Jack Hislop stood out as one of the younger blokes at the 2026 Van Nationals at Corowa, but his WB Holden pano was one of the cleanest at the show – clean enough to make the Top 15! It wasn’t rockin’, so we came a knockin’.

First published in the June 2026 issue of Street Machine

Jack, you’re 19; this is a Holden panel van from the early 80s. What’s the deal?

It belonged to my pop’s mate, Craig. He’d had it for years but passed away around Christmas 2024. My pop, Gary Hislop, has always been into vans; his FJ has done all right this weekend – he got sixth outright, Top Radical and Top Engineered, so he was always going to be the best bloke to build this with.

How long did the WB take to get together?

Pop grabbed the car just after the Nationals last year, and we got to work. Fortunately, the car was pretty much this already – the colour, the WB Caprice front, the wheels – but it was really tired. And nothing was engineered at all. It’s got a VN V8, Turbo 700 and nine-inch diff, and none of it was legit.

It’s a profesh-looking car; is Gary in the trade?

Pop? Nah, he runs a caravan repair business, if that counts! I guess building his cars over the years, he’s picked up a few things. For instance, the van had these big, ugly Caprice moulds down the side. We stripped them off, but I can’t weld to save myself, so he stepped in to help with that.

What else did you guys need to sort out?

There were some rust spots around the roof, gutters and top tailgate, so we got onto them. We replaced the left-hand door, as it was too far gone. The headlights were a pain; the right-hand one was half-full of water and the reflector had rusted away. We thought we’d replace the Cragars but could only get a rear set before the Nationals, so the front pair we cleaned up as best we could. Pop’s mate across the road file-finished the body and painted it for us, and we only got it back in January. It was supposed to be November, so it was a bit of a push to get it here. It was pretty close, to be honest.

How close?

We got it registered the Monday before the Van Nats, and we left on the Thursday, which was stressful. It’s all fully engineered now, including the sidepipes. There were all these requirements, and the engineer said there was no way we’d meet them. They needed cats, heat shields, a 45-degree exit angle and stuff. We did all that, and the roadworthy guy said a week out that he wasn’t going to approve them – he wanted us to cut them off. Pop got a fella on the phone at VicRoads who said that being pre-1988, there’s no problem, so we had to go back to the roadworthy guy with a bunch of print-outs and explain it to him. We did have to raise them about an inch closer to the sills, but thankfully there’s a difference between cutting it fine and cutting them off.

Well, it was all worth it: you scored 12th outright at your first Nats!

Yeah, it did all right considering we kept it pretty simple and re-used what we could. For instance, those WB Caprice grilles are expensive now, but they come apart, so we just pulled it down and cleaned it up. The interior is a mixture of Caprice bits that came with the car and Rare Spares replacements, and Pop made me the centre console to suit the Turbo 700. The interior in the back is functional, and it was all clean enough to catch Owen Webb’s eye, which is great.

Have you slept in the back yet?

I was trying to, but some guys from Street Machine woke me up!

BE A YOUNG GUN!
Aged around 21 or younger and have a neat ride? Email high-resolution images (2mb+ each) and details of your car to gday@streetmachine.com.au.