Justin Treasure has had a love of cars for as long as he can remember, and one of his first was a KE30 Corolla. Living close to the then-new Perth Motorplex, Justin soon had the car kitted out with a stout Holden V8, mini-tubs and Weld wheels, and a lot of fun was had.

First published in the February 2025 issue of Street Machine

Around 2012, Justin purchased another Corolla, this one a KE10. It was already well known around the traps as Nathan Allen’s burnout weapon, CMEFRY. “I first saw this car at Summernats a year before and loved it, so I contacted Nathan and told him, ‘If you ever want to sell, I’m keen’,” Justin says. He got the call a short time later and was at Nathan’s workshop in Windsor, NSW the next day.

“I doubt he thought I was that serious, as it was well used,” Justin recalls. “Nathan wasn’t gentle with this thing – the rods were out, the interior was caked with retardant, and the rear had seen a massive fire. But it was cool!”

With the deal done for the car as a roller, Justin had a tilt-tray take it to the transport depot, where it was then packed into an enclosed truck for the long journey to its new home in WA – and that’s where things went south. “Items were stolen from the vehicle during transport, and it was damaged during unloading,” Justin says. “I was pissed off. Once it was home, I put it in the shed for a few months until I had some spare time and motivation. That ended up being seven years due to a growing family and work commitments. I kind of kept it a secret at the start; not many people knew where it was.”

Tragically, late in 2015, Nathan Allen took his own life, and word soon got out via the internet that his old car was in Perth. This led to long-time friend George Separovich getting on Justin’s case about building an engine for it.

“I’d pop into his Blown Motorsports workshop every now and then, and one day I said, ‘Okay, let’s get it out there again for the boys!’ It was an iconic car and was missed by many,” says Justin. “I originally wanted something basic, nothing over the top, but, typically, George put together Satan’s idea of a dry-sumped LS using only the best parts available!”

Based around a Dart SHP block, the Corolla’s new mill features a Callies Magnum crank and billet Enforcer rods, CP pistons, a custom Crow cam, and Brodix heads with all the good gear. A billet manifold is topped off with an 8/71 Littlefield blower that pushes the mechanically injected fuel into the engine at 30psi. The injector hat is a genuine carbon CFH number. “I wanted to keep the original look of a three-blade hat, but it had to be carbonfibre,” Justin says. “It took George seven months to find this one in the US, and it really finishes the engine off.”

Terry Napoli at SHIFT Transmissions then built the 2500hp-rated, Reid-cased Powerglide, with a Converter Services 3500rpm stall completing the trans package.

It was all going quite well, but then the ’Rolla was sent to a reputable shop to have some work done, and Justin was let down in a big way, with poor workmanship and excuses over nearly six months. “This made me park the car up again, as I was disheartened to say the least,” he says. “In another setback, in mid-2022 I was in a work accident that changed my circumstances. I was told I was going to be off work for a long period of time due to injury.”

Fortunately, a chat with good mate Mark Cook put Justin onto Leigh Fallon at Lethal Industries. “If it wasn’t for Leigh’s quality workmanship, this car would not be at this standard – it changed everything,” Justin says. “I delivered the engine and gearbox to him with the car and said, ‘Make this fit’.”

Justin and Leigh soon realised that everything from the firewall forward needed replacing if the blown engine was ever going to get in there. So, Leigh modified the front rails, fitted the engine and ’Glide with new mounts, modified the dash for the Racepak, fitted the dry sump tank, and made custom alloy tanks front and rear. “I was thrilled by his work, so I basically said, ‘While it’s here, finish it’,” Justin says. “He then built the complete stainless exhaust, installed carbonfibre wheel tubs, fitted the Kirkey race seats and more. I cannot praise this man enough.”

By September 2022, Justin was determined to get the Corolla to Summernats 35, as it would be 10 years since it had last been seen in public. So, he took it home, stripped it to a bare shell and sent it to Mark Cook for paint. “Both Mark and his son Adam spent countless hours rectifying the body and laying on that gorgeous pearl paint, adding a few custom touches that lifted the quality of the car overall,” he says.

While the body was getting some love, the chrome was redone by Ultrachrome, Nigel at Thomas Custom Metalworks made a chrome-moly tailshaft, and Ian at Maddington Transmissions sorted out a braced nine-inch with 35-spline Moser axles, a Strange centre with 3.0:1 gear set and Mark Williams billet yoke.

The finished, painted shell was then delivered to Justin’s workshop for final assembly. “We had it rolling on the billet Intro wheels with new suspension, Wilwood brakes, and the engine and trans mounted in just two days, thanks to my close friend Thomas Hyndman,” he says.

The Corolla was then handed to Phil Wall at Old Skool Custom Trimming. “Phil fabricated the dash pad and console in fibreglass, and made the flat floors, parcel shelf and other interior parts by hand,” Justin says.

To finish off the interior, Justin mounted the B&M Stealth shifter and the Racepak dash himself, before Brad at All Class Re-wiring completely rewired the car front to back.

“Once back home again, I had good mate Steve Sines [SM, May ’12] there with me for its first start-up,” Justin says. “We cranked it over, and boy, hearing the thing run, I couldn’t stop smiling – this little coupe is loud and angry!”

The last stop was to visit James at Proshine for a quick once-over, and then it was job done. The little ’Rolla was loaded up at 1am on New Year’s Day 2023 and headed off to Canberra.

Now Justin is enjoying the Corolla with his good mates and family. “It’s brought the people I love together in a way I never expected and has been the inspiration a lot of us needed. We do shows and cruise around; it’s just way too nice to skid it right now, but I’m sure that will change. I’m keen to travel with it in the future, take some people for a lap or two, put smiles on faces like it does for me, and promote men’s mental health and support Beyond Blue.”

Speaking of which, if you’re struggling at the moment, please talk to someone – anyone! There are too many legends losing the mental health battle, and Justin hopes his new incarnation of Nathan Allen’s iconic burnout beast will serve as a fitting tribute to the man while helping to stem the tide.

JUSTIN TREASURE
1967 TOYOTA KE10 COROLLA

THANKS
Nathan Allen (RIP); George Separovich at Blown Motorsports; Mark and Adam Cook at Allbrite Panel & Paint; Leigh Fallon at Lethal Industries; Shaun at Speedflow Australia; Terry Napoli at SHIFT Transmissions; Phil Wall at Old Skool Custom Trimming; James England at Proshine; Brad at All Class Rewiring; Ian at Maddington Transmissions; Steve Sines; Tom Hyndman; Phil Albano; Gary and Jake Myers; Steven Bell; Nigel Thomas; Jordan Leist; Boris Viskovic; my amazing family for their support; Beyond Blue.