VALVOLINE SMOTY

BEHOLD THE 16 FINALISTS IN THE RUNNING FOR THE 2019 VALVOLINE STREET MACHINE OF THE YEAR! VOTE FOR YOUR FAVOURITE AND YOU CAN WIN BIG!

Be part of SMOTY history! Cast your vote! Win beaut stuff!

WHEN it comes to holding an annual award for the best modified car in our fair wide brown land, the Valvoline Street Machine Of The Year gong stands tall. Last year saw the biggest shake-up in the award’s history, as readers were responsible for not only picking the winner but nominating the 16 finalists as well, and that continues this year.

Over the past 30 years, Holdens have won the SMOTY prize 18 times, while nine Fords, three Chevs and one lone Mopar (Graeme Cowin’s King Kong ’Cuda) have also got the nod. In 2019, you guys have nominated eight Holdens, five Fords, two Valiants, and one Chev for our biggest award.

Congratulations to everyone with a car here, as your hard work and dedication has been recognised by the people of Australia. And now, everyone reading this magazine has one last job to do: vote for your favourite to take out the 2019 Valvoline Street Machine Of The Year!

HOW IT WORKS

THE ground rules are simple: to be eligible for SMOTY, cars must be primarily Australian-built and featured in one of the past 12 issues of Street Machine. Through four rounds of voting, the 16 finalists for SMOTY 2019 were selected by popular vote on whichcar.com.au/streetmachine. Top elite show cars, brutal streeters, cool pro tourers, slick customs, street/strip monsters, and ballistic burnout weapons are among the finalists, and the outright winner will be decided by you, our valued readers!

YOU CAN WIN TOO

THE beaut news is that not only does your vote count towards your chosen car lifting the trophy, but you go in the draw to win the ultimate Summernats experience! You and a mate could be off to Canberra on us, with flights from the winner’s nearest Australian capital (or from Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch if you live in NZ), four nights in a top hotel, two Platinum Passes to Summernats 33, a pair of VIP passes to the exclusive Street Machine party, and $1000 spending money too!

HOW TO VOTE

JUST jump online and visit smoty.com.au, follow the prompts to the promotion entry page, and complete the form (including your full name, mailing address, telephone number and valid email address), and vote for your favourite vehicle. Voting opens 15 August 2019 and closes 7 October 2019 at 23:59 (AEDT). We’ll have all the original feature stories on the website to help you pick your winner, but you’ll have to be sure, as you can only vote once!

1988 - HQ UTE - Alan Cooper 1989 - HQ MONARO - Dave Bennett 1990 - HQ UTE - Ron Barclay 1991 - XY FALCON - Craig Parker 1992 - XB FALCON GT - Frank Piccolo 1993 - 1964 CORVETTE - Frank Rejtano 1994 - FJ HOLDEN - Colin Townsend 1995 - XA FALCON - Howard Astill

FJ HOLDEN - Darryl Mcbeth 1996 - 1955 CHEVROLET - John Riskas 1997 - HT MONARO - Bill Murfin 1998-99 - HJ HOLDEN - Ed Brodie 2000 - HQ MONARO - Alan Lucas 2001- FORD MUSTANG - Gary Myers 2002 - 1957 CHEVROLET - Mark Jones 2003 - EH HOLDEN - Adam Lebrese 2004 - LJ TORANA - Steve Leerentveld 2005 - FORD MUSTANG - Gary Myers 2006 - HK MONARO - Adam Barbaresco & Donny Kevric

2007 - HK MONARO - Mark Sullivan 2008 - HQ ONE-TONNER - Rob Godfrey 2009 - LX TORANA - Angela Dow 2010 - PLYMOUTH ’CUDA - Graeme Cowin 2011- FC HOLDEN - Peter & Michelle Fitzpatrick

2012 - XC FALCON - Adam Lebrese 2013 - XR FALCON - Mick Fabar 2014 - FB HOLDEN - Henry Parry 2015 - HR UTE - Nathan Booth 2016 - XB FALCON COUPE - Chris Bitmead 2017 - XA FALCON COUPE - Gary Myers 2018 - EH WAGON - Ben Judd

01 ANGELO FURFARO VC VALIANT AUGUST 2019

IT IS a shame we don’t see more tough VC Valiants cruising Aussie roads, as Angelo Furfaro’s proves how cool they can be. Under the bonnet is a Dodge R5P7 NASCAR motor wearing twin turbochargers and making 750hp on just 6psi. While the arrow-straight VC sedan has ridiculous stonk, it is still a street machine. After picking up gold medals for Body, Engineering and Engine Bay at Motorex 2019, and taking home the prestigious Laurie Starling award, the car wasn’t trailered out of the hall. “We drove it home from Motorex,” says Angelo. “The boys were so excited to be cruising home in their new favourite ride.”

