With a trophy cabinet full of Street Machine Drag Challenge dust collectors, Steve Micallef is a four-time class winner who has hardly missed an event since the very beginning, and has tackled it in three different cars. That kind of experience had him well-placed to design and build his dream drag-and-drive car, but he accidentally did so to a standard befitting the Meguiar’s Great Uncover in the Elite Hall at Street Machine Summernats 38. Whoops!

First published in the October 2026 issue of Street Machine

“That was my painter Jason’s fault,” Steve laughs. “I wanted the car to be neat, but he went above and beyond, and I then had no choice but to finish the rest of the car to the same standard. He put the work in, so I had to keep it going.”

And keep it going he did. So well-built, highly detailed and beautifully finished is this LJ Torana that you almost don’t clock the monster 632ci tall-deck alloy big-block at first. Steve built the fearsome tunnel-rammed mill himself, and hopes that it’ll launch the little Torry into the sevens naturally aspirated, firmly cementing it among the quickest all-motor street cars in the country. After that, he plans to turbocharge it – but more on that later.

Steve has previously contested DC with a big-block HQ One Tonner, a turbo LS HT Monaro, and a turbo LS VZ Maloo, with the Tonner hands-down his most successful steed. That being said, it wasn’t without its challenges. “We really struggled with the weight of the Tonner; it was very nose-heavy, and we were always fighting it,” he says. “The Torana came up for sale as an unfinished project, so I bought it. The plan was to build something lighter, faster, and better set up – purpose-built from scratch for drag-and-drive.”

Steve lifted the Tonner’s Dart alloy-blocked 632-cuber from its engine bay, sold the car as a roller, and treated the mill to a big freshen-up and top-end upgrade. It now runs a Callies Magnum crank, Oliver Max conrods and JE forged slugs, with a Comp Cams solid-roller sporting a massive .900in of lift, specced by US drag-and-drive guru Jimmy Lopez. “He reckons we could probably make another 100hp or so if we went all-out with the camshaft, but this one’s designed to withstand the road legs,” says Steve.

The mill is topped with GM Performance 18-degree cylinder heads and a Wilson tunnel ram with port injection and twin 4500 Accufab throttlebodies, while a Haltech Nexus R5 runs the show. It’s a very serious motor that’s made an incredible 960hp at the hubs naturally aspirated – in other words, comfortably north of 1000hp at the motor.

As the proprietor of Shift Right Transmissions, Steve obviously had the smarts to sort the Torry’s transmission in-house, opting for a Powerglide with a 1.69:1 first gear and an SDE converter. Out back, there’s a full-floater nine-inch with 3.7:1 gears and 35-spline axles.

The car itself was a work-in-progress when Steve bought it, but in truth, it was a bit of a bin-fire. “The rollcage was done, but there were no tubs and no tunnel in it, and the body was woeful,” he says. “We added some bars to the ’cage, made the big-block fit, and did the arse end. It needed a lot of work.”

A few of Steve’s industry mates were called upon to complete the fab and tinwork in the car, and aside from how neatly done it all is, it’s also exceptionally well thought out, with an engine plate and Profab front end with Strange coil-overs, and a four-link out back with AFCO shocks.

“People see a big motor in a little car and assume that it must be a nightmare to work on, but the way it’s been designed and built, it’s all actually pretty easy to get to, except the starter motor. Having to do a starter motor on Drag Challenge is my only fear because that means the pipes have to come off,” Steve says. “Everything else is easily serviceable. The transmission goes in and out easily, and the way the front end is set up, it’s simple to pull the sump off if we need to. It’s really easy to work on, and that’s important for a drag-and-drive car.”

A detailed undercarriage is hardly a prerequisite for a drag-and-drive car, but the little Torry has one all the same. “I told Jason to just paint it black underneath, and he said it was the same amount of work to do it body colour, so I left him to it,” Steve laughs. “The main thing is that all the seams were properly sealed, because Jason knew that the car was going to be driven in all conditions.”

All that hard yakka culminated in the pleasant yet unforeseen consequence of an Elite Hall unveiling at Street Machine Summernats 38. “Having the car unveiled at Summernats was unreal; I’m so glad I did it,” says Steve. “I’m generally not that into the show scene, but it was a mad experience and the feedback on the car was great. One or two people said they didn’t like the colour, but everyone else seemed to love it. It’s a twist on the factory Covert Beige with a bit of pearl through it; it was a bit of a risk for sure. I like the factory-style look, because it’ll never date, so we went with an XU-1 vibe.”

Steve has some lofty goals for the LJ in all-motor trim, but that’s just phase one of his evil plan. “I want to be the first to run in the sevens naturally aspirated at Drag Challenge; I’m going for Radial Aspirated, because the radial fits a little better under the car,” he says. “It’s come up so nice that I’m second-guessing myself a little bit to be honest, but I’m going to get the whole car PPF wrapped. Hopefully that helps me feel a little bit better about it!”

The LJ is yet to turn a tyre in anger, but Steve has already begun accumulating the parts to switch the apso motor out for a twin-turbo 540. He already has the block, crank, rods, and a Turbo 400 trans, and is quietly planning on stepping things up as early as Drag Challenge 2027. Sounds like we’d better order another Six-Second Club hat, just in case. 

STEPHEN MICALLEF
1973 HOLDEN LJ TORANA

THANKS
Jason at Kustom Paint; Chris at Kustom Fab for the fab work; Shaun at SM Parsons Fabrications for the alloy gear; Justin at PSI Fab for the pipe work; Dan at DC Tuning & Mechanical for the ECU set-up; Mitch at Stemit Solutions for the rewire; Colin for the trim; the boys – Frank, Scott & Paul