Young Street Machine of the Year is an initiative we’re particularly proud of, and one we feel is worth celebrating. With 2025 YSMOTY sponsor Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse having retail outlets in most capital cities, it created an opportunity to stage some nationwide cars-and-coffee events so we could hang out with the finalists and provide them with the chance to drum up some last-minute votes.
So, last weekend – just prior to voting coming to a close – we put the word out, and YSMOTY finalists and the broader street machining community polished up their rides and rocked up in droves to Hare & Forbes Machineryhouses in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth for a free cuppa, a doughnut and a chinwag.
Five of our 16 finalists turned up to the Sydney event alone, including Jack ‘Swifty’ Mill making the trek all the way from his home in Parkes, NSW to take part.
A bunch of other finalists put in an appearance in other states, along with a swathe of YSMOTY supporters, young and old, who jumped at the opportunity for a cruise.
Big shout-out to the legends at Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse for sponsoring the competition, hosting the events, and shouting several hundred cuppas. There was no better way to kick off the weekend!
SYDNEY
With the surname Grima, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that YSMOTY finalist Nicholas would be wheeling a tough EK. Nicholas was joined on the day by several family members, also in EK Holdens. We’ll bring you a feature on this one soon!
Putting the ‘Young’, in Young Street Machine of the Year, Kai and Mateo Simak called past with their dad to check out the cars on display. Finalist Cooper Groom threw the doors to his oh-so-cool T-bucket open so the boys could see what it felt like from behind the wheel
A cousin of Sydney’s Grima clan, Michael Micallef’s beautifully timeless HD Holden also made the cut as a finalist this year. Slung low over a set of Convo Pros, the car is mini-tubbed in the rear and runs an IFS front, and is powered by a tough 6.0-litre LS
Outgoing champ Grant Azzopardi also attended with his YSMOTY-winning Barra-powered Anglia, along with a clinically clean VL Turbo he’s finished since his big win – how good!
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MELBOURNE
Brian Tipping’s Mazda RX-4 contains a rotary lover’s ideal wishlist. It uses a Series 6 RX-7 13B turbo, with a matching manual RX-7 ’box and a HiLux diff, while a GT35 turbo forces air into the little beast. Brian had the car resprayed by a good mate in the one-off green: “The original green was terrible, so I couldn’t have that!” he said
Jodie and Peter Jones’s 1967 Steyr-Puch Haflinger was a hit, because who couldn’t love half a tonne of commercial goodness! Locally assembled in Melbourne, ‘Harry’ was used to launch boats before Peter and Jodie rescued it, cut all the rust out and put the Fiat 648cc two cylinder-powered machine back on the streets
Nathan Lambert has had hands in more cool projects over the years than we've had hot dinners, including his brother's cover car HG Monaro. This time, he's built a good 'un for himself in the form of this super-sano LJ two-door
Paul Sapountzoglou’s ’56 Buick is slammed on a full Air Ride system, with 60s mild-custom styling inside and out. “Driveline-wise, it’s pretty standard – just a cam and carby upgrade – but she’s just a cruiser,” he said. Paul is the car’s first Aussie owner, and treated it to a Bellflower exhaust and a full respray in Larry Watson-style paint
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BRISBANE
YSMOTY finalist William Boon turned heads with his wild 1974 BMW E24 633CSi, which sounded mean pulling into the carpark through its side-exit exhaust.
The car began life with an auto and a 3.3L M30 straight-six, but William’s since swapped in a manual gearbox and a M90 mill with a ported head, upping the comp to 11:1 and fitting a set of 45 DCOE Webers. Rims are 16in BBS RS items stepped up to 18in. William has also shaved the engine bay and treated the car to a close-door respray.
Jason Loane’s KULPRIT XD Falcon has been one of South East Queensland’s staunchest pro street cars for over two decades, running hard back in the APSA days and grabbing trophies in both Horsepower Heroes and Tuff Street at Summernats. KULPRIT will see a comeback at some stage, but for our Brisbane cars-and-coffee event, Jason lobbed in his very tidy D33TOX XD, which currently runs a mild 2V Clevo, but plans are afoot for a 3V 393 combo
Troy Lawrance’s EH Special is a stunner, packing a 192ci red motor, Trimatic and VS Commodore diff. Dubbed ‘The General,’ the EH is a tribute to Troy’s grandad, who was responsible for getting him hooked on cars and bikes
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ADELAIDE
Built many years ago at the height of the sex-spec craze, Matt Filsell’s SR20 turbo-powered Cortina bears all the hallmarks of that bygone age: searing paint, big wheels, mega interior and a single-DIN DVD player with fold-out screen
Jesse Ferguson’s ’92 EB Fairmont Ghia was another Adelaide car to make the YSMOTY Top 16. The factory six has been replaced by a 347 stroker Windsor and a built C4 with transbrake, and Jesse spent a long night before our Adelaide event fitting the engine back into the car especially for the show
YSMOTY finalist Kody Booms bought his HX Tonner five years ago, when he was 16. “It was a full farm ute with a 179,” he explained. “Now it’s got a bored 304 running a Quick Fuel 650cfm carby and Harrop dual-plane manifold.” The tray on pays homage to Kody’s old man. “He had a Tonner with a tray like this, so I ripped the old one off and, based off old photos, made this one up”
Built in 1980, 24 years before Letterio ‘Leo’ Caruso was even born, this VC SL Commodore was optioned with power steering, gauges, window chrome and a glovebox mirror. Leo has since added a 383 stroker, 9in and a set of Panthera GMAX wheels. Other goodies include an as-new VC SL/E Carmine interior, smoothed engine bay, detailed undercarriage and custom boot installation
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PERTH
Reece Lougher’s HZ Sandman ute scored a Young Guns feature in our October 2018 issue, but he entered his KE55 Corolla in this year’s YSMOTY. Packing a Blown Motorsports-built, dry-sumped LS2 on methanol, with twin 950 APD carbies on a custom Plazmaman intake, the ’Rolla also sports a rollcage and S13 dashboard
Reece’s sister Rhianna has also appeared in SM with her 308-powered LC Torana sleeper (Iron Maiden, Sep ’23). “I’ve taken her on cruises, drag raced her at the steel-bumper nights, and the car went to Motorvation 39, where I went for Grand Champion,” she said. “The special part about this car is that I got to build it and help my dad make my dream become reality”
Albert Aquilina’s classy 1956 Ford F100 wears 56FRAUD numberplates – a nod to the fact that the pick-up runs a 350 Chev and Jag front end. The duco is Poison Ivy, as seen on VE Commodores, and was applied by the owner
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