Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2015 i Street Machine

I’M THE Nightrider! I’m a fuel-injected suicide machine!” So says the Nightrider, as he puts the boot into a stolen Pursuit Special in an effort to make good his escape from lawful custody. This is, of course, the opening set piece of the original Mad Max flick. The Nightrider, his girl and the Monaro cut a swathe through their pursuers, until the force’s top patrolman, Max Rockatansky, enters the fray. While the cars in the Main Force Patrol’s (MFP) fleet in the first Mad Max are mostly Ford Falcons, the bespoilered HQ is one of only two Holden-based MFP vehicles we are shown, the other being a tantalising glimpse of another HQ Monaro Pursuit Special in the ‘Last of the V8s’ garage scene. The film doesn’t go into any significant…

GENIAL Tony O’Donnell, 60, has become a fixture of our community through his longtime marketing role with Shannons (though he has recently moved on for a change of pace) and his work with the Australian Confederation of Motor Clubs (ACMC); the enthusiast motoring group that has united the tribes to speak to government with one effective and increasingly influential voice. How long have you been into cars? My father was a panel beater and used to work at home on weekends. I was always out in the shed hanging around, thinking I was helping. It was before I started school; I’ve been an amateur panel beater ever since! Growing up in the 60s, most of the dads had manual jobs and wanted their sons to work in nice clean offices,…

LETTER OF THE MONTH ROBOTS IN DISGUISE JUST wanted to share a photo of our amazing mailbox that my husband built. It is completely made from Holden car parts. Being a huge Holden fan (we own a ’71 HQ Monaro, a ’68 HK Monaro and a new VF SS-V Redline), my husband wanted to make a shrine to our beloved Holden collection. Earl, the Transformer at the back, stands at over nine feet tall and weighs about 900kg. Bender at the front is where the mail actually goes – through his eyes, with retrieval via his belly. It took my hubby approximately four months to build at night, after his day job as a floor and wall tiler. We then had the problem of trying to get it out of…

IT MIGHT be a bit hard to comprehend these days, but auto manufacturers in the 60s – and especially Ford with their Total Performance campaign – were all about tying their racing achievements to the cars they hoped the average family would park in their driveway. While the ads touted the successes of their race-prepared cars in NASCAR, NHRA drag racing and Le Mans, you would have been pretty hard-pressed to find a ’64 Galaxie lightweight with a 427 side-oiler and Top Loader at your local Ford dealer. These were race specials, built in very limited numbers and handed to a select few who had already proved themselves on the track. But what you could buy was something that looked just like it, and that’s what the factories hoped you…

CHILDHOOD impressions can stick with you for life, often leaving an itch that just has to be scratched. For Ian Caruana, it was his dad’s old XA Falcon. It wasn’t anything special mind you – just a well-used old Falcon 500. But it left a strong mark on Ian. As he tells it, “it was brown with a white vinyl roof. I remember it had air shockers at the rear and they never held air, so the wheel arch would be down to the rim. In my eyes it looked tough, with the front high up and on its guts on the rear. All it needed was a set of Center Lines and a V8, but rust got the better of it.” Some years later, when Ian was the ripe…

IF YOU ever want to start an argument around car guys, just ask who has the quickest street car around. It’s guaranteed to get a few people fired up. There’s always a few who reckon they know someone whose brother’s mate’s flatmate has some car that is quicker than anything, even though no one has ever seen it. The easiest way to settle things is to get all the contenders out to the track on the same day under the same conditions. Which is why John Colaidis, in conjunction with Tunnel Vision Turbocharging and Heathcote Raceway, has organised Melbourne’s King Of The Street meeting for the past two years. “It all started off as a test and tune” John says. “A lot of cars are getting too fast for the…

THEY say you should never meet your heroes, but here I am, behind the wheel of my EJ, driving up from Melbourne to Broadford Track, ready to drive Holden’s EFIJY concept car. EFIJY is Holden’s tribute to the FJ, and took the world by storm when it debuted at the 2005 Australian International Motor Show. It was designed and championed by Richard Ferlazzo, who has been Holden’s design director since 2013. He has been involved with the design of every Commodore since the VN and was the chief designer for the VE and VF. He has also worked extensively on US models, and even redesigned the Holden Lion logo in 1994 – still in use today – but he will forever be known as the father of EFIJY. Although he…

