Johno White
VW Beetle

“MY V-Dub is painted Candy Apple Red and runs a full home-built tube chassis.

The tunnel-rammed, methanol-slurping, 355ci Holden V8 uses custom Yella Terra –9 alloy heads and a solid cam (secret spec), and is backed by a full-manual, transbraked TH350 and a sheet-metal nine-inch.

It rides on coil-over suspension and wheelstands to run 9.72@135mph at 6900rpm.”

Chris Foord
Holden HQ One Tonner

“I HAVE had my Tonner for three years, and it’s come a long way in that time. The previous owner put the HZ front end on, so I stayed with that and then started the resto by getting the rust cut out and fixed. While there, it got painted in candy green with a pearl through it – it’s a real eye-catcher in the sun. After that, the 253 motor was letting the car down, so it had to come out to get spruced up to match the rest. I spray-painted the block and blinged it up with help from my parents. Then the tray was sandblasted and painted and the tray sides redone.

I also upgraded the headlights to LEDs with a green halo to complement the look. The interior was completely overhauled from carpet to headlining, too. She will be a good cruiser once I get it registered.”

Aaron Borg
Ford XE Falcon wagon

“I WAS sitting down having beers with my brothers in early 2015 when I made the comment that I’d love an XE wagon but they’re just so hard to find in good nick. So my brother Damo jumped on Carsales and found a clean, unmolested XE GL wagon with only 140,000km on the clock.

We bought it that week! I wanted to modify it while also keeping it as period-correct as possible. Damo already had a 302 Windsor in stock, so that went in, later fitted with FiTech EFI. Other mods include the ride height, Simmons B45 rims and an 80s Momo steering wheel. I can’t ever see it not being part of the family.”

Craig Peacock
Holden VE Commodore

“WHEN I bought my Commodore it was a standard VE SS-V. After the usual SSL/Bilstein combination was fitted, it went to a Newcastle tuner to sort a cam package, and it ended up dropping a valve after 18 months. Corey at Coretuned was recommended to me for the repair.

He upgraded the cam package with a VCM 16 as well as all the usual goodies that go with it, and headers with 100-cell cats to fit the three-inch Di Filippo stainless exhaust. I then wanted something different to a blower, so I decided to go with the Edelbrock twin-throttlebody manifold. There was a bit of engineering required to make it fit in the Commodore engine bay. Corey customised the manifold and air intake and added a throttle control module to keep the throttlebodies in sync. It’s now pumping out just shy of 500rwhp.

The body, decals and wheels were sorted through HDT, while the paint and fitting was done by Bodywise Smash at Cooranbong. It’s kept looking its best by Old Mate Car Care. There’s still more to come, with a custom interior shortly and the introduction of a couple of small turbos in the future.” Photos: Ben Hosking

Francois & Chris Pereira
Holden LX Torana SS & WB ute

“MY genuine, matching-numbers LX SS has a little warmed-over 253 clapper at the moment with a cam, L34 heads, Edelbrock manifold and a 600 Holley, backed by a T5 five-speed and the original banjo diff. In the future it will go back to its original colour of Papaya Orange and get a healthy 308 up front.

My brother Chris’s WB ute has been in the family for over 30 years and recently underwent a full resto, resprayed in Canary Yellow and powered by a warmed-over 308 topped by a 650 Holley. Behind it is a tricked-up Trimatic with a 2500rpm stally, and a nine-inch diff. It’s also got a retrimmed GTS interior and rolls on old-school refurbished Enkei three-piece wheels.”

Charlie Findley
Holden HT Premier

“HERE’S our 1969 HT Premier, which we saved from being scrapped at a wrecking yard. It’s had a full rotisserie rebuild, saving 90 per cent of the original external patina paint. All the floors were rusted out, so we fabricated a complete new undercarriage incorporating chassis connectors.

It was tubbed to the chassis rails, and a fabricated nine-inch set-up in a four-link rear end was added. The engine bay has been smoothed and painted in the original Verdoro Green. It’s running a turbo LS with hand-fabricated piping and mounts, backed by a two-speed Powerglide. Interior is all new in black GTS style.

The boot area has been smoothed and painted in the original body colour too.”

Theo Apostolides
Ford XC Falcon

“I’VE had my 1978 XC for 11 years, since I was 19. It runs a single-overhead-cam AU donk with a Garrett T35/40 turbo, running through a C4 auto to a nine-inch Truetrac. I’ve had a lot of help and support from Jason at Tunnel Vision and Mark and Alex at Northern Motorworks to get the car across the line and registered, and I’ve been cruising it now for the past eight years.

I’ve been thinking about swapping from LPG to E85 at some stage, but the gas has been more than reliable over a long period of time.”