Meguiar's Great Uncover at Summernats 34

Despite a few Covid-induced changes, Street Machine Summernats 34 saw a roster of 17 stunning cars revealed to the public tonight. Here's our rundown on what was revealed, fresh from EPIC!

JOVAN BATAR - HK MONARO

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Jovan Batar’s Picardy Red HK Monaro melds pro-street gear with factory styling in a truly stunning package. “I bought a base model knowing I was going to modify it,” says Jovan. “It had to be a pro streeter, had to be a big block, and had to have staggered injection.”

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The ProFlo-built 632ci Chev is fed by stack injection converted to EFI, managed by a FuelTech FT600 system. A Turbo 400 and 9in diff round out the package, the latter resting in a four-linked rear. The front end is a Rod Shop IFS unit, with hefty 355mm Wilwood rotors and six-piston calipers.

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Stock-looking touches include a four speed-type shifter, original arch trims, and even machined ‘5 litre’ badges on the enormous orange rocker covers. The factory theme carries on inside, with Ferrari nappa leather trim in GTS style. “It was a tight build; probably a 12-month turnaround,” says Jovan. “But I’m really happy with the end result, it’s like an original on steroids!”

JASON MANSWETO - XW FALCON

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The latest incarnation of Jason’s XW Falcon is one for the ages (and our current SM cover car). For starters, there’s a monstrous 652ci Ford looking right at home under the bonnet, pumping out 1189hp on 98 fuel, all naturally-aspirated! A bombproof Powerglide and fabricated 9in send the bulk power to ground.

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There’s a phenomenal amount of detail throughout the car, right down to the striped tailshaft and original T-bar shifter. Jason set out to replicate a factory-looking ‘drag pack’ car, but the XW is now far neater than any Falcon to roll off the production line. Despite that, he still plans to send the car down the quarter, with sevens firmly in sight thanks to a huge shot of laughing gas.

MICHELLE WHITE - HZ HOLDEN

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Michelle White’s unmissable HZ sedan is another ProFlo car, fulfilling her lifelong dream of owning a blown streeter. “It’s been five years in the making,” she says, “and to get it here to be unveiled is an amazing opportunity.”

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Aside from the eye-grabbing Mystic Magenta hue, the other big feature is a 6/71-blown, 355ci Holden V8. “It all got done arse-about”, Michelle admits with a laugh. “It got painted first, it was all backwards and everything was done twice, because it was never going to be like this. It started with a respray and fixing a few dents, then it was on a rotisserie, then House of Kolor paint, which created a standard to work towards.”

JUSTIN SIMPSON - HT MONARO

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Though it’s far from a street car, Justin Simpson’s ‘Kryptonite’ HT Monaro still has plenty of steel. “The only ‘glass is the front clip and bonnet, the whole shell from the firewall back is Monaro.” Justin’s owned the car for 23 years, previously running a 540-cube Chev. “I ran a few combinations in different classes, but the 540 finally gave up in 2017,” he recounts.

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“It’s now a purpose-built no-prep car - it’s going to be the next big thing in Australia”. The HT now packs an injected, 615ci Dart-blocked rat motor with a three-stage dry nitrous kit, sure to propel it well into the six-second bracket. In a tribute to GTS lore, the lone Kirkey race seat wears Houndstooth trim.

SIMON PICKRELL - XW FAIRMONT

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Simon Pickrell jumped ship to power his XW Fairmont, wedging a 544ci big-block Hemi between the chassis rails. “We were planning to go with a 408, but I took a little trip to my mechanic and saw some nice fresh-looking heads on the shelf and asked for those, so it turned into a big-block!”

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Yatala’s Rust Rat Kustoms handled the entire build, pairing the Mark Sugars-built Hemi to a tough C6 and shortened Strange 9in with 3.5 gears. The bumpers were cut and tucked, with other body mods including a deleted K-frame and shock towers. “Everything went according to plan, the hardest thing was picking the colour,” Simon laughs. He eventually chose the matte, Mercedes-spec Designo Selenite Grey you see here.

