Since 2015, Queensland’s Anthony Fuller has been staging grassroots car events under the Just Scraping By moniker, showcasing pre-70s customs, lowriders and hot rods. Of course, COVID restrictions have thrown a spanner in the works for the past 18 months, so this year Anthony suggested a smaller-scale hang with like-minded mates, and Laying Low In Logan was born. Held on 28 August at Doug Larsen Park in Beenleigh, just south of Brisbane, the relaxed event offered cruising around the park’s loop road, a barbecue and plenty of automotive eye candy.

Eliminators Hot Rod & American Car Club members helped out on the day, slinging snags on the barbie among other things. Anthony joined the club after the members kindly offered their club rooms for his Just Scraping By punk gigs, after the skate park at Doug Larsen Park closed for six months in 2017 due to flooding.

Anthony has been a pretty busy lad of late. He not only managed to cobble an event together in these crazy times, but he also just completed his wildly customised FJ coupe build. “I call it the FU Holden,” the 31-year-old said. “I was like 20 when I swapped an FJ ute for a pair of sedans and decided to mould them into a custom. It’s a two-door, but it still runs standard front pillars and stuff. You have to look twice to realise anything’s been done to it – like the stainless trim is cut-and-shut from about a dozen different bits to make it look factory. A lot of years of heartache and thought have gone into it.”

Anthony’s also put in the hard yards to get his custom laying in the weeds thanks to Slam Specialties airbags. “It looks like your granddad’s car until you flip the switches and the sills pretty much hit the ground! That’s probably the funnest part.”

Up front, the factory FJ grille is straddled by later FE headlights, while under the bonnet is a 235ci Chevy six. “The old Blue Flame’s not the quickest engine out there, but it turns heads and cackles along quite nice,” Anthony said. “Earlier on I swapped a 138ci for this 235ci and Chevy three-speed column shift – the entire build has been on a tight budget. I wanted to keep it as a GM car, including an HR disc-brake front end and a tried-and-true VK Commodore diff.”

Anthony works at Weavers Autobody Restorations, and toiled away on his FU after hours. “I built it over the past eight years or so,” Anthony said. “Russell Weaver is an absolute champion; he’s even down here cooking the barbecue today! Russ let me work on the car before and after hours, but the last month has been every waking moment! And I need to thank my wife Bianca; she’s put up with it all but can’t wait to see the end of the bloody thing!”

Amongst the bitumen-scrapers at Laying Low were a few stout showings of Aussie muscle, including James Lane’s tough Crower-injected, 454ci ’74 HJ Monaro. “It makes close to 800 horses,” said James. “I’ve run 10.2@133mph with a carb and standard-style rear end, but now it’s got an all-Gazzard rear, and with the injection hopefully I’ll get into the nines. The 454ci is built for a 250 or 300 spray of NOS, but that will be a bit later on.”

Check out Adam Lane’s stout ’71 VG Valiant coupe, with its whopping tunnel ram topped with a pair big carbs hanging out the bonnet. “It’s a 480-cube big-block – an Indy-headed sort of deal,” Adam said. The big-block is backed by a Powerglide and Dana 60 rear. “The car has gone 10.0@135mph aspirated, but that was on an old engine,” Adam said. “The new set-up is making a more power, but it hasn’t been back to the track yet.”

Mark McGlue has owned his ’51 Ford twin-spinner for decades, and brought it over from New Zealand to Queensland a few years back. It used to be a four-door sedan, but it’s now been made into a two-door and chopped six inches. Mark built the 460 himself, which is backed by a Turbo 400 and a Gear Vendors overdrive. “I’ve done a little bit of drag racing; I’ve done 11.8sec in it,” he said. “It’s just a good cruiser and I have a good time in it.”