MICK DARIZ is your quintessential Gen-X poster boy. Whether it’s tough cars, skateboards, BMX bikes or loud music, his youthful passions are still an active part of his everyday life. Mick’s car history reads like a who’s who of grassroots street machines; all built in backyard suburbia and all cutting their teeth at infamous Sydney haunts like Brickies and Parramatta Road. Here’s Mick’s story, from our July 2014 issue…

The Dariz clan were regulars at Liverpool speedway in the ’70s. Here’s a young Mick (left) with sister Gabby and brother Claude leaning against Brian Callaghan’s Torana. “Speedway was huge back then and a regular family outing for us. It was front page news in the local rags and the drivers were heroes to us youngsters,” Mick says.

“It’s 1990. Here’s my LC Torana heading to the panel shop. It was painted green with chrome everywhere and ran a 186 with triples and a four-speed. It wasn’t on the road long before it was stolen from Bankstown TAFE and never heard of again. I was gutted,” Mick remembers. “My sister’s shovelnose Corona was a typical girl’s car for that time and ended up painted with flowers [laughs].”

“I bought this mild custom FJ after my LC was stolen,” Mick says. “It ran a 138 grey with all of the period hop-up gear, crash box and Tasmans. Owned by hot rodder Alan Winter, it had glass-lens ’34 Chev tail-lamps, an FC number-plate surround, a shaved boot lid and moulded rear guards. Dad loved this car and was devastated when I sold it.”

“My red XW made me so happy and yet so sad. It threw a rod so I built a tougher Windsor, then later stripped the car for a full rebuild. The body was an absolute pig, full of rust and bog, so we scrapped the shell and swapped the running gear into my brother Stephen’s XT GT mock-up (pictured). It just blew the 185 tyres to pieces and was like driving on butter,” giggles Mick.

Mick’s current ride is this Hemi 265 R/T 2bbl Charger. Bought in 2006, the Charger was in good nick but had been hastily assembled. Mick’s restoring it back to factory original and methodically re-detailing the entire car. “I’d owned a Pacer for seven years which got me right into Vals. I was determined to buy a Charger and was lucky to find this before prices skyrocketed.”