As the son of Drag Challenge ace Dominic Pelle, it’s no surprise that 16-year-old Luke Pelle is already throwing together cheap-as-chips LS combos. Dominic is the master of going seriously quick on a budget, and that talent’s been passed on to Luke if his first build, this HZ ute, is anything to go by. Luke chatted to us about the mad thrash to get the ute done, his first drag-and-drive event, and the car-mad sickness he’s inherited from his old man.

First published in the January 2025 issue of Street Machine

It’s an awesome ute, mate! How did you come to own it?

Dad purchased two of them in 2018, and I was only nine years old back then! We built one with an LS and sold it off, but he kept this one – which was the cleaner, more rust-free of the two – for me in case the bug ever bit one day. It was a really good base to start with.

How did you land on swapping an LS into it?

The original plan was to do a 253, because I could drive it around with that when I get my Ps. But it wasn’t long until we decided that’d be too slow for me, so we got a junker LS3 to use instead. It was blown up, so we fitted a set of second-hand rods and pistons, and a baby turbo cam that Dad had.

It sounds like the build was done with a lot of spare parts.

Yep! We used as much stuff that we had lying around as we could, keeping the budget down and recycling everything we had. I worked on the car after school and on weekends to get it ready for the Hardass 1000.

How long did the build take?

We did a seven-week thrash to get it ready for the Hardass. At first, we weren’t sure it’d make it with the time crunch, but then when Harry Haig passed, we knew we had to get it done for him. I’m glad we did, and I hope we did him proud, because he’s one of my heroes.

What else was done besides the LS conversion?

I fixed some small sections of rust in the floor and rear quarters, but for one of these utes, it was pretty rust-free. We did a Powerglide conversion using six-cylinder internals in another case; I went down to Shift Right for a day and Steve showed me how to rebuild it for that. We restored all underneath with rebuilt suspension and brakes, along with a nine-inch diff. It made 400rwhp on the dyno, and Gökhan Kandemir even showed me how to use the dyno while we were tuning, and the basic tuning process, which was cool.

How did the Hardass 1000 go?

I was a bit nervous, because it was my first time drag racing. I came along with Dad for Drag Challenge in 2023, but I’d never raced before. My first pass, I ran a 15.3, and by the end of the week, I’d run six 11.11s, which was quicker than what Dad could run! It was awesome fun having him teach me the ropes of drag racing during the week, so I’ve gotta thank the Hardass crew for putting on that Young Guns class. I managed to finish second in class as well, which was pretty cool.

So, the racing bug has bitten, then?

Oh yeah, for sure! We’ve calculated that the converter has around 15 per cent slip in it, so we’re planning to change that soon and shoot for a high 10. Then maybe we’ll do a better cam and go for 10.5s, but it all depends on budget at the end of the day. The plan is to start racing it in the New South Wales championship next year.

How much has your old man influenced your love of cars?

He’s awesome. I’ve been hanging around in the shed since I was a little kid, watching him and his mates work on cars, and I know he’d been looking forward to doing this ute together. There’s a lot of people I need to thank for helping out with this build, but a big thanks needs to go to him – and Mum, of course!

Also thanks to my sisters; my girlfriend Tanishka; Steve at Shift Right Transmissions; Al Vella; Girch for the tune; Justin for the wiring; Rob Webster; Kev Brake & Clutch; John Robar; Ricky for the driveshaft; Sawdy; Garry; Nathan Clarke; Simon; Luca; Corty Haig; and the Big Dawg, Harry Haig.

BE A YOUNG GUN!
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