A brush with automotive excellence as a teen can be a powerful, life-shaping moment, as Sydney’s Peter Bonassi understands more than most. He first clapped eyes on this ballistic VK a decade ago, and it hit him harder than a David Warner boundary-smasher.

First published in Street Machine’s Yearbook 2024

“SHUTEM was originally finished in 2014. I remember seeing it on social media, and I said I had to get my hands on it,” Peter laughs. “It was an iconic car back then, being one of the first of its kind. I was 17 at the time and only had hopes and dreams. The car disappeared for years, and nobody knew where it was.”

Even though the epic, blown Chev-powered VK had seemingly vanished, it had triggered something within Peter, and his mind was made up. “I knew I had to own SHUTEM,” he says. That was a tall order at that stage, with the wild street machine nowhere to be found, but Peter was patient – it was going to be his no matter what.

Eventually, lady luck smiled upon him when he learned a mate of his had come to own it. “I was trying to buy it off him for ages,” Peter recalls. “I build VLs and VKs and sell them as a side hobby, and in the end, he said I could buy SHUTEM if I didn’t sell it once it was back together. This one is special, so that’s not happening.”

When Peter finally claimed his prize a few years back, it was in bits, so he had a job ahead of him. When it was originally built, SHUTEM was matte white, sported an HDT kit, and rocked that spicy, blown SBC combo that had so impressed Peter as a teenager. Given his love for the car, he wasn’t about to deviate from that same basic formula, but he was still keen to add his own touches to the mix. “The idea was to keep the same concept and feel of the car but finish it differently,” he says. “I took it back to ProFlo Performance, who built it originally, to have them do a lot of the new fab work.”

Getting those 22×8 and 22×13 three-piece Simmons FRs to fit while maintaining a sill-scraping ride height required a fair bit of fettling. An independent front end from Castlemaine Rod Shop replaced the stock MacPherson struts, before fresh tubs were fabricated by Body By Jase to hide it all. The original rear end largely remains, with notched rails and a full set of ProFlo tube arms replacing the factory four-link and Panhard rod. Hanging off them is a sheet-metal nine-inch with a Truetrac centre and 3.08:1 gears, located by Viking coil-overs.

Mako Motorsport freshened up the 420ci small-block Chev and mounted it on a new set of motor plates, and ProFlo knocked up some custom headers and a full twin exhaust system. While that was going on, Al’s Race Glides gave the TH400 transmission a thorough seeing-to.

Inside the Bowtie block is a Callies crank, Scat H-beam rods and Diamond 8.5:1 pistons, with a custom solid-roller cam and Isky offset lifters rounding out the bottom end. Heads are 18-degree Bowtie castings filled with good gear like 3/8-inch Comp pushrods, PSI valve springs and Jesel rockers, while the Blower Shop 8/71 party-starter is mounted on a Hogan’s Racing sheet-metal intake and topped with an Enderle Big & Ugly hat.

“The engine fits so well in there, and now it has all hidden wiring in the bay,” says Peter, whose big-inch mouse motor turned out 980hp on the engine dyno, sucking pump E85.

After one-and-a-half years in the build, and many more spent dreaming of owning it, Peter’s now all about getting his slice of use from SHUTEM. “I didn’t build it to do burnouts, but I want to take it to Powercruise and Summernats,” he says. “It will never see stockies on the back, as I don’t care about powerskids, and it’s not made to blow the tyres off it – the new rear bar would have to be sectioned to fit the stretched guards and rear wheels, and I’m not going to do that.”

Don’t go thinking that Peter plans to put it up on mirrors in the Summernats Elite Hall, either. “If I went for Top 60, I can’t enjoy the car,” he says. “I want to be able to drive it to and from Summernats each day, as well as into Braddon every night, and around the city and out to Parliament House – wherever I want to go! That’s why I went E85 instead of methanol.”

After so many years spent lusting after this VK, we can’t blame Peter for wanting to get his fair share of seat time.

PETER BONASSI
1985 HOLDEN VK COMMODORE

THANKS
My fiancée Rebecca and my son Alessio for putting up with all my late nights getting the car done; Paul, Sam, Charlie and Brodie at ProFlo Performance; Danny at Protilt Towing; Jase at Body By Jase; A-Teck Auto Electrical for re-wiring the car; CV Performance for the tune; Precision Autobody for painting it; Dennis at Mako Motorsport; my friends Colin, Aydin, Nathan, Bill and Matt at OG Mechanical who helped out along the way; Louis Younis for letting us use his location to shoot the car; special thanks to my parents for all their support.