Dean Trounson spent his teenage years submitting art for our Expression Session pages, which goes some way to explaining why his first-car tastes were a bit different to the average P-plater back in 2010. “I really wanted an FB station wagon – which I still want to get – but they were just out of our price range,” he says. “I then spotted an HR on eBay that seemed pretty honest looking. My dad and brother went to have a look, and the deal was done.”

First published in the July 2024 issue of Street Machine

The bogged-up, two-tone green body wasn’t to Dean’s taste, so he soon bought an HJ sedan as an interim daily driver and pulled the HR apart. “I always lusted after the white with red interior colour combo, and I wanted to integrate aspects from the HK GTS with a black-accented grille and quad tailpipes, so that became my new goal,” he says. As his awareness of the growing pro touring scene developed, it set the direction for a 13-year garage build.

“The paint is the second job since I’ve owned it,” Dean says. “The first one was done so poorly that after one month the paint was lifting; you could pull the clearcoat off like a tablecloth! I later found out they never took it back to bare metal.” Dean got Dave’s Classics on the case, whose contract panel beater Lou whipped the panels back into shape for another coat of Toyota Pearl White.

Most of the custom bodywork is courtesy of Dean’s brother, Shaun, who was involved from day dot. The original three-part front and rear bars were welded and smoothed into single pieces, with the rear tucked closer to the body. Under the bonnet, custom bead-rolled infill panels hide most fluid storage, directing focus to the red-hot red motor.

“I went down to Johnny Pilla at Powerhouse Engines in Warragul and said, ‘I don’t care about the power, but I want a Holden six that can run Webers,’” Dean says. “Over a few weeks, he worked his magic with the team and got it on the dyno – they got it pumping out around 280hp, which I thought was great!”

John rejigged the matching-numbers 186 with a blue-motor crank and closed-chamber 161 head, bringing the capacity to 205 cubes. “It’s basically a Group NC-spec race car engine,” Dean explains. “If you look at the Crow Cams catalogue, it’s the bottom one, and then a modification of that; nothing happens below 3000rpm. It’s basically old-school VTEC – you hear the induction noise change and suddenly you’re thrown back in your seat!”

An Aussie four-speed sits in the tunnel, with a Mal Wood hydraulic throw-out bearing and Hurst Super Shifter. “The Hurst conversion was a full-custom thing,” Dean says. “With a Muncie, it mounts on the ’box on the driver’s side, whereas on this, it’s mounted to the tunnel. We had to cut the lugs off the rear extension housing, because otherwise you have to cut the crossmember and get it all certified for engineering. Nothing’s been cut that can’t be returned to standard.”

A trimmed Commodore 3.45:1 LSD, Rod Shop drop spindles and QA1/Viking suspension all feature underneath, with an upsized Whiteline sway-bar and Wilwood adjustable brake proportioning valve for corner-carving manners.

We came across Dean’s HR at the Street Machine Park-Up during the Optima Ultimate Street Car Challenge (SM, Jun ’24) and quickly realised it’s a perfect fit for that kind of gig. “It’s about as well-suited as it can possibly be,” Dean grins. “We’re going to enter into next year’s event and really see what it can do!”

Optima entrants are also judged on fit and finish, and the HR’s interior delivers in spades. “Adrian at Tiger Trim Frankston did the rear seat, door cards, armrests, shifter boot, panic straps and sun visors,” Dean says. “He’s been working out of his garage for decades and has done jobs that have won awards at Motorclassica. I told him I had six months to get it to the Bright Rod Run, and he said, ‘I’ll put my other jobs on hold, because I don’t want to be the person responsible for you not getting there!’

He turned it over in about two weeks, then did the headlining in a couple of days.” Aside from Adrian’s work, the rest was handled by Dean and Shaun, including the custom console and smartly integrated gauges.

As mentioned, the boys were aiming for a Bright Rod Run debut, and the rego plates went on a week before the 2023 run. After giving the HR a tentative thumbs-up following a 300km shakedown, Dean reports that the car performed flawlessly on the 1000km round trip to Bright and earned plenty of love from punters on the ground. “They were relieved that it didn’t have an LS and that we’d left it as a Holden six,” Dean laughs. “And that it was actually driven to the event!”

Dean still has his P-plater HJ sedan, which is next on his hit list. “We’re thinking of an unassuming, corner-carving track-day car that looks like an old, abandoned Trans Am or stock car,” he says. “As my favourite YouTube personality, Derek from Vice Grip Garage would say, shiny things scare me, so my HJ will be my rough-and-ready, road-legal track car.”

See the video of the red motor on the dyno at Powerhouse Engines:

DEAN TROUNSON
1967 HR HOLDEN SPECIAL

THANKS
My parents Gary and Jan, not only for the car, but also for the endless help and support; my talented brother Shaun, without whom none of this project would’ve been possible; Shaun’s wife Katie for her help and dealing with her husband being away so many weekends; John and the team at Powerhouse Engines; Weber Performance; Dave’s Classics; Adrian at Tiger Trim; Rob Ratliff for his help and advice.