Mark Taylor
FX Holden ute

“This 1952 humpy was left for dead on the family farm, suffering through many seasons of flood and drought as it slowly returned to Mother Earth. Around 10 years ago, I spent a weekend fighting tiger snakes to dig her out from her grave, and a plan was hatched to breathe some life into the poor ol’ thing.

She now sits on a brand-new chassis with an HR Holden front end, triangulated four-link rear and a shortened nine-inch. Rodlite fat and thin rollers hold her up, and we’ll get her running with an aspirated LS on corn juice and a trusty Turbo 400. Down the track, we plan to add a 6/71 blower and twin carbs to really get her thundering.

Thanks to all the Junkers Car Club boys for the push-along, especially Ryan O’Hara and Andrew Yeo for all their time and input, and my father Ricky for letting me talk him into doing something with ‘that old rusty piece of junk in the paddock’ all those years ago.”

Glenn Braidwood
Factory Five 1935 Ford Pick-up

“My current project is this awesome 1935 Ford truck from Factory Five Racing. The engine is an LS3-based 416ci stroker with forged internals, and it’ll also feature the newest-generation three-litre Whipple supercharger.

All up, the combo should make around 1100hp on the dyno, but because the car will weigh less than 1000kg when it’s done, we’ll probably dial it back to 700rwhp when it’s ready.

The transmission will be a 1000rwhp-capable 6L80E, running back to an 8.8-inch diff with billet internals and a Truetrac centre. It’s all going to have race-tuned Koni suspension and big brakes, with a tubular chassis.

It’ll be built as a tough all-rounder for the street, circuit, drags and various car events around the country. The car is being built by Horsepower World, the exclusive Australian/NZ distributors for Factory Five Racing cars and parts. All the cars are made to order and are fully engineered and registered.”

Shannon Mansfield
Ford ZD Fairlane

“Here’s my ZD Fairlane project, which has been sitting around my hometown for the past 15 years, and I’ve finally got my hands on it. My dad owned one of these when he was a lad, which got written-off, so he was pretty happy to see this pull in the driveway.

I’m going for a racer look that will stray a bit away from the Fairlane luxo-barge vibe. I’ll be blacking out all the chrome and getting her as close to the blacktop as I can.

The motor is a 408-cube Clevo that made 618hp on the dyno, paired with a beefed-up C10 trans and a 5500rpm converter. The rest of the build will have to wait until the other half lets me have more money!”

Shane Hudson
Ford Falcon RTV ute

“I recently modified my RTV Falcon ute, which is now on a Nissan Patrol chassis. I built the whole lot at home, including some paint and panelwork, as I had a fully equipped workshop.

Because I’m a bit of a shit-stirrer, I built a 350-cube small-block Chev, painted it Ford Blue and stuck some Falcon decals on it, and most people think it’s a Windsor!

I registered it a couple of days before Christmas, all engineered and complied by Queensland Transport with full street rego. I’ve already done three trips to Double Island Point so far with it, and Fraser Island is next.”

Duncan Allen
1960 VW Beetle

“I’m 19 years old, and I’ve been building this Beetle into a Real Street drag racer with my dad at home in our shed. It takes major inspiration from old drag racing Beetles like Dean Lowry’s ‘Deano Dyno-soar’ and Darrel Vittone’s ‘EMPI Inch-Pincher’.

The car features a high-spec 2387cc dak-dak, a half-rollcage and custom interior. We’ve designed and made a removable rear valance that comes off in one with the rear bumper and guards.

The hope is to run low sevens down the eighth-mile, and I won’t stop developing and refining the car until it runs 10s in the quarter.”

Adrian Richards
Holden LX Torana

“I’ve had this ’78 LX Torana hatchback for 20 years, and I’m in the middle of doing a complete ground-up rebuild on it. It’s an original V8/four-speed manual car, and had the typical Torana rust in the C-pillars, but it’s all sorted now. I’ve done all the paint and panelwork myself so far; I did all the prep and hired a local paint booth last year to spray it in.

The paint is a PPG Deltron version of Atlantis Blue, which is a factory colour. The interior will be the original stuff in the Chamois-spec colour, and for power I’ll be using a 355-cube stroked VT roller V8, and probably a new TKX gearbox.”

Troy Dowell
Ford XP Falcon ute

“This XP ute is an awesome little project I’m sharing with my grandson. Under the bonnet is a 428ci Competition Engines-built Windsor, paired with a Burko-built Powerglide and a nine-inch diff.

The front end is a Rod Shop kit, and we’ve mini-tubbed the rear to the rails so we have the flexibility of fitting a 275 tyre (currently it’s on 255s). All of the fab work has been done in the home shed by me, with the panelwork by my good mate Matthew Thomson at Rat Race Garage.

The final bits of bodywork and paint were done by the team at Custom Creations Paint & Panel. It’ll be fully engineered and has been built to be driven.”

Got a sweet ride that’s currently in the build? Send photos of it along with some details to: In The Build, Street Machine, Locked Bag 12, Oakleigh, Vic 3166 or email [email protected]. Please note: Send us copies of your prints as we are unable to return photos.