While the heyday of the modified panel van scene in Australia is now nearly 50 years’ past, there’s one build from that wildly creative time that even non-vanners know: Alley Cat. Street machiners will remember it as ‘the Sandman with a V12 Jag’, while for those more fluent with velvet trim and wild murals, Alley Cat is undoubtedly the most iconic panel van of all time.

First published in the June 2025 issue of Street Machine

In 1975, a 19-year-old John Strachan (Snap Shots, SM, Jan ’15) plonked down his hard-earned for an HJ Sandman painted GM-H Claret, and it was soon hotted up and making waves in the burgeoning van scene. The 308 scored a tunnel ram, while a set of Ansen hotwire mags and interior updates kept it competitive, with the body eventually treated to a fibreglass ‘Meteor’ nosecone and ever-evolving Frank Lee murals.

“Being different was the name of the game back then, and that’s what spawned the radical custom vans of the 1980s,” John says today. “I knew I had to step things up to stay competitive. I was buying Jaguar parts off a bloke for the Jag diff conversion and spied the V12 engine sitting in a crate – it was a light-bulb moment, and the rest is history.”

With the revamped, Jag V12 incarnation of Alley Cat, John reached the summit he’d been striving for; the HJ won Australia’s Top Van at the 1983 Van Nationals, and with that, John’s work was done. He traded the Cat for a black A9X soon after, and it then pretty much went underground.

In 2011, keen vanner Brian Phillips spied it for sale and saved it from the Sandman resto crowd. Brian focused on the mechanical aspects of the van for the next few years, replacing and rechroming many of the undercarriage parts and swapping the V12’s quartet of SU carbs for twin four-barrels. The original Meteor nose had been replaced with a Statesman version, but Brian managed to acquire a rare replacement at a NSW country wrecker’s. By 2016, he decided it was time to consolidate his projects and move the van on – but only to the type of owner who ‘got it’.

Brian’s close friend and avid custom fan Russell Smith (Snap Shots, SM, Apr ’15) was the perfect choice. Russell had already been involved with the Cat’s revamp under Brian’s custodianship and was well versed in the world of custom cars and vans, both as a builder and staunch appreciator.

“Alley Cat was a dream van for me and I never for a second imagined that I’d actually own it,” Russell says. “Initially, I concentrated on tidying up the underside, but I eventually bit the bullet, stripped it to a bare shell and formulated a plan for its revival.

“John Strachan and I have become great mates over the years, and we always bounce plenty of ideas off each other regarding the Cat – the driving inspiration is to imagine that it remained on the show scene for 50 years and just evolved with changing trends.”

There’s a fine line between pleasure and pain when it comes to updating such an icon, but when the work-in-progress Cat was displayed at this year’s MotorEx, it was obvious from the mods on display that Russell has been very respectful of the van’s history. “It’s mostly been about refining and improving on styling cues that were already present, such as the guard flares, Meteor front and general fit and finish, plus incorporating relevant ideas of my own,” he says. “For example, the frameless doors of the original build remain but now open in a suicide fashion, while the twin sets of front GTS flutes are a nod to the twin pairs of XB GT vents that adorned the original build. It’s all about sixes – the six-legged tiger mural; six tail-lights; six exhaust tips; the V12 with its six cylinders per side; and six GTS flutes each side.”

Chris Findlay from 679style has been wielding his magic for the metal fab, which includes a custom steel tailgate and dash. As for paint, Russell assures us that the final finish will be pure Alley Cat. “The 1983-spec paint and murals were showing their age, making any body repairs difficult to incorporate,” he says. “However, the final colour and artwork will hark back to the original, no question.

“It’ll just be as if Alley Cat has evolved with the new millennium.”