We couldn’t take our eyes off Jake Dixon’s blown ’72 El Camino ute as it lit up the track during Powercruise 97 at Queensland Raceway. So, we tracked down the man behind the wheel to talk about his love of tough street cars, and how an arvo on the beers led to the ute landing in his shed.

First published in the March 2025 issue of Street Machine

You were running amok on the track all weekend, mate! Tell us about your ute.

It’s a 1972 Chevy El Camino running a 408-cube small-block Chev that I built from the ground up in my shed. The bottom end is a Dart Little M block with Callies rods and Diamond pistons. It has AFR heads, an 8/71 blower, and a pair of Quick Fuel 850s feeding it E85. Power-wise, it’s nudging 700hp at the wheels on 11 pounds of boost, and there’s room to crank that up.

How did you end up with it?

It was my neighbour’s car; it had a naturally aspirated 350 small-block in it then. It sat in his shed for about two years, and one afternoon over a few beers, I joked about buying it. The next day, he rang and asked if I was serious. I hit the bank, got the cash, and pushed it across the road to my shed! That night, the engine was out, a new sump was on, and by the next day, it was back on the road.

That purple paint is killer. What’s the story there?

It’s a custom House of Kolor mix. It used to be orange with a vinyl roof, but I had a fire on the burnout pad at Powercruise a couple of years ago that completely torched the rear quarters. That was the push I needed for a fresh paintjob. I originally wanted blue but went through about six variations before landing on the purple.

So, you’ve skidded the ute, too?

Yeah, before the paintjob I’d enter it in the burnouts. I’m a little more careful with it these days, but I drive it on the street every now and then and head out to Powercruise events fairly frequently. I’ve been through a couple of engines at the drags as well; it had run in the 10s on the old combo.

Any other projects on the go?

I’ve got a 1936 Chevy sedan I’m thinking I’ll get stuck into soon. It runs and drives and is in pretty good shape. The exterior is tidy, and it still has the original six-cylinder, but it needs a new interior. I’ll get a start on that soon and have it as a nice driver.

How did you go at Powercruise?

We had a blast. Everyone that jumped in the car had a smile on their face, which makes it all worthwhile. Steve, who I bought the car off, was out there with us as well. We took it out to have fun and for lots of track time, and we did just that. I’m planning on heading to Powerplay in a few months; I think we’ll bump the boost up for that.