We got super lucky for the Sydney leg of our nationwide Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse YSMOTY Cars & Coffee event, with beautiful cruising conditions and free cuppas and muffins for breakfast. How good!

Around 60 toughies fronted up, ranging in style from Japanese imports to pro streeters to fourbies, and in age from 1920s hot rods to late-model muscle cars. The guest of honour was our 2025 Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse YSMOTY champion Jack Mill, who dragged SWIFTY all the way down from Parkes to display it at the event.

Here’s a look at some of our favourites from the day.

1. 2025 YSMOTY champ Jack Mill was in the house, having ventured down to the event from his home in Parkes, NSW. Jack has represented YSMOTY well in his 12-month tenure as champion, tipping his winnings straight into the engine bay of SWIFTY with a tough new Dart LS combo, then smashing tyres at skid comps all over the countryside.

2. A Street Machine scribe from back in the day, Hewey recently scored this ’88 HiLux SR5, faithfully built as a replica of Marty’s dream truck from Back to the Future by a previous owner.

“It’s got all the gear that makes it the Marty dream truck; all the barwork, the KC Daylighters, all the details down to the US Racing wheels,” said Hewey. “I only got it two months ago from a guy who builds movie car replicas. It popped up for sale and looked like too much fun to say no to.”

3. Undoubtedly one of the biggest head-turners on the day was Tony’s EJ25 turbo-powered Beetle. “It was basically a mid-life crisis thing,” Tony joked. “I didn’t have $200,000 to spend, so I wanted the biggest bang for buck – I wanted to go fast and still drive it on the street.

“I found this one with the motor already swapped, and it was fun for a bit, but the gearbox broke and the motor needed doing, so I ripped it out and started fresh. Lee from Deshele Performance did the motor, and I told him I just wanted it to be reliable; it only weighs 900kg, so I didn’t need a heap of power.”

That being said, the mental little Bug makes almost 400kW at the tyres and has claimed many a scalp at roll racing.

4. 2026 YSMOTY finalist Lachie Roberts brought his S15 Silvia out to Hare & Forbes to display and campaign for some votes. He’s spent the past two years making it his own, with a lightly fettled SR20DET under the bonnet and some tasteful aesthetic additions. “I’ve always had a picture in my head of what I wanted the car to look like, and it’s crazy seeing it parked up in front of my house,” grinned Lachie.

5. Rick Conway has owned many a toughie in his time, but this pro street EH was a COVID-era purchase. “It was a race car in the late 90s that I bought off an elderly guy, who was a top bloke and gets all the credit for the work,” said Rick.

“It’s pretty tough: 383ci Holden stroker, 9in and full tubs with a full chassis, all engineered. It was a 10sec car back in the day, and it’s in its factory colour scheme; I just changed the wheels and tidied up the engine bay and interior.”

6. We enjoyed chatting with Ken Buckland, whose 2018 Mustang is just one in a fleet of pony cars, including a ’67 coupe that appeared in Street Machine 25-odd years back!

“I’ve been playing with cars since I was a teenager, and I’m 81 now,” grinned Ken. “I also have a ’67 fastback and a 2025 convertible Mustang, which belongs to my partner.

“I go to the Men’s Shed at Dural, which I absolutely love. We’re building a 1954 Austin Healey up there, and I’ve got the job to paint it. And I just painted my ’67 fastback Ruby Red in the shed at home.”

7. The matriarch in a family of dead-set rotorheads, Gabs Dracopoulos is the proud owner of this Mazda 1300, powered by a 13B bridgeport. She was accompanied at the YSMOTY Cars & Coffee by her husband Steven in his flat-10sec, turbo 13B-powered RX-2, and their 20-year-old son Andreas in his 2009 RX-8. “It makes a fair bit of noise when we warm the cars up to go out for a cruise together,” said Gabs. “Luckily we’ve got good neighbours!”

8. Outgoing YSMOTY champ Jack Mill donated the custom YSMOTY number plate from SWIFTY to Broads, who now proudly displays it on the wall of his shed.