We first spotted Jose Aguilar on the burnout pad at Street Machine Summernats 37, spitting flames out the back of his blown LS-powered Pontiac GTO. The car was new to us, so we tracked him down for a yarn. Turns out, he hauled the 750hp drift weapon all the way from California to send it Aussie-style!

First published in the June 2025 issue of Street Machine

You’re a long way from home – what brought you to Australia?

I’ve been here a few times. I came for the first time in 2023 to hang out with my buddies Troy and Ryan, who invited me to drift his VY ute at Powercruise. I ended up coming back for Summernats in 2024 with the boys, and decided I was gonna bring my car over for 2025.

Tell us about it.

It’s a 2006 Pontiac GTO. Around 2017, I traded a set of wheels for a GTO shell and ended up building it into a decent drift car. It’s mainly set up for drifting, but it’s also a street car – it’s registered in California.

It’s running a forged LS3 built by Geordie at LS Garage in Sacramento – ported and polished heads, GP Tuning cam, Vortech V7 YSi blower, carbon intake manifold, Mantic clutch, full Granatelli exhaust, RTS quick-change diff, Shockworks coil-overs, and a Holley Terminator. It makes 750hp on 15psi.

How did the GTO go at Summernats?

I went on the burnout pad once. The car didn’t really like the heat – it caught fire, and they wouldn’t let me finish blowing the tyres off. But it was a lot of fun!

How has your trip been?

It’s been fun making new friends and getting to see a lot of Australia. But the car will go back at the end of May so I can compete in the LS Fest drift event and head to SEMA, so MotorEx was our last event here until next year, when I come back for Summernats. I’m going to build a burnout car back home – that’s in the works for 2025. Hopefully, we’ll bring that to Australia as well!

I see you’ve been filming your travels.

Yeah, we’ve been documenting everything on my Instagram @smokeybakery_jose and making videos. I’m mainly doing YouTube for my son, Emilio. When he’s older, I want him to see what Dad was up to – he’ll even see himself on there.

You’re starting him young. Were you the same?

I’ve been around cars my whole life. My dad owned a body shop when I was about 10. He had me sanding cars, sweeping floors – he showed me the ropes. He’s got a ’59 Impala convertible and a ’57 Chevy convertible. My dad and I built a 1964 SS Impala as my first car, but that wasn’t a daily. My real first car was a 1969 Impala.

Were you in the Cali lowrider scene?

Yeah, my dad was heavy into lowriders, and from 2010 to 2015, I was deep into something called the sideshows, which were big in northern California. It’s gotten outta hand now, but where I grew up, that was the car culture. Then I met the Hoonigan guys, left that scene, and got into drifting through my buddy Austin. Now I’m working with a lot of the biggest names in the automotive industry.

What does your car collection look like?

I’ve got a VY ute – a widebody – with nearly the same set-up as the GTO. My main drift car while the GTO is over here is a C6 Corvette. I just gave away two VF SSs on my website, and I’ve had a couple of Z28 Camaros, too. I’ve also got a ’64 Impala, a ’68 El Camino, and two builds on the go.