The Glasurit Inauguration was huge this morning at Meguiar’s MotorEX 2024, with 20 stunners being unveiled. In fact, there are so many of them, that’ll we’ll split our coverage over three posts. Here’s part one!

Phil Rillotta, LC Torana

PHIL Rillotta’s PROST1 Torana requires no introduction to lovers of old-school Aussie pro street cars, being perhaps the most revered example of all-time. With the blown and injected monster having been in hibernation for some 23 years, Phil made the decision to completely rebuild it. And while PROST1’s return was long awaited and hotly anticipated, there was always the chance that the rebuild might see the car stray too far from what made it so awesome in the first place. We needn’t have worried. PROST1 remains immediately recognisable as the car that graced the cover of our Oct/Nov 1991 issue, with the quality dialled up to 11.

The original 350ci Rodeck small-block remains, but it’s been treated to a freshen up, a revised camshaft and a new blower. The transmission is one area of the car that’s been changed significantly, however, with the old Powerglide ditched in favour of a three-speed Lenco and Bruno drive setup. Phil did briefly entertain the idea of fitting a more contemporary set of wheels, but ended up deciding to polish up the old Weld Draglites instead. We reckon it was the right choice.

The most pronounced difference, however, is the impeccable finish, especially on the undercarriage. “It was always a nice car, but it’s at a different level now,” grinned Phil. “Matt Bailey at Adelaide Custom Body and Paint looked after the paint, and he’s done an awesome job.”

Leigh Clark, 1967 Camaro

Bare Bonez Garage out of Hastings, Victoria turned what was meant to be a quick rear tub job into an all-out, five year build on Leigh Clark’s 1967 Camaro RS. “It was a bloody mess, the floor pans were held in with sticky tape!” says Dom Di-mento from Bare Bonez Garage. “As we started cutting we just kept finding more rust, there wasn’t much original metal left by the time we were done.” 

The Camaro uses a 540ci fatty from Dandy Engines, with mirror 76/75 turbos. Dom reckons it’ll be plenty good for 1800hp, which’ll be more than enough to turn the 22×12 rear wheels.

Polis Mortakis, 1986 VL Calais Series 1 LE

Polis’s genuine VL Calais LE was dug out of a paddock surrounded by horses outside Wagga Wagga, and turned into a 304-powered stunner in just two and a half years. Leo kept the Calais mostly original for styling, with all the Madera Red interior and exterior touches whilst sitting pretty on a set of 20-inch Momo Star alloys.

“The idea was to build the car to factory to an elite level,” says Polis.

Troy Hillier – 1962 Mercedes 190 SL

The Hillier brothers are definitely among the high achievers in our sport, with a long and storied resume of killer builds – mostly Fords. This stunning Mercedes Benz 190SL is a big departure from the norm for the brothers, and was built for a customer as a tribute to their mother, hence the name Lady Lois. The striking 190SL body cut into three sections and was grafted onto a 2004 SLK AMG chassis and powertrain, including the 3.2-litre supercharged V6 and five-speed transmission.

The beautiful custom trim was done by Pats Pro Restos, and the billet wheels are one-off custom items built specifically for this car.

Jordan Lord, HQ Premier

Jordan Lord’s full fat HQ Prem is all brawn, rocking a 582ci, nitrous-huffing big-block by NYES Race Engines in the US. 

Outside has copped a fresh lick of the a stunning HoK green, which oddly was done at the start of the build. “We built it backwards!” says Jordan. It sits on a set of Weld V Series that measure 15×10 in the rear, with 295 rubber.

Helen Wynants – 1976 Holden LX Torana SL/R

Helen Wynants was jealous of her husband Stephen Barrie’s show quality cars, so she decided it was her turn to have one. This LX SL/R is the result, which started as a shell they sourced from a friend. It’s powered by a Holden 355 stroker and uses a T56 manual.

The most important part of the build for Helen was the colour. “It took six years to build, and four years to do the paint,” she says. “I wasn’t allowed to choose white or blue, so we ended up with the soul crystal red instead.”