GOODNESS gracious me, how tough is Luke Mitchell’s slammed, tubbed and blown LS-powered LJ Torana? It’s a Street Machine Summernats Top 10 stunner with around 1800hp worth of stonk, and was built in just four months. That Luke and his team managed to pull off such a knockout build in such a short period is a modern mechanical miracle. Grab the September issue of Street Machine magazine to find out how they did it – it’s on sale now!

The biggest news for this issue is that we’ve announced the 16 finalists for Valvoline Street Machine Of The Year, and they’re a rowdy bunch! No matter what kind of street machine floats your boat, there will be something in the field that appeals to you, which is a damn good thing given that you lot are tasked with deciding the winner of what is the richest prize in Aussie street machining. You can win an amazing all-expenses-paid VIP Summernats experience just for voting, so head to smoty.com.au and let your voice be heard!

This issue we’ll also look at former AFL star James Gwilt’s turbo Windsor-powered XW Fairmont. Beautifully styled and sporting over 1100hp, the leaf-sprung, radial-tyred rocket satisfied James’s lifelong hankering for Blue Oval muscle cars. He’s hanging to take the freshly built Fairmont to the streets just as soon as Victoria’s bastard COVID-19 restrictions allow.

If modern muscle is your jam, they don’t come much tougher than Mark Attard’s head-kicking turbocharged VE Maloo. Mark has a long history with chrome-bumpered streeters, and it shows in his traditional, ground-up approach to this late-model hay hauler. It’s packing 1150hp at the tyres on just 20psi of boost too, just in case you were wondering.

In stark contrast, they don’t come much more old-school than Pep Minutolo’s gloriously tough VC Valiant. Powered by a tunnel-rammed, carby-fed 414ci Mopar small-block, tubbed and rolling on meaty Center Line Auto Drags, it’s straight off the mean streets of Adelaide.

And guess what else – actual drag racing! Yep, Willowbank is one of the few Aussie drag strips still open for business, and some of the quickest radial cars in the game fronted up for three days of sweet Kenda action recently. There were no spectators and no competition given the circumstances, but plenty of PBs were set, and even the outright Aussie radial record was bettered!

We’ve also got this wild chopped, channelled and flamed ’61 F100 that is lower than the proverbial snake’s belly. Dripping in cool custom touches, this thing gets the wheels driven off it at any and every opportunity.

For tech-heads, we’ve got a ripping yarn on fitting Ford’s under-rated 5.4L Boss engine into an early-model Falcon. It’s not a simple conversion by any means, but fortunately our mates at RRS have thought of everything, and we’ll take you through the whole process, from mounting and wiring the motor and ZF six-speed auto to plumbing, fuelling, cooling, suspension, steering and braking considerations – all while keeping it legal.

All this, plus so much more beaut stuff in the jam-packed September 2020 issue of Street Machine – on sale now!