AS WE explained last issue, this 355ci Holden V8 donk is intended for our giveaway HQ GTS tribute car, and we want it to be reasonably lively when you sink your foot into it. Even so, this is a car that is probably going to spend 99 per cent of its time on the street, so it has to be a mild-mannered cruiser; nothing too over the top. Still, there’s no point leaving horsepower lying around if there are some easy gains to be had, so we headed to Top Torque in the Melbourne suburb of Vermont to see what they could do for our Holden V8. PORTING AT THIS level of performance, it’s all about increasing flow without enlarging port volume too much. Holden’s VN-VS heads are pretty good…

WITH the clock ticking towards the next Drag Challenge, it seems a few of last year’s entrants have been putting in some extra track time in preparation for this year’s event. Mexican Harry Haig has managed a new PB of 8.52@168mph in his turbocharged, EFI big-block HQ sedan. It copped a significant freshen-up after a scary fire on the last day of Drag Challenge 2014 at Heathcote Raceway. Overall winner Quentin Feast has also run a new PB with an 8.34@165mph recently at Sydney Dragway, but the man to beat at this stage is Queenslander Terry Seng, who recently ran 7.56@182mph.…

The Australian automotive performance market has a rich and proud heritage. For years local design, ingenuity and manufacturing has created many fantastic performance-related products. At Street Machine we are proud to showcase and support truly Australian-engineered and manufactured products - here are a few Aussie manufacturers keeping the dream alive, helping to keep the local industry thriving and keeping people in real jobs. So support your local Aussie-made products. Tell us in one line how to describe your business. We design , manufacture and sell automotive accessories. What is the history of your business? I started out making custom billet and sheetmetal parts for my own car, a VB Commodore known as CHUBBY. I began to get enquiries from mates who wanted me to make parts for their projects. and…

BLAME it on the oral contraceptive pill. First released in the 1960s, it allowed baby boomers to become the first generation of the 20th century to widely engage in premarital naughtiness. Sadly, even the most enlightened parents didn’t allow sleepovers, and living together was also rare back then; most couples lived at home until they married. So, we all had sex in cars instead, and lo, it was good. It’s also what fuelled the 1970s van boom. I got my licence in January 1972 and my first proper girlfriend that September. Happy days, you might think, but the limitations of sexual congress in a Morris 1100 were soon apparent* as was the lack of privacy, especially during the day. The answer? Get a panel van. Up until then, the idea…

ONCE upon a time it was vans like Jade that were the elite superstars. People lathered trick paint, custom trim and endless chrome, brass and even gold-plating around the place in an all-out effort to make their van number one. But once the vanning scene took a nosedive, so did the vans. Well-specced drivelines, bucket interiors and all the blingy bits made them perfect donor cars for the burgeoning street machine movement. And why wouldn’t you? It was a smart move to recycle someone else’s hard work and cubic dollars and send the leftovers to the wreckers. Fortunately, not every classic show van’s story ended with crispy mattresses and vandalised murals. Here’s one van that had the fairytale ending instead. It was 1980 and a young Gary Pierce laid down…

* PATENT PENDING ** PROBABLY MIDSUMMER DREAM CHRIS Cummings was never one to follow the crowd, and his turbo six-powered HQ – remember, this was in the 70s! – was a standout amongst a sea of N/A V8s. A full rebuild and return to the show scene as Midsummer Dream II was a roaring success, however the van was later sold and damaged by fire. An innovator to the core, Chris followed up this build with a twin-turbo V8-powered Manta kit car. XX308 WHAT’S the van that every vanning legend loves? Stephen Ellis’s XX308. With styling inspired by Steve’s love of US Trans-Am race cars, XX308 was a heavy-hitter in the early days with its low, wide and mean stance, stuffing 14x10in rims under flared guards and choosing to buck…

HERE in Oz we’re notorious for taking cool stuff (and, er, Russell Crowe) from the Land of the Long White Cloud and claiming it as our own, so it’s a pretty good bet no one here would want to send ex-pat Kiwi Rita Ramjet back home. Hailing from Gisborne, Nuzullund and now rockin’ out in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, Rita shares driving duty of this FB pano with her man Shaun (sorry, blokes). It was snapped up a week before Chopped ’14 and readied in double-quick time for the 2000km round trip, which it completed without complaining – chilly bin, er, I mean Esky in the back of course. Since then, Rita and Shaun have bumped and shaken the van to bits (as well as driven it down a lot of…

