Street Machine

WHILE I persist in having a crack at most things when it comes to working on cars, the honest truth is that I’m not all that handy on the spanners. I’ve owned my Torana since I was 14 years old, and most of the mechanical work – and worse still, electrical – involved in the initial rebuild was done at home in my parents’ shed by my mates and I when we were kids. Since then, the car has evolved from a basic carby 202/five-speed/banjo cruiser into a nitrous 308/4L60/BorgWarner streeter, and now a spicier, Harrop-blown Holden V8-powered thing with a transbraked Powerglide, Rod Shop nine-inch, four-wheel discs, Haltech electronics, sequential injection, water-to-air intercooling, flex-fuel, and all manner of other beaut stuff. In developing the car, I’ve been fortunate to…

OUR sport has many fathers. Some burned fast and brightly; many never received the lasting recognition they deserved. Others, like Gene Winfield, had much longer careers and were able to influence and inspire countless car folks over multiple generations. Gene passed away in March, aged 97. While his last few years were difficult, Gene remained active and positive, even attending the Grand National Roadster Show only a few weeks before his passing. Gene was a living and working link to the most exciting and influential period of our sport, when hot rods, customs and various forms of blue-collar racing spread across the United States like wildfire, before expanding overseas to places like Australia, laying the foundations for what we enjoy doing with modified cars today. He became a hot rodder…

SCAN FOR TICKETS MEGUIAR’S MotorEx, presented by LMCT+, is a staple in the Aussie elite car show calendar each year, taking over Melbourne Showgrounds on the first weekend of May for a two-day showcase of Australia’s top-tier show and go machines. In response to the difficult fiscal climate we’ve all been living with of late, ticket prices have copped a major haircut for 2025 and been slashed by over 50 per cent from last year! General admission starts at just $20, or you can grab a weekend adult pass for $45 – kiddies 15 and under go free! That’s not the only big news. This year, organisers have revamped the entire event around a new ‘Worlds’ concept. There’ll be separate worlds for 4x4, drifting, exotics, trader stands and more, including…

WIN BIG! SHANNONS is giving you the chance to win a trip for two to the UK to experience one of the world’s greatest motoring events, the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed. You’ll also cop a new Indian Motorcycle Sport Chief, including up to 12 months of Shannons comprehensive insurance and roadside assist, and if you’re an eligible Shannons Club member, you’ll also score $5000 cash. That’s over $100,000 in prizes for one lucky winner! To enter, just visit shannons.com.au or call them on 13 46 46 and take out new eligible car, bike or home insurance. GO, BRODIE! BRODIE Zappia rewrote the record books in March at the 54th Westernationals, with the 19-year-old becoming the youngest professional-category winner in National Drag Racing Championship (NDRC) history, as well as the…

I WAS photographing Powercruise 97 at Queensland Raceway when I was approached by a young lad named Koby Waddington, who took me straight over to see his dad’s Barra-powered XE Falcon ESP. There, I met Koby’s father, David, who had a timeslip in his hand and a huge grin on his face. Clearly, this pair had a cool story they were keen to share. It looks like you guys have been busy. We just ran an eight over at the drag strip! Hold on, you’ve been racing over at Willowbank as well as here at Powercruise? Well, we actually drove the car from Redcliffe for the Monster Street Cars Club track day we had booked [at Willowbank] and weren’t planning on coming to Powercruise. But my mate tagged me in…

ALTHOUGH it was the third film to be inspired by journalist Brock Yates’s real-world cross-country ‘Cannonball Run’ – the previous two being Cannonball and The Gumball Rally, both from 1976 – 1981’s The Cannonball Run is by far the best known (and was written by Yates himself). Director and stuntman Hal Needham and his good buddy Burt Reynolds were responsible for several road-going action/comedy films of the era, but what helped make this particular example a box-office smash was the brace of big-name stars featured alongside Reynolds. The film’s premise is simple: a motley crew of racers embark on an illegal road race from New York to California, attempting to elude both the law and sabotage from other teams along the way. Burt Reynolds plays thrill-seeker JJ McClure, who hatches…