After being put on ice for the last two years, Meguiars MotorEx returned to the Melbourne Showgrounds in a big way with a record breaking 24 cars being unveiled to the public for the very first time.

BEWARNED HG Brougham

Peter Sauer is well-known on the Qld scene for his insane drifting antics in his blown HK Monaro, but his new HG Brougham is another level again.

Built with Drag Challenge warfare in mind, the HG is powered by a Dart-based, 565-cube BBC, with Brodix BB3 heads and all the goodies inside.

Strapped on are twin 88mm Garrett Pro Mod turbos, with 60mm Turbosmart CO2 wastegates, a trick custom inlet manifold and water/air ‘cooler. ECU is a Haltech 2500 T Elite, with a iC7 dash.

Paint is Glasuirt Tennyson Turquoise, with the factory-style gold pinstripe and vinyl roof. Inside also riffs on the factory goodness, with black brocade trimmed seats, power windows, walnut inserts and factory tiller and dash.

Twin turbo V10 XP Falcon

Paul Tinning’s wild XP looks killer in the flesh! The Falcon has been in the build since 2016, but looks like being well worth the wait!

Body mods include the one-piece, slide-forward bonnet and nosecone, raised and bead-rolled floor plans, smoothed dash, integrated bumpers, deleted quarter windows and custom tailights.

The driveline is next-level Pro Touring spec, with a V10 Dodge Viper motor assisted by twin NRE symetrical turbos and Turbosmart wastegates. The turbo manifolds are works of art, with the pipes flowing through the chassis and exiting through the sills. A Haltech Nexus controls the whole schebang.

Paul will be banging through the gears with a Magnum T56 Tremec six-speed and a sequential shift. Out the back is a Truetrac-equipped 9in.

Underneath is a Rod Tech front end, with tubular arms, power rack and Wilwood stoppers. We can’t wait to see this thing hit the road!

Datsun 1200 ute

Out of Shepparon’s Southern Rod & Custom comes Matthew Ordisa’s next-level Datsun 1200. Under the bonnet is a highly desirable SR20VE, fed by a Precision PTE6466 hairdryer.

The SR will be rowed through a manual Skyline ‘box, but the really eye-catching parts of the build include the interior loaded with carbon fibre pieces and the gargantuan 19×12 Simmons sitting under the rear tubs.

Richard Dabbs Mercury

Richard has been building stunning period rods and customs for a couple of decades, always with an unerring eye for style.

His latest creation is a ’51 Mercury, which was chopped by Townsend’s Customs in California. Conders Restorations handled the paint and panel Downunder, with Kool Trim kicking the trim job out of the park.

Under the bonnet is a 365ci Caddy motor, hitting the Barris-era custom vibe perfectly.

Guiseppe’s XY

Guiseppe Lanza’s 1970 XY Falcon draws you in with the stunning Cromax custom mixed metallic purple paintwork, laid down by Hillbilly Custom & Hotrods.

Power comes from a 531hp 408-cube Clevo, joyfully backed by a three-pedal T56 ‘box.The interior has been retrimmed to original XY GT spec, while adjustable Koni suspension and Wilwood brakes bring the stop and steer into the 21st century.

Duffy HQ ute

Joshua Duff’s HQ ute packs 540-cube big-block grunt, topped with a Fisher manifold and a BDS 8/71 blower. A Reid TH400 and fully floating nine inch are charged with sending all the stonk from the BBC to a set of Boyd Coddington wheels, measuring 20×12 in the rear and 20×8 up front.

Reel Steel 911

One of the real showstoppers that caught us all by surprise was 1978 Porsche 911 SC built by the Real Steel Group.

It’s a car that really has to be seen in person to truly take in all the little details, but just about anyone can tell that the trumpets on top of the 3.5-litre flat six signify it’s a pretty serious machine.

The bumper deletes and high levels of bodywork take hours to drink in, and if the wheels look unique it’s because they’re custom three piece items machined in house by RSG.

Daytona Bronze HT

Michael Tardio’s ’70 HT GTS Monaro stood out like dogs balls in the unveil hall with its Daytona Bronze hue, sitting pretty on a nicely dished set of Convo Banshee wheels. Under the bonnet is a 434ci Pavtek SBC, with a turbo 400 and full floater nine inch.

KE36 Corolla van

Believe it or not, Michael Ellard and the crew from Image Conversions treated this ’74 KE36 Corolla panel van as a side project, budget street car.

Despite that, the angry little van now makes home to a black top, turbocharged 2.0-litre Toyota 3SGE beams four pot. The rest of the driveline is a six-speed manual and shortened Hilux diff, but our favourites parts are the gorgeous tan interior and the wheels, which are Seekers by Work Wheels.

1969 Dodge Charger

There was a few cars unveiled that are still in the build, including a ’69 Dodge Charger from the boys at Eliminator Rod & Custom.

The boys were still grinding on the bare metal shell only hours before bump-in for the unveil hall, and while we can’t giveaway the full details on the big Mopar just yet, the bare shell gives you a good indication of where this thing is headed. The tucked bumpers, sheet metal floor and sneaky V8 hiding behind the big front grill have got us really excited.

Stay tuned for part two later tonight!