ULTIMATE IN MEAN MACHINES

Earlier this year, Mobil™ motor oils and their brand ambassador, motorsport legend Greg Murphy, went looking for New Zealand’s Meanest Machine. With $10,000 cash up for grabs, they put the call out to all tinkerers, tuners and polishing pros.

The Mobil™ Mean Machine competition was open to all kinds of vehicles — sports cars, muscle cars, supercars, show cars, not-even cars! Whether it was a pick-up, low rider, fixer-upper, or even still on blocks, it was eligible. And the whips came flooding in with more than 1000 entries and nearly 100,000 votes from members of the public. The top 20 featured Mazdas, a Mitsi, Subaru, Chevs, Fords, a couple of trusty Corollas, and a fair few Holdens, including a 2008 HSV Murph edition featuring an under-hood mural of the man himself!

Here’s the countdown of the two runners-up and our ultimate Mobil™ Mean Machine winner:

Located in Taupo, in third place, Aidan’s 1998 Mazda RX7 is from the ‘golden era of Japanese motorsport’ (90s-03), back when RX7s like this were battling it out on the track against Skylines, NSXs, Silvias, McLarens, Porsches, and Supras. This is the RE Amemiya and Mazdaspeed Japanesebuilt JGTC GT300 RX7 that competed in the 2000–2001 championship. It is powered by a peripheral port 20B engine with a six-speed sequential gearbox and MoTeC engine management. It won the first-ever fly away Super GT round at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit as well as other podium finishes throughout the season in Japan. Some will also remember this car as one of the ‘unlockable’ cars featured on the Gran Turismo 2 video game. “This thing stands out!” says Murph; he also notes that petrolheads will love what’s under the hood. Check out the video on the Mean Machine website to see it up close.

In second place we headed to Auckland to check out Billy’s 2007 Jeep Wrangler JK, possibly the only jeep in NZ running 6 pot long travel shocks. “I had to twist arms to supply that,” says Billy. Billy bought the Jeep stock-standard a few years ago and when he couldn’t find the parts and accessories he wanted locally, he started importing his own. Here are a few more choice features to give you an idea of its awesome mods: 4.5-inch lift kit; Chromoly Long Arms; Alu Body Armor Fender Flares; 37-inch tyre; bead lock mags — 38 offset; Smittybilt XRC Gen2 rear bumper; Best Top Rock Crawler front bumper; Smittybilt Gen3 X20 winch; Smittybilt Hi-lift jack; GME UHF radio; Roadsafe switch panel; RT performance big brake kit with twin pot calipers; 50-inch light bar; Injen Assault fully sealed snorkel.

Then it was on to Taranaki to find our first place. Crowned New Zealand’s Meanest Machine, it’s Matt’s incredible 1954 Chevrolet Bel Air. “It’s got a beautiful stance,” says Murph. Matt agrees and says “when you go for a roll in it, heads turn”. This is one of the most iconic low-rider bombs in New Zealand, and most likely the only one that holds a cert for hydraulic suspension. Watch the video to see Matt and Murph give these a blast! It’s also running the original 235 blue flame and original 50s era car accessories, and has a couple of special mods too, like a hat holder so that you look the part when you’re cruising. This Bel Air has had a few owners, but now it’s in Matt’s care he says it’s up to him to bring back the bomb of the glory days. The prize money will help — Matt says the $10,000 prize will go towards helping him start his own customs business.