The votes have been tallied for the 2025 Enthusiast Motor Insurance Street Machine of the Year award, and Martin Pecotich’s aweinspiring, ProFlo Performance-built, billet Noonan Hemi-powered HTKO Monaro is your champion!

In cahoots with the ProFlo crew, we managed to ambush Martin as he brought the car back from the detailer one sunny Sunday afternoon. As the shed door opened, we surprised him with a gathering of some of his nearest and dearest, the most sought-after trophy in Aussie street machining, and a giant cheque for a cool $20,000 from our good mates at Enthusiast Motor Insurance.

It’s fair to say that he didn’t see it coming!

Martin, congratulations on winning Street Machine of the Year for 2025!

Thanks! To have my name on the Street Machine of the Year trophy, that’s part of history. It’s going to be remembered for years to come and it’s a huge accolade to win. I’m over the moon!

With help from the Sant family, it seems we managed to catch you by surprise today.

The car has been getting PPF-wrapped this past week to protect the paint a bit, and Paul and I went to pick it up from KOAT, who did the wrap. It was just another normal day, and when we showed back up here at the shed to drop the car off, we opened the roller door and to my surprise, the Street Machine of the Year trophy was in my face; I’m still shocked. I was a bit deflated because voting closed earlier in the week and I didn’t think I’d won. The guys kept it a secret from me, and what a surprise – I’m just stoked.

For those who may have missed our feature on the car (SM, Jun ’25), tell us about the Monaro.

The HT started out as a barn find – an empty shell – and that’s all we really needed at the start, because the plans for the car were over-the-top. It was a three-year build from ProFlo Performance, and the car just went out of control. It was originally going to be a street car, but it evolved into a bit of a show car. But now it’s going back to a street car!

Some of the choices – like the colour, for example – are quite pared back and understated, but mechanically, it’s a monster.

The whole car really has been ripped apart and built fresh again, from the chassis to the floor, to the steering, to the brakes; the whole thing has been engineered and built to handle the power of a blown Noonan Hemi. It functions, steers and stops great, and even if I wanted to take it down the strip, it would handle that as well. We were originally going to put a big-block in it, but then it was getting built to be different to anything else, so we had to make it stand out. So, when it came to the motor, we went with the best of the best – we put a blown Noonan Hemi in it. It’s overkill, but that suits the theme of the car – that’s what we wanted.

How did you find the build process?

ProFlo made it easy, and watching the car get built over the course of three years was really enjoyable. Whatever we wanted to do, they made it happen, and in a good timeframe. The level of their engineering and fabrication work is second-to-none.

Even before winning SMOTY, you’d done really well with the Monaro.

We unveiled it early in 2025 at Summernats, and the crowd loved it. Then we got an invitation to MotorEx, took it there and did really well. We took it to Rosehill [Hot Rod & Custom Auto Expo], then last week to Adelaide [Adelaide Auto Expo]. We’ve taken it all around the country, won a lot of awards, and people everywhere have loved it. It’s achieved a lot in 10 months since it was unveiled.

We get the feeling that SMOTY is the highlight, though.

Yeah, we really wanted this one. To win Street Machine of the Year makes me very proud. It’s one thing for the judges to like the car at shows, but Street Machine of the Year is from the public votes from around the country. It means people can relate to the car and have fallen in love with it.

You certainly got the HT out there and did some solid campaigning on social media.

Yeah, we drove the car around a bit to show people that it really is a street car. Charlie from KNGR Media put a few posts up, took videos and photographs of the car driving around, and promoted it. We wanted to make people aware that it is a street car. Even though it looks like a show car, it’s going to be used as a street car, and that’s why it’s a fitting Street Machine of the Year. We’ve been doing a bit of street driving, actually.

We took it out to a local cars-and-coffee at Warragamba, then to another car show at Sydney Dragway and took it for a fun drive down the quarter-mile. I’ve been really happy with how the car has functioned; it’s just so comfortable and easy to drive.

What are your future plans for the HT?

The plan is to enjoy it and really start driving it. I want to take it to a few more car events and festivals like Bright and Cooly Rocks On. I just want to drive it around and be proud to have it. But for the next 12 months, having this trophy in my possession will be an honour. Wherever I go, the trophy will come with me. I’m taking the car to Summernats 38 just to cruise it around, and wherever I park the car I’ll probably put the trophy on the roof.

Anyone you’d like to thank?

Paul Sant and the whole team at ProFloPerformance; X-Trim Motor Trimming for the interior; C&J Custom Paint for the paint and bodywork; KOAT for the detailing; Ontrak Auto Electrical for wiring; and my wife Laura and family for understanding and putting up with me along the way. I’m over the moon with how the car turned out. I’d also like to thank Street Machine and Enthusiast Motor Insurance for this award, and for the $20,000, which I’ll probably put straight back into the car [laughs]. Lastly, a huge shout-out to everyone who took the time and effort to vote for the HT, and anyone who has got behind it everywhere I’ve taken it. I’ve had so much support from people who’ve enjoyed the car and told me how much they love it.