“This is my 1972 HQ Kingswood that I’ve been building as a father-son project. I bought it around 12 months ago as an unregistered, six-cylinder/three-speed manual car.”

First published in the July 2024 issue of Street Machine

“The initial idea was to leave it as-is and enjoy some nice weekend cruising with my boy, but that plan blew out the window real quick! After it overheated on three different attempts at going for a drive, I got frustrated and decided to take it off the road to give it the birthday it really deserved.

“After long days and late nights in the shed, more than 5000 kays of driving around getting parts, and lots of cash, it’s now much closer to living up to the mighty HQ name, with a complete new driveline, wheels, paint, brakes and more. It now runs a BluePrint 400ci stroker SBC backed by a Turbo 350 trans, 3500rpm TCI converter, GJ Drivelines tailshaft, and a shortened 9in with a 3.9:1-geared Truetrac and 31-spline axles.

“The front brakes have been upgraded to Wilwood 320mm discs with twin-piston calipers, and we’re keeping drum brakes in the rear. It rolls on Weld AlumaStar 17×4.5 front and 15×8 rear wheels, and it’s been repainted in Voodoo Blue from a later-model VE Commodore.

“The steel bonnet now has a 4in Streetclass Fibreglass reverse cowl, which is yet to be painted. There are still quite a few other things to complete, including the interior, but I’m finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and a lot of great memories have been made with my son, dad and brother during the build so far.”