PETER KELLY - EK HOLDEN

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Built as a proper driver’s car, Peter Kelly’s restomod EK project started as a barn find sans motor and interior. An LS1 powerplant was sourced, and destroked to about five litres for NSW’s engineering process. It’s managed by a Holley Terminator ECU, and backed by a T56 manual ‘box and 9in third member.

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A Rod Shop front end replaces the stock architecture, with a four-linked rear for improved handling. Creature comforts include a/c, power steering, power windows, and even an Apple CarPlay set-up. Late model BMW seats fill out the interior, with a full-length console and inbuilt touchscreen. “I wanted something that felt like a modern car on the inside but had an old-school look, and I think we achieved that.”

ARTHUR MITSOULIS - VF VALIANT

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Arthur Mitsoulis bought his 1970 VF hardtop as a daily driver at just 17, finally handing over building duties to George Saad in 2015. “He just said ‘build it like your own car’, so off I went,” recalls George. The factory 318 car now features a blown, injected 360 stroked out to 408 cubes, matched to a tough 727 auto and reined in via big Wilwood six-pot brakes. A set of mini-tubs hold the big Simmons. The interior has been retrimmed virtually as-stock, barring a B&M shifter and neat Haltech dash installed over the original gauges.

SASHA MIELCZAREK - '31 FORD

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Sasha’s gorgeous, all-steel ‘31 Ford packs heaps of traditional rodding touches, atop a custom-fabbed chassis providing a 8 degrees of rake. “It was a nice going car from Mississippi when I bought it in 2018,” Sash explains. “I pulled the cab off to use it, put the car on a jig, made a chassis, and built it all off that.” It’s 18 inches longer than a standard example, with lengthened guards and an unchopped roof.

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A blown 392ci Hemi provides motivation, and Sash shifts through a TKO five-speed ‘box. “I’m 6’3 and I want to do miles in the car,” he says. “I’ve called it the Chic Henry Ford because Chic made an event to go to, and Henry created a car to get there! If I had to do another one, I’d pretty much do the same thing,” he enthuses.

KYLLIE GARRETT - 1968 MUSTANG

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Ballarat’s Kyllie Garrett drew some modern Eleanor inspiration for her tough ‘68 Mustang Fastback, without sacrificing classic styling cues Under the bonnet is a Windsor donk stroked to 347 cubes, force-fed by a Paxton supercharger. TCP coilovers feature underneath, as does a McDonald Brothers four-link.

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“I’ve had it for about seven years,” Kyllie says. “It was fairly rough when we picked it up in outback South Australia, it had been in a shed since 1989.” It’s Kyllie’s third Mustang, and her first finished to this elite level. “The last touches were being done as it went into the car trailer,” she laughs.

FULL THROTTLE GARAGE - VL CALAIS

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This ballistic VL Calais is the latest from the minds at Full Throttle Garage, led by Adam Lever. A billet, dry-sumped Crodyon Racing 3.2-litre RB with a CNC-ported RB26 head sits in the bay, with a Precision 7685 turbo and Motec engine management. An SFI-cased Turbo 400 and Mark Williams Trutrac complete the driveline, with over 1000hp at the wheels.

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Plenty of custom work went into the Calais-themed interior, which runs a Motec 12-inch display. There’s also electric power steering and a/c within the smoothed and detailed engine bay. Outside, the locks, aerial and body seams were shaved to perfection, and a custom-mix PPG two-tone finish carries through the engine bay for an ultra-sanitary look.

NATHAN GIUNCO - XE FALCON

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The culmination of more than a decade of work, Nathan’s weapons-grade XE Falcon was initially planned to be a tough Clevo-powered streeter. A ride in a mate’s XR6 changed that, with the car now running a stonking ProFlo-built Barra turbo good for over 1000hp. “My family used to get around in a white XE, so I always planned to keep it.”

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Paul at ProFlo did most of the fab work, including the super-smooth engine bay. Nathan’s stayed faithful to the ‘80s Falcon vibe, with Dick Johnson Grand Prix-style bonnet vents, a custom squared-off instrument binnacle and retrimmed Recaro seats. A four-linked rear and six-point cage will let Nathan drive the car in anger after a MotorEx appearance later this year.

