Melbourne’s typically unpredictable weather was kind to us when we gathered at the Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse store in Dandenong on Saturday 22 August for our Young Street Machine of the Year cars-and-coffee event.

Around 120 cars rolled through the gates from early morning until midday, with plenty of variety amongst them and lots of young faces behind their steering wheels. A couple of the 2026 Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse Young SMOTY finalists were in attendance, along with a bunch of Drag Challenge alumni and plenty of other hotties in the mix.

Drag Challenge regular Tim Fletcher had his young fella Ollie pilot his turbo RB30-powered VL to the event, having recently swapped the VL’s sequential gearbox for a Powerglide in preparation for DC 2026. “We destroyed it at Mildura last year, so we’re hoping to run 8.50s this year,” said Tim.

One of two YSMOTY 2026 finalists at the Melbourne event was James Gazeas with his 1973 RA23 Celica, now powered by a twin-turbo Cleveland combo. James built the engine himself and did the fabrication. “It was a nitrous car back in the day, but I’m keen to get it into the eights eventually,” he said.

Tait Schneider’s HQ One Tonner was a stunning submission into this year’s YSMOTY, the 19-year-old completing a restoration on the ute that people twice his age would struggle to achieve. Tait spent hours getting the tray to his liking, taking inspiration from previous builds and putting his own twist on it in order to fit 295 rubber like it came from the factory that way.

Jonny Murgana was another of the 2026 YSMOTY Top 16 finalists at the Melbourne meet-up, and his turbo RB25-powered R33 Nissan Skyline got plenty of attention. Jonny’s cousin is Frank Marchese of Dandy Engines, so it’s not surprising that the RB25 is 1000hp-capable, currently making a safe 600rwhp through the factory five-speed manual.

Dandenong workshop Maxx Performance is known for its Barra and Falcon work, but recently owner Zane Heath has gone bonkers for Subarus, and his latest venture down that path is this VB-gen WRX. The Maxx crew have taken it from the factory 177awkW (240awhp) to 320awkW (435awhp) with bolt-ons, a tune and E85, and are exploring the new FA24 engine platform.

Murray Prices’s US-spec 1963 Ford Falcon caught our attention immediately, and it’s still left-hook! After struggling to source one from the US, Murray lucked out and found this example in Melbourne. It’s been repainted in Ford Mushroom Beige, and is powered by a 289 V8 with a five-speed cog-swapper and four-wheel disc brakes.

Only MPW Performance would have employees casually daily-driving 700rwhp, turbo LS-swapped HiLux utes to work, and that’s exactly what David Burstow brought to Hare & Forbes. The HiLux is a budget build, using a stock-bottom-end, 5.3-litre iron-block LS with opened ring gaps. It’ll hit the track once it gets a new rear end.

Jackson Woken’s statically slammed S13 Silvia was a personal favourite of mine, running an aspirated SR20 and the full factory-option aero bodykit. “It’s hard to find people who appreciate these as the nippy, light cars they are,” Jackson said. “Everyone wants big horsepower and wheels – you don’t need it!”

Peep the massive gallery of images below, and keep an eye out for a round up from all the Hare & Forbes cars and coffee events we ran coming to the November issue of the magazine.