“THIS HT has been in the family since 1970. It was originally my nonno’s; he passed away when I was three months old. I was gifted the car at 13 years old, and dreamed of the day when I could finally build it.”

This article was first published in the October 2019 issue of Street Machine

“My family owned a panel shop so it was always in my blood to build something. But my father passed away suddenly when I was 15, so the dreams of both of us spending nights building the car after hours were cut short.

However, over the past seven years, my stepfather Tony helped me build it. As a panel beater, he taught me as much as he could about how to do bodywork and spray, before he was diagnosed with a brain tumour that took his life eight months later. We only got to drive the completed car a handful of times before he passed.

The car runs a stock-bottom-end 346ci LS1 with Higgins heads and Comp cam, topped by an Edelbrock manifold and a Holley 750 DP carb. It’s backed by a manualised TH400 with TCE converter, running back to a nine-inch LSD with 31-spline billet axles.

Thanks to my family for putting up with me over the past 17 years that I’ve had the car; my future wife Jodie for always running me around when something is being done to the car; Tony, Garry and all the boys at TDR Geelong for building the motor and helping me out;. North Geelong Transmission Services for building the ’box; Aikman Engineering for building the diff; Damo Reeves for building the extractors; Sherbs for all the advice and parts; Dave Smith for all the hard-to-find bits and pieces; Dom and Paula at Hardcore Restorations, Camo for the paintjob; and most of all, my father Denis, my ol’ man Tony, and my nonno and nonna – ’til the day we cruise again, RIP.”