UPDATE, January 3 2025: Jay Duca’s wicked 13B-swapped Mazda Parkway bus has made it to Summernats, after a mammoth thrash right through the Christmas break to get it ready for debut in Canberra this weekend.

Photos: Thanks to RJ Media

“I was doing 17 hour days leading up to the 27th when it left on the transporter for Canberra, but it’s so mad it’s here now,” says Jay. “I’ve taken at least 100 people for rides already I reckon; who else here can do that!”

The first outing for the bus hasn’t been without dramas, the compressor for the airbag system getting damaged during transport. “So it’s been riding static since day one, scraping on everything!” laughs Jay. “We already cracked the fuel tank once; a bit of JB Weld though and she’s better than before!”

You can see the latest episode on getting the bus ready for Summernats below:

The story to here

December 1, 2024: Jay Duca of the Low Standards YouTube channel loves a last-minute thrash to get a wild car ready for Summernats, including a four-rotor 26B-swapped VL drift car he built for Street Machine Summernats 36.

That VL is now over the ditch in New Zealand for a holiday with Mad Mike, so for the upcoming ’Nats 37 – 2-5 January 2025 – he needed something else to bring along.

“I wanted something to be able to take a whole bunch of people cruising with, because we did a lot of that with the VL last time,” says Jay. “So, what better to cruise with 20 of your mates than a bus?!”

This Mazda Parkway bus is the result of that mad plan, and as the photos suggest, it’ll be slammed on the ground. Jay cut up a Toyota Soarer, using the independent suspension from the front and rear ends and MacGyver-ing them under the Parkway to slam it on airbags.

“It’s easy to get suspension stuff for them, because they’re basically the same as a [MkIV] Supra,” he says. “I wanted to run smaller wheels, but I needed to fill the wheelarch, so the 18-inch VS KFs are looking like the wheel right now. But either way, the sills will be on the ground!”

As for power, of course Jay couldn’t just keep it standard. “They made 44 of these from the factory with a 13B rotary, so of course I’m sticking a rotary in this!” he laughs. “I wanted to do a 20B PP, but we won’t have time, so that’ll happen after Summernats.”

An aspirated 13B Bridgeport will be brapping the bus around Summernats, and at the time of writing, Jay is in the middle of stabbing it into the bus with just under 10 days until he has to leave South Australia to make it to Canberra for the ‘Nats.

You can watch his progress on the build on his Low Standards YouTube channel, and we’ll no doubt catch up with him at Summernats to see the finished product!