for some
impressive CV. Since opening AA Panel Craft, firstly from his time before ripping into it. The build took around 12 months,
home around 2000, followed by a full-blown shop in 2004, which was tough. All my mates were out having fun and here
he’s had a hand in more than 10 Street Machine feature I was spending all my spare time working on this damn car.
cars, other cars of historical significance, and a few concours Once I’d finished all the bodywork, Owen liked what I’d done
winners (see sidebar, page 116). and offered to paint it for me. It was very generous of him – I’ve
been forever grateful.
Back in 1987, Andrew was a mere lad of 18 and a third-year
apprentice panel beater. Despite his tender age, he not only “Mark McGlynn was another gun tradesman that worked with
managed to score that SM feature, but he’d also already tasted us at Pro Finish; he was also of great help,” Andrew continues.
show success, having picked up the Judges’ Encouragement “Back then I didn’t have a welder at home – heck, I was

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