WE HERE at Street Machine aren’t big on blowing our own trumpets, but I have to say, we were pretty stoked with our 2021 Yearbook issue. Not only did it come with our cracking 13-month 2022 calendar, but the front cover was a ball-tearer, starring Shaun Scerri’s MENT1L HQ in an orange-on-orange punch to the face.

Now, Shaun lives in Bacchus Marsh, a rad little town only 45 minutes out of Melbourne that is heaving with tough street machines and hot rods. So it dawned on us that we should jet to Bacchus and hold a launch barbecue!

Shaun was up for it – after all, the HQ was built for street action – and the local newsagent was not only keen as mustard, but had a small car park we could use. Not wanting to stampede the area with tough streeters on a Saturday morning, we kept things low-key and threw out an open invitation with a few day’s notice. We printed out some glossy posters of the cover to give away, set up the barbecue and off we went.

We were stoked with the turnout, and the locals were as proud as punch that a Bacchus lad had made the cover of the world’s best car mag.

Shaun Scerri’s MENT1L HQ is a genuine GTS that he restored back to new. He then went crazy and fitted an EFI, 8/71-blown small-block!

Eddie and Doris Bondin’s ’59 El Camino was unveiled at MotorEx 2019 and is still looking damn fine. Powered by a 400-cube small-block, the ’59 is slammed down over 20in Rallye-style billets. Eddie did damn near all the work himself, including the custom interior, trick tonneau and airbag set-up.

Our barbecue was the maiden voyage for Joe Mizzi’s ’69 Camaro! Built to a pro touring theme, the ’69 runs a FiTech-managed 383-cuber, with Ridetech and McDonald Brothers goodies underneath.

Jamie Smith’s CLUNKR F100 was definitely the lowest car on the day! Check out the full feature from June 2012 here.

We featured Mick Lulic’s VH Charger back in the February 2015 issue, and it is looking as fine as ever! Sounds tough too – check it out in action here.

Our mate Dave Greene from KustomKraft recently gave his tough Dodge Dart a new identity with this mad race-style wrap.

Curtis Grima is another Bacchus Marsh local, and his ’62 F100 was a star of the November 2021 issue. If you ever get the chance to eyeball this thing in the flesh, do it – the paint and trim are next-level cool