THE NORTHERN Beaches Muscle Car Show is an event born from a Facebook group, the brainchild of Carmine Vescio. Carmine wanted to bring cool and classic cars to Sydney’s beachside to create a car lovers’ utopia. Our buddies over at Unique Cars covered the event; here are some of the people and cool rides they came across.

Daniel Greco is one of only a few people in Australia who can still say they own a genuine HQ SS. His ’72 sedan is nearly identical to the way it left the factory.

Michael Caterina’s ’70 GTS Monaro has been in his family since the early 90s, scoring a few upgrades along the way. The original 308 and automatic have been replaced with a 350 Chev small-block and four-speed manual, with a Ford nine-inch up the back for good measure.

A Hertz Mustang? Yep, you read correctly. Back in the mid-60s Ford was trying to boost the profile of its new Mustang, and part of that was building special high-performance ’Stangs to be rented out by Hertz, with a view to enticing potential buyers. Build numbers were low to begin with, and as you can imagine, being rental cars not many survive today. Peter Phoko’s is one of the few that remain, making it a pretty special breed.

Steve Bush bought his LX Torana with a decent amount of rust and a six-banger donk. None of that was going to do, so he stripped it back to a bare shell, and once the body was sorted he slotted in a 260hp 308 V8 for good measure.

XY GT replicas are hugely popular these days, and Jason Tzortzis’s ’71 XY is a fine example of that trend. Originally starting life as a Falcon 500, it’s a far cry from that now, with a 393ci Ford V8 under the bonnet that’s good for 624hp at the engine.

Who would’ve thought Japan would be the ideal place to buy a ’76 Pontiac Firebird? Well right after it rolled off the production line in the US, Dan Goodsir’s Firebird jumped on a boat straight for the Land of the Rising Sun. Years later, it’s found its way Down Under and into Dan’s hands, with just 60,000 original miles showing on the clock.

Peter Galouzis’s XY GT Falcon is a pretty fine specimen to behold. A panel beater by trade, Peter took the XY back to its bare bones and spent in excess of 100 hours on the bodywork alone, making sure it was dialled in perfectly. It still gets out and about though, Peter having driven it numerous times to Queensland and back.

Peter Brock will always hold a special place in petrolheads’ hearts, but for Jason Kouzoukas, his love affair with Brock mobiles is on another level. The first of three cars he took to the show is a genuine VC HDT Commodore, a car he has owned since he was 16 as a gift from his parents. The second is a tribute VH Commodore, with a VK Calais Director tribute rounding out a solid collection of Brockies. While the VC and VH are pretty standard underneath, the VK Director is packing a 355 stroker, Turbo 350 ’box with a 4000rpm stall and a nine-inch, sending 450hp through the rear treads.

Make sure you check out the full gallery!