“My wife and I bought our 1965 HD wagon in 2012 for the bargain price of $1000 from a farmer who had used it to tow his airplane in and out of a hangar since 1985.

“Around 2014, we added a 202 six and the wagon became our weekend cruiser. In 2022, I was pit-crewing for Matt Carpenter’s ‘Problem Child’ XP Falcon at Street Machine Drag Challenge Weekend Victoria, and that’s when I knew I had to enter my own car.

“So, we’ve spent the past 18 months getting the HD ready for drag-and-drive action. We started by disassembling the wagon for Zakk Gabriel to repaint it a new green colour.

“I decided that the old 202 was just not going to make our DC dreams come true, so it was swapped out for 6.0L V8 from a Holden Caprice. With the help of Corey Edwards, the engine was completely stripped down, cleaned and honed, with new rings and bearings added. It also runs a new VCM camshaft and LS7 lifters.

“The heads were completely refreshed with new valve springs and given a full CNC port job by Blackwell Race Engines. It’s topped by a carby-style single-plane intake manifold, but it retains the factory drive-by-wire throttlebody.

“Of course, we had to finish it off with a 300hp Nitrous Express Stage 6 kit. We crafted our own engine conversion kit to install the Caprice mill, including engine mounts, a crossmember, and custom stainless-steel headers that exit through the fenderwells. Burko Transmissions built a two-speed Powerglide for the car with all the bells and whistles, matched to an SDE stall converter.

“Underneath, it’s got a full Motor Fab rear suspension kit with traction bars, split mono-leaf springs and sliders, while the diff is a brand-new 9in with billet axles and 4.11:1 gears. “We can’t wait to finish off the car and get out to Drag Challenge!” Mic will be running in the always-competitive Tuff Mounts 235 Blown class.