Darren Fosberg’s red-and-cream Chevrolet dream began rather inauspiciously in a fish-and-chips shop one Friday night in 2015. Flicking through a copy of Unique Cars magazine while waiting for his order, a choice classified ad caught Darren’s eye.

First published in the September 2025 issue of Street Machine

“I’d always liked the ’55 two-door post, and this one jumped out at me when I spotted it in the mag,” he says. “I thought about it all the way home and mentioned it to my then-wife Donna over dinner. ‘Life is too short,’ she said. ‘Why don’t you buy it?’ Short story: I bought it!”

After changing a few small things on his new acquisition, Darren spent the next five years adding plenty of kilometres to the Chev’s odometer, and it was a regular at many Sydney car meets. However, Darren being Darren (see more below), he couldn’t leave well enough alone. “It was a good car when I started,” he says, “but I ended up fully rebuilding it – from the front bar to the rear bar and everything in between!”

After an arduous four-year build, Darren debuted his much-improved ’55 at Meguiar’s MotorEx 2023, minus the new trim. “It’s picked up six trophies since the rebuild,” he says. “Unfortunately, I lost Donna to cancer in 2016, so she never got to see it finished. If it wasn’t for her prompting, I doubt I would’ve got the car.”

While almost everything was replaced or upgraded during the build, the body remains basically intact. There was next to no rust anywhere on the car; even the original floors only needed painting and buffing.

Not having to deal with bastard rust was a godsend for Andrew and Marty Ash at AA Panel Craft, who tackled the body and paint. Mind you, they still had their work cut out for them, as no Chevrolet rolling off the line in 1955 had paintwork this good, panels this straight, or gaps this tight and consistent. The only body mods are the extended headlight brows, and mini-tubs in the rear.

“I didn’t want to stretch the wheelarches,” says Darren, “which is why I went for the 28in-tall Mickey Thompson Sportsmans.”

While popular on hot rods, the Chev’s E/T Gasser front and E/T Fueler rear wheels are unusual in the street machine universe. “Look at any old, front-engined dragster; they all used to run these,” says Darren. “I wanted the ’55 to look like an old gasser from the 60s or 70s. That’s why it doesn’t have beadlocks. It’s also why I chose the tall Moroso air cleaner and stuck with chromed factory hinges instead of billets.”

To back up the Chev’s tough new look, Paul Sant from ProFlo Performance was tasked with screwing together a suitable powerplant. Reliable and streetable was the brief. He responded with a Dart Little M block stretched to 434 cubes via an Eagle crank and 11:1 CP pistons. The hydraulic-roller cam makes the most of the free-flowing AFR 227 alloy heads, Victor Jr intake, Holley Terminator EFI throttlebody, and the 17/8-inch primaries on the custom HPC-coated headers. The package is good for a healthy 615hp at the flywheel.

Mark Sant at Ontrak Auto Electrical wired it all up, including the Holley Terminator ECU. As well as fuel delivery, the Holley system looks after spark through eight crank-triggered Bosch coil packs, and controls the Meziere electric water pump and Spal thermo fan.

“The engine fired straight up first time,” says Darren. “I’ve only driven it a bit, including a stab at Summernats Grand Champion in 2025, but it runs really good. And with 615hp at the crank, it has plenty of poke.”

When it came time to install the engine and ’box, Darren sought help from Sam Caruana. “Sam did a heap on the build,” he says. “He made all-new fuel and brake lines and built the diff centre. He also helped me put the diff together and the brakes. I’m fussy, but Sam is next-level – he’s exactly the person you want working on your car!”

For brakes, Darren kept it simple by sticking to one model. “The calipers, booster and master cylinder are all VR/VS Commodore,” he says. “It’s all compatible, and being factory gear, it’ll last for 200,000 kays.” For that show finish, the alloy calipers were polished, as was the master cylinder with its Lowe Fabrications billet top, and Darren had it stainless-steel sleeved so it would never rust.

The rest of the driveline also boasts the best of everything. The Dave Vassallo-built TH400 sports an aftermarket bellhousing, deep pan, roller extension housing, 1350 yoke, B&M trans cooler, and full manual operation. The nine-inch diff runs a Strange alloy case with Truetrac centre and 31-spline billet axles. “It’s got 3.89:1 gears, but thanks to the 28-inch tall tyres, it cruises really nicely,” Darren explains.

Although the existing interior was fine and functional, it wasn’t up to the same standard as the rejuvenated exterior and engine bay. A couple of weeks with Dave King at King Trim soon sorted that.

Dave modified the rear seat to clear the mini-tubs, before draping it, the front bench and the door panels in an eye-catching patterned material and matching red vinyl. The door handles, mirrors, rubbers, sun visors and a host of other interior bits came from Danchuk in the USA, and other highlights include the Dakota Digital dash, Flaming River billet column, and trimmed surround for the B&M shifter. Popping open the glovebox reveals an Alpine stereo and digital screen for the Holley EFI.

While Darren couldn’t be happier with how his ’55 has turned out, he reckons he’s done with building cars. “That’s it for me; no more cars,” he swears. “I ended up going a lot further than I intended with this one, and they’ve become way too expensive to build!”

Well, given Mr Fosberg’s remarkable history, passionate enthusiasm, and incredible work ethic, we’re not sure this is the last time we’ll see him in the hallowed pages of Street Machine. ’Til next time…

Fos the Boss

AT 58 years of age, Darren Fosberg has been a hardcore street machiner for four decades, with Street Machine featuring his white HG Kingswood (below) way back in March 1990.

Having scored a Top 10 spot at Summernats 4, Darren spent every spare hour fully rebuilding the HG to return to the ’Nats the following year to take out Top Sedan – and apparently lost Top Engine Bay to Ron Barclay’s SMOTY-winning HQ ute by just half a point! He followed that success with an eight-year stint as a Summernats judge from 1993.

In 2010, Darren finished the full rebuild on his 555 big block-powered 1968 Camaro (above), and helped his son Mitchell finish off a white HG sedan very reminiscent of his old car. In between all this, he ran his own smash shop, collected an immense amount of memorabilia, and served as crew for Mitch during his motocross championship-winning days.

DARREN FOSBERG
1955 CHEVROLET TWO-DOOR POST

THANKS
Paul Sant at ProFlo; Mark Sant at Ontrak Auto Electrical; Dave King at King Trim; Andrew & Marty Ash at AA Panel Craft; Damien & Jason at Lowe Fabrications; Dave Vassallo; Sam Caruana; Octane; my current partner Michelle, as well as Donna.