The Thursday evening of Street Machine Summernats has become the new night of nights for Australia’s top show machines, and Summernats 38 saw 23 cars being seen in public for the very first time as the covers were pulled off in front of a bumper crowd in the Meguiar’s Pavilion.

ANDREW McCARTNEY – 1971 CHEVROLET CAMARO

QUEENSLAND workshop Pat’s Pro Restos knocked out Andrew McCartney’s 1971 second-gen Camaro, a pro touring-style deal built to Pat’s usual exacting standards and creativity.

At its heart is an 800hp LSA, backed by a 4L80E ’box, and a custom Heidts rear end with chassis connectors, cradling a Race Products nine-inch diff. It sits on a set of colour-matched American Legend wheels, and speaking of colours, the body wears a PPR mix of Ice Blue, finished off with matte stripes.

It’s a cutting-edge, US-style pro touring build that the team at Pat’s has executed to perfection.

STEPHEN MICALLEF – 1973 LJ TORANA

STEPHEN Micallef has just finished one hell of an LJ Torana build, and despite its elite-level looks, it’s destined for Street Machine Drag Challenge, headlined by a 1200hp, 632-cube fatty! “It’s the old engine from my HQ Tonner, with a new top end with 18-degree heads and all that,” said Stephen.

Having had success at DC in both his One Tonner and VZ Maloo, Stephen plans to go even bigger with the Torana. “The goal is to run sevens aspirated at Drag Challenge in the LJ, then bolt some turbos on and go even faster,” he said.

Outside, the Torry has a GTR XU-1 look, with a twist on the original Covert Beige Torana colour using a dash of pearl. “It’s been in the build for a while at my shop, Shift Right,” said Stephen. “I’ve done the engine, transmission, diff and 90 per cent of the car.”

MATHEW HUGHES – TOYOTA CELICA TA22

MATHEW Hughes has been building his little TA22 Celica since he first got it in his early 20s. Now 28, the spray painter never imagined it’d be unveiled with the country’s best. “I just built the car for me, how I’d like it,” he said. “It was never meant to get out of hand like it did from just building it myself at home.”

Under the bonnet is a Toyota 3S-GE four-cylinder, using ITBs and backed by a six-speed manual. Keeping the car Japanese-themed is a set of SSR Dori Dori Mesh alloys, and it sits on Fortune Auto coil-overs, with AE86 Corolla rack-and-pinion steering up front. “I’ll do the show circuit for a bit, and then I’m going to drive the wheels off it!” Mat said.

DARREN & TRACEY NEILL – 1932 FORD COUPE

DARREN and Tracey Neill’s 1932 Ford three-window makes a big impression in its Starburst Yellow paint sprayed onto a C&W body. The chassis is proper 1932 stuff, rebuilt by Darren, with the front rails making home for a 6/71-blown, Sniper-injected small-block Chev built by Garry Brown at Brownie’s Race Engines. 

The Borderline Rebel wheels are 15×6 in front and 16×10 under the back, and the build process to get it to its great unveiling took 11 years.

DANNY HOY – 1956 FE HOLDEN STATION SEDAN

DANNY Hoy’s FE Station Sedan hasn’t seen the road since 1969! Under its previous owners, the car had got cleaned up by another car in the snow, so it had in a garage until Danny got his hands on it four years ago. “I just wanted something to take the grandkids around in – everything else I own is a two-door,” he said.

The FE is by no means a standard resto, instead hiding independent suspension front and rear. “We took the driveline from a WK/WL Statesman for it,” said Danny. The car also rocks the LS1 from the Stato, now tickled with a camshaft to around 420hp and backed by the Statesman transmission.

Inside, it has delicious brown trim from Armidale Auto Upholstery, primed and ready for cruising with the grandkids!

OL’ SCHOOL GARAGE – 1957 CHEVY BUSINESS COUPE

OL’ SCHOOL Garage had two cars getting the covers pulled off at ’Nats 38, the first being this 1957 Chevrolet Business Coupe, built for a customer. The car was running an 1100hp, twin-turbo Dart small-block Chev when it came to Ol’ School’s Ken Streeter – but there was a problem.

“It was nicely built, but it was just painted all blue,” said Ken. “The owner said he wanted the outside to match the grunt underneath, so we were given the job.”

That kicked off a full-scale rebuild, resulting in only the boot and bonnet remaining unmodified in the process. “We had to cut off the whole passenger-side quarter from a repair job, and we moved the engine by shifting the firewall 150mm,” said Ken.

It now sits in a colour they call Jade Nightmare, which Ken spent six months concocting with the chemist at PPG to get the desired look. “We also blacked out everything that was chrome, which on a car like this is a bloody big job!”

MICHAEL GROVES – 1949 CHEVROLET PICK-UP

ANOTHER from the Ol’ School Garage stable is this 1949 Chevy five-window, built for Michael Groves. Michael imported the car from the USA and told Ken Streeter of Ol’ School Garage to build it into a dead-set show car to be unveiled at Summernats. Mission accomplished!

Michael brought Ken a cab and a bunch of reproduction panels, and they put together the rest. There’s plenty of sheet metal work on the body, with no panel left unmodified. “We ended up making a whole tubular front end to hang all the panels from, and this would be one of the only ’49 Chevy trucks to still be running a rear bar,” said Ken.

That bar has been shortened, and the tailgate was also dropped 300mm in length to complete the rear end look. Under the skin, a 600hp LSA resides, backed by a Tremec six-speed cog-swapper, and the whole lot sits sacked on airbags.

PAUL KHAIRO – 1934 FORD COUPE

TONY Murr’s old OUTLOR ’34  Ford is back! It’s now in the hands of Paul Khairo, and has been dubbed OUTLAW 2.0 in its new form. The rod has been given a revamp by Frank Velardi and his crew from V Resto Garage, rocking a fresh lick of jet black.

The powerplant is a John Agazzi-built 427ci Windsor sporting Hemi heads and a 10/71 blower. Haltech EFI and two sets of injectors helped it to 1000hp at 6psi on pump fuel, and Paul fully intends to register this thing and terrorise the streets with it!

According to V Resto’s Roy Velardi, it was a decent thrash to get the ’34 to Summernats: “Thirty days ago, it was just a painted shell and chassis,” he said. “So, once we were told it was getting unveiled, it was a big push to get it here.”

Keep an eye out for part two, dropping shortly!