Tim McDonald’s TRIGGA XY Falcon may only just have been unveiled to an adoring public at Street Machine Summernats 36, but it’s already the cover star of the January issue of Street Machine! Powered by a thumping 427ci Dart-blocked Windsor with an 8/71 blower and PFP injector hat, it’s properly tough. But it’s also an absolute stunner, making the Top 20 at Summernats, and has an incredible story to go along with it.

If you love mental tubbed and blown 70s Aussie muscle cars like Tim’s XY but you’re more of a GM guy, you’re in luck! Noddy Perkins’s HQ Monaro is just as tough and just as stunning, and also packs a blown and injected small-block, packaged in one of Holden’s most desirable body shapes.

For the Mopar faithful, we present Luke Novel’s mental twin-turbo LS-powered VH ute, a super-tasteful build from WA that’s aimed at street and strip duties.

Likewise, Dean Gianginis’s VK Calais is equally at home cutting tough laps as it is tearing down the quarter, but it’s powered by one of the gnarliest-sounding all-motor LS engines you’re ever likely to hear. The pseudo-factory styling on this car is a real winner, too.

Then there is – of all things – a 1968 Toyota Crown. Owned and built by Al Butler of Skid Factory fame, it’s a classy build that’s propelled by a Harrop-blown Chevy fat-block.

Brendan Wright’s gorgeous blown and tubbed XM is something of a family heirloom that is a wonderful tribute to his late grandfather, while Chris Borg’s gorgeous restomod HT pano looks like a NASCO catalogue come to life.

We’ll also pay tribute to US drag racing legend Don Schumacher, drag you along to the Junga Bunga No-Prep event at Warwick, teach you a thing or two about the sport of drifting, and catch up with gun car crafter and all-’round champion Damien Lowe to find out what he’s up to with his iconic VB Commodore, CHU88Y.