We spotted Taylah Louise cruising her tough plastic-powered VK Commodore on the Summernats 35 cruise route and were blown away when she told us it was her first-ever time there! On the Friday morning of the event, she filled us in on the car and her debut ’Nats experience.

First published in the March 2023 issue of Street Machine

How did you get involved in cars?

My boyfriend, David; he really pushed me toward it. When we started dating, he showed me some VKs and I just fell in love! It was my first car; I got it when I was 16 as a factory six-cylinder auto.

I drove it daily for six or seven years, and then we decided to finally take it off the road and redo it.

Was the car all together when you got it?

It was a little grandma car! I just drove around with my pensioner peak and hubcaps. We have all the books and stuff from the first owner. We got it sandblasted back to bare metal, and David’s a qualified panel beater, so he went in and started fixing whatever little rust there was.

There wasn’t too much, but it was just about getting the body straight. Now it’s a 2020 Mustang colour called Magnetic Grey. It’s a very nice colour.

What’s the mechanicals now?

It’s got a 304 stroked out to 355, which I put together myself with help from Geoff Bennett. It runs an Edelbrock RPM manifold and Holley Sniper EFI with ICE ignition.

The EFI is great; it’s almost like jumping in a ClubSport. It has a Getrag five-speed manual, and the diff’s a Salisbury 10-bolt.

The interior looks great.

Yeah, it’s all original, because to me it was in really good condition. It only has very minor damage on the back and a slight tear on the passenger seat.

The only thing that’s not original is the rooflining, because that’s all glued in, and it ripped when we took it out. The lady I bought it from had lambswool seat covers.

Have you had the car out much since finishing it?

It’s freshly finished. We haven’t taken it out as much as we wanted to; I think being here is the most we’ve driven it since being done.

We drove it from Newcastle, which was four or five hours.

Any bugs with the car you’ve found so far?

No, it’s been really, really good. Even when we were stuck in the queue for about 50 minutes, it only got to 102 degrees max, so not as bad as it could be!

You mentioned this is your first ’Nats; how’s it been?

I’ve loved it! Yesterday was so crazy. There were so many people doing skids and just going wild.

We have our two friends with us, and my sister does the Mulletfest, so we’ve been hanging out with them.

Got any future plans in mind for the car?

I just want to cruise it as-is. I don’t want to do anything else unless I have to, but I would love to get a VK or a VL and turn it into a rally car. I think that would be really cool.

Anybody you’d like to thank?

Ed’s One Stop Shop; Newcastle Car Audio; Imperial Sandblasting; Dave’s Paint & Panel for letting us use their spray booth; Kal Pryce from Pryce Engines for doing the machine work; Geoff Bennett for helping us assemble the motor; Josh Berry and Michael Drain for the paintwork; and Josh Fincher for the electricals.

Girls — wanna be famous? Send pics, car details and contact details to: Iron Maiden, Street Machine, Locked Bag 12, Oakleigh, Vic 3166. Or email: [email protected].