Just when you think you’ve seen it all, some bloke turns up at WSID in a ten-second Volvo. And there ain’t no small block hiding under the bonnet either, Canberra’s Adrian Jarnjevic has slotted a 4.6-litre Range Rover V8 in his , assisted by a pair of turbos. Backed by a ‘glide and a 9in, the little alloy V8 makes 410hp at the treads on pump fuel and should soon be running 9-second passes.
Glen Griffith's HQ Monaro is one hell of a streeter. Besides a kick-arse stance, Glen has not only treated the car to a seriously tidy undercarriage, but also stuffed the engine bay full of 555ci Chev. On pump fuel, the HQ has so far run a best of 9.93 @ 136mph! For more, grab the new issue.
Photo: Tony Rabbitte
This issue we interview Grant Page, a legend amongst stuntmen the world over. He was stunt co-ordinator on Mad Max and the Man from Hong Kong (which features a kick-arse car chase with then-new Aussie muscle cars). Grant features in a new doco called Not Quite Hollywood, to be released on 28 August. Check out the trailer here: http://notquitehollywood.com.au/
Heaps of neat stuff in this issue folks:
* Milan Dokic's infamous MENTLE Camaro
* An awesome suicide-door, stick-shift 351W XL sedan delivery with gorgeous paint and trim
* The secrets of Grant Page, Mad Max stuntman extraordinaire
* Grant Griffith's stunning HQ Monaro
* The ex-Ron Bevitt Batmobile, saved from an early grave by George Livas and a star of last week's MotorEx
* Plus Wintersun, Ingham, part II of our digital photography guide, truck racing, a speedway museum, stealth subwoofer install, how to prepare your road car for track work, an insane Model T coupe, The Mooneyes Streetcar Nationals, two Pro Street shootouts, a Procharged HR Holden, Victor Bray, Wayne & Vicky and much more!
Of the plastic kind of course. Due to technical difficulties I only managed to upload four photos last night. Here's a few more for your viewing pleasure.
A great custom '49 Ford from Tony Somers. He started building this back in 1986, scary thing is, I remember him working on it back then. Fenders have been scalloped using plastic spoons cut to shape. That's the great thing about modelling, there aren't any rules and you can use whatever works.
The Batmobile. Big deal, right? Wrong! You can't just go and buy a Batmobile model kit, so Dave Loye went and did what the original builders of the car did. He got a model of the Futura show car and scratch built the rest of the Batmobile bits to match the Hot Wheels version for the 'Scaley Mates' section of the show.
It's a Rambler, so of course I'm going to put this picture up. Richard Borozdin built this stunning version of Shirley Shahan's 'Drag-On Lady' AMX to match the Johnny Lightning version. Somehow this bloke manages to build models that look like they've never been touched by human hands. Amazing!
He does it every year. Rob Todaro won People's Choice - for the fifth of sixth time - with this amazing diorama of a modern day Mad Max. Yes, that is a Monaro coupe in the cave, but what did you expect, Ford don't build one these days.
Dioramas always catch people's attention, and this amazing piece of work by Ken Searle was honoured with Modeller's Choice. Everything in it is '40 Ford, except for the delivery truck and there are dozens of intricate details such as donuts with bites out of them and an outhouse with the toilet roll escaping out from under the door.
And yes, I did manage to get the Willys finished. That's mine on the left, the black version of the Stone, Woods & Cook '41 Willys. On the right is a version of the Big John Mazmanian Willys by Kym Matthews.
A few pics from Sunday's Muscle Car Cruise. The paved pit area at WSID was full by about 10.00 and started spilling out onto the grass. Lots of cars with through-the-bonnet hardware turned up to enjoy the fun, including Mad Max! There were some neat high-tech V8s out to play too, including Emmanuel Karantonis's twin turbo tonner. The car runs a 383 assisted by twin TO4-Zs, 38mm 'gates and a air/air cooler that sits in behind the radiator. Power? How does 700hp on pump fuel sound? Never got to talk to the boys with the Hilux in the pics, as they looked pretty busy, but the 5.0-litre, Powerdyne and twin throttle body set up looked pretty cool.
I just spent the day hanging out at the West Coast Street Rod Club here in Perth for the 10th Super Model Car Sunday. I'm not afraid to admit that I spent way too much time in my teenage years building model cars instead of studying for my high school exams. I guess if you look on the bright side, I wasn't running around the streets causing trouble, spraying graffiti and taking drugs. There were plenty of cans of spray paint and a fair bit of glue sniffing involved back then, but it was all for a good cause.
Turns out I'm not the only one out there. Around 100 modellers displayed almost 800 models and around 1500 people came through the door. It was a huge success for organisers Alan and Ute Barton (and their band of helpers) who somehow manage to make the event better each year.
Here's just a small portion of the 100s of models on display.
The 'Big T' 1/8th scale model was released in the early 60s and that's when this one was built. It is in immaculate condition and looks great built just how it looks on the box art.
Built back in the 70s and brush-painted, this '40 coupe was displayed with the original box AND the original tin of paint. Wow!
This collection of Gassers - and about 50 other models - were built by Tony Somers.
This awesome '55 Chevy El Camino was modified from the Nomad kit by Roy Evans. I especially like how he has used the rear window shape of the wagon. Someone should build a real one of these.
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! In Sydney, we have the latest mega-cruise presented by Street Machine and musclecarcruise.com. Entries are expected to top 1000, so we'll see you there! Perthside, it is Super Model Car Sunday. Gasp in amazement at SM's Boris Viskovic as he completes his Willys juuuust in time. Have a good one people.
And congrats to Chris for winning himself a Touring Car DVD - email me your address mate and once I watch it myself, it will be on its way. Thanks to everyone who entered, you'll get another chance to win free stuff next week.
Meguiar's MotorEX was held over the weekend at the Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park. The MotorEx event hosts the finals for the Meguiar's Superstars series, in which the top elite show cars for around the country compete for the Best of Breed title. This year's winner in the Street Machine class was Laurie Seguna's '83 Gemini. While it might not be traditional SM fodder, the car's build quality is exceptional and features a host of radical mods throughout. The hot rod winner was Peter Elliot's stunning '37 Ford - see SM, May 2008 for the full feature. MotorEx also features the HoK Inauguration, where some scorching hot cars and bikes (with House of Kolor paint) are unveiled for the first time. Amongst them was Rex Webster's High Tech FJ, rebuilt and repainted by new owner Paul Beck. With Paul and the boys only making it to the show by the skin of their teeth, the FJ wasn't 100% complete, but looked fantastic. The car wears HoK True Blue paint, which pays homage to the original Cyan Blue duco, while giving the car a fresh look at the same time. For the full story, tune in to our September issue.
The classic Street Machine cover. Chris Christou smoking the hides in his notorious HO was so evocative, we outsold Wheels for the very first time. Chris said in the story that he would never sell his XY and sure enough he still has it and even pulled it out of retirement to show the youngsters how it is done at Summernats 17.
