Plates. Red Ps or green, are they the scourge of the roads or the beginning of a worthwhile hobby? Your opinion might depend on whether you’re pulled up at the lights next to a tarted-up Excel loaded with back-capped dickheads, or Beauman Jones, complete with freshly-minted NSW driver’s licence, in his tight, bright Chev C10. Being the son of Mark Jones — Street Machine’s 2002 SMOTY winner in the FAT57 Chev — means there wasn’t much risk of Beauman planting his butt in anything ordinary for his first driver.

First published in the July 2004 issue of Street Machine

The Chev was bought about a year and a half ago from Peter Miltech in Melbourne, unfinished but going.

“He was running it as a cruiser,” explains Beauman. “It was already this blue but had a different interior and no stereo. It already had the wheels.” They’re Billet Specialties. “He’d looked after it really well, but I put my own style into it. I tried to do it without spending heaps of cash.”

Being his P-plate cruiser, Beauman has retained the simple and reliable mechanical set-up fitted when bought — a stocky ex-US 350TPI V8 retro-fitted with a carby.

The engine make-over was simple. “All we did was put different rocker covers on it and an air cleaner. That’s about it,” says Beauman. “We also cleaned up the engine bay. We’ll pull it out for a rebuild one day — but not yet.”

Behind the 350 is a TH350 three-speed auto. Gone is the original railway-track chassis — the Chev body rolls on a Holden One Tonner foundation with a nine-inch, four-link and bags all round. Gets everything closer to the ground. Mods to the suspension and inner guards allow it to sit lower. But as can easily be seen, most of the work went into the visuals — interior and paint.

Simple, tough, rod-inspired flames have made a resurgence in recent times, blowing a couple of years of girly graphics into the bin, like any other passing fashion. The Chev’s torch touches are the responsibility of well-regarded flame-thrower Matt Egan of Melbourne’s Extreme Design. It’s all been done in House of Kolor gear and they do well to cover the big, boxy slabs of Chev metal. Ben Reed took care of the airbrush work on the underside of the hard tonneau.

The interior is also an out-of-state affair, being done in one blinding seven-day session by Carmine and David Carafano in South Oz. The wide Chev cab already had three individual bucket seats installed on a frame when Beauman bought it, but they’ve been re-shaped and covered in leather. “They had ugly-looking headrests that looked like bunny rabbit’s ears,” explains Beauman. “Cut down and trimmed, they look like totally different seats.”

The stereo was installed during the same seven-day session. Beauman lists the system (installed by a South Oz Strathfield Car Radio team led by Craig Wasley) as a CD/DVD/TV head unit, two 250 comp front splits and two 6×9 comps with four 12-inch subs and two 220 splits out the back, fed by two 760 amps and one 480 amp. The dash has been cut and extended to allow room for the TV/head unit. Beau says with understatement: “I don’t mind stereos!”

“I think some of the ricers know I have a big stereo in it,” he grins. “They pull up and try to out-do it. Earlier tonight I was out cruising with a mate and a bloke pulls up next to us in a Honda Accord and starts revving the shit out of it.” The way Beauman describes the scene, it sounds like a TV ad for pimple cream.

“I pissed myself laughing and simply turned up my stereo. Then the Honda took off. I kept laughing — and then a cop took off after him!”

Squelching simpletons in their ricers looks like becoming something of a sport for Beauman. “I usually have something really dark and scary in the CD — like Slipknot (his favourite band — they’re muralled in the tray) or something old-school loud like AC/DC. All I gotta do is turn it up for about three seconds; it’s like stepping on a cockroach!”

The Chev gets a reasonable amount of street time, but maybe not as much as it deserves. Beauman has been heavily into BMX since he was about two and tends to ride everywhere. “Sometimes it doesn’t get driven for weeks,” he says of the Chev. “But then a few mates will stir me up and we’ll check the battery and go for a cruise. I just have fun in it — annoying four-cylinders and picking up chicks and stuff!” Besides cruising, the C10 has made the Summernats Elite Top 60 Hall two years running.

Being inspired and assisted by his dad and some of the best subbies in the business means Beauman got off to a good start with car crafting. Wonder what’s next when he gets off his Ps and onto his full licence?

Holden trucks

Ford has always seemed to sell reasonable numbers of F-series trucks and Broncos in Australia over the years but GM hasn’t had the same success. Holden investigated manufacture of an Australian truck in the early 50s and a prototype was built using a combination of Chev and Opel chassis and body bits powered by the FX’s ‘grey’ engine but despite all the effort the model was never produced.

During the late 1970s, it assembled Chev trucks — such as Beauman’s — from imported kits. In 1998, it brought in a handful of factory RHD Chev Suburban wagons. Vic and NSW Ambulance Services used low-volume, imported GMC chassis (almost identical to the Chev Suburban, above) during the late 1990s, but that was it. So if you’re looking for a truck that’s a bit different, this could be the way to go.

Beauman Jones
1975 Chev C10 pick-up

Thanks
Mum, Dad, Trent, Kelly, Ray Flaherty, Pioneer, House of Kolor, Meguiars.