02 MATTHEW MORGILLO HQ STATESMAN FEBRUARY 2019

MATT Morgillo proved without a doubt that pro street isn’t dead with his off-tap HQ Statesman. “Big tubs, big engine; I’ve been picturing it since I was a kid,” he says of his first car, now built into an object of pure muscle. From the 1000hp, 632ci Dart big-block under the bonnet to the 31x18in Mickey Thompson rubber in the tubbed and four-linked rear end, it’s all business. The final touch is that killer vinyl roof done in a Rollsroyce grain, which no doubt helped Matt land in the Top 60 Elite Hall at Summernats 31.

05 OWEN RICE CV8 MONARO JULY 2019

OWEN Rice’s CV8 Monaro is not for the shrinking violets. The eye-busting, glass-smooth PPG Vibrance Orange Zest paint, fat billet wheels and 1200hp worth of blown, methanol-chugging V8 up front make one heck of a statement, and Owen has already proved he’s here to party. “Everyone says it is too nice to skid, but that’s what I built it for.” The CV8 was purchased from a wrecker, and Owen had a full rear clip and ladder-bar rear end fitted, then smoothed out the engine bay and firewall for an Elite-quality finish. The rear tubs swallow 20x12in Intro billets, with a 400ci Chev hidden under the TBS 8/71 blower.

06 AARON TAYLOR ZF FAIRLANE JUNE 2019

BIG cars need big power and low ride heights, so by that metric Aaron Taylor’s ZF Fairlane is the perfect way to treat Ford Australia’s luxury model. Air Ride suspension allows a slammed stance when parked and the ability to glide over speed humps, while the chassis was seam-welded and had reinforcement bars welded in to stiffen the whole shebang. A 440ci small-block Ford wears an Efi-fed billet 6/71 Blower Shop pump running E85, and is good for 1000hp at the crank. “There’s nothing better than cruising down Flinders Street and turning every head – that’s the way it should be,” says Aaron.

03 JASON SANDNER LX TORANA NOVEMBER 2018

FROM its Opaline Blue paint to the Simmons hoops and SL/R body styling, Jason Sandner’s LX sedan pays tribute to the Torana’s racing heritage, but with a modern twist. “I always loved Group C touring cars, and that was the whole inspiration around the build; to get as close as possible to a Group C car in road-going form, but with a modern look,” he says. A 378-cube aluminium Donovan small-block sits up front, with coilover suspension, tube control arms, fat sway-bars and big Harrop brakes helping handling, but the carbonfibre dash is pure race-car cool!

04 JOE PANZARINO 1957 CHEVROLET MAY 2019

BUILT off a brand new reproduction body, Joe Panzarino’s ’57 Chev is a masterclass in combining wild mechanicals with simple style to create an absolutely knockout streeter. Tubbed and four-linked with a full chassis, Joe’s ’57 also has had a new floor, firewall, boot and tunnel made so the rear end could swallow 20x16in Hot Rods By Boyd Motorious billets. Under the bonnet is a blown 377ci small-block that has been detuned to 900hp to run sweet on the street thanks to the addition of EFI and E85 fuel. Unveiled at Summernats 32, Joe’s tough streeter took out Top Super Street and landed in the Top 20.

07 MIKE KING XM FUTURA MARCH 2019

RESTRAINED style and elegance are the keys to the impact Mike King’s Deluxe Rod Shop-built XM Futura has, though it also packs a serious wallop thanks to a near-600hp 363ci Windsor and six-speed manual under the shapely custom bonnet. There are countless modifications underneath, with pro touring suspension and fat brakes making the svelte coupe sweet to drive, while the painfully straight body came thanks to three years of work by the Deluxe crew. Unveiled at Summernats 32, the subtlety of the build blew many away, landing it in the Top 10 and snaring the PPG Supreme award.

08 VINCE PANUCCIO EK HOLDEN SEPTEMBER 2018

VINCE Panuccio’s EK rolls street-car attitude together with show-car quality for a killer result. Jutting through the bonnet is a Blower Shop 6/71 pump, sitting atop a solid-roller-equipped 327ci small-block Chev, which puts the hurt on the gigantic 20-inch Schott rear wheels hiding in the tubbed rear end. Vince’s EK took out Top Interior, Top Modified and Outstanding Engineering in the Street class at Summernats 31, and was the cover star of our September 2018 issue. “It has plenty of power, though if I want I can put five people in and just cruise it,” Vince says. And yep, it is an EK - wearing FB chrome bits!

09 KRIS VELKOVSKI HT UTE MARCH 2019

A Nine-second HT ute packing Summernats Elite Hall build quality is something to savour, but this isn’t Kris Velkovski’s first rodeo. Following his ground-breaking CGMFLY LC Torana, this stark white commercial is the latest machine out of his garage, starting off as a stock restored six-banger. Built for his wife, Mary, it packs a 657rwhp twin-turbo 350 small-block that pushed it to a 9.6@140mph pass, but the real killer is the detail in small items like the catch can and radiator caps, the smoothed radiator panel, and the neat rollcage. “We built the ute in eight months, all after-hours,” says Kris.

