When Holden debuted its two-door VT Commodore concept that would go on to become the next Monaro, it took Australia by storm. Ford fans eagerly waited for a reply in the form of a two-door AU or even BA Falcon, but it never came.

The Hillier brothers, Troy and Clayton, built three coupes, namley Mark Rovera’s two-door AU XR8, Troy Hillier’s Arrow and the mighty AEC 300+, but since then barely any other serious attempts have been made – until now.

This two-door currently in the build is the creation of Charles, known on social media as ‘Chazz TE’. He’s owned the car for 12 years now and has been building it for the past two, buying a damaged 1999 TS50 sedan shell with plans to resurrect it into a one-off two-door platform.

“I know it’s been done before, but I thought I could make it special,” says Chazz. “I wanted it to be wider, bolder – in your face while still respecting the original TS50,” he says.

We’re stating the obvious here, but Chazz hasn’t just welded up the rear doors and slapped a photo on Instagram with a bunch of hashtags. The metalwork has been extensive to this point, with Chazz moving the B-pillar back 200mm, stretching the front doors 200mm to match and swelling the rear arches by 100mm for a seriously gnarly widebody look. “It’s all metal except for the fibreglass side skirts,” he says.

“My friend Mario is a panel beater, and both of us have probably put a minimum of 2000 hours into the beast so far.”

Underneath the massively flared arches is a pair of 20x13in wheels wrapped in 345/25R20 tyres. “The wheels are Vellanos originally from a Maserati,” says Chazz. “They’re three-piece, so we rebuilt them in my shed with bigger Simmons barrels on the outside to get the width.”

The front bumper is a hybrid of T3 and XR AU bars, made by Chazz at home, and the bonnet has five different sections of steel to get the BA/BF XR8-lookalike bulge. The rear bar is a genuine Tickford item with the rear exhaust cut-out filled in, as Chaz wants the pipes to exit out of the custom-made side skirts next to the rear wheels – full 2000s V8 Supercar style!

Inside the stretched doors is CV8 Monaro glass, while the rear quarter windows are still functional, using VW convertible power windows turned upside down. “That had to be done; you can’t sit in the back without a working window – I love Pick-A-Part,” Chazz laughs.

Another powered addition is the rear spoiler, which Chazz pillaged from an Audi A7. “It’s valued at $10K, but I bought it out of Germany for 1000 bucks and customised it,” he says. “I’ve always wanted an electric spoiler.”

For colour, Chazz says he plans to go with the same green used on Steve McQueen’s 1967 Mustang fastback in Bullitt.

A powerplant hasn’t been sourced yet, but Chazz is aiming to use a blown Coyote in the AU. “Donor cars are expensive, so I’ll need to save some coin in the meantime,” he says.

A blown Coyote is a wild piece of kit, so Chazz plans on upgrading the handling hardware to match, with Shockworks suspension to be used on all four corners. “I’ll also be using 390mm rotors with six-pot brake calipers.”

Another impressive aspect of this project is that Chazz intends to register this thing as a fully engineered machine. “The first time I took it to engineers, it would not fit on a trailer,” he laughs. “The wheels were too wide on the back, so we had to put the skinnies back on! We’ve been through the first step of engineers, and the second one is booked in soon.”

You can follow his build updates in the Chazz Customs Facebook group here.

UPDATE, June 30:

Chazz has been chipping away at the project since we first wrote this story, edging his way closer to a running, driving and fully road-legal AU coupe.

“Engineering is holding me back slightly right now; the car goes in for another inspection in July,” says Chazz. “In the meantime I’ve been making custom parts to help finance the build, and I’m also on the hunt for a good painter.”

As you can imagine those custom parts relate to the AU crowd, which include these handmade engine covers for the mighty AU Windsor V8.

Speaking of the AU V8, Chazz has also decided to ditch his plans for a Coyote in the two-door. He bought back the matching-numbers engine for this car, and plans to stroke it to a 347-cuber. “There’s nothing better than matching numbers!” he says. “I’ll stroke it, and it will look good and go hard.”

While still unfinished, Chazz has already taken the coupe’s car show virginity when it was put on display at Showcars Melbourne 2022 back in February this year at the Moonee Valley Racecourse, alongside some of Australia’s best rides.

“It was accepted quite well considering a car in undercoat was allowed in,” says Chazz. “I still have guys coming up to me talking about how they saw the coupe at the show, which is really cool.”

We’ll be keeping a close eye on Chazz’s progress with the TS50 two door, and can’t wait to see it finished and on the road.