LUKE MACUMBER “HERE is my 1971 HQ panel van. I purchased a shell off eBay for $450, so as you can imagine, it wasn’t too flash. A lot of blood, sweat and beers later, here is how it turned out. I’m proud to say it was built with my own two hands. It’s no show car but it turns heads everywhere we go. It runs a mild 308, 3000-stalled Trimatic and a 3.36 LSD. Thanks to the old man for the hand and the use of his shed.” RYAN BOND VANS don’t need to be modified to be cool, as Ryan Bond’s immaculate CL Drifter demonstrates. Enthusiastic optioning saw it delivered when new with a 318 and four-speed combo, along with air conditioning and dealer-fitted rear curtains! TROY BYRNE “I’VE…

AS THE sun sets on local production, it seems that Holden is as keen as anyone to celebrate its long and rich heritage of Aussie-built V8 culture. The latest nod to the brand’s glorious past is the revival of the Sandman, as a limited edition variant for the SV6 and SS-V versions of its ute and Sportwagon. Unlike in 2003, when Holden introduced the Holden By Design ute canopy that came as near as dammit to reviving the panel van proper, this time there is no faux shaggin’ wagon on offer. This was a major sticking point for many on social media – how could you have a Sandman without it being a van? This is forgetting that the Sandman was always available as a ute, from the HQ right…

23 MAY, LAIDLEY, QLD Laidley Charity Show ’n’ Shine, Laidley Showgrounds. Contact Barbara 0412 140 239. 23 MAY, LAWNTON, QLD Sims Rock ’n’ Roll Show ’n’ Shine, Pine Rivers Showground. Contact Simon 0449 291 000. 23 MAY, GLENELG, SA Adelaide Van Show 2015, Wigley Reserve. Contact Dogman 0402 615 252. 23-24 MAY, BRISBANE, QLD 45th Queensland Hot Rod Show, Brisbane Convention Centre. Visit www.qhrp.org. 24 MAY, EASTERN CREEK, NSW Sydney Powercruise Powerplay 2015, Sydney Motorsport Park, Brabham Drive. Contact 0407 172 413 or visit www.powercruise.com. 24 MAY, QUEANBEYAN, ACT 9th Annual EJ-EH Holden Club ACT Show ’n’ Shine, Queanbeyan Showground. Contact 0402 911 592 or (02) 6231 2354. 24 MAY, EMU PARK, QLD 2015 Classic by the Coast, Bell Park at Emu Park, Capricorn Coast. Contact 0437 226 232. 24…

SYDNEYSIDER Brett White, a keen film buff, has visually documented many pivotal street machining events over the past four decades, graduating from 8mm to digital along the way. He loves capturing tough cars on the move, and his work offers an amazing perspective on many legendary builds in their element. As for his own automotive journey, there wouldn’t be many 50-somethings who could count on one hand all the cars they’ve owned, but for Brett, that’s just how things have played out. 01 BRETT got his first car in 1977, a 1956 FJ Holden Special sedan that a previous owner had fitted with FX Holden front sheet metal. “I lowered it, added FE brakes and a set of 13-inch reverse chromies” Brett recalls. “I drove it everywhere; I went to…

HOT CHIP RECENTLY we had the opportunity to meet and interview US car designer and builder Chip Foose, star of reality television series Overhaulin’. Chip was in Oz for the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association show in Melbourne, as a guest of 3M. We sat in on a session Chip ran at the Automotive Centre of Excellence, where he did a drawing for the students while running a Q&A session at the same time. You can check out our video by searching ‘Chip Foose’ on our website: www.streetmachine.com.au. Maa Few Webster – Absolute legend. Shaun Evans – Yep, he gets what it’s all about, and such a cool guy! Doug McArdle – Can’t remember on what site I saw the sketch he was talking about in the video, but it was…

