VOLCANIC ERUPTION

This stout HZ ute is home to a brutal 565ci big-block Chev

THIS eye-popping, tyre-shredding HZ ute is an amalgamation of two cars and a ski race boat, with a healthy dollop of shoebox Chev in there too. You see, Matt Milnes used to be into water ski racing, but he decided to give the sport the flick when his kids came on the scene, and that left him with a brutal big-block gathering dust in the shed.

The original dream was to fit the engine to his long-term project, a ’57 Chevrolet twodoor, but the amount of work required to get the Chev up to scratch was daunting. Instead, Matt opted for a quicker build and picked up the HZ as a roller, handing it and his race engine to the late Craig Brewer of Pro Pipes with a brief to make the two into one. With the big-block ute ready to run, it headed back to Matt’s shed and a date with destiny.

“One day I was standing out the front of my garage, leaning on the tailgate of the ute, when I spotted a horse running up the road,” Matt says. “When it got to my property it saw me and decided to run up the driveway and straight at me! I jumped out of the way, but it hit the tailgate and went over the ute. The horse got stuck between the garage wall and the ute, so

THE HORSE HIT THE TAILGATE AND WENT OVER THE UTE. IT GOT STUCK BETWEEN THE GARAGE WALL AND THE UTE, SO IT KICKED THE SHIT OUT OF THE CAR

it kicked the shit out of the whole side of the car.”

After a vet managed to convince the horse to settle down, the ute was pushed out of the way so Matt could survey the damage. Needless to say, the debate over whether to do a rotisserie rebuild was settled then and there.

wheel tub stretch. Matt called on Graeme Angus, an ex-holden engineer and race-car brake designer, to address the HZ’S stopping gear. Graeme put together a package consisting of Baer six-piston front disc brakes and a Hydro-boost system that runs off an electric Astra power steering pump tucked into the driver’s-side front guard.

Inside, the dash and tiller are genuine GTS items, and the race seats were retrimmed in matching GTS fabric. The engine’s vital stats are displayed on the Fueltech FT600 combination dash/ecu, and the rollcage is there to keep Matt safe if the ride ever gets a bit too wild.

“The torque’s frickin’ huge,” laughs Matt. “On the street it wheelspins everywhere; it’s really aggressive off the line and it just hauls

THE TORQUE’S FRICKIN’ HUGE! ON THE STREET IT WHEELSPINS EVERYWHERE; IT’S REALLY AGGRESSIVE OFF THE LINE AND IT JUST HAULS IN SECOND

in second. We want to road-tune it a bit more and Jason wants to add more timing, but it’s pretty much finished. I reckon I’ve had 20 utes, from HQS to Maloos, but this was my first proper build and is my dream car.”

You couldn’t ask for a better result!

PHOTOS CHRIS THOROGOOD

BRAKES The Baer six-pot calipers on the front end clamp dinnerplate-sized 365mm rotors, while the 15x10 rear rims wear Wilwood 240mm discs with four-pot calipers, making the ute much more planted on the road ENGINE In order to make the monster big-block more street-friendly, the twin avgas carbies were swapped for a pair of Accufab throttlebodies and an octet of injectors, and the massive bumpstick was ditched in favour of one almost-as-enormous Bullet item PLATES The ute may wear the number plate ERUPTN, but it’s not the first of Matt’s machines to carry a volcanic name. “The ski boat was called Eruption, so I bought the plates for the tow car I had at the time, and I’ve just hung on to them,” he says