Unless, that is, you live in Newcastle, where you might spy Nelson Granger’s MCFRY. Built entirely at home in the shed, MCFRY is an HJ Kingswood that’s been in Nelson’s family since new, and now runs 9.60s thanks to an unbelievably tough big-block.<\/p>\n

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“When I stripped the car to bare metal I found it was not very straight, as I had torn the paint off with an angle-grinder when I was younger and that warped most of the panels,” says Nelson. “I had to bring out the big four-litre tin of filler to skim the car straight to avoid using too much high-fill”<\/em><\/p>\n

“My HJ Kingswood was originally my pa’s car,” Nelson says. “He bought it brand new from Holden in 1976 and the Chamois-coloured sedan originally had a 202 six, three-on-the-tree, bench seat and no radio. Upon retirement my pa handed in his licence due to health issues and gave the car to my dad, who then gave the car to me when I was 16, making it my first car. I painted it a few times, and even went for my P-plates in it.”<\/p>\n

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The amount of work Nelson has done on MCFRY doesn’t seem to end. “I ended up building the headers and exhaust system myself with mandrel bends,” he says. “I also shortened the 9in diff myself with some large hose clamps and an angle grinder, and did the mini-tubs myself to fit the 10in wheels”<\/em><\/p>\n
When Nelson moved to Newcastle for work, the HJ languished at his dad’s property three hours away. That was until a trip to Summernats in 2013 lit a fire in Nelson to bring it back.<\/p>\n
“I decided to build a tough street car,” he says. “I wanted to build a car that goes fast and could fry the tyres in top gear, but also one that really looked the part, all while having it registered to really enjoy the car.”<\/p>\n
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Impressively, Nelson has pretty much built the entire car himself, in a home garage. This includes the mini-tubbed rear, cut-down nine-inch diff, adjustable four-link control arms, and even the fresh DeBeer Gloss Black paintjob!<\/p>\n
“I am a self-taught painter, and my dad has never attempted to paint a car, so I had no idea how to paint the HJ, but I had all the time in the world to learn,” he says. “I went and spoke to local panel beaters to ask questions, plus I also spent plenty of time searching forums and practising with lots of trial-and-error on old Kingswoods we had at the farm. I waited until I had three weeks off work over the Christmas break, as I knew I would need the heat to help with drying the two-pack paint.”<\/p>\n