Motorvation 36 - Boris's Top Ten

As forecast, it was about as hot as the surface of the sun, but there was a breeze that kind of tried to fight its way through the tyre smoke. After a while, it gave up and Perth had, a rare still summer night – great if you’re trying to have an evening picnic at the beach, but a not ideal if you’re trying to watch a burnout comp and there’s no breeze to blow the smoke away.

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Today saw plenty of cruising action of the Smooth and Super variety, although it was hard to tell the difference at times. After some stern finger waving and a few gentle warnings, people started to get the gist of what a smooth cruise actually was, and everyone was happy. With Skid Row opened up several times during the day, there was no shortage of opportunities to smash tyres if you really felt the need.

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With the Elite Tent opening up today, it was a good chance to catch some shade and check out some of the newest and coolest rides in WA. Here’s half a dozen cars I thought were pretty cool that I spotted on day two as well as the four cars that were unveiled this year.

SIX OF THE BEST

I’d been keeping an eye on the build up of Mitchell Rando’s killer Pro Touring '69 Camaro SS on social media and was looking forward to seeing it in the metal and I wasn’t disappointed. Powered by a 408ci iron-block LS with Frankenstein heads and Edelbrock twin throttle body intake backed by a 4L80E and Detroit Locker 9-inch, it’s a tough driveline with plenty of grunt.

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Making sure it all gets to the ground is a Heidts Pro G front-end and Detroit Speed rear with big Wilwood discs on all four corners to haul it up. The billet Intro rims measure up at 20x8.5 and 20x12 and car’s been set up to sit just right over the big rims and rubber.

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John Royce ’64 Impala SS – John is an Englishman that has become well and truly entrenched in the lowrider scene in WA with the Old Skool Rydz club. This is the third time I’ve seen the car at Motorvation and each time it has been treated to more and more engraving and chrome work, but the last 12 months have very busy for John as he put together a new chassis with House of Low that features all of the trick lowrider parts so he can pull of those classic hydro moves.

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Just every part of the car that could be engraved has been, including the pedals, shifter handles and even the door hinges. The detailing is incredible and you can spend hours checking out the undercarriage, and if you’re lucky and John poses it on three wheels, you don’t even have to bend down to look at it.

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Justin Pitsikas BMW 328i – If you’re a regular at Motorvation or head to a few burnout comps, you’d be quite familiar with the BYE Performance name. It’s usually emblazoned across the side of the some of the toughest blown LS-powered rigs in the country.

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Being the boss, Justin had to have something a bit special and something a bit different, so he did what any normal bloke would do and pulled apart his perfectly good BMW 328i daily driver, tubbed it and put a killer blown LS in it.

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Well, that makes it sound pretty straight forward. It actually spent a bit of time at Black Magic Race Cars who set up the sheet metal 9-inch with a ladder bar, then Justin removed the entire OEM wiring harness and rewired the car front-to-back.

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Jason Janssen ’57 Chevrolet – At a quick glance, Jason’s ’57 Chevy two-door post looks like something that might have sailed into the country in a container – which would be quite an achievement under the current situation – but he tells me that he thinks it’s an Aussie delivered car due to a couple of little details he’s discovered, but that’s not what’s special about this cool looking cruiser.

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Under the skin is a car built to go fast, stop fast and go around corners! It’s got a 540ci big-block Chev, Tremec Magnum six-speed and a 9-inch all bolted into an Art Morrison chassis with 365mm and 345mm Wilwood brakes front and back. To prove his point, he went in the driving events and beat a modern Honda Civic in the slalom! Eventual plans are to make it to a few track days and hunt down some European supercars.

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It’s hard to believe that this design is almost 60 years old, and unlike most things that are approaching that age, it just gets better looking. This particular example is based on a Roaring Forties package and is powered by a supercharged Coyote engine from an FG GT R-Spec.

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“I went into Tony’s Wreckers to get a $15 switch and walked out with this engine,” says owner Malcom. Packaging the modern engine took quite a bit of work, but as it turns out, Malcom is a mechanical engineer with a background in fabrication, so not only could he model the entire exhaust system in 3D, he also fabricated it himself. The plenum top is also a neat piece that’s been CNC milled out of aircraft grade aluminium.

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While everyone is going gaga over Todd Dicker's brother Chris’s 80s-style HQ Pro Streeter, Todd’s happily out on the cruise track cutting laps and smashing tyres. He scored the rather well worn HG out of a wheatbelt farm in Cunderdin after spotting an ad in the now defunct Quokka classifieds.

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He cruised it around on the street for a while after slotting in a 307 and a Powerglide, but then he came across an HK Monaro that he just had to have. The Monaro had a 434 Shafiroff small-block and Turbo 400 built by Peter Veersma, but the body needed a bit of work, so one of Todd’s mates suggested he slot the driveline into the ute to test it and get it sorted.

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Four years later and it’s still in the ute and the Monaro is still in the shed. It’s not surprising though, with 505hp at the tyres and a 10.59-second timeslip, it’s a fun car to drive.

UNVEIL CARS

Joe Veveers's '67 Impala was already a pretty cool looking rig with amazing paint and artwork before he decided to completely redo the car. While much of the airbrush art has remained on the bonnet, roof and boot, the rest of the car had a complete colour change.

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The interior, which used to be white with blue piping has been completely redone in a much classier black and blue combination with some patterned material that ties in nicely with the Hispanic roots of the lowrider scene. If you want to check out more of his amazing work, check out @tattoo_dirtbag on Instagram.

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Simon White seems to have a bit of a knack building killer HQs. He had a pearl blue one with white stripes that was a 10-second car, but that had to get moved on so he could finish this stunning genuine GTS coupe.

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It’s powered by a Blown Motorsports 427 small-block Chev based on a Dart SHP block with AFR heads, Edelbrock intake and and 850cfm APD carb. Exclusive FX did the stunning custom candy green paintjob and the interior features a houndstooth interior just like the car had originally.

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There is so much going on with this Mighty Boy that you could spend hours taking in all the details. According to owner Simon Birch: “I set out to build a $20,000 skid car and failed miserably.” Not surprising considering the full custom chassis, LS engine, Turbo 400 and 9-inch driveline, not to mention the flip forward front clip and flip up body!

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Simon thought the motor would have be set back so far that he would need the body to flip up for access, but as it turns out, the motor ended up being pretty accessible, but he figured he'd still make it flip up.

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To separate the body from the chassis, Simon pulls a pin from the steering shaft and then disconnects one wiring connector and then the body lifts up on linear actuators. In case you’re wondering, it’s not Simon Birch the Ford guy, but it is Simon Birch who has the DOSILE one tonner.

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It’s been a long time coming but it was well worth it for Frank Ricceli and his crew when the covers finally came off his stunning '67 Camaro RS. Powered by a twin-turbo 427 built by Kendrick Race Engines that is backed by an Abruzzi Racing Powerglide out of the USA, this muscle car is definitely not lacking in the power department.

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Looking inside the car, the theme changes from high performance to high class with custom leather trim throughout the car, featuring Commodore seats, custom console and dash, and a flat floor. The body also features quite a few custom touches including shaved door handles, shaved gutters and a custom scoop thanks to the talents of Luke Stawarz.

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Once all the fabrication was complete, the whole car – top and bottom – was bathed in a Candy Cola that features a tonne of red metalflake by Luke Armer. Hopefully we’ll be able to see this beauty in the sunlight soon!

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