First published in the December 2004 issue of Street Machine

A set of six Center Line rims and a passion pearl paint job is a good start if you want to stand out in the crowd. Just the head start WA’s Reg Baker needed in his quest “to be different”. Prized possessions such as Reg’s one-tonner — known as King — went up for sale when he realized every bloke had one. The search for individuality began.

Flicking through Unique Cars, Reg spotted the purple Holden and knew he had to have it. A quick call to owner Barry Moore revealed it had been the tow car for Barry’s similarly coloured drag racer. A deal was struck and Reg was the HJ’s new owner, sight unseen!

Today this six-wheeler Holden ute sports a stout 327 Chev and Turbo 400 and has given five years of fun. From what was a fairly standard Chev, a set of Weld wheels and an interior that was “not my kind of nice”, the Holden was transformed. Engine was first up, the 327 going out to 332ci and copping tougher 11.5:1 compression with Eagle rods, billet crank and Crane cam.

It wasn’t all plain sailing. “She ran like a pig no matter what we did,” says Reg. Some advice from Maurice Hamersly at Kwinana Performance sorted it.

Next, some paint. “The engine bay got a revamp from black and chrome to black and magenta.” A Caprice front clip was on the agenda but wasn’t going to happen easily, with over-riders proving difficult to source. Another re-spray of the engine bay, by Kruisin graphics, got the final look sorted. Then, like so many of us, Reg became a billet victim. This was roundabout the time his wife told him: “You’ve lost the plot.” But then she always knew who his first real love was … What a girl!

“First came the door handles, then a complete set of pulleys, followed by the oil filler cap,” says Reg. It wasn’t enough. Telling himself to go for broke, Reg added a set of six Center Line Trigons and a Turner Billet steering wheel.

No street machine is complete without its share of custom bits and this ute is no exception. Darren at Shabala Engineering in Rockingham was responsible for the custom boss kit, which gave Reg ideas for a custom horn button and Kruisin centre caps.

Looking the part isn’t enough; you need the sound too. A mean growl comes from the stainless twin exhaust system complemented by a set of ceramic extractors, all from Diane at Genie Exhausts in Myaree.

The inside of this beast is something to behold. Just six days before Motorvation 2003, Reg decided the interior could use some improvement. “I drove the car in on the Monday morning and after a week of burning the candle at both ends, the car was driven to Kwinana at 6.30am on Saturday morning.”

The new interior boasts Kruisin graphics and flames embossed on the glove box, and new velour finishing off the console, kick panels, window and door sills, handbrake and visors. Reg estimates the door trims and roof lining took about 10 hours to complete but he reckons they were worth every minute!

This six-wheeled monster has been sighted all over WA, attending outings to Pingelly, Moora and Corrigin to name just a few and Reg drives there and back every trip!

“If you’ve got it, flaunt it,” says Reg. “That’s not to say I have anything against people who shed their car, I just like to drive mine.”

The trophy list for this ute is long and you might think Reg’s deviant desire was finally sated with trophies for Best Interior, People’s Choice and three for Best Ute or Pick-up! If anything, that’s just spurred him on to more.

He says he’s thinking of something to make it look very different again. Can’t wait to see what he comes up with!

Reg Baker
1976 Holden 2T Ute

Thanks:
Barry Moore; Diane and Andy at Genie Exhausts; Troy at Southside Trim shop; John and Steve at Auto One, Rockingham; Ray and Earl at Meguiar’s; Maurice Hamersly at Kwinana Performance; my crew; and my patient and lovely wife, Wendy.