First published in the January 2012 issue of Street Machine

It started life just like thousands of others: white body, luggy blue six-pot and a bench seat. It was eventually bought — like thousands of others — by a young fella who needed something to carry his tools in, to get him to the pub, the shops and up the coast. Like thousands of others, it eventually had a set of buckets bolted in to replace the bench.

But now this WB Holden ute is definitely not like thousands of others.

“It’s my first car, so I’ve had it 15 years,” owner Matt Bell explains. “I bought it as my daily driver straight off my Ps. It did everything and took me everywhere. I always intended to rebuild it — when you’re 18, putting in a V8 is what you want to do — but then it got hit in the rear one night by a bloke who was pissed.”

That was the kick-off Matt needed to toughen his old ute up a bit. “I’d bought another car to run around in so I wanted to make this one a bit more special. I started to have a bit of a go with a rollcage, then the rails moved and a set of tubs went in.”

Of course, the work wasn’t without a few hiccups, dramas and setbacks. “It’s been to just about every shop in Sydney!” Matt says, before explaining a couple of the less-karmic situations he’s encountered over the years. “One bloke ended up being a bit of a junkie — but we’ll leave some of the details out, eh?”

Good idea — focus on the good stuff! For its first build, the ute was painted aqua and had a stroked injected Holden V8 installed. “Then an eight-throttle system came along. It was a MoTeC/Harrop manifold from a V8 Supercar. Mark from On-Track Auto Electrical put that on it and it highlighted a few problems with the engine: a bit of end-float in the crank, the cam wasn’t dialled-in right.”

Mark is the brother of respected Sydney engine builder Paul Sant at ProFlo, so guess who looked after the donk? Paul’s refurbishment was obviously successful: “It started breaking diffs!” Matt laughs. “It had a nine-inch LSD in it, then I installed a spool which lasted about 30 minutes!”

But that’s all history now. After four or five years of faffing around and a few visits to Summernats, the car went back to ProFlo for some more work on the engine. The reason? The angry nature of the car — fun when he was younger — was starting to grate and a few years of cruising had mellowed the mighty ute’s body a bit too, in condition and colour.

“I’d had it with the eight throttles,” Matt says. “You couldn’t drive it on the street; it was all or nothing and you’d fill it up with fuel and change the ’plugs at the same time.”

To improve appearances, he wanted to remove the heater system’s firewall blanking plate. Sant suggested a new firewall rather than half-doing the job. That led to plans for a colour change.

Fast forward four years and Matt’s faithful ute is an all-new exercise. “We got it blasted and went from there,” he says. The back-to-birthday-suit work included new old stock rear quarters on both sides.

There was plenty of welding and grinding elsewhere, too: the shapely instrument panel that replaces the WB’s broad original is Mark’s work, while Paul did the flat firewall, remodelled radiator support panel and fine fit ’n’ fiddle in plenty of other places. The over and under Spies Hecker paint was applied by Mick at All City Smash after his colleague, Steve, signed-off on the tin.

“We thought we’d squeeze it in after-hours, as Mick is a mate,” Matt says of the two-year part-time paint project. “But in the end we were getting too close to Summernats so the pace picked up!”

Matt wasn’t building a true trophy hauler — the idea was that the ute should remain a fun weekend streeter — so the underside was treated with textured stone-guard material before the Mitsubishi Magna Champagne-based cocktail was applied.

Matt credits Paul Sant for coordinating most of the important aspects of the car’s most recent build: after much of the mechanical reassembly was undertaken at home, it was at Paul’s that the WB was wired and fired. With everything else done, Artistic Trim was let loose on a set of MOMO seats, giving an uncluttered and classy interior.

Matt’s girlfriend, Billi, isn’t into cars at all but she lets him do what he pleases.

“Hey, she doesn’t have a choice!” he laughs. “Nah, she has her own thing, so it’s all good.

“I could tell you about wheels leaving the car, falling off car carriers, catching fire on the dyno, but the main thing is, I’m not sick of it yet!”

MATT BELL
1984 HOLDEN WB UTE

THANKS
Paul and Pete at ProFlo Performance, Mark at On-Track Auto Electrical, Matt at Artistic Trim, Dave at Miller Chassis, Mick and Steve at All City Smash, Pete at Peter Snell Powdercoating, Shaun at Shaun’s Custom Alloy.