We’re quietly confident that the 2022 Milwaukee Young Street Machine of the Year award will be the first of many. The response was overwhelming, from those who entered to those who voted. We were impressed by the quality and variety of the cars submitted, but perhaps the highlight of the whole shebang was the way the entrants and the general public interacted online – supporting, congratulating and encouraging one another, no matter where their respective rides sat on the automotive spectrum. People are always trying to knock one another down a peg no matter where you go online, but Milwaukee YSMOTY seemed to foster an air of unanimous positivity that was a joy to behold.
That being said, it was still a competition, and competitions have winners. Your inaugural Milwaukee YSMOTY winner – and by a considerable margin – is 23-year-old Canberra lad Maxamillion Edwards and his VIP-style Toyota Crown Majesta. This isn’t actually the first mention of Max in Street Machine; he had a crack at Drag Challenge back in 2016 in his LS1-powered Toyota Corona wagon, with his dad – Horsepower Heroes legend Jake Edwards – riding shotgun.
The Crown Majesta is by no means a traditional street machine, but voters clearly identified with Max’s DIY ethos as he poured his heart and soul into the build. He was rapt when we called to give him the good news and corner him for a chat about his big win.
Max, you’re the first-ever Milwaukee Young Street Machine of the Year winner!
Thank you. It feels pretty unreal; I honestly didn’t expect it. It was a pleasant surprise!
For those of us who aren’t familiar with Toyota Crown Majestas, tell us about them.
Later-generation Toyota Crowns were never sold in Australia, so mine and others you might see around are imports. The Majesta is the top-of-the-line Crown. They are a full-size luxury sedan and were pretty advanced for their time, and in terms of features and styling they were four or five years ahead of a comparable Merc.
A lot of people tell me it looks like a [Mercedes] Maybach, but that model was released five years later than the Crown. They’re rear-wheel drive and run a 4.3-litre 3UZ V8, with a six-speed auto. They’re not a super-interesting thing from a powertrain perspective, and the 3UZ is one of the weaker UZ motors, but mine has rear-mounted T25 turbos.
Most SM readers would be familiar with your dad Jake, but I hear you’re responsible for most of the work on the Crown?
Yeah, this one was me; I couldn’t get Dad to pick up a speed file if my life depended on it! The most significant modification is the three-inch widebody, with weld-on metal flares that I modified to make work. I deleted the side mouldings and welded in plates and worked a body line into those, then modified the front and rear bumpers to delete the mouldings. The Black Pearl bodykit was only the second in the country.
I’ve modified it a lot; I deleted the number plate garnish, and modified the front bar to suit the intercooler and so that the flares continued into it. The guards are also high-radiused, which is moving the wheelarches up so you have the whole face of the wheel showing even though the car is so low. It’s on BC Racing coil-overs with air cups in the front. I live on a property and my driveway is diabolical, so I need to be able to lift it up a little bit, but at all other times I drive it around at the height you see in the pics.
Tell us about the turbo system.
It runs rear-mounted, internally gated T25 turbos that were lying around at home. It’s only running 4psi at the moment; basically nothing. I made some mounts to hang the turbos off the body, and I fabbed the exhaust system and intercooler piping. It’s very tight given the ride height; that made it a lot harder, and meant I had to make a bash plate to protect the cats and intercooler. That was how I spent lockdown!
At the moment, it’s controlled by an A’PEXi SAFC signal-bending fuel controller, but I’ve ordered two mirror-image Pulsar G25-660s and I’ll move the turbos to the front with a bumper-exit exhaust, vertical cooler, over-the-radiator intake and a custom inlet manifold that I’m building, and it’ll run a Link ECU. It should make a bit more power and look neater in the engine bay.
What did you do paint-wise?
After I did the flares, I got it in paint, but I was unhappy with it, so I took it back off and redid the whole car properly. At that time I also moulded a fibreglass vent into the bonnet.
I did all the bodywork myself and blocked the primer back, but my mate pulled the trigger on the paint. I didn’t want to be responsible for that part of it!
The car isn’t exactly a traditional street machine. What do you think gave you the edge in the voting?
I have a big following on social media and, if I’m honest, I’m sure that helped quite a bit. But the car is really unique and it’s a proper garage build.
Everything that’s been done to it was done because that’s how I wanted it to be, and for no other reason. It’s the embodiment of everything I wanted in a car.
Did you inherit your passion for cars from your old man?
Almost certainly. Being around cars my entire life had to have an effect. It was funny; when I got my Ls, Dad said it was time for me to get a car. I took a different path to Dad and ended up mucking around with the visual side of things, but now I want to learn from Dad.
Since I entered YSMOTY, I have collected two more Majestas and a Crown, and I’m building one of them into a Powercruise car with a blown Holden V8 and a Powerglide; something with 500rwhp or so that I can just take out and thrash. After hearing the blower on Dad’s Torana, it sounded unreal, and we have lots of Holden V8 stuff lying around, so for us it makes more sense to do that than an LS.
How often do you drive the Majesta?
Every other day. I drive it everywhere on the weekend unless I’ve got it pulled apart doing something to it. I spent so long with it off the road that I’ve focused on enjoying it.
The other day a scooter fell on the front bar and took a chip out of it, so now I’m going to make a mould to make a carbonfibre copy of it. It’s an extreme solution to a small problem, but that’s how I keep learning stuff.
You’ve graced our pages before when you did Drag Challenge in your Toyota Corona wagon with your dad. Tell me about that.
That was something we built when I was younger when Dad wanted to get me into drag racing. The plan was to chuck an LS in and get it engineered. It did the job and got me interested in racing.
It was my car and I helped with the build for sure, but looking back I didn’t really soak in as much as I would have liked to. We have plans for more drag builds.
What do you do for work? Are you in the automotive trade?
I’ve been working doing car audio installs for the past few months, and I love it. It’s the perfect balance of being around cars without spending my week doing the same stuff as I like to do on weekends.
Before that I managed a retail store, so I had no real experience working with cars at all.
How did your social following come about?
I had no following at all until I started posting TikToks as a joke with my mates. I started out posting a bit of car content, but then people took more of an interest in me personally.
I played to that for a while, but then I gravitated towards car content again because that’s what I enjoyed doing, and I stuck it out until it started to grow, and since then it’s tripled.
What is Fuelled By Hate?
That’s my website. It’s my first attempt at a business to try and leverage my social following. I started off just selling my Onslaught brand of clothes, and there was a really high demand. I’ve just made the jump into car accessories, and that’s doing really well.
How do you plan on spending the prize money from our mates at Milwaukee?
It’ll inevitably go back into the car! I couldn’t tell you what specifically, but it’s almost predetermined that it’ll go back into the white car, if not one of the others that I have on the go.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank?
Definitely my mum and dad for putting up with the shit that came with getting the car done. Dad tuned the car, too – it made 238rwkW with Kelford ‘A’ cams on 4psi. Also my best mate Kaleb has helped out a bunch with the build – we’ve had some meltdowns trying to get it ready for various things, but we’ve always got there in the end. And a few other people have helped me along the way – they know who they are!
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