Ask any of Andrew Brady’s mates why his HQ wagon hasn’t seen much of the road and they’ll tell you it’s because he’s been too busy changing engines. While Andrew has owned the car for many years, having purchased it back in 2013 when he was in his early 20s, it’s already on its fifth powerplant. It’s not that he’s so hard on the engines that he blows them up; it’s just that he has a habit of changing his mind.

First published in the August 2026 issue of Street Machine

Currently, Andrew has found his way back to street machining nirvana with a tunnel-rammed 582ci big-block sitting pretty in the Quey’s engine bay. It’s not the first time the stunning Aquamarine wagon has had a mighty rat motor stuffed in it either – but more on that later. 

Andrew bought the HQ from Brisbane as a licensed and running car, and quickly got it swapped over to WA rego. From the start, he had big plans for the car.

“When I bought the wagon, it had a cammed 308 with a clapped-out Trimatic and 10-bolt Salisbury,” Andrew begins. “The first thing I did was start looking for what wheels to put on it. I wanted to go big dish on the rear with a good set of billet wheels. I landed on the Intro Retros and just loved the split five-spoke wheel, so I got those ordered and just had to wait for them to get built with my specs. So, I started collecting all the parts for the LS swap and sold the 308 and Trimatic out of it.” 

To get the big Intros to fit, the HQ needed a bit of surgery, so Andrew had Peter Lucas fabricate a new rear clip with a four-link, Panhard bar and coil-overs. While that was happening, Andrew slotted in a stock LS1 and made up a custom twin three-inch stainless exhaust. A sheet-metal nine-inch got the nod and was set up by Final Drive with all the good gear.

Once Andrew got the Quey back home, it was time to sort out all the little bits and pieces to get the car on the road. “I got all that running and driving and drove it once to the trim shop to get a quote for a retrim, and then down the road a couple of times, so I didn’t have much time in it with the LS,” he says.

“Then I pulled all the interior back out to get the trim work done, and that process took a lot longer than I thought it would. In the time that it took for the trim, I had totally changed the way I wanted to go with the build. So, out came the EFI and the LS.”

That’s when the first big-block went in – a 540-cuber built by Derek Paulik at Paulik Engines that made just shy of 800hp at the crank on pump fuel. “It was a pretty staunch combo for the wagon,” Andrew says. “I drove that one for a little while, which was good fun, especially with the 30-profile tyres – it was like it was on ice most of the time. After a while, I got a bit over how fuel-y the car was running. There were definitely other things I could have changed to try and fix it, but I thought an LSA would help that, so I put the motor up for sale to put the feelers and see what I could get for it.”

Those feelers reached all the way to a bloke in Victoria who was looking to convert his HQ Monaro back to a big-block Chev after updating it to a 427ci LSX with a 2300 Magnuson blower. “I thought, ‘Oh, this is perfect and a bit more up there compared to an LSA’,” Andrew recalls. “So, after a bit of back and forward, we ended up doing the swap and we both got what we wanted.” Good call, as this LSX had come out of Dave Guilfoyle’s HQ Monaro, a former Street Machine cover car (Dec ’15).

But while the car was now good fun to drive and had plenty of power, E85 isn’t that easy to come by over on the left coast. That was a bit of a pain, but it wasn’t the main reason Andrew changed his mind again: “There just was something not right about having an LS in the wagon after what the big-block was like, and then I ended up snapping an exhaust rocker arm on the LSX, and it put me right off it.”

This time, Andrew decided he wasn’t going to stuff around and would have the best of both worlds: “I came up with a plan to build a 582ci, standard-deck-height big-block, and it had to be EFI with a tunnel ram and twin four-barrel throttlebodies. I ended up buying a half-built engine that had the machining started but was never assembled. I called Derek and said, ‘I’ve got another one for you.’ He just said, ‘What junk have you got for me now?’”

Actually, it wasn’t junk at all; it was a Dart Big M block with a Callies stroker crank, Carrillo Pro-H Straight H-beam rods and dome-top pistons, and a Comp Cams solid-roller with 266/272 duration. Andrew admits the cam is probably a little bit small for the combo, but it’s still good enough to make well over 600hp at the tyres. There are also AFR 385cc heads, and on top of all that, a gorgeous Hogan’s Racing Manifolds tunnel ram with a pair of Wilson throttlebodies that measure up at 1745cfm – each! That’s more than five 650 double-pumpers!

To sort out the EFI system, Andrew reached out to Jeff Johnson, Perth’s Holley EFI guru, for some help with building the fuel system. “I was blown away with how much advice Jeff gave me, and I hadn’t even really met the guy before,” he says. “Once I had everything there to get it going, the late nights started and the sleep went away pretty quickly, as I had a deadline to get the car finished for a mate’s wedding in December.”

You’ll be happy to learn that Andrew did get it done in time for the wedding, and now he can finally get some kays under the HQ’s wheels – and maybe shut up his mates for a little while!

“I really enjoy how it is now; I can literally get in, turn the key and it starts, idles and runs great,” he enthuses. “I’ve often talked about selling it, and my wife is the one who tells me not to, because she knows how much I will regret it – like most other cars I have sold over the years. Plus, both of my kids love it, so she wouldn’t really have a choice anyway. It’s been a long journey, but I’m happy with how the wagon is – well, for now, anyway!”

ANDREW BRADY
1974 HOLDEN HQ PREMIER WAGON

THANKS
All my mates for their help and support (you all know who you are) and everyone else that helped me along the way; Derek Paulik for the engines and good laughs; Jeff Johnson for the EFI knowledge, support and tuning; Peter Lucas for the rear end fab work in the early days of the build; last but not least, my wife for putting up with my time-consuming and expensive hobby – it’s now time to get out and enjoy the car with the kids