“THIS build was all about honouring a friendship I’ll never forget. Matt Barry was my best mate, taken from us in August 2002 in a car accident.

This Tonner was his project; one of the things in his life he had big plans for. I bought it off his mum and dad after he passed and promised I’d finish it for him. Years went by without much progress until December 2015, when I finally bit the bullet and threw everything I had at it to try and make it to Summernats 30 – which I achieved with only days to spare.

On numerous occasions Matt had talked about powering it with a big-block Chev, TH400 gearbox and nine-inch, so that’s what we went with for the driveline.

I’m proud to say every bit of this build was done by me or good mates, and the engine rebuild was carried out by Phil’s Automotive in Broadmeadow, NSW.

I’d like to thank my wife Kelly and our seven girls for their patience and support, and also Joel Wilson, Paul Anderson, Deb & Norm Barry, Aaron Metcalfe, Glen Witherspoon, John Noyes, Greg Darr, Micah Platt, Louie Stankovski, Scott Bradford, Anthony, Phil & Mark Palmieri, Brett Smith, Tim Bennett, Billy Wallace, Michael Oliver, Dave Witheridge, Klint Thomas, Phil’s Automotive and Blacktrak.”