The Street Machine team and wider modified car community were shocked and saddened to learn that one of the legends of our sport, Rob Beauchamp, had passed away in May following a two-year battle with cancer, aged 67.

After building a tough HK Holden wagon that he raced at Surfers, Rob broke through nationally when his tough HT Monaro featured in the August-September 1982 issue of Street Machine. It was a stand-out car at the 5th Street Machine Nationals, nabbed a stack of tinware, and ran into the 12s, before being sold to Wayne Pagel, who took it to even greater fame as GAS69.

The tagline ‘The Best’ on the cover of our June 1986 issue introduced many to Rob’s LX Torana sedan, after it had scooped the pool at the 7th ASMF Street Machine Nationals, including winning Top Street Machine Overall. Rob had already made waves with a carbied version of the car two years earlier, but the rebuild for ’86 mixed his obsessive attention to detail with raw toughness to create an instant legend.

Combining sharp paint and panel with a full interior, polished aluminium, wheelie bars and Enderle injection, Rob’s LX blurred the lines between street and strip. “Every time I went to the track, I’d see something that I’d want to feed back into my own cars,” Rob told Owen Webb on the Ride it Out Summernats podcast in 2020.

The Torana was sold as a roller shortly after its 1986 Street Machine feature to fund Rob’s next project – his equally legendary VL Calais (SM, Apr-May ’88). “I found a pranged VL and wanted to be one of the first to build that model car and make a statement,” said Rob.

He started collecting panels and parts before teaming up with Bill Jones from Weldwell Engineering, who underpinned the Calais’ shell with a full tubular chassis and Funny Car-style rollcage, which was painted red to contrast with the dark metallic grey exterior hue.

An Enderle-injected 302 Chev was detailed to the nth degree, while Colin Chapman produced the stunning aluminium interior. The VL won Top Street Machine Overall (later renamed Grand Champion) at the first Summernats in 1988, and again in 1989. The Calais landed in Canberra like a bomb, and when parked alongside Greg Carlson’s VK and US legend Rick Dobbertin’s J2000, it was an epoch-changing moment.

Within months of ’Nats 2, Rob was racing the VL and put it straight into the mid-10s, until the unthinkable happened. “I was at a meeting at Palmyra,” he recalled. “The guy I was racing rolled in the traps, and the front of the Calais was destroyed back to the windscreen.”

This prompted a full rebuild, including new grape-purple duco with graphics, a wild airbrushed dash and Pro Star wheels. In this format, the VL won another Top Street Machine Overall gong at ’Nats 3.

Rob then returned to racing, before selling the VL in the early 2000s. It is now raced by Canberra’s Kit Hunter.

Cars then went on the back-burner while Rob supported his son Cayle’s motocross career. Eventually, though, he decided to test his skills by tackling a new project, a 1967 Chevrolet Nova (SM, Aug ’11).

This was a pro touring-style build that incorporated all the modern comforts of a CV8 Monaro. Rob grafted the underpinnings of a late-model Holden within the confines of the Nova’s compact shell, including the LS1/4L65E powertrain, IRS, and a VZ Monaro interior.

Rob’s enormous contribution to the street machine scene is marked by game-changing innovation across a string of iconic builds. However, he will be remembered as a quietly spoken bloke with a quick wit and a humble demeanour that belied the huge influence he had on two generations of street machiners.

Above all else, Rob loved his family fiercely and will be deeply missed by his wife of 44 years, Janelle; daughter Tarah; son Cayle; grandkids Zane and Isla; his extended family and many friends.

GAME-CHANGER

Long-time Summernats judge Owen Webb remembers Rob
When I saw Rob Beauchamp’s revamped LX Torana at the 7th Nationals, I knew we were in a new era for street machining.

Rob then topped that by turning up to the first Summernats with the latest-model Commodore. I’d been to the US Street Machine Nationals that year, and Rob’s VL Calais was as good as anything I’d seen over there. The chassis work, fabrication and aluminium interior were world class.

The VL and Greg Carlson’s VK effectively changed the ’Nats judging system. When we came to judge the interior of those cars, there was virtually no upholstery; it was all polished aluminium and stainless panels, so we had to get the body judges to assess the interior. The standard and build styles of the cars were changing fast, and Chic Henry’s big thing was that the judging had to evolve with them.

There was a lot of controversy surrounding these new-age pro street cars – “that couldn’t be legal”; “you can’t drive them on the street” and so on – but I always thought it was taking our sport to the next level, and Rob was at its forefront.

Rob built great cars but was an even better person. He was a big part of making our sport what it is today, and his legacy will live on for many years.

1. Brisbane was a driving force of the 1980s Aussie pro street scene. Rob was at the heart of it, along with his mates from the Super Street Machines club, which included fellow icons Wayne Pagel and Greg Carlson.

2. Rob’s first serious car was this mild custom HK wagon. Boasting a 327 Chev, Saginaw and 9in, it was good for 14s at Surfers. It copped a rebuild after the tailshaft came loose at warp speed one evening!

3. Rob took a break from cars in the 2000s to support his son Cayle’s motocross exploits. The pair teamed up again recently when Cayle took on the Masters circuit.

4. Rob’s final build was a stunning ’73 Camaro, pictured here with wife Janelle at the Old School Carralbyn 1/8th Mile drags in 2020.