Certain cars speak to us, and sometimes there’s little rhyme or reason as to why. For Sydney’s Shane Serret, it was Brett ‘Woodsy’ Woods’s blown-and-injected big-block HG wagon race car that made him frothier than a two-dollar cappuccino. And now he owns it!

First published in the March 2024 issue of Street Machine

“It was originally built by Woodsy probably 18 years ago,” Shane says. “It had run 8.0 in the SS/AA class back then, I think, but then it went through three or four hands and wound up in Tasmania, where it was abused and raced into ruin.”

Shane had always had a soft spot for Woodsy’s wagon, but he didn’t have the money to buy it when it first went on the market. “After Woodsy was done with it, he actually sold it to another mate of mine, so I got to spend more time admiring it,” he says. “Later, I saw it for sale as a roller in Tasmania on a race car website, and the guy even delivered it to me.”

Strapping pump-fed, injected big-inch power into a 60s car is a quick way to twist up a once-nice automobile, and this was the case for the HG wagon that turned up on Shane’s doorstep. Thankfully, much of the fab work that had made the car such a peach originally had survived, including the stretched rear wheel openings, extensive rollcage, recessed and smoothed firewall, and engine bay.

“It wasn’t too bad,” Shane says. “The body was okay, but we had to cut the bent chassis rails out, straighten them and weld them back in. The hardest part is that one thing tends to lead to another with these projects, so then the whole undercarriage ended up being smoothed out.”

While it would have been easy to make the car structurally sound, fit a new drivetrain, and then go run numbers, Shane wanted more for the HG, which meant going above and beyond a simple repowering. Another Shane, this one Shane Robinson of Shane’s Chassis, made custom headers and a fuel tank, as well as new engine plates to suit the recessed positioning of the blown combo.

“I didn’t want it as an all-out race car; I wanted to drive it too,” says Shane. “It isn’t something I’d take out all the time, but I’ve always wanted the big blower out the bonnet and that Summernats look.”

While it previously thumped with a race-spec big-block, the wagon now packs a weapons-grade LS. It was built by Mark Daskalakis and the PSC Racing crew in Penrith to take all the punishment Shane can dish out.

A Dart block has been pumped up to 434ci thanks to a Callies Magnum crank, forged JE pistons and Wiseco BoostLine rods. CNC-puported LS7 square-port heads from Higgins and a Crow cam swinging spicy 248/265/116 specs ensure ERUPTS has some serious breathing power in its lungs.

It needs to breathe because of what hangs tall above the lush PPG blue bonnet: a Mooneyham 12/71 belt-driven atmosphere-enhancer mounted on a Shaun’s Custom Alloy LS7 manifold. Sucking E85 from a trio of Walbro 525 pumps, the combo made 1100hp at the hubs before teething dramas halted the party.

“Kon Michaloudakis from Wollongong Automotive Services was on the dyno, and the bolts came loose just as it was hitting 1100hp at the hubs,” Shane laughs. “He’s gunning for 1250rwhp, but I’m happy where it is now.”

Given the car’s electric fuel pumps, you’d be correct in guessing the only pills in Shane’s house are in his medical cabinet; ERUPTS runs EFI rather than mechanical injection! A Haltech Elite 2500 ECU drives eight 1500cc Bosch Motorsport port injectors, with four 1000cc squirters mounted above the supercharger to keep the blower rotors cool.

“My mechanic Mark recommended an LS, because it’s what he does at his shop day in, day out,” Shane says. “To tell you the truth, the car is ridiculous. I’ve had a few blown cars, but this thing is another level; it’s so angry. It’s so good to drive. Realistically, I should have gone turbos, but I always wanted the pro street look with the big hat.”

A Reid-case Powerglide built by Paul Rogers and a Dominator converter help turn flywheel speed into forward motion, with a heavy-duty, one-piece, four-inch tailshaft joining them to the super-narrow diff. Built around a sheet-metal nine-inch housing, the third member is full of good stuff like 40-spline full-floater axles, a Strange Engineering centre, and 4.11 gears.

It’s all granite-tough hardware designed to survive when the combo is turned to its potential, but that isn’t to say Shane is going to be putting it straight to work on the Sydney Dragway blacktop just yet.

“I’ve driven the wagon a bit, but I’ve just had a shoulder reconstruction, so I haven’t been able to do much with it,” he says. “My intention is to race the wagon, but I’ve got so many builds on the go. I also have a twin-turbo Chev-powered Mitsubishi Galant drag car – an old-school one on a big tyre. It’s much easier to drive than the HG, so I’ll start racing in that.”

Running numbers may be important, but has Shane shown the finished product off to the bloke who kick-started this whole odyssey nearly 20 years ago? “Yes, Woodsy has seen the car now, and he loves it,” laughs Shane. “I guess it is nice to see your old car being looked after!”

SHANE SERRET
1970 HOLDEN HG WAGON

THANKS
PSC Racing in Penrith; Brad for the wiring; MAAD Restorations for the paint; Matt at Speed Pro; Kon at Wollongong Automotive Services for the tune; Jack at Finer Detail for the paint protection; last but not least, my wife Belinda, son Liam and daughter Isabella.