Jason Lee
VN Commodore

“This 1990 VN Commodore S-Pack is the first car I ever purchased, but it had sat for seven years and had started to deteriorate.

“With some help from friends, and with the motivation of using it as my wedding car, I decided to do a full restoration, along with an LS1/T56 conversion. The majority of the work has been done by me and my friends at my workshop, and has included a complete open-door respray, smoothing the engine bay, and a complete underbody restoration.

“It has new brakes and suspension, and everything has been powdercoated or painted. As for that LS1, it now has a big cam and lots of dressy bits to complete the look, and the T56 has been rebuilt. The car presents as a factory-looking S-Pack with hubcaps, but under the bonnet is that angry-sounding LS1, making it a true sleeper build.”

Anthony Green
XB Falcon ute

“When I was younger, I owned an XB Falcon ute, but I had to sell it when my wife and I started our family. Years later, my children are grown up, and my son and I spent many years searching for another XB ute so we could restore it together.

“We finally found this one and began stripping it down. Our dream is to turn this car into a modern Aussie muscle restomod and keep it in the family as a legacy project.

“I will never part with this car because it means so much to me, so much so that it has taken up pride of place in our garage, and therefore my wife has to park her car outside, much to her delight during the cold Melbourne winters!”

Max Ioannidis
1978 Pontiac Macho T/A

“This is my 1978 Pontiac Macho T/A; it’s number 46 out of 204 made. I spent seven years tracking down this specific car after seeing a photo of it on an old website. I finally found it abandoned out in a paddock in the Yarra Valley; it had last been registered in 2005 and had sat ever since.

“With a lot of help from a lot of mates, I brought the car back home to Sydney and got stuck into tearing it down at my uncle’s workshop. It still has the matching-numbers Pontiac 400 engine and BorgWarner Super T10, but everything needs a lot of love!

“I’m working on getting the rust in the body panels patched up, and tearing down the engine for a complete rebuild. It was imported to Australia new and converted to RHD; I got some great pics from the first owner once I started digging into its history!

“The plan is to just get it back on the road to turn it into my daily driver, but one day I’d want to get the car to a concours-level condition.”

Don Malcolm
TC Cortina

“I’ve been working on my 1972 TC Cortina since 2018. It’s been a massive job so far, but I have an excellent mechanic/engineer helping me.

“The Corty has got a brand-new 302 Windsor crate motor from the US, a custom-built C9 three-speed auto, and the original BorgWarner diff.

“It also has a disc-brake conversion all ’round, and soon it’ll be getting a new interior. The chassis mods are interesting; we made and welded a 2mm steel skin on both rails from where the rails split at the trailing arm anchor point right through to the engine bay – it’s super strong.

“We should be able to finish the Cortina later this year. My wife Alison has been a major reason that we’ve got the car to this stage; she’s been massively understanding and patient, because the costs are scary!”

Lachlan Holzknecht
VS Commodore ute

“I have this Ocean Beach Hotel VS Commodore ute from 1999; it was the pub-run ute. I got my hands on it, and then it sat in my shed for a few years.

“When we finally took it for a drive, we blew the engine! So, I am in the process of restoring and modding it. I have plans to put a supercharged 304 in it, which should be a nice upgrade from the Ecotec V6.”

James Pankhurst
HZ Kingswood ute

“I bought this ute in 2020 with a project in mind. It had a six-cylinder 202 motor in it and was white with a brown interior. The ‘new’ 253 motor was in boxes and sent to Retorque in Tamworth, NSW, where it was fully rebuilt with a mild street cam.

It has electronic ignition, a new Quick Fuel carburettor, Pacemaker extractors with a full 2.5in exhaust system, and power steering. There’s a 308 diff out back, and the interior has been completely redone by Bryce at Armidale Auto Upholstery, including a sun roof and electric seats.

I’d like to thank Resto Country, Will Pankhurst, Greg Dell and Scott Austin for their help and generous contributions along the way.”

Got a sweet ride that’s currently in the build and want to share it with our readers? Email photos of it (2MB+ each) along with some details on the build to inthebuild@streetmachine.com.au.