COLLIE turned on a perfect weekend for the fourth Liqui-Moly Gazzanats WA, with clear blue skies, mild temperatures and about 250 cars ready to rip it up on the Collie Motorplex track and burnout pad. The only thing we could have used was a little more breeze to blow the smoke away from the cars on the pad, to keep the photographers happy. If there’s one thing there isn’t a shortage of at Gazzanats, it’s smoke! After a couple of major mishaps in the super skids at the past two events – Justen Brown running off the track in 2012 and Chris Michel rolling his car last year – everyone was under strict instructions to button-off at the 100-metre braking mark. Sounds pretty easy, but that means keeping the tyres…

FANS of Australian cinema will tell you that Picnic At Hanging Rock is a 1975 film by Peter Weir, about the disappearance of several schoolgirls at the Victorian landmark of Hanging Rock on Valentine’s Day in the early 1900s. It was a landmark for the Australian film industry , but the only thing it shares with the car show of the same name is the location: Hanging Rock Recreation Reserve. Located about 50 minutes north of Melbourne on the Calder Highway, the Reserve is a sprawling area, ringed by bush and shaded by Hanging Rock itself – otherwise known as Mount Diogenes. The rock is an impressive-looking thing when viewed from the bottom, but despite its daunting appearance it only takes 15-20 minutes to walk up – depending on how…

HAVING successfully campaigned a Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo in both the Australian GT Championship and the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour – not to mention the fact that he owns eight road-going Lamborghinis – you might think Justin McMillan is all about Italian exotica. Actually though, he’s a muscle car guy at heart. Keeping his Lambo collection company is an enviable array of desirable toughies: a 1970 Firebird 400, 1970 Boss Mustang, 1967 XR GT Falcon, 1970 383 Barracuda and a Shane Rowe-built ’32 Roadster. In addition, Justin’s nearly finished a sledded custom, along with the build on Mat Egan’s custom XL ute that Mat opted out of a few years ago. Yep, deep down Mr McMillan is a bona fide street machiner. The German-based Reiter Engineering has forged a successful business…

WHEN you’re running a static show in the same location for over 20 years you need to keep spicing things up. But the guys and girls of the Albury-Wodonga Chrysler Club have been putting on their popular Chryslers On The Murray event for 23 years now, and they know how to keep things fresh. Firstly they ‘spotlight’ certain models each year, which prompts owners to bring cars out of the woodwork we might not ordinarily see. This year the theme was American Muscle; next year it’ll be the 45th anniversary of the Australian Charger. Secondly, the club has been keen to incorporate some driving events for a couple of years now, and this year they finally found a spot at the Motorsports Training Australia facility, giving entrants a chance at…

BEST time of the month goes to the Todarello crew, who managed a 6.88@202mph in Rob Campisi’s old Cortina (now called PAROLE). It’s running a twin-turbo small-block Ford, and though Paul hasn’t been in the car for long, the 22-year-old ran a 7.0sec late last year. Incredibly it’s the same 400 motor that Campo ran all those years ago, with a new crank, rods and pistons, and even the same Y2K 80mm turbos. Mike Moran is tuning the car and, as it was a little rich, they brought the boost on a little earlier, hoping for a 6.90. Incredibly the Corty went a 6.88, faster than the best of 6.98 that Campo ran in the car. Expectations are that it can run a 6.70@210mph. Seems the bug has really hit…

RICK WELCH 1973 HQ GTS “MY HQ GTS started life as a Glacier White Kinga six-banger. I found it in 2010 in Dalby, Western Queensland as a roller for $3K. Once I had it, it was booked in for a coat of Barbados Green, the interior was sent to the trimmers for some houndstooth, and I started the search on eBay and Gumtree for all the hard-to-find bits. It’s now powered by a 383ci SBC, and I’m using a B&M T400, 3500 stall and a Strange Truetrac nine-inch. I wanted to keep a stock look with an aggressive street attitude, and I couldn’t be happier with the finished job. Massive thanks to Terry of Paramount Automotive & Performance, Chris of Evans Trim Shop and Jason Seng for advice and letting…

MEATING PLACE A MAN walks into a bar and sees two pieces of meat hanging from the ceiling. He asks the bartender what the story is. “Oh, it’s a competition that we run every night” the bartender replies. “If you can jump up and touch the meat, you get free drinks for the whole night.” “Sounds great!” the man says. “But what if I can’t reach them?” “Ah, then you have to buy drinks for everyone else all night” the bartender answers. “Do you want to try?” “No, but thanks anyway” the man replies. “Why not?” “The steaks are too high.” Joe Kistoosic, email LICENCE TEST A LITTLE girl asked her mother out of the blue: “Mummy, how old are you?” The mother responded: “Honey, women don’t talk about their…

