A few years ago, Darwin local Joe Thring caught wind that Matt James was thinking of selling his iconic VF Commodore burnout ute, UNWANTED. After some conversations between the two and more soul-searching by Matt, he couldn’t bring himself to part with it, but he instead offered to build Joe something much better through his business, Unwanted Automotive.

First published in the October 2025 issue of Street Machine

At the time, Joe had recently sold a tough VF GTS built by BNR Engines. Under Joe’s ownership, it wore DEATHROW plates, but others will know it better as GAME OVER, which Chris Orchard now campaigns. Prior to that car, Joe owned a VE ute, and he was keen to get into another one. “The idea behind going for a sedan was being able to share the thrill of burnouts with friends and family by taking them along as passengers,” he explains. “But despite the practicality, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the sedan was more of a grandpa’s car, and I still longed for a ute.”

The hunt began for a suitable donor, but a good late-model roller wasn’t as easy to track down as you might expect. Neither Matt nor Joe could find the right shell to cut up and turn into a skid car, so Joe ended up buying a pretty tidy SV6 Thunder. “I couldn’t find a wreck anywhere and I was too impatient, so I bought a car for $35,000,” he says. “It was a going, registered vehicle, and I sent it to Matt to wreck it! I wanted a good body because I thought I might save some money on panel and paint.” The ute only had 90,000km on the clock, so it was in pretty good nick, but as you can see from the photos, there was still no holding back on the exterior.

Joe called on the magic hands of George Separovich at Blown Motorsports to put together the 366ci mill, starting with a Brodix alloy block. “We couldn’t get an iron block, so I said, ‘We can give this one a go,’” he says. “At least if we blow it up, we can weld it back together, although at $18,000 for the block, I really don’t want to put a hole in it!”

The rotating assembly comprises a Crower crank with a custom stroke and big-block snout for extra strength, GRP billet alloy rods, and CP pistons. Like most high-end burnout engines these days, there’s a dry sump system to make sure everything lasts.

Up top, there’s a Littlefield 8/71 blower on a Newby Engineering intake, with a gigantic JBR carbon injector hat that looks like it belongs on a Top Fueler. “Yeah, it’s a Top Fuel hat,” Joe confirms. “George has figured out how to make them work on a small-block, and nothing is blocked off on it, either.” A set of custom 17/8-inch headers by Unwanted Automotive get the gases out. They feature EGT ports, and feed into a twin four-inch stainless mandrel-bent exhaust.

Joe tips it to make between 1500 and 1600hp. It hasn’t been on an engine dyno to confirm it, but considering it’s essentially a copy of the engine in Matt James’s 1600hp COMPACT Fairlane (SM, Dec ’15), it’s certainly got more than enough grunt to nuke the tyres. Joe got a chance to taste some of the power at Gazzanats NT; they were still working on the tune, so he wasn’t exactly up it for the rent, but it was still mightily impressive. “The thing revs,” Joe grins. “It’s wild! It’s got an 8500rpm chip in it, but I didn’t get it over 6800rpm at Gazzanats – and not even off quarter-throttle!”

The rest of the drivetrain is as bombproof as you’d expect. There’s a Powerglide rated to 2500hp built by Shift Transmissions, with a Sonax billet-backed 4500rpm converter. The rear end is a Pro9 chrome-moly nine-inch with a Strange billet centre and 35-spline axles.

Quite a bit of massaging was needed to get the massive 22x12in wheels under the bum. A pair of mandrel-bent chassis rails from Pro9 free up plenty of space for the hoops, plus the four-link and track locator by Unwanted Automotive. Joe and the boys didn’t see a need for rear brakes, while up front are HSV six-piston calipers, operating via the OEM master cylinder and booster. “When it comes to brakes, I like to run the factory stuff because you know it’s going to work,” Matt says. You won’t see those bits, though, because they’re hidden behind a fabricated panel in one of the tidiest engine bays you’ll see anywhere, let alone on a burnout car!

The VF still wears its factory aluminium bonnet, albeit with a giant hole in it. Unsurprisingly, Joe wanted that smoothed out as well. “I made Matt infill all of where it was cut out, which he absolutely hated,” he laughs. “Matt said, ‘Don’t you ever hit anything with that bonnet, mate, because I’ll never do that ever again!’”

The interior is as primo as the rest of the car, and while it doesn’t retain every single creature comfort of a stock VF Commodore, the power windows and central locking still work. “It’s got VF GTS seats, but the rest is the original interior – it’s just been done in suede and Alcantara,” Joe says. There’s also a Racepak IQ3 dash, Hurst shifter and a chrome-moly rollcage, while the retrimming was expertly handled by ProStitch Motor & Marine.

Of course, I had to ask Joe about the colour choice. At first glance, it looks the same shade as UNWANTED, but it’s something else entirely. “I saw it on a LandCruiser, and I always wanted a Copper Brown 200 Series,” Joe says. “It’s something cool and a bit different, because it’s so bronze, but then it turns so red.”

When I first saw the car indoors at Motorvation, it presented as a very dark brown, but the paint really comes to life when the sun hits it. The finish is a real credit to both Dobson’s Classic Restorations, which handled the panels, and the team at Flynn’s Refinishing, who laid down the paint.

Joe admits he’s still on a learning curve with ORNATE – especially with datalogging and understanding how to read it all. He and a couple of his mates will crew the car for most events, but for the big shows, he’ll partner with Unwanted Automotive. “I’ll run two cars, and then when my son is old enough, he can have the white one,” he says [see sidebar, opposite page].

In the meantime, he’s got another sedan in the build at Unwanted Automotive. This bloke just can’t help himself!

JOE THRING
2017 HOLDEN COMMODORE UTE

THANKS
The Unwanted Automotive build team – they already know how much I appreciate their work. I have never done business with a company that is so dedicated to what they produce. Their ability to push the limits and do better has seen several parts of this build redone and improved upon, and the timeframe for its completion has blown out by years because of it, but I couldn’t be happier. The Unwanted team has become part of the family.