UNVEILED at Street Machine Summernats 30, Mick Bellette’s XW Falcon scored a Top 20 placing and the gong for Top Sedan Elite. Mick never built the car to be a trophy-hauler; the finished product just turned out far better than he could have ever imagined. From the stunning colour to the immaculate undercarriage and custom interior, this XW is built to the highest quality.

“When I was a kid, I had an XW Falcon; my old man told me not to touch it as it was too good, but I knew better,” Mick laughs. “I put bucket seats and a V8 in it, but then I had to sell it because I couldn’t afford to run it on first-year apprentice wages.”

Over a decade later, Mick was now an established panel beater and ready to buy another XW. He started by welding up all the nooks and crannies in the engine bay, then discovered rust and went the whole hog, straightening every panel over a two-year period before finishing it in House Of Kolor’s True Blue Pearl hue.

While this was going on, Mick had an angry 347ci Windsor built up with a big cam and Holley 750cfm Double Pumper carby. It revs to over 8000rpm and makes north of 500hp, so it’s a tough little street engine.

Fast-forward to Summernats 30 in January 2017, where Mick’s ‘Blue-Ray’ XW, dedicated to his late brother Ray, was a huge success.

Check out the video from Inside Garage as Mick tells his story of how the car came to be a Summernats Top 20 stunner.