WHO would have thunk it: Van Wheels back on the shelves for the first time in 35 years! But then, even in its heyday VW was notorious for its somewhat, er, ‘loose’ publishing schedule, so issue 11 finally turning up after a three-decade-plus hiatus is pretty much business as usual. As editor of Van Wheels 11, I feel a bit like a janitor who’s just been made CEO – extremely honoured, a bit daunted, but pretty sure I can at least clean up any mess. You see, as a kid in the 70s and 80s, panel vans just blew me away, plain and simple. It was probably fate; I had a car-loving dad and an excellent artist for a mum, and vans were a near-perfect mixture of these formative influences.…

IT’S Wednesday morning, and it’s pissing down. Given I have a 1000km road trip ahead of me, this is a disappointing development, but I remain sanguine, allowing only a mildly irritated bellow of “Stinking bloody stupid bollocky poo-bum rain!” to escape my lips. I’m nothing if not mature, and besides, I’m about to hit the (wet) road for the 40th Australian Van Nationals in Bathurst, the culmination of many months’ hard work and van prep, and I’m not about to let a little April deluge stop me. The lead-up has been crazy. There’s been numerous last-minute scrambles to hit deadlines, not to mention a couple of 11th-hour mechanical issues with my Valiant van, Disturbia, which decided to spit a tappet cover gasket, pop the brake booster then crack the oil…

WE CAN rebuild him, better than he was before.” Okay, Brisbane’s Paul Murray might not have said those exact words, but I’m sure he was thinking something similar. See, his candy red HR Holden, Iron Man, was once a show-stopping 90s playboy, built by Mark Ivey and known as Badass (SM, Sep ’93). ‘A-ha!’ I can hear some of you say. Yes, the core of this van may be familiar; candy red HRs with flip fronts and Jag rears don’t exactly grow on trees, after all. Back when we featured the van in SM it was living the good life, cleaning up at shows around Mark’s hometown of Adelaide. It was a rose flourishing amid an otherwise barren van scene, and a worthy recipient of Top Van at Summernats 4…

IS THERE anything cooler than a young lady with a Sandman obsession? We think not. Kirby Nutt is living proof that panel vans aren’t just for the blokes. The 24-year-old was one of a new wave of young vanners making their mark at the 2015 Bathurst Van Nationals. Love the van! How long have you had it? Thanks. I’ve had it for four years now. It’s an HZ my dad Geoff, myself and a couple of his mates built from a bare shell and have only just got on the road. I’ve always loved Sandmans and this is a replica with a few personal touches. The Van Nats is its first big show. Being a girl into vans, you’re something of a rarity; what got you interested? Do you remember…

TONY Smith and his wife Jane founded Starlight Dreamz – a fundraiser for the Starlight Children’s Foundation – and are on a mission to raise $100K. A keen vanner, Tony decided to take his cause to the streets with the build of this XE panel van, appropriately dubbed Starlight. We caught up with Tony at the 2015 Van Nationals held in Bathurst over the Easter long weekend. How did you get involved with the Starlight Foundation? Around six years ago me and a couple of other guys founded the All Ford Club of WA. We always wanted to do something to help the various charities, and the Starlight Foundation was really enthusiastic and interested in what we were trying to offer. Every year we take Starlight kids and their families…

CARS: 1968 Chevrolet Camaro, 1968 Dodge Charger, 1970 Dodge Charger, 1974 Dodge Tradesman, 1966 Buick LeSabre, 1963 Cadillac Coupe de Ville, 1968 Ford Fairlane STARS: Ron Howard, Christopher Norris, Brad David, Dave Madden, Kathy O’Dare, Clint Howard, Rance Howard, Corbin Bernsen DIRECTOR: Charles B Griffith CAR ACTION: Shoulder-to-shoulder stock car action on the track and the street, along with the trashing of multiple police cars PLOT: Hoover has the hots for Darlene so he steals a stock car to impress her, instigating a crazy chase with the local cops HOOVER Niebold (Happy Days’ Ron Howard) is a teenage delivery driver who dreams of stepping away from his crusty van and into racing stock cars. Hounded by his old man – the local sheriff – for constantly goofing off, Hoover and…

