Ayeesha Fry
Datsun 1200 ute

“Here’s my 1985 Datsun 1200 ute build, which has been in the works for five years as a father-and-daughter project.

“It’s had just about everything customised in-house apart from the shell, as I wanted to keep it looking like a Datsun 1200.

“Power comes from a 13B Bridgeport rotary with a G42-1450 turbo hanging off it, backed by a Tremec TR6060 six-speed and a 9in diff, with custom parabolic leaf sliders out back thanks to Fry’s Custom Fabrications. It’s also had a DNA paintjob.

“This ute has been built as a drag car that will be street-driven as well, and I am hoping to have it ready to take for a drive next year!”

Anthony Burns
Ford XG Falcon ute

“I picked up this tidy 1996 XG ute around four months ago, but even when it’s an XG, I can’t do XF front ends, so I stuck a spare XD Falcon front on it and gave it a lick of Bionic Blue from a BA Falcon.

“It’s not the first time I’ve painted an old Falcon in Bionic, having done an XY ute in that colour around 10 years ago.

“I’ve kept the driveline standard, because the idea is to run it on the wrecker fuel we pull out of the cars at my business, Harcourt Auto Wreckers. A shop ute needs signage, so I had Steve White design up the S Pack-style signwriting and logo, which was printed and stuck on by Nathan Camilleri at Camo’s Custom Graphics.

“We chucked in a fresh pair of Scheel seats, and it’s been good to get around in and have the young fellas freight me around on their L-plates.”

Steve Manning
Holden VK Commodore

“Here’s my 1985 VK build. I bought it in December 2024, but it’d had a fair few rough repairs done to it, so I stripped it all down to start fixing it all.

“I’ve cleaned up the engine bay and painted it, and the next step is to rub down the rest of the body ready for paint.

“My plan is to build it into a Group A replica but have it still be driveable.”

Pierce Jackson
Holden VL Commodore wagon

“My 1986 VL Commodore station wagon is a factory naturally aspirated manual car that my uncle threw me the keys to as my first car back in 2016.

“I daily drove it like that for years, but now she’s in a fair few pieces undergoing a full restoration, with a few extra ponies added along the way.

“The current set-up is an RB30E+T with a PSR3584 turbo, dual 044 fuel pumps, and Haltech’s Nexus R3 VCU and new uC-10 digital display.

“Other than some fabrication, I’ve done all the work myself in the shed! I’m excited to see her running; she’ll make a fine example of a street drag car when she’s done.”

Glen Souter
Holden HX Premier

“This is my HX Holden Premier that I have been building for the past 15 years, and it’s finally almost finished and ready to go for rego.

“It’s been a long road getting here – a family break-up, moving house about five times and working away from home didn’t help at all – but I doggedly hung in there. I was going to sell it in the early days, but people lowballed me badly, so that just made me more determined.

“Over the past few years, my now-wife Rebecca has kept me on track and pushed me to focus and get it to where we are now.

“It has a freshly built 400ci small-block with all the fruit, an Edelbrock manifold and a Holley 750 double-pumper. Shift is from a rebuilt TH400, and there’s a Salisbury diff in the rear and disc brakes all ’round.

“I can’t wait to pass rego and enjoy the hell out of it with my wife and kids. Keep working on your dreams and don’t give up!”

Got a sweet ride that’s currently in the build and want to share it with our readers? Email photos of it (2MB+ each) along with some details on the build to [email protected].