THE fair state of South Australia has for a long time punched above its weight in the crazy engine conversion stakes. Perhaps this is because the original Zoom magazine was produced in Adelaide, or simply because of the state’s relative isolation from mainstream car culture. But whatever the reason, when we see an unusual engine swap, we think South Oz.

So when we spied this LS1-powered Leyland motorhome advertised on Facebook, we weren’t surprised to see that it was an Adelaide creation, and dispatched our social media guru Paul ‘Gus’ Cronin to check it out.

What he found would have made the perfect Street Machine mobile headquarters, combining reliable V8 power with luxuries including a gas shower, fridge, stove, microwave and TV. There was a brand new dunny as part of the deal too – but I’m pretty sure I’d ban anyone from using it if it did end up a work vehicle. Sadly, our budget for ridiculous vehicles has been spent this year, so it will remain a dream for now.

And the seller? Turns out he is prodigious crazy-car builder, Jay Duca, creator of the 2JZ-powered Ford Thames that scraped its way around Summernats 30, amongst many others. The only reason Jay put the Leyland up for sale is that he found another motorhome that he likes even more, which is copping a 400kW Barra six conversion. And that is just one of Jay’s current projects, so we’ll check back in with him later in the year to see how they’ve turned out.