HUD JOHNSTON - '34 FORD

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This ‘34 is a rolling tribute to Hud’s father Rod, who sadly passed away while working on the car. “Parts of this have been in my life for 40 years,” says Hud. “I didn’t touch it for ages, but I’ve just got back into it.” Unusually, it’s powered by an alloy-head 250 Crossflow, which was the last motor Rod built. The cammed, Holley-fed six is paired to a T5 and Falcon Borg-Warner diff for a true Blue Oval driveline.

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Body-wise, the door corners have been radiused and a laid-back ‘32 grille fitted, while Hud applied a vinyl stripe as per his dad’s plans. Everything except the seats were sorted out in Hud’s shed, before a super-quick shakedown run and trip to Summernats. Hud’s own health battles made the build a bit tougher, with the paint laid down just over a week ago. It’s his first new car at Summernats since 2011, when he and Rod brought a wild custom FJ Holden.

TRENT CARTER - PLYMOUTH BARRACUDA

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Rob Zahabi and the Rides By Kam crew are no strangers to the elite hall, their latest unveiling coming in the form of Trent Carter’s 1970 Barracuda. The Cuda dubbed ‘Notorious’ has been built to a truly elite pro-street level, with enough custom metal work to feast your eyes on for hours.

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Underneath the sheet metal is a Dodge R5P7 Nascar mill, paired with a Richmond Super T10 manual ‘box using a vertical gate shifter. Giving the Cuda its killer stance is a set of Ridetech airbags all ‘round, slammed onto Billet Specialties spinners measuring a mammoth 22x12 in the rear and 20x8.5 up front; finished off in a lick of Charlie Hutton custom green for colour.

KEVIN & MARGARET BAIRD - FX HOLDEN

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Kevin and Margaret's FX Holden may look like a stocker from first glance, but that’s exactly what Steven Aldrick and the crew from Deluxe Rod Shop intended when they built this sleeper. The mill disguised as a small-block Chev is an aspirated LS2, topped by a oil bath air cleaner.

From a glance, the car appears stock at a distance, thanks to the factory colour scheme, standard tiller and bench seat (though the latter was heavily modified to accomodate the large trans tunnel needed to fit the TR6060 'box.

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The mods under the skin go even further, with a nine-inch rear end and a Rodtech IFS front to make the FX genuinely street capable. Topping off the sleeper effect is the 17-inch steelies, widened to suit the body and still using original FX hubcaps. “It’s turned out to be a really cool thing, and the owner couldn’t be happier with it,” said Steve.

ROBERT VECERA - HZ UTE

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Rob Vicera’s 1977 HZ Holden ute has copped the full nine yards inside and out. Under the bonnet sits a 400ci small-block Chev, with a beefed up driveline to match. The exterior changes include GTS flutes, billet door handles with shaved door locks and some pin striping to set off the House of Kolor Passion Purple paint. The interior features VX SS seats and a full length centre console all wrapped in leather and suede, with power windows and more billet touches throughout. Sitting underneath the rear tubs is a pair of 18x12 Simmons, with another pair of 18x10s squeezed into the front.

WESTERN STREET & CUSTOM - EH HOLDEN

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It isn’t all slammed and blown machines in the elite hall, with Western Street & Custom pulling the covers off of an eye-waterlingly immaculate ’64 EH wagon. The owner John Steinthall originally just planned on a simple resto, but a two year build quickly saw the EH finding itself on a rotisserie. “It’s a full concourse resto, we handmade new door skins and replaced front floors,” said Pat McCarter from Western Street & Custom. The original Amberley Blue and White Ivory roof colour combination adorns the fresh skin of the EH, while a 179 red motor sits between the chassis rails.

SHAWN MUSCAT - 1932 FORD COUPE

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Shawn Muscat's ripper '32 Ford is a primarily self-built car, outsourcing only paint and trim. Shawn set himself a challenge by running a Cleveland donk and C4 auto, which have a limited rodding aftermarket compared to more popular options. The Clevo remains at 351 cubes and wears CHI alloy heads, while Shawn runs a 4000rpm converter and 3.55 diff gears for plenty of pep. The '60s-style build is coated in lush Lime Rock Green, with Italian leather and cashmere goat hair carpet inside. Lakester pipes and 15" Rocket wheels round out the period-style package.