Darren Ison’s family-heirloom HT ute – HTI969

Hardwood Rod & Custom turns Darren Ison’s hand-me-down HT into a smooth operator

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Photographers: Ashleigh Wilson

Darren Ison can trace his HT ute’s story back though three generations, in one way or another. “My old man always wanted an HT ute, but his dad would go, ‘Why do you want one of those old piece-of-shit cars?’” he laughs. But Darren’s dad was adamant, and if Granddad could see what that ute looks like now – the Meguiar’s Superstars-proven toughie here – he might sing a different tune.

First published in Street Machine’s Yearbook 2024

Darren’s dad bought the ute as a driving-but-unfinished deal in Melbourne and shipped it home to Queensland. “It had a 308 and four-speed, so we got it running a bit better and did a few things – rebuilt the front end and whatnot,” Darren says. “Being an old car, it still drove like a bag of crap, as they do. Dad just didn’t really have time and sort of lost interest in it. One day he said to me, ‘If you wanna do something with it, go your hardest!’”

The ute had some history as an old-school custom, most clearly evidenced by the flared wheelarches it still wears. “There was a lot of bog in it,” Darren says. “In the 70s and 80s, they just bogged things and smoothed out the lines. It wasn’t done real great; the more we dug into it, the more surprises we found, but that’s just old cars, isn’t it?”

Although based on the Sunny Coast, Hardwood Rod & Custom (aka Tony, Danielle, Corey and Jesse Wilkins) has a long-standing connection with Darren’s native Chinchilla. The team had done a bang-up job on a ute belonging to one of Darren’s mates, so for him, it was a no-brainer to let Tony and the Hardwood crew take charge of whipping his HT into shape. They had a big hand in deciding the final look and layout of the ute, and Darren doesn’t regret that an ounce.

That influence extends to the colour, which at a glance resembles Holden Pinnaroo Beige but is actually a custom Lexus-derived hue named Condamine Caramel. “I was thinking of going with something red,” Darren says. “Tony showed me a red car he’d washed a few days earlier, and it was already covered in dust again! Where I live, the roads aren’t great, and though it’s in a sealed shed, there’s dust everywhere, so I thought we’d go with something a bit lighter.”

The practical but beautifully executed paint sets the tone for the rest of the build, including the cab space. “We first had the original seats in it, but I’m six-foot-three and there wasn’t a lot of room in there,” Darren laughs. “Even getting my foot up on the clutch wasn’t easy.” After scrapping the idea of a thinner seat, Tony suggested he could just push the rear firewall back to sit flush with the glass. “That gave us about 300mm of extra room, and now it’s probably the most spacious vehicle I’ve ever driven,” Darren grins. “He had the firewall out and back in over one day, and for what it’s gained us, it was a really good idea.”

Tony and Danielle’s son Corey operates under his own brand, Wilkins Auto Upholstery, and his work in the HT’s interior is the most striking element of the build for many. The seats are heavily reshaped factory HT buckets covered in leather and Alcantara, split by a matching console folded from aluminium. Lap-sash belts have been integrated into the door pillars for a well-resolved and driver-friendly space without abandoning too many 60s style cues.

The smoothed engine bay houses a stout, 355-cube Iron Lion rocking CP pistons and a Scat crank/rod combo. A Holley 750 Demon feeds pump 98 to Edelbrock Performer heads through a Harrop intake, all actioned by a Crow hydraulic-roller cam. JB Race Engines in Yeppoon gave the mill a refresh after it had sat for some time in Darren’s shed; on a dyno run prior to Rockynats earlier this year, they coaxed it to 520hp at the crank. “The ute’s not really heavy, so it’s a ball of fun to drive,” Darren grins. The Rod Shop front end, custom rear leaf springs, Viking coil-overs and four-wheel Wilwood discs have all but obliterated the bag-of-crap handling, too. “On the first drive, I couldn’t believe it! It’s smooth-as and steers straight as a die – better than the new ute I’ve got at home.”

As a 31-year-old newbie to owning a car of this standard, Darren’s first big show was Rockynats 4, and he couldn’t be happier with how the HT was received. “Lots of people got around it and said it was their pick of the show, so that was cool to see,” he says. “I hadn’t even seen it completely finished until two days before Rocky! Everyone was congratulating me, and it hadn’t really sunk in that it was mine yet.”

An invitation to the elite Meguiar’s Superstars hall at MotorEx 2024 made the weekend even more surreal for Darren, who didn’t get a chance to properly drive the ute until after its trip down south. “Almost every weekend since finishing the car, I’ve had to work,” he explains. “I was going to take it for a spin in Melbourne, but when I saw the traffic, I thought, ‘I’ll wait ’til I’m home!’”

With it show duties now completed, Darren’s eager to take the ute for a blat down his local-ish Roma eighth-mile or the further-afield Willowbank quarter. Eventually, he’d like a matching HT sedan or wagon, too: “Something a bit more family-friendly for later on!”

DARREN ISON
1969 HT HOLDEN UTE

Paint:Custom-mix Condamine Caramel
ENGINE
Brand:355ci Holden V8
Induction:Demon 750cfm carb, Harrop manifold
Heads:Edelbrock Performer
Camshaft:Crow hydraulic-roller
Conrods:Scat
Pistons:CP
Crank:Scat
Oil pump:High-volume
Fuel system:Custom fuel cell, Aeroflow Blue pump
Cooling:Aussie Desert Cooler radiator, twin 10in thermo fans
Exhaust:Custom tuned-length extractors, twin 3in system
Ignition:MSD
TRANSMISSION
Gearbox:TH350
Converter:3000rpm
Diff:Chrome-moly 9in, Truetrac, 31-spline full-floater axles
SUSPENSION & BRAKES
Front:Rod Shop IFS, Viking coil-overs
Rear:Custom leaf springs & shocks, CalTracs
Brakes:Wilwood discs (f & r)
Master cylinder:Wilwood
WHEELS & TYRES
Rims:Weld V-Series; 17×4.5 (f), 15×8.5
Rubber:Nankang 165/70R17 (f), Mickey Thompson 275/60R15 (r)

THANKS
Hardwood Rod & Custom; Wilkins Auto Upholstery; Roger at Old Skool Wiring; Mark at Rocket Industries; Lynton for the custom braided brake lines; JB Race Engines.

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