IT’S an age-old technique that has been employed since the very beginning of the automobile industry: Get a lightweight car and get the most powerful motor you can find – or more likely, can afford – and put the two together. Back in the early days of the 20th century, at the extreme end of this equation, people were pulling engines out of aeroplanes and tanks in a quest to set speed records. Fast-forward to the present day and that technique is still a valid one, although we’re doing things a lot smarter now and engines have definitely become far more efficient. You don’t need 27 litres of fire-breathing fury to go fast; three will do just fine. Rob Velkovski’s SS hatch started out as a six-cylinder, but when he…

WE MIGHT take the mickey out of them at every opportunity, but you have to admit the Kiwis’ roadworthy laws blow away anything we have this side of the ditch. Proof positive is Warren Black’s street-driven blown big-block HQ LS Monaro, from Oamaru on NZ’s South Island. “We’ve had it for a few years now” Warren says. “I got the car off my mate Brendon Shearing so he could get a more complete LS Monaro. I had been bugging him for it for some time as it was just sitting in the back of his shed. “I had plans to make the car just a good streeter, but got a bit carried away. I was lucky as Brendon had just tubbed his LS Monaro before me so the back-end was…

AS THE sun begins to set on almost seven decades of local production of Australia’s Own Car, this stunning example of the first ever Holden – the FX – is enough to bring a tear to your eye. Crafted in beautifully restrained resto-mod style, Mark Riek’s humpy ute retains all the period charm of a concours restored stocker, with a tastefully curated selection of modern mods combining to improve its performance out of sight. Of particular note is the powerplant. While it’s still a ridgy-didge old grey motor, a smattering of contemporary hardware both inside and out lifts power and throttle response to levels considered nigh on impossible back in 1953. More on that later. Mark has built a fine selection of go-fast rides over the years, including an HR…

IF YOU ever go to the Dry Lake Racers of Australia’s Speedweek, held annually at Lake Gairdner in outback South Australia, you’ll feel like a kid going on a beach holiday. It takes forever to get there, and you’ll never forget the excitement of that very first glimpse, through the hills, of the salt. Port Augusta is on the edge of the Never Never; Lake Gairdner is 180km past it. Going there is hard, but going there to race is harder. Even so, there are few people who’ve gone just to check it out who don’t decide to go back and race. It’s now 25 years since the DLRA first organised a landspeed racing event there, and it keeps getting bigger and bigger. This year the salt was dry (important),…

AFTER I lost my last Pontiac Bonneville in a shed fire last year (SM, Dec 14), I was determined to get back on the horse and source a replacement. Problem is, I am a picky sod and didn’t want a Canadian-assembled right-hook example that was sold in Oz back in the day. It had to be a ridgy-didge, wide-track Poncho-powered hardtop coupe or sedan. And that meant it had to be imported, as is the case for most classic US tin that isn’t a Mustang, Impala or Camaro. FINDING YOUR RIDE AMERICA is a big country, just like Australia, and so it can cost a bomb to ship a large car to the port of departure, especially if it is coming from the Deep South or Mid-West. For this reason,…

01 H2GO DAVIES Craig’s lightweight alloy EWP130 electric water pump is a performance cooling product that fits onto the bottom radiator hose. The EWP130 advances engine cooling while increasing horsepower and torque and decreasing fuel consumption. When coupled to the EWP/fan LCD digital controller, it continues to run after the engine shuts down, thus extending engine life. Call (03) 9369 1234. 02 MUSCLE TUSSLE NOT overly keen on running a fly-by-wire throttlebody on your LS conversion? Then Muscle Garage has got you covered with their LSX cable accelerator bracket. This bracket bolts on to the manifold and allows you to run any cable-operated throttlebody. Plus, starting at just $40, they won’t cost you an arm and a leg. Give the blokes at Muscle Garage a call on 1300 247 356.…