10 BRETT HEWERDINE HT MONARO APRIL 2019

FORGET Kim Kardashian, Brett Hewerdine’s HT Monaro almost broke the internet when it dropped before Summernats 32. The epic pro street monster was built in just 10 weeks as a tribute to Brett’s mate Simon Rasic (the Monaro’s former owner), with Paul Sant and the Proflo crew burning plenty of midnight oil. The blown Munro has gunbarrel-straight paint, a back-halved chassis with 15x14 rear meats, and a 14/71 Littlefield-fed 510ci Donovan big-block Chev originally found in a Doorslammer. “You should see the look on people’s faces when I’m out cruising and pull up next to them at the lights,” says Brett.

13 JASON SPITERI EH HOLDEN JANUARY 2019

PACKING a 675hp 427ci small-block Chev, sinister Morwell Grey paint, and a fat set of 15-inch Weld V-series wheels, Jason Spiteri’s EH Holden oozes attitude. Built as a tough street car, it sits on a custom triangulated four-link rear end, with a steering rack liberating more space in the front end for the big-inch Dart small-block. While it may appear like a big-buck shop build, it isn’t. “I built it in my garage, lying under it, as I don’t have a hoist,” Jason says. “It took a lot of time, money and effort, but I wanted a trouble-free car that I didn’t have to spend more money on.”

14 PETE AITKEN XB FALCON JULY 2019

OVERCOMING non-hodgkin’s lymphoma – twice – is worth celebrating, and Pete Aitken can do that in style in his 8/71-blown, EFI, 545ci big-block XB Falcon coupe. Instead of building another GT replica, Pete has taken bulk inspiration from pro tourers, with RRS suspension at both ends, including a Trans Am-style three-link rear end, plus 18x10 and 18x12in Schott wheels. Pete got it finished just in time to debut the coupe at Summernats 32, where it landed in the Top 60 Elite Hall! “It came together with a lot of my good friends who all put their two bob in,” Pete says. “It’s always good to have that help there.”

11 MAURIE PICKERING 1955 FORD F100 APRIL 2019

ALTHOUGH Sylvester Stallone’s ensemble action romp The Expendables never won any awards, it should be recognised for restarting many people’s love affair with hot rod trucks. Maurie Pickering was one such bloke enamoured with Sly’s ride in the flick, engaging Charlie and Rhea Fakes of Fakes Engineering to build his epic pro touring truck. Silky-smooth panelwork and gaps far better than Henry ever intended hide clever engineering, including late-model Falcon suspension and a 435hp five-litre quad-cam Coyote V8. “Maurie wanted a truck that looked old but drove like a modern, brand-new car,” says Charlie.

12 CHRIS CAMPBELL LJ TORANA JULY 2019

PICKING up an unfinished project can be a dream or a nightmare. Thankfully for Chris Campbell, he lucked onto a gem with this LJ, packing a new 355 stroker and sheet-metal nine-inch rear end. However, he’s made it his own unique machine with a killer trim job by Simon Judd at Elite Custom Interiors, and glass-smooth paint and bodywork by Exclusive Customs, who also mixed up the custom PPG ‘Brake Light Red’ duco. The tough stroker Holden makes almost 500hp, which is plenty in the little LJ! Chris debuted the car as part of the Great Meguiar’s Uncover at Summernats 32 and landed on the cover of SM!

15 RICK GALLOWAY XB FALCON OCTOBER 2018

CRISP lines, killer stance, an angry Clevo and lush trim are key ingredients to a cool car, and Rick Galloway’s FAT XB is has all those facets and more. Built by Pat’s Pro Restos, the car’s ice-fresh House Of Kolor solid white is contrasted beautifully by the Galaxy Grey stripes and red pinstripe. TOCA Performance put together a 611hp 383ci Clevo that Rick has used to clock up several thousand kilometres, fulfilling his promise to make a nice, tidy, straight car he could drive. “It’s a beautiful bit of engineering,” he says. “It absolutely boogies when you want it to, but it can also drive around on a summer’s day no problems.”

16 BILLY PAPAS VH CHARGER MARCH 2019

WE’RE in a golden age of performance, where street cars pack insane power outputs and run wild timeslips, just like Billy Papas’s nickel-tough Charger. The VH packs a 650hp 418ci R3/W9 Mopar race motor, but began life with Billy as a stock-standard grandma-fresh XL six-pot. It has copped mini-tubs and a mono-leaf rear end set-up, with some pro street attitude given through 15x4.5 and 15x10-inch RC Comp Exile wheels. The body is resplendent in Fountain Blue, with a near-stock blue interior keeping a classic style for this weekend cruiser.