Young bloke Cooper Groom came to our attention when he entered his home-built hot rod in this year’s Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse Young Street Machine of the Year competition and ended up a Top 16 finalist. We got to check out Cooper’s eye-catching ’23 T-bucket in the metal and chat with him at our Sydney YSMOTY Cars & Coffee event (SM, Oct ’25), where we learned that the five-year-long project was a labour of love, with plenty of help and advice along the way from Cooper’s hot-rodding family, especially his pop, Greg Sainty.

First published in the November 2025 issue of Street Machine

When did the T-bucket come into your life, Cooper?

I received the fibreglass body, mirrors, and some other small bits for my 10th birthday. It was set up as a scavenger hunt where I slowly uncovered each part. Over the years, my family and friends have gifted me parts, or I have saved for what I needed. In May 2020, we really got stuck into the project. With the rod being built at Pop’s, I’d catch the train to his house in Valla with a bag full of parts, and return with wisdom.

Tell us about the set-up.

The chassis is a modified A-frame with a So Cal 4in-dropped I-beam and Rod-Tech front end. At the moment, it’s running a four-cylinder Toyota Corolla KE70 1290cc engine with the four-speed manual. But it’s set up for a V8 – that’s why it has the nine-inch diff. I’ve got a 283ci Chev waiting to go in it, which I’ve been building over the past four months. In January 2028, I’ll be off my Ps and can finally drive my own V8.

Love those bold, contrasting colours!

We had a solid vision of blue and orange, inspired by the afternoon colours of the sky. The TNT orange came from Garry Bowker’s orange Anglia. I then chose the BMW Atlantis metallic blue after seeing a BMW down the street – the colour really changes in different light. Pop then painted it all.

Sounds like your family tree is full of hot rodders.

Absolutely! Mum has a ’34 Ford tudor; my step-dad Jim has a ’27 T coupe, FJ ute and ’34 Ford roadster project; Nan has a ’33 Ford sedan; and Pop has a ’34 Ford coupe, which he built in the early 80s. Pop also had a 351-powered, Candy Apple Green T-bucket as his first rod, which I only found out after we were underway with mine. I would love to thank Poppy, Mum, Jim, Nan and all my family and friends who gave me parts.

Looks like it all came together well!

I’m really happy with how the T-bucket turned out – it was a long five years. Since it was registered in June ’25, I’ve clocked up around 2500km – that’s a lot in an open hot rod! I’m a member of the Hellkatz club with my nan, so I drive into Sydney and back for monthly meetings. And I’ll be heading to the 2025 Valla Rod Run – I’m aiming for Top Cruiser, and will end up with a sore behind; my Year 12 graduation is on the Friday afternoon, and we leave for Valla at 6am the following morning! Then on the following Sunday, we return home, and I head off with my band Motion Sickness to record our first album – it’s going to be a busy couple of weeks!