You might look at this HK Monaro and think that it’s a pretty wild rig, with its pro street stance, turbo LS and blacked-out rims. But for owner Milan Stefanovich, it’s his mild cruiser for the street. He was in the middle of building a different HK hardtop at Advanced Race Fabrication when he got wind of a bloke that might be selling a black one, so he sold off the more race-inspired build and started working his charm to get a hold of the car you see here.

First published in the October 2024 issue of Street Machine

It took a few months, but Milan ended up sweet-talking his way into a deal and became the proud owner of a pretty solid HK GTS. It was an older build and a little bit tired, but it had a near-perfect body. “I took Gozza, the painter, with me to look at the car,” Milan says. “He started crawling through and under the car, turned around and whispered to me, ‘Mate, this thing’s f*cking mint. Get it.’”

The car Milan dragged home had a black interior, Weld Pro Star wheels and a small-block Chev. It presented okay, but it wasn’t quite up to his standards. “It had a different bonnet, and the interior was dusty and dirty,” he says. “I only drove it once, but it went all right. I lit it up at my workshop and it had some mumbo.” None of that mattered anyway, because Milan had plans and had already teed everybody up to work on the car.

First port of call was dropping it off to Brodie Mitchell at Advanced Race Fabrication for a set of mini-tubs, a nine-inch on leaf springs and some CalTracs – for now, at least, as Milan points out. “It’s not going to hook up, I know that, but Brodie said, ‘Mate, drive it. If you’re happy with it, leave it. If not, we’ll just do the whole rear end.’” Knowing Milan, it’s probably going to get the full box and dice out back before too long.

With that sorted, Milan sent the car to Holmes Panel & Paint to have the flawless black finish applied. “It was always going to be black – all my cars are black, because it just looks mint – and I wanted the silver stripes, too,” Milan says.

Wayne, who had helped out during the purchase of the car, did the paint. He knew how good the body was, and as you can see, it’s pretty much perfect now. The colour is called Deep Black, and the stripes are Silver Dollar – both names are very apt – and there’s plenty of high-solids clear over the top.

With the paint sorted and the car rolling on all-new suspension, it was time to get the driveline together. “I had a tough 434 that I was going to put in the car, but Steve Lundy came up with a better idea,” Milan says. “He said, ‘Why don’t you build a turbo LS? You’ll get 1000hp at the wheels, no problem.’ I said, ‘What do you mean, 1000hp?’ Back in the day, if you had a 400 or 500hp engine, everyone would say it’s out of control!”

It didn’t take much convincing to get Milan on the rose-lined turbo-LS path, but when he started browsing Facebook, he realised there was a problem. “I rang Lundy back and said, ‘Dude, everyone’s got 1000hp,’ and he said, ‘Well, what do you want?’ I told him I wanted more!”

That wasn’t a problem for Steve; he just told Milan to pick up the phone and call Jeff Johnson. Jeff was also unfazed, although Milan did have a favour to ask of him. “I asked Jeff if he could try to make it sound old school-ish,” he says. “Everyone that’s heard it says it sounds different to your normal LS.” It does make a similar noise, but it also boasts a pleasing rumble more befitting a classic like an HK.

Jeff built the motor from top to bottom using an LSA block and heads, Molnar rods and Diamond pistons. There’s a John Bewley custom-grind cam, which is part of the secret to the old-school sound, and a rather massive Garrett Gen 2 GTX55 88mm turbo with a 1.24AR V-band rear housing that feeds into a Plazmaman 102mm throttlebody and beautifully machined billet intake. On full noise with 31psi of boost, the Monaro makes 1297hp at the hubs, but there’s also a couple of milder tunes Milan can switch to, dropping the power down to 1000 or 800hp.

It’s an awful lot of engine to squeeze into the bay, and Steve Lundy did a masterful job of fabricating the engine mounts and pipework so that everything sits under the stock bonnet – no reverse cowls to be seen on this beauty! Steve also fabricated an intercooler and all the pipes, and tucked it all out of sight. Even more amazing is that he did it with the car already painted, and didn’t remove any of the front sheet metal!

To get the HK looking and feeling as fresh as possible, Milan ordered pretty much everything out of the Rare Parts catalogue and got a Winner Products factory black interior to replace the worn-out custom job someone had put in the car decades ago. The whole lot was expertly fitted by Trimcare, and the only deviations from stock are the ratchet shifter and Holley digital dash — though everything on the stock dash still works.

Paul and Mladen Grgic at Grgic Bros did the bulk of the assembly and finishing-off work. We’ve featured quite a few of their builds; they’re all top-notch and roll out the door at a pretty furious pace. For Milan’s car, they ran stainless hardlines for the fuel system, trans cooler and brakes, fabricated the overflow and catch cans, and rewired the car front-to-back.

Milan hopes to resist the urge to do more with the HK in the immediate future and enjoy cruising it over summer, although he might have to wrestle the keys off his 16-year-old son, Alek, who just got his L-plates. Milan’s daughter Sofia has already called dibs on the Monaro, while Alek has claimed a Skyline that Milan has tucked away. “He made his choice,” Milan laughs. “He’s going to have to live with it now!”

MILAN STEFANOVICH
1968 HOLDEN HK MONARO

THANKS
Sandra, Minister of Finance and hands-down the best wife ever; my kids Alek and Sofia for arguing over who will inherit the HK; Jeff Johnson; Grgic Bros; Brodie Mitchell at Advanced Race Fabrication; Steve Lundy at Lundy Race Fabrication; Trimcare; Ned at RPD; Phil at Chevpower; Todd at Pro Street Polishing; Mick at Freo Windscreens; Gozza at Holmes Panel & Paint; Noddy Perkins; Todd at Rare Parts; Jemahl at Current Trendz; Competition Industrial Coatings; Jordan Leist and Boris Viskovic.