KIERAN ROBINSON, 17, TOOWOOMBA, QLD I HAD been saving for a car since I was around 13 years old, doing after-school and weekend work at our local bakery. Once I got my learners licence at 16, I started looking around for the right ride. I decided I didn’t really want the average car – I wanted a nice old one. I didn’t really care what sort, but my dad, who has a ’47 Chev ute that he built himself, said I should get something that was popular as it would be worth more in the long run. He suggested the EH Holden, and wanting to be a little different, I decided I wanted a wagon version. It took a while, but I finally found one on Gumtree; it was just…

BACK in the 70s, shit wasn’t done by halves. Giveaway cars were properly customised vans, not a Barina Sportsgirl or Maloo that copped a few sponsor stickers and cheap mags. And some of the awesomest giveaway cars of the era were the Coca-Cola vans built for competitions on the coolest stations on the wireless – bumper sticker promotions that boosted awareness of the vanning lifestyle and gave away sweet new rides in several Aussie states. Coke’s four-van Denimachine promo was a massive success in ’76, with thousands of hopefuls slapping on that sticker across Australia in the hope of winning a denim-styled Chrysler panel van. It was sadly too little too late for the ill-fated Chrysler van, but for Coca-Cola it was a gigantic boost to their already-healthy brand recognition.…

CASEY, Emma and young Jimmy Johnson hail from Wagga, and loaded up the bench seat in their just-finished XC Falcon. “I saw your Disturbia van, thought it was pretty awesome so figured I better get one,” Casey laughs. “I bought it from a local plumber so it’s just a pov-pack with a six-cylinder and three-speed, but there’s a cranky Clevo, Top Loader and nine-inch ready to slip in.” Signwriter Casey added the spoilers and slot mags, before treating the Falc to fresh white paint and pseudo Superbird graphics. “There’s big plans. I love over-the-top customisation so there’ll be murals and a set of flares happening soon. The survivor vans on show this weekend have been the highlight for me.” When Melbourne’s Reece and Amelia Savage retired their HZ work van,…

ICONIC cars earn that status for different reasons. It could be the driveline, colour or even the name, but for some it’s just because they were plain tough. While it was rare for a panel van to set the world on fire grunt-wise, Victorians seemed to have a better handle on it than most. Steve Abbott’s Vanrat and Stephen Ellis’s XX308 were two that mixed clean, showy looks with a need for speed, and rubbing shoulders with this pair was Greg Hocking and his HG panel van, Green Knight. “I’ve always been into tough cars” Greg says. “When it came to panel vans it was all about the stance and the drivelines; murals, fibreglass and cocktail bars were never my thing.” It was 1975, and 17-year-old apprentice Greg was shopping…

IT MAY come as a surprise to some that legendary US rockers Van Halen are panel vanners from way back. Not to the cognoscenti here at Van Wheels, though – we’ve long appreciated the quartet’s efforts to spread the word via their incendiary brand of hard rock/vaudeville. Formed in Pasadena, California in the early 70s, Van Halen were quick to recognise the growing movement down under, but that aside, they also noticed the panel van scene that was emerging here in Australia. So smitten were they that they chose to devote their entire career to paying tribute to Aussie van culture. Even the band’s name makes their intentions clear. Brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen were originally plain old Eddie and Alex Snodgrass, but once they got wind of the…

LIKE thunder and lightning, peaches and cream, fish and chips, beer and, er, some more beer [you’re fired – Ed.], panel vans and bubble windows just go together. Forget the lame-o caravan versions, if you’re after some proper old-school bubbliness for your van, it’s actually pretty easy to make your own acrylic bubble windows. There are a number of different methods out there, but we’re going to focus on a simple backyard option that will get your project one step closer to vanning utopia. Now the ‘experts’ may nitpick my methods to death, but then it was the ‘experts’ that laughed me down a few years back when I enquired about buying some bubble windows for my van, Disturbia. They offered no help or solutions (bastards!), so I went down…

* OF PANEL VANS OKAY FOLKS, I’m going to have to sit you down and tell the story of how panel vans gave us street machines. It is lore, it is law, and it’s important that we pass it down to the next generation of street machiners or any newcomers to our tribe. If you have heard it already, go make a sandwich, or think about boobs or whatever you think about when it’s not cars [what else is there? – Ed.]. If you have not heard it, then crack a cold one, grab your iPad and ram its Facebook up its YouTube so we can get a bit of bloody shush, and we’ll square this away. In the beginning, there where Panel Vanners – men and women who carved…