Yes, it’s that time the year again for the elite to show their best at the Victorian Hotrod show and turn out they did! The weather was perfect for driving your ride to the Exhibition building, parking it out the front for the punters to view while you go inside and check out the array of rods, customs and bikes which been polished to within an inch of their life! To add to the visual feast was a wide range of trade stands on the ground floor and upstairs too, giving the car enthusiasts something take home at the end of their visit. See you there next year!
Archive For August, 2011
Silver Bullet Mustang
This radical machine is based on a 1966 Mustang created by Gary Myers. Originally a six cylinder, this beast now has a 393 c.i. big block Hemi shoe horned into its engine bay. Not content with big cubes,Garywent further by installing, not one, but two 8/71 blower casings on top of the donk! While the bottom blower has the full 8/71 internals, the top blower has 6/71 internals in order for it to perform as a drivable vehicle. This all rests on a full tube chassis that runs the length of the car as well as inside the interior as a roll cage.
A fully fabricated firewall, transmission tunnel and huge tubs to accommodate the 18.5 inch Mickey-Ts make up the floor plan and have the same meticulous detail as the rest of the street machine. The huge tunnel is home to a twin 3 inch exhaust system and 3 inch tail shaft that runs down to the Romac parts filled nine inch diff held in place by a four link rear end while the fuel, brake and air lines are housed inside the car along each side of the tunnel. The whole ride is supported by an airbag system that sees it sitting low when on show. The fully fabricated front suspension utilizes twin A-arms pivoting on rose joints.
The custom details don’t stop there, the roof has been chopped, side glass removed, door handles and mirrors shaved and the boot hinges have been reversed. Inside the Stang has been given just as much attention with a full custom interior utilizing a much modified dash from a 1991 Mazda MX-6 while three carbon fiber Autometer gauges make up the gauge pod.
The whole car is coated in House Of Color silver complimented by dual layer flames which were a real pain to get right according to Gary, but persistence has seen the project come together to make up one unique and wild looking elite show car that draws a crowd where ever it goes!
2011 Kustom Nationals
The Kustom Nationals are held every year at the Phillip Island Grand Prix track in Victoria, Australia. It caters for all custom cars, hot rods, and anything else that can be considered “old school” in the automotive world. The event attracts people from all over the country with some fanatics traveling from over seas to immerse themselves in the festivities. The event can attract over three thousand cars with many more fans coming through the gate.
The show kicked off on Friday, and while it was hot, there was still a large turnout on the foreshore ofSan Remo, just outsidePhillip Island. The bars and restaurants were very accommodating, keeping the food and liquid coming to the thirsty travelers while the bands Ignition, Blackhill Ramblers and Atomic Hitones kept the rockabilly blasting all night. It was a great prelude to the rest of the weekend which saw Saturday at the track turn out to be hotter still yet the die-hards still turned out in droves while those who preferred the cooler weather held out till Sunday making that day the biggest of the weekend. Many of those with cars at the event took advantage of driving on the track while others preferred to sit on the side of the track watching the unrehearsed parade while the cacophony of exhaust notes were music to their ears! Music blasted out across the main pit area all weekend thanks to some great bands such as Flyin’ Saucers and Detonators, just to name a few, while the tradies were kept busy by those looking to update their rides, clobber, music collection or what ever else was on offer. The host of the show, “Chopper”, is a custom car aficionado and does a chop top over the weekend on a ’49 Ford giving the rest of us and idea of what goes into such a task.
Overall, it was a great weekend and I look forward to getting back there next year!
Wild Queens St Customs’ BMW
This BMW M3 is the creation of Queen St Customs inAdelaide,Australia. The power plant of this beast is a Mazda four rotary engine. As you can see, this is no stock rotary and it has an impressive aria of internal and external hardware built into it, which consists of a custombridgeportusing a billet eccentric shaft and lightened Series IV rotors. There are twenty 1600cc injectors to work with the giant GT 60 turbo, giving this show/drag car a tire smoking 1600HP at the rear wheels. The spent gases exit via a 75mm wastegate and 5 inch dump pipe. To give this donk some bling, nickel plating and 23 carrat gold plating has been used extensively on the motor and through-out the car. The whole lot sits atop a chomoly full tube chassis, while a large percentage of the interior is taken up by two carbon rear tubs and a five speed Lenco transmission. To give the Beamer its finishing touch, lashings of House Of Kolor black with gold pearl has been layed over the body.
While the car is currently been shown at the moment, we have been informed that it will see track time later on and that will be a sight to see!
Twisted Metal’s Landbruiser
While most people who purchase a 4WD look to raising the ride height, the owner of this off road vehicle has gone the opposite way and dropped it on its belly! This 1998 100 Series Toyota Landcruiser has had a whopping 30 inches slashed from its ride height and to add to the challenge, he decided to fit massive 22X 10 inch wide rims on it, shod with Toyo 295/35 tyres. “How did he achieve this feat” I hear you ask? Well the first step was to find the right chassis to do this and a Toyota Hilux chassis was given the nod with the underside of the ‘Cruiser modified to fit. Then the all essential air bags were fitted seeing 6 inch diameter bags up front while 7 inch bags and a four link rear can be found at the tail end. The next task was to modify the body to enable the huge rims to fit comfortably, so all four arches were enlarged while new larger inner front guards were fabricated, complimented by a smooth firewall and taller, wider rear tubs were constructed from sheet metal and welded in to the rear. Even the inner skins on the rear doors had to be modified to accept the huge Intro V-rod rims! The body mods didn’t just stop there, most external parts were shaved in order to enhance the Landcruiser’s lines including the fuel filler cap which is now located behind the passenger taillight. Neat idea, hey!
To top off the super smooth body, the whole ride has been coated in the original 100 series maroon and to separate it from the herd (as if it wasn’t already) airbrush work inspired by Darkness comic books have been added.
The customizing continues into the interior following on from the gruesome graphics on the outside with a corpse looking to escape the clutches of the once standard 4WD and blends in superbly with the cream leather and array of electronics, digital dash, DVD screens and ear splitting hi-fi.
To see that this beast has momentum and can live up to its fierce looks, aToyota1UZ-FE 4.0 liter V8 fits snug in the engine bay topped off by an Eaton supercharger. Spent gasses exit via a custom made (by owner) exhaust system.
You’d have to agree that this definitely bucks the trend when it comes to modified rides and I believe it currently has the title as the lowest Landcruiser in the world! Coool!!
2011 Australian International Motor Show
The 2011 Australian International Motor Show was on display in Melbourne,Victoria this year and it certainly didn’t disappoint! There was a great variety of concept cars, from environmentally friendly to radical sports models, front and center of most Marques’ stands showing us what the future holds and it’s looking very interesting!
For those who were looking for their next car, there was a plethora of models to choose from with all stands displaying their complete range accompanied by beautiful assistances to help out with queries
The show also had a display of classic cars from the past to show us where we had come from and they looked fantastic in their immaculately restored conditions.
Out front was theShannonsdisplay with everything from a Porsche tractor (seriously!) to a Ferrari which will all go under the hammer soon.
Those of us who couldn’t afford could at least dream of the vehicles we would like to see in our garages and if you want to catch the show next year, it will be inSydney. Check the Web for dates and enjoy the ride!
Cheers!
Trilogy
Trilogy is a 1959 FC Holden sedan that is on its third rebuild, hence the name. This build took three and a half years to complete, bringing up the time of ownership to 36 years.
This beautifully modified machine is powered by a twin turbo charged 440c.i. small block Chev pushing out a tire frying 1000HP! All this power is fed through a bullet proofed Powerglide and down to the immaculately presented nine inch diff. Suspension is courtesy of coil over shockers all round with Alcon brakes getting the nod for stopping power. Twin three inch handmade exhausts get rid of the unspent gasses. The wheels that set this elite showcar apart from the rest are the 18X7 and 20X12 Showwheels shod in low profile tires.
To compliment the array of body mods covered in HOK Kandy custom mix paint is the interior. The hand made seats are covered in beautiful leather and German carpet complimented by a smattering of billet items and Dakota digital gauge pod which has been cleverly mounted in the center of the custom built dash.
Plans for this immaculate machine is to show it for a while before putting it use on the street for cuisin’ duties. Who could wait that long, not me!
A Sublime Nissan
This beautifully created custom ride is known as “Sublime” and is based around an S15 Nissan 200SX. In the fully fabricated engine bay sits a Mazda 20B rotary with a massive GT47R turbo charger which should give this green machine an impressive 700 to 750 HP at the rear wheels (Not yet dyno tested). A Supra r154 manual box was considered the best choice for helping to unleash all this horsepower to the rear wheels. The custom touches don’t finish at the immaculately presented interior or wild suicide doors, it also has a ¾ chassis and sheet metal finished undercarriage topped off with huge custom billet wheels! Costing less than 90K to build and taking only 3 years to complete, I think you’ll agree that full credit must go to the owner and builder of this immaculate import and we look forward to seeing the stats sheet in the future.