Towering ex-AFL star Charlie Dixon had a clear vision for the build of his grandfather’s trusty old HX Holden Belmont ute. “The goal was always to restore it to how it looked when it was tootling around the farm, just with a shitload of power under the skin,” says Charlie. After a mammoth nine-year build and a successful unveiling at this year’s Meguiar’s MotorEx, it’s fair to say the former Port Adelaide forward has gone and done exactly that.

First published in the November 2025 issue of Street Machine

We first learned of Charlie’s penchant for fast cars while he was still playing footy, when he turbocharged the LS1 in his CV8 Monaro (SM, Apr ’24). That car has progressed into a deep-nine-second machine, and even took on our own Street Machine Drag Challenge in 2023. He’s since founded his Drivin’ With Dixon brand, which includes a YouTube channel, merch and regular car events, and that’s been a focus since his retirement from AFL at the end of last year. Yep, he’s a blue-blooded car tragic just like the rest of us!

“It’s been great; I’ve probably been busier than what I was when I was playing,” Charlie says of Drivin’ With Dixon. “I’m loving diving head-first into the car stuff. It’s given me a lot more time to focus on building cool cars, which is what I love doing.”

The HX is the crown jewel of his collection, even if it he didn’t have much hand in wrenching on it this time around. “I was told to keep me effing hands off it!” he laughs. “And that’s fair; I can be a bit rough when I work on stuff, so I was happy to let the pros tackle this one, and I can’t thank them all enough.”

After salvaging it from his grandfather’s farm in West Wyalong, Charlie entrusted the ute to Adam Pay at Pay Restorations in Parkes, NSW. Adam fixed all the rust, refining and tweaking the bodylines in the process. “Charlie was very specific; he wanted this to still very much look like his granddad’s HX ute,” says Adam. “I wanted to customise the hell out of it, but he wanted it to look just like he remembered as a kid.”

Adam also fitted the basis for the independent front suspension with rack-and-pinion steering, as well as the four-linked, nine-inch diff housing that was built by Ron Harrop. “I knew Ron from my Aussie NASCAR days, so that’s how I got him to do the diff for me,” says Adam.

“The car was in a right old state when it was dropped here, so I’ve got 1600 hours just in the bodywork. But it was an honour to do the car for Charlie, and to get an unveil for it at MotorEx as well.”

While Adam was working on the HX’s body and underpinnings, Charlie was mulling over what powerplant he’d use to create his dream sleeper. “I looked into an LSA, but they’re hard to make look nice, and I wanted something cool under the bonnet,” he says. “This car was originally a six, so I thought, ‘Bugger it, let’s do an RB30’!”

He initially sourced a $300 specimen from an R31 Skyline, but his plan quickly escalated. “We even had a package ready for the cast-iron block, but then I looked into a billet one,” says Charlie. “A billet block was $15,000-ish, from memory, so that just made more sense to me, given I wanted that 1000hp.”

Michael Tuddenham from Paul Pavlou Motors turns out ballsy engines for all of Charlie’s rides, so he pieced together a blistering SOHC RB package for the ute. The basis is a locally made RB30 billet block and 3.2-litre stroker kit, both from Bullet Race Engineering. A Callies 90mm crank, Bullet Xrod billet-steel I-beam conrods and BME pistons make up the bottom end, which is kept well-oiled with a Ross Performance dry sump system. The top end still uses a Nissan head with a decent port job, with a custom-grind Kelford camshaft controlling suck and blow. Sitting atop a 6boost manifold is a Garrett G42 turbo, and Charlie’s goal of 1000rwhp should be comfortably achievable once this thing hits the dyno in anger, drinking E85 and with an Emtron ECU running the show.

More South Australian help was called upon to get the RB and Powerglide mounted in the car, with Jason Waye’s crew from Muscle Garage given that task. Dan at Phat Guts Racing then took care of all the plumbing and final fabrication and fitment, while Danny at DesignWire Motorsport Electrical neatly sorted the electronics for the RB. “Danny did a great job on the wiring; it’s really nicely hidden, and even the factory gauges work!” says Charlie.

The nine-year build came to a head in May this year at Meguiar’s MotorEx, where Charlie’s ute was added to the list of official unveilings alongside the nation’s top builds. “It was an honour, but I never built it for awards like this,” he says. Even so, the HX walked away with the Best Real Street award, and was popular all weekend long. “Adam was stoked with the award; it was his first build that got unveiled,” says Charlie. “My biggest kick was watching people walk up to what they thought was a standard ute, get a glimpse under the bonnet and then lose their minds!”

True to his word, MotorEx was the only major show the HX will do before Charlie makes his dream of racing the ute a reality. “I’ve got the ’cage to go in, and we’ll swap the bench seat out for a race one when it goes to the track,” he says. “I’ll start off with some roll racing. I built it to drive it, so that’s what we’ll do, and a bunch of street cruising as well – I’m bloody keen-as for that!”

CHARLIE DIXON
1977 HOLDEN HX BELMONT UTE

THANKS
Adam at Pay Restorations; Jason Waye at Tuff Mounts; Phat Guts Racing; Fatal Finish Detailing; Mick at Paul